Customer says they didn't make the online purchase

Respond by the due date on the notice from your payment company. Stripe and Shopify say it usually falls 7 to 21 days after the dispute is filed, and a late response loses whatever it contains.

What the issuer is looking for

The bank wants to know whether the real cardholder made the purchase or benefited from it. Many did, and those cases are winnable.

If the bank verified the buyer with 3D Secure at checkout, say so first. Visa's dispute guidelines name an authenticated sale as a valid response to a 10.4.

Visa Compelling Evidence 3.0 can also settle the case, and 10.4 is the only code it covers. You need 2 earlier undisputed transactions on the same card, made 120 to 365 days before the dispute. Each must share at least 2 data points with the disputed sale, and one of them must be the IP address, device ID or device fingerprint. The other can be the account login or the delivery address. Those records must have been saved when each order was placed. When the conditions are met, Visa puts the liability on the bank.

Evidence that wins, by what you sold

Physical goods

• Decisive: AVS (billing address) and CVV (security code) matches on the order.
• Helps: delivery to the cardholder's billing address, with tracking.
• Helps: an IP address or device that placed earlier orders the customer kept.

Digital goods

• Decisive: AVS and CVV matches on the order.
• Helps: download, login or usage records tied to the buyer's account.
• Helps: the same device or IP address as the buyer's earlier sessions.

Subscriptions

• Decisive: AVS and CVV matches on the first payment.
• Helps: the signup record showing the terms the customer accepted.
• Helps: logins and usage in the billing periods since.
• Helps: earlier renewals on the same card, paid without dispute. Visa lets them count toward Compelling Evidence 3.0 using the IP address from the original signup.

What not to do

You cannot refund the charge to make the dispute go away. Stripe and Shopify block refunds once a chargeback is open, and the disputed amount has already left your balance. Proof of delivery to an address that differs from the billing address can read as fraud unless you explain it. Leave out your returns policy, which answers a different claim. Don't call the cardholder a liar; give the bank the data and let it reach the conclusion.

Get your response

Sign up with your business email, then forward the 10.4 notice from that address to forward@representments.com. Your first response is free. It comes back as a Word document within 48 hours, written for this code, the issuing bank and your business, and you submit it through your payment company yourself. Try free.