When a customer files a chargeback on a Shopify Payments order, their bank pulls the disputed amount out of your account straight away, plus a chargeback fee ($15 USD in the United States). You then get a deadline, usually 7 to 21 days, to submit evidence from the order page in your admin. The card issuer reviews it, which can take up to 75 days, and makes a final decision. If you win, the money and the fee come back. If you lose, they do not, and there is no appeal.
Below: the admin steps, the evidence that fits each dispute reason, when to accept instead, and what a lost chargeback really costs.
The Shopify Payments chargeback timeline, based on Shopify’s Help Center as checked October 17, 2026.
Chargeback or inquiry: check which one you have
Shopify sorts disputes into two types, and they behave differently.
- Chargeback. The cardholder’s bank takes the disputed amount and the chargeback fee from your store immediately. You cannot refund the order through Shopify while it is open.
- Inquiry. The bank asks questions first. No money and no fee are taken. If the inquiry closes in your favour, nothing else happens. If it closes in the customer’s favour, it can escalate into a full chargeback, and only then are the amount and fee debited.
The difference matters because an inquiry still gives you a cheap exit. Shopify says that if you issue a full refund on an inquiry, the cardholder cannot start a chargeback. A partial refund does not give you that protection. Stripe’s documentation adds that inquiries are used most often by American Express and Discover, and that Visa and Mastercard no longer use this phase, so on most card orders you will go straight to a chargeback.
What happens to your money
On Shopify Payments the disputed amount comes out of your next available payout. If your balance does not cover it, Shopify debits your bank account directly in countries such as the US, Canada and the UK, outside your normal payout schedule. In other countries the amount is taken from future payouts until it is covered.
The chargeback fee is charged by the cardholder’s bank and varies by country. A few examples from Shopify’s fee table:
United States $15 USD
Canada $15 CAD or $15 USD
United Kingdom £10 GBP
Australia $25 AUD
Most eurozone countries €15 EUR
Shopify Payments chargeback fees, from Shopify’s chargeback process page, checked October 17, 2026.Shopify’s process page says the fee is returned if you win. Its overview page is a little more cautious and says Shopify might refund the fee depending on your country or region, so check the fee line on the order once the case closes. The amount itself can also shift slightly if the sale involved currency conversion.
If you take payments through a third-party provider instead of Shopify Payments, that provider runs the dispute and sets the fees. Stripe, for example, says its dispute received fee is non-refundable for businesses outside Mexico, even when you win.
Respond in Shopify admin: the exact steps
Shopify emails chargeback notices to your store contact email, so first confirm that address under Settings > Store details is one somebody reads. Then, as documented on October 17, 2026:
- Go to Orders. To see every open case, click Search and filter, then Add filter, choose Chargeback and inquiry status and select Open.
- Open the disputed order and click Add evidence in the chargeback banner.
- Read the reason and, if the bank provided it, the issuer claim in the chargeback details. This is the customer’s side of the story, and your evidence should answer it directly.
- Add your explanation and upload evidence. Your progress saves automatically.
- Either click Submit now, or leave it. If you do not submit early, Shopify sends what you have saved to the card company on the due date.
The file rules catch people out. Shopify accepts PDF, JPEG or PNG only. Each file must be under 2 MB and all files together under 4 MB. PDFs must be PDF/A compliant and under 50 pages. Do not include audio, video, external links or requests for the bank to call you. Upload one file per evidence type.
Two hard limits. Once you submit early, you cannot edit the evidence. And once the deadline passes, Shopify says you cannot add anything, with no exceptions. Deadlines show in your store’s time zone, and if no time is shown the cut-off is 11:59 PM on that date.
Evidence that fits each dispute reason
The reason code tells you what the bank will be checking. Sending everything you have is less useful than sending the documents that answer that one claim.
