The first chargeback arrives as an email that looks like any other notification, except it has already cost money. The disputed amount has been pulled from your merchant account and a $15 dispute fee charged. The deadline at the bottom is counted in business days from a date the email does not clearly state. Most merchants lose the first one because the email was treated as an annoyance and the clock ran out before anyone wrote a reply.
Start with the deadline. Visa's rule books give merchants 30 days to respond, but payment companies set their own cut-offs inside that window so they can pass the reply on. Stripe and Shopify Payments both say a response is usually due within 7 to 21 days. Adyen has had a 9-day window since 21 July 2025. Most cases are won or lost in the first week, and the decisions that matter are made on day one.
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Next, read the dispute reason (the code on your notice). Each major code needs its own evidence. A 13.1 (merchandise not received) turns on delivery records and the AVS (the billing-address check) result on the original payment. A 10.4 (other fraud, online or phone sale) turns on prior purchases, a record of the buyer's device, and account login history. An 11.3 (no authorization) turns on the record of the bank approving the payment. Evidence for the wrong code loses to the customer's bank and its structured questionnaire, however much paperwork is attached.
Then decide whether the case is worth fighting. If the customer is right, or the amount is small and your records are thin, accept the chargeback and move on. A refund is not an option at this point: payment companies such as Stripe and Shopify block refunds while a dispute is open. Most disputes fall in between: a real customer, a real order, a real delivery, and an outcome that depends on whether you assembled the records in time.
Draft your reply on day one or two. Auto-submit in most payment company dashboards produces templated responses, and clerks at the bank who read dozens of replies a day recognize them at a glance. Those win at lower rates than a custom reply written for the specific case.
A first chargeback is the moment you find out whether your business has a process for handling them.
For the short version, see what to do first when you get a chargeback.