Installment disputes are decided by Affirm, not the card issuer. The customer disputes with Affirm (or their card issuer disputes the individual installment — rarer), Affirm investigates against its own merchant rules, and the loss allocation follows Affirm's policies. Evidence still wins: delivery proof and order documentation work the same, but deadlines and submission run through the Shopify admin's dispute flow with BNPL-specific handling.
How an installment dispute flows
Two paths:
- Customer → Affirm directly (most common): Affirm opens an inquiry, requests your records, and adjudicates under its merchant agreement. You respond through the dispute surfaced in Shopify.
- Customer → their card issuer (disputing an individual installment payment): a standard card chargeback lands on Affirm, and Affirm passes the dispute to you.
Either way your response is evidence-based, and non-response is an automatic loss — same as card disputes.
Evidence that matters
BNPL disputes skew heavily toward not-received and not-as-described (the customer chose installments deliberately — stolen-card fraud is rarer because BNPL runs its own identity checks at approval).
So the winning packet is the consumer-dispute stack: carrier tracking + POD, the listing as sold, fulfillment timeline, and customer communications. Affirm's identity verification actually helps you — 'I didn't authorize this' claims are weak when the buyer passed a BNPL credit check with their own identity.
BNPL-specific prevention
- AOV creep: installments raise order values ~30–50%; a dispute costs proportionally more. Weight your review rules by amount.
- Buyer's remorse velocity: BNPL lowers purchase friction, which raises remorse-driven disputes on day 10–20. Frictionless returns are the pressure valve.
- Note: Shop Pay Installments orders are not automatically Shopify-Protect-covered like standard Shop Pay fraud claims — check eligibility per order.
Aurai handles installment disputes in the same automated flow as card disputes — detection, evidence, submission — so the payment method doesn't change your workload.
Frequently asked questions
Who decides a Shop Pay Installments dispute?
Affirm adjudicates disputes filed with it directly, under its merchant rules. Card-issuer disputes on individual installments follow card-network rules and pass through Affirm to you.
Do BNPL orders have more fraud?
Less stolen-card fraud (BNPL identity checks catch it) but more remorse-driven consumer disputes, because installments lower purchase friction.
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.