Chargeback

A chargeback is the after-the-fact reversal of a credit card payment that the cardholder initiates through their own card-issuing bank – not through the merchant. The bank reclaims the money from the acquirer (the merchant’s bank), for example because goods were never delivered, the payment was made without authorisation, or the item delivered differed blatantly from its description.

The process follows the rules of the card networks (Visa, Mastercard) and runs on fixed deadlines and dispute reason codes; the exact deadline depends on the dispute reason and the issuing bank, so it cannot be pinned down to a single number of days in general terms. Important for consumers: a chargeback is possible regardless of whether the merchant agrees to a refund.

In practice a case usually runs in four stages. First you dispute the individual transaction with your bank or in online banking and state the reason. The bank assigns the case a dispute reason code and passes it to the merchant’s bank. The merchant may object and submit evidence – proof of dispatch, for instance. If the dispute remains open, a card network procedure decides in the end. For you this means: the more complete your evidence, the shorter the loop.

An everyday example: you order sneakers for 249 euros by credit card, receive an order confirmation and then never a tracking number. Two emails to the shop go unanswered, the phone number in the legal notice is not assigned to anyone. For the dispute you typically need the order confirmation, a screenshot of the product page including the delivery promise, the email thread documenting your attempts to make contact, and the date by which the goods should have arrived at the latest.

What is often underestimated is that banks expect you to have tried to resolve the problem with the merchant first. A chargeback is not a substitute for the right of withdrawal and not a convenient shortcut when you are simply dissatisfied: with a reachable, reputable merchant the complaint belongs there first. With a shop that falls silent after payment this intermediate step effectively falls away – but do document precisely that and when you tried.

A card chargeback must be distinguished from the SEPA direct debit. If you authorised a direct debit, the SEPA rules for core direct debits let you have it returned within eight weeks of the debit without giving reasons; for a direct debit you never authorised, that period is considerably longer. Both are separate procedures with their own rules – not the same thing as a chargeback in card business.

What your bank wants to see is almost always the same: a copy of the order with date and amount, the payment confirmation or the account statement showing the disputed entry, evidence that the goods never arrived, and documentation of your attempts to make contact. Screenshots are worth more than memories: a fake shop is often already offline by the time the dispute is processed, and the product page with its delivery promise then exists only in your screenshot.

Time is the second decisive factor. The deadlines do not start on the day you notice the fraud; they are tied to the transaction or to the agreed delivery date. Anyone who waits for months because the shop keeps offering excuses gives away precisely the window in which a chargeback would still have been possible. It therefore makes sense to set a firm grace period once the promised delivery date has passed and to file the dispute afterwards.

If the merchant objects, the case enters a second round. They may present proof of dispatch – in fraud cases often for a different, very light parcel sent to the same address to feign a delivery. In that situation it is worth pointing out that the weight or contents do not match the order. A chargeback is not automatic but a two-sided procedure – which makes a clean account from the outset all the more important.

A common misconception: a chargeback is not a cancellation of the purchase contract. If the goods do arrive after all once the money has been reversed, the obligation to pay remains – and the merchant may reclaim the amount. Anyone who initiated a reversal and then does receive a delivery should tell the bank proactively rather than let the matter rest.

Not every card is a credit card. Debit card payments technically often run over the same card networks and then have similar dispute routes; a classic German Girocard payment barely exists in online retail. When in doubt, what matters is not the label on the card but the card network logo on it – and your bank’s answer on which dispute option applies to your specific product.

With a classic bank transfer (advance payment) there is no chargeback procedure – once the money is credited to the recipient it is essentially gone. That is exactly why fake shops prefer advance payment over card payment: with a card payment they bear the risk of a reversal, with a transfer they do not. Anyone paying an unfamiliar shop by card therefore keeps a second line of defence that a transfer simply lacks.