UA is Discover's main fraud reason for online sales. Discover produces fewer chargebacks than Visa or Mastercard, and merchants who ignore them lose by default. The evidence is the same as on the other card brands.
How it arrives
Discover, like Amex, is both the customer's bank and the card brand. The customer files with Discover, and Discover's own dispute team reviews your response. The notice, which carries the dispute reason (the code on your notice), comes through your payment company (Stripe, Shopify Payments and the like) or Discover's merchant portal. Respond before the date on that notice. Your payment company sets it, and it comes before the card network's own limit.
Discover runs two rounds: an initial response and a second submission. If your first response is rejected, you can send more evidence.
What the issuer is looking for
Discover asks whether the real customer was responsible for the sale.
- ProtectBuy. This is Discover's identity check at checkout. If it was used and the customer passed, responsibility moves away from you. Mention it. Fewer merchants use ProtectBuy than the other card brands' identity checks, so more Discover orders carry full liability for you.
- The billing-address check (AVS) and CVV2 matches. CVV2 is the security code on the card. Together they show the buyer knew the billing address and the printed code.
- A record of the buyer's device, the buyer's internet location, and session history.
- Prior orders. Earlier orders on the same Discover card to the same shipping address.
Common scenarios and the evidence for each
- Customer does not recognize a charge on a months-old statement. The full session history, the confirmation email the buyer received, and delivery to their billing address often resolve it.
- Buyer used the card, received the goods, then denied the charge. Login records to the buyer's account and any message after delivery.
- Family member placed the order. Discover generally holds the customer responsible for household orders. Show the order shipped to the customer's address and was kept.
- Account takeover. These are usually unwinnable. Issuing the refund is the better move.
If the claim is different
Discover uses RG for orders that never arrived and RM for quality disputes. Proof of delivery on a UA misses what Discover asked.
How we help
We draft UA responses on the same evidence as Visa 10.4 and Mastercard 4837, with Discover rule citations and your ProtectBuy result where it applies. Because the window is short and there are two rounds, we put UA cases first. If you have received one, your first response is free. Try free.
Common questions
Discover's main fraud reason for online and phone sales, with the same evidence the other card brands expect.
Official source: Discover rules. Last reviewed 11 May 2026.