Dispute Management(Chargeback)

Customer guide for formal dispute response, decision, and funds handling.

Purpose

Dispute Management is for formal disputes that have already been created. It is separate from an early Dispute Alert and from an RDR prevention result.

Merchants can review the case amount, reason, response deadline, case status, and response status. For supported cases, the merchant can accept the dispute or upload evidence and submit a response.

Case Status

`status`	Meaning
`pending`	No final decision has been received
`won`	The merchant won the case
`lost`	The merchant lost the case

Response Status

`response_status`	Meaning	Merchant action
`needs_response`	Waiting for merchant response	Accept the dispute, or upload evidence and respond
`responded`	A response has been submitted	Wait for the provider decision
`accepted`	The merchant accepted the dispute and waived defense	Wait for final provider confirmation
`no_response_allowed`	No further response is permitted	Evidence and response submission are unavailable
`unknown`	The provider response state cannot currently be confirmed	Refresh the status or contact support

The portal enables response actions only when:

status = pending; and

response_status = needs_response.

Option 1: Accept the Dispute

Accepting a dispute means that the merchant waives the defense.

TrustPay sends the acceptance to a channel that supports online dispute actions.

response_status becomes accepted.

The case may remain pending until the provider confirms the final result.

The final result will normally become lost.

Evidence and response submission should not continue after acceptance.

Option 2: Submit Evidence

When the merchant believes the transaction is valid:

Prepare evidence before the respond_by deadline.

Upload the evidence files.

Wait until at least one file is uploaded successfully.

Submit the response.

Monitor the final provider decision.

Current evidence limits:

maximum 8 files;

maximum 2 MB per file;

supported formats: JPG, JPEG, PNG, PDF;

at least one successful evidence file is required before submission;

evidence cannot be added after submission while the case awaits a final decision.

Recommended evidence includes:

order and transaction details;

cardholder authorization;

delivery confirmation;

service usage records;

refund and cancellation policy;

customer communications.

Current Channel Scope

Online acceptance, evidence upload, response submission, and provider synchronization currently apply to supported C24 Finix cases.

C21 cases imported from reports are confirmed losses and enter:

status = lost;

response_status = no_response_allowed.

Those C21 cases do not support online defense.

Funds Handling

The debit timing depends on the channel.

C24 Real-Time Formal Dispute

When the case is created, TrustPay:

holds the dispute principal;

charges the configured dispute processing fee;

creates a processing dispute-refund placeholder.

The placeholder represents funds awaiting a final decision. It is not another card refund and does not create a duplicate debit.

C21 Report-Confirmed Dispute

TrustPay deducts the dispute principal and configured processing fee when the imported case is confirmed as lost.

Final Decision

Result	Funds handling
`won`	Return the previously deducted dispute principal and roll back the placeholder. The dispute processing fee is not returned.
`lost`	Confirm the dispute loss. If funds were already held at case creation, the principal is not deducted again. The placeholder completes as `success`.

Normal Refund Restriction

A normal refund is blocked while the order dispute projection is:

chargeback_pending; or

chargeback_lost.

This prevents a merchant refund and a dispute debit from returning the same transaction twice.

Formal Dispute Callback

Formal dispute lifecycle notifications use:

type = 4;

dispute_status = chargeback_pending / chargeback_lost / chargeback_won;

dispute_id;

response_status;

expiration_date;

dispute_fee;

balance_amount.

See Formal Dispute Callback for the independent callback contract and examples.

Dispute Enums

Formal Dispute Callback

Dispute Alert

Dispute Prevention (RDR)

Dispute Management(Chargeback)

Purpose#

Case Status#

Response Status#

Option 1: Accept the Dispute#

Option 2: Submit Evidence#

Current Channel Scope#

Funds Handling#

C24 Real-Time Formal Dispute#

C21 Report-Confirmed Dispute#

Final Decision#

Normal Refund Restriction#

Formal Dispute Callback#

Related Documents#