Answer

A chargeback happens when your customer, the cardholder, contacts their credit card issuer to dispute a charge posted to their credit card. When this occurs, your customer's credit card issuer credits their account for a portion of or the entire purchase price. Consequently that amount gets deducted from your bank account pending resolution of the dispute. More often than not, credit card associations such as Visa and MasterCard tend to favor the consumer (your customer) in these disputes.

It's in your best interest to avoid chargebacks as they can be very costly for the merchant. For more information, visit our quick reference guide on chargebacks.

If a chargeback has been filed against you, you will receive a Debit Advice in the mail. This document contains information pertinent to the transaction that has been disputed by the cardholder. It also has information on what steps you should take in order to respond to the chargeback.