Curbside or BOPIS pickup chargeback: what proof does Visa accept?

In a curbside or BOPIS pickup chargeback, Visa treats an order placed online and collected at your store as card-absent. Its rules name the proof it accepts: the cardholder's signature on a pick-up form, a copy or details of the ID shown, or a PIN or collection code given at handover.

Is a pickup order card-present or card-absent?

Visa classes an order placed online and collected at the merchant location as a card-absent transaction, even though the handover happens face to face. A customer orders a $220 coffee machine on your site, drives to the store, and a staff member carries it to the boot of the car.

Three weeks later the customer's bank files a dispute saying the purchase was never authorised, or that nothing was received. Visa's card-absent dispute rules decide that case. Check whether your pickup orders are logged as online orders, so you know which rules apply.

What proof does Visa accept for a pickup?

Visa's table of allowable compelling evidence lists three items for card-absent transactions where merchandise is collected from the merchant location:

• the cardholder's signature on the pick-up form;
• a copy of the identification presented;
• details of that identification.

For not-received disputes, the 13.1 response rules separately accept a pick-up document with acknowledgment from the cardholder or an authorised person, such as a signature, a PIN or a collection code. Code 13.1 is Visa's reason code for goods the cardholder says never arrived.

The collection code is the opening for curbside retailers, since a curbside handover often has no signature and a store may not check ID for a coffee machine. A one-time code the customer received by email or text at checkout and read out at handover, logged with the time and the staff member's initials, falls inside the category Visa names. A store that logs nothing at handover has no pick-up document, and an order confirmation alone does not show who walked out with the goods.

How long can the customer dispute a pickup order?

The issuer has 120 days for a fraud claim, and a not-received claim can run from the pickup date instead. The fraud claim, code 10.4 for card-absent fraud, is open to the issuer for 120 calendar days from the processing date. The not-received claim, 13.1, runs 120 days from the processing date or from the last date the cardholder expected delivery, capped at 540 days from processing.

A pickup order has an obvious expected date, the slot the customer chose. A 13.1 dispute can therefore reach a merchant months after the fraud window has closed. Save the records for both together, and keep them past 540 days if the order was large.

What changed in April 2026?

Since 18 April 2026, the issuer must show it looked at your pickup evidence. For dispute responses processed on or after that date that include proof the merchandise was collected, the issuer must certify that it reviewed the information with the cardholder and must address it, for example the signature itself.

That makes a legible signature, a clear ID record or a coded handover worth more than it was a year ago. For the fraud version of the dispute, Visa's Compelling Evidence 3.0 gives a second route that does not depend on the handover: two prior undisputed transactions on the same card, processed more than 120 days and not more than 365 days before the dispute. From 24 October 2026, Visa extends that framework so prior transactions at other merchants can count. The fraud rules are on the Visa 10.4 card-absent fraud code page.

Stripe's guidance adds two details. Proof of delivery must show the full address, so a pickup record should state that the goods were collected at the store address, and signed receipts count as proof the cardholder authorised the payment.

Takeaway: what to do this week

1. Capture one named item at every handover. Take a signature, an ID record or a collection code, as Visa lists them.
2. Attach it to the order. Store it in the system you already use, with the store address and the name of the staff member who handed over the goods.
3. Keep pickup records past 540 days for large orders. A not-received claim can be filed up to 540 days after processing.

Sources: Visa Core Rules and Visa Product and Service Rules, edition 18 April 2026, Table 11-6 Allowable Compelling Evidence item 2, Dispute Condition 13.1 and Table 11-94, Table 11-29, Table 11-92, Table 11-28 and Summary of Changes; Stripe Docs, "How disputes work", Dispute fees; Stripe Docs, "Dispute evidence best practices". All checked 24 October 2026.