Fraudulent “I did not make this purchase.” Fulfillment date and time, billing details, IP address and country, shipping and tracking
Unrecognized “I do not recognize this charge.” Same as fraudulent; ask the customer to contact their bank if they now recognize it
Product not received “It never arrived.” Fulfillment date and time, billing details, tracking; for digital goods, an access log. Shopify uploads a PDF of fulfillment events automatically
Product unacceptable “It was damaged, defective or not as described.” Tracking, product descriptions or photos that match the listing, and proof if the customer never tried to return it or you sent a replacement
Credit not processed “I returned it and was not refunded.” Refund and return policies, proof of when the customer saw them, related emails, and why no refund was due
Subscription canceled “I was charged after canceling.” Cancellation policy, cancellation emails, when the customer was told; for digital products, use after the cancel date
Duplicate “I was charged twice.” Receipts showing separate products, and an explanation. If you did charge twice, accept
Summarized from Shopify’s “Reasons for a chargeback or inquiry” page, checked October 17, 2026. Shopify also lists a general category for disputes that fit none of these.Fraud claims and “not received” claims tend to be won or lost on the same thing: whether you can show the order went to the address the cardholder gave, with tracking that proves delivery. If you sell anything valuable without signature confirmation, that is the gap to close. For the pattern where a real customer disputes a real purchase, see our guide to friendly fraud and what merchants can do about it.
When the customer changes their mind
Sometimes a quick email solves it. The customer forgot the purchase, did not recognize your store name on their statement, or got the parcel after all. Shopify’s guidance for this case is specific:
- Ask the customer to contact their bank and cancel the dispute.
- Ask them to get an official withdrawal letter from the bank. A screenshot of a bank statement does not count. The letter needs the bank’s letterhead, the case number, the original charge date and amount, your business name, and confirmation that the chargeback was canceled and the funds returned to you.
- Upload the letter as evidence before the deadline. Shopify is clear that you should still submit evidence even when the customer says they have dropped it.
- Wait. Banks can take 30 to 90 days or more to update the case.
- Only refund the order after the chargeback is resolved. Refunding earlier is not possible on an open chargeback, and you would risk paying twice.
When to accept the chargeback instead
If the customer is right, accept it. You charged twice, you billed after a cancellation, or the parcel really is lost. To accept, open the order and click Accept chargeback in the banner, then Submit. Shopify notes that accepting returns the money to the customer and you do not get the fee back.
For close calls, it helps to see the decision as simple maths. Whether you accept or fight and lose, you are out the order amount plus the fee. Fighting only adds your time. So the question is whether your chance of winning is high enough to pay for that time.
We modelled it. Suppose a response takes you about 30 minutes and you value that time at $40 an hour, so $20. If you win, you recover the order amount plus the $15 US fee. The win chance you need to break even is $20 divided by that total.
Hypothetical model. Break-even win chance equals $20 of time divided by the order value plus the $15 US fee.
For a $300 order you only need about a 6% chance of winning to justify half an hour of work, so fight almost anything you can document. For a $25 order you need even odds, so only fight when the evidence is strong, such as a signed delivery to the billing address. Change the inputs to match your own time and order values; the formula is the same.
Two things the model leaves out. Every dispute counts toward your chargeback rate whether you win or lose, so fighting does not protect your account health. And repeat disputes from the same customer or the same pattern are a prevention problem, not a response problem.
What a lost chargeback really costs
The disputed amount is only part of it. Here is a hypothetical $80 order on the Shopify Basic plan in the US, where the online card rate is 2.9% + 30¢ according to Shopify’s pricing page on October 17, 2026.
Order value $80.00
Product cost (assumed) $28.00
Shipping you paid (assumed) $9.00
Processing fee (2.9% + 30¢) $2.62
Profit if the sale stands $40.38
Chargeback fee if you lose $15.00
Out of pocket after a lost chargeback (product, shipping, processing, fee) $54.62
Swing from expected profit to actual loss $95.00
Normal orders needed just to earn back the loss 1.35
Hypothetical example built by E-commerce Partners. We assume the original processing fee is not returned and the goods are not recovered; Shopify’s chargeback pages do not say either way for processing fees.So one lost $80 dispute wipes out the profit on more than one other order. If you run ads, the cost per acquisition you paid for that sale is gone too, which pushes the real number higher. Our break-even ROAS guide shows how to fold losses like this into the return you need from ad spend, and our Shopify fees breakdown covers the other costs on every order.
Why your chargeback rate matters more than one case
Shopify calculates your chargeback rate from all disputes filed, not just the ones you lose, and winning does not remove a case from the count. You can see it under Settings > Payments in the Chargeback monitoring section, or in the Chargeback rate report under Analytics > Reports.
Shopify does not publish a single “too high” number on that page, but it says a high rate can lead to a reserve on your payouts or enrollment in its network dispute resolution program. In that program, eligible disputes are refunded to the customer automatically, you cannot contest them, you still pay a fee per dispute ($15 USD in the US), and Shopify says a 10% reserve is applied to your payouts. Stores with a rate of 1.5% or higher over 90 days can be enrolled automatically, and to exit, the rate must stay below 1.00% for 30 consecutive days.
Card networks also run their own monitoring programs, so preventing a dispute is worth more than winning one.
Cutting the number of chargebacks you get
- Review high-risk orders before shipping. Shopify’s fraud analysis flags risky orders, and Shopify suggests canceling those you believe are fraudulent to avoid a later dispute.
- Use Shopify Protect where it applies. Shopify Protect for Shop Pay is free and covers fraudulent and unrecognized chargebacks on eligible Shop Pay orders. On a protected order you do not need to respond; Shopify credits the amount and fee back to you. It does not cover “not received” or “not as described” claims.
- Make your billing name recognizable. Unrecognized charges are their own dispute category. A statement descriptor that matches your store name removes an easy reason to call the bank.
- Answer support emails fast. A customer who cannot reach you has one obvious alternative: their bank. A visible contact page and a plain-language return policy give them another route.
- Ship with tracking, and signatures on expensive orders. It is the evidence you will need later.
- Watch for card testing. Bursts of small failed or approved payments are a sign someone is checking stolen cards on your checkout, and approved ones can turn into fraud disputes later. Our guide to stopping card testing bots explains the signs.
Common mistakes
- Refunding during an open chargeback by another route, such as sending money through PayPal. You can end up paying the customer twice.
- Trusting the customer’s word that it is dropped. Without the bank’s withdrawal letter in your evidence, the case can still go against you.
- Missing the deadline because notices go to an old inbox.
What you should check next
- Confirm your store contact email under Settings > Store details.
- Filter Orders by Chargeback and inquiry status: Open, and note each due date.
- Check your chargeback rate under Settings > Payments.
- Decide your fight-or-accept rule using your own order values and time cost.
- Review your high-risk order process and whether Shop Pay orders are getting Shopify Protect.
Frequently asked questions
How long does a customer have to file a chargeback?
Shopify’s pages do not give a single window. Stripe’s documentation says card networks typically allow cardholders to dispute within 120 days of the payment, with longer windows in some cases, such as purchases for a future event where the clock starts on the event date.
Does Shopify decide who wins?
No. Shopify says the bank or card company makes the decision, Shopify cannot overturn it, and there is no appeal.
Can I contact the customer during a chargeback?
Yes. Shopify recommends talking to the customer to resolve the issue. If they agree to drop it, they must cancel with their bank and you should upload the bank’s withdrawal letter as evidence.
What if my store is closed or paused?
You still receive chargeback emails. Shopify says you need to log in through the email link and pay for a plan to reopen the store before you can submit evidence.
Does winning remove the chargeback from my record?
Not from your chargeback rate. Shopify counts disputes filed, not outcomes, and says card networks and processors look at chargeback activity even when you win.
The takeaway
A Shopify chargeback takes the money first and asks questions later. Respond inside the deadline with evidence that answers the specific reason, accept the cases you would lose anyway, and put most of your effort into the fraud checks and customer service that stop disputes before they start.
Sources
- Shopify Help Center, “Chargebacks and inquiries”. help.shopify.com
- Shopify Help Center, “Overview of the chargeback and inquiry process” (timelines, fee table, insufficient funds). help.shopify.com
- Shopify Help Center, “Managing chargebacks in the Shopify admin”. help.shopify.com
- Shopify Help Center, “Reasons for a chargeback or inquiry”. help.shopify.com
- Shopify Help Center, “Resolving a chargeback or inquiry”. help.shopify.com
- Shopify Help Center, “Monitoring your store’s chargebacks” and “Network dispute resolution programs”. help.shopify.com and help.shopify.com
- Shopify Help Center, “Shopify Protect for Shop Pay” and “Addressing chargebacks with Shopify Protect”. help.shopify.com
- Shopify, “Pricing” (US plan card rates). shopify.com
- Stripe Docs, “How disputes work”. docs.stripe.com
Last reviewed: October 17, 2026. Fees, deadlines and admin paths match Shopify’s Help Center and pricing page as checked on that date.
How this article was made: researched and drafted with AI assistance, with every factual claim checked against the sources above. The $80 order example and the break-even win chance chart are hypothetical models with stated assumptions, not observed store data.
Related guides
- Friendly fraud is rising. Now what?
- Shopify let AI agents check out. You eat the dispute
- E-commerce security checklist for small stores
- What ROAS do you need to break even?
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