Skip to main content

Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://www.cashfree.com/docs/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

This page answers common questions about handling disputes and chargebacks, including dispute types, response procedures, documentation requirements, and deadlines.
A dispute is a situation in which there is a disagreement for a particular transaction that is initiated by your customer with the issuing bank or with Cashfree Payments directly. Your customers can also go to cyber cells to report fraudulent transactions. Suspicious transaction disputes are often initiated directly by banks.As a merchant, you can either defend the dispute by providing sufficient evidence or accept the dispute if you agree with the claim. When you accept the dispute, the amount will be refunded to the customer.Read more on disputes in the Disputes Overview.
In Cashfree Payments, disputes can be of the following types:
  • Dispute: End-customer complaints, fraudulent or suspicious transactions reported by law enforcement authorities and banks are raised as disputes.
  • Retrieval: These are soft chargebacks that occur even before we receive an actual chargeback.
  • Chargeback: A chargeback is a type of dispute raised on a transaction by the customer. It’s a refund request that is demanded through their bank.
  • Pre-arbitration: This is the second level of chargeback.
  • Arbitration: This is the final stage of the chargeback.
Read more on the various dispute types in Dispute Types.
  • Retrieval: These are soft chargebacks that occur even before an actual chargeback is received. They are raised when your customer raises a query with their issuing bank on the transaction.
  • Chargeback: If your customer feels that the transaction was not done by them, they can raise a chargeback on top of the retrieval request. Chargebacks can be raised directly without going through the retrieval state.
  • Pre-arbitration: The second level of chargeback. Your customer has a limited period of time within which they should respond on whether they are disputing the transaction further or not after reviewing the documents shared by you at the chargeback level.
  • Arbitration: The final stage of the chargeback. Your customer has a limited period of time within which they should respond on whether they are disputing the transaction further or not after reviewing the documents shared by you at the pre-arbitration stage. Both parties submit their documents, and the card networks or NPCI takes the final decision on the dispute, depending on the payment mode.
In Cashfree Payments, disputes can be in the following states:
  • Action Required: This indicates that the dispute has been created, and action needs to be taken from your end. If the evidence submitted by you is found insufficient, the disputes will be visible under the Action Required section.
  • Under Review: This indicates that you have submitted the documents, and Cashfree Payments has forwarded your documents to the concerned authorities.
  • Closed (Merchant Won): This indicates that the authorities or customer accepts the documents, and you win the dispute.
  • Closed (Merchant Lost): This status indicates that the proofs submitted are rejected by the concerned authorities or customer, and you have lost the dispute.
  • Merchant Accepted: This status indicates you have accepted the dispute raised by your customer.
Read more on the various dispute states in Dispute States.
Your customer can raise a pre-arbitration or an arbitration, even for a chargeback (first-level) that is closed as Merchant Won.
Disputes can hurt your business as they damage your reputation, cost you money, and disrupt your operations.A high number of disputes often indicates that your customers are not satisfied and something needs to be improved in your business’s operations, products, or services. It can also lead to card networks labelling your business as high-risk and holding remittances for your business.
Dispute reason helps you identify and categorise all the various disputes. Customers can raise disputes for various reasons, some of which are:
  • If you deliver a poor-quality product and it does not meet the expectation
  • If you have delivered the wrong product
  • If you levy extra charges for your services
  • If you haven’t delivered the product
  • Billing errors
  • If it’s a fraudulent transaction (unauthorised transaction)
Read more on dispute reasons in Reason Codes.
You will be notified about disputes through emails or webhooks. Read more about notifications in Dispute Notifications.
There are two actions that you can take when a dispute is raised:
  • Accept the dispute if you agree with the dispute claim, and the amount will be refunded to the customer.
  • Challenge the dispute with the required documents.
The dispute will be ruled in favour of the customer if you don’t respond to the dispute.
All the disputes where action needs to be taken can be found on the Disputes page under the Action Required tab.
  1. Log in to the Merchant Dashboard.
  2. Go to Payment Gateway > Transactions > Disputes > Action Required > Take Action > Upload Documents.
Documents required:
Document nameDescription
Delivery or Service ProofProof that the cardholder or customer did, in fact, receive the goods or services, such as a signed delivery confirmation.
Shipping ProofProof that the address was validated via authorisation and goods were shipped to that address.
Statement of ServiceAccount statement of wallet where funds were loaded by customer.
Proof of Service UsedCustomer acknowledgement of services used in case of a recurring transaction.
Cancellation of Service ProofDocument to support that you were able to provide the merchandise or service and that the cardholder or customer cancelled prior to the delivery date.
Refund ProofRