The charge was collected too long after approval

Mastercard 4842 says you collected the payment too long after you got the bank's approval. The claim comes from the customer's bank, and the customer may have no complaint about the purchase.

How it arrives

Your payment company (Stripe, Shopify Payments and the like) sends a notice that names the dispute reason (the code on your notice), 4842, and the gap between the approval and the sale going through. Respond before the date on that notice. Your payment company sets it, and it comes before the card network's own limit. For most online sales the time allowed for collecting the payment is 7 calendar days from the approval, unless you qualify for an exception for delayed delivery.

What the issuer is looking for

The bank compares the time of the approval with the time the sale went through. If the gap exceeds the limit, you need to show one of two things. Either the sale qualified for a delayed-delivery exception, or the customer agreed at the time of sale to a longer wait for fulfilment.

If you ship stock you hold, a real gap usually has no defense. Pre-order, custom-made, hotel, and rental businesses may qualify for the exception if the original approval disclosed the delay.

Common scenarios and the evidence for each

• Pre-order or back-order collected weeks later. The checkout page showing the expected shipping date, and the customer's agreement to it. If checkout said nothing about timing, 4842 usually stands.
• Hotel charge posted after the guest left. Mastercard's lodging rules allow a specific tolerance. The case depends on whether you stayed within it.
• Your payment company had an outage that delayed collection. The payment company's records showing the cause.

How we help

4842 responses are short and turn on two timestamps. We draft them when the gap is defensible and tell you plainly when it is not. If you have received one, your first response is free. Try free.