Shopify notifies you, but doesn't fight for you. When a cardholder disputes a Shopify Payments charge, the amount plus a $15 fee leaves your balance immediately. You get 7–21 days to submit evidence in the admin; the card issuer — not Shopify — decides the outcome over the following 30–75 days. Merchants who submit structured, reason-code-specific evidence win 60–80% of physical-goods disputes. Merchants who submit nothing lose 100%.
The Shopify chargeback lifecycle
- Cardholder disputes the charge with their bank.
- Shopify withdraws the disputed amount + $15 fee from your next payout (fee refunds if you win).
- A dispute card appears in your Shopify admin with the reason code and a due date — usually 7–21 days out.
- You submit evidence (or don't).
- The card issuer reviews for 30–75 days and rules. The decision is final — no appeal inside Shopify.
Critically, Shopify is a messenger here. It passes your evidence to the processor, but takes no position and adds nothing. The quality of what you submit is entirely on you.
How to respond (by reason)
Match evidence to the reason code:
- Fraudulent / unrecognized — AVS+CVV match, IP and device data, delivery to the AVS address, prior orders from the same customer. See Visa 10.4.
- Product not received — carrier tracking with delivered status, POD photo, shipping-notification email. See Visa 13.1.
- Not as described — the product listing as it looked on the order date, QC records, your return policy, plus the fact the customer never attempted a return. See Visa 13.3.
- Subscription canceled — signup T&Cs, cancellation logs showing no request, post-charge usage. See Visa 13.2.
Lead with a 3-sentence cover narrative; keep the whole packet under 10 pages. Issuer analysts spend about a minute per case.
When to automate
Manual response works below ~5 disputes/month. Past that, deadlines start slipping — and a missed deadline is an automatic loss.
Aurai connects to your store in about two minutes, detects each Shopify Payments dispute, builds the reason-code-specific evidence automatically (including carrier proof-of-delivery images), and submits before the deadline. Pricing is 25% of won disputes only — no monthly fee. Install it from the Shopify App Store and it handles the next dispute end to end.
Frequently asked questions
How long do I have to respond to a Shopify chargeback?
7–21 days, shown on the dispute card in your admin. Miss it and you lose automatically.
Does Shopify fight chargebacks for me?
No. Shopify forwards your evidence to the processor but doesn't build your case or influence the outcome — the card issuer decides.
Is the $15 chargeback fee refundable?
Yes — Shopify refunds the fee if you win the dispute.
Post reflects public documentation, industry surveys, and Aurai's own book of disputes as of the publish date. Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, Stripe, PayPal, and Shopify are trademarks of their respective owners; Aurai is independent and not endorsed by any of them. Network rules change — always verify current official rules before acting on any specific tactic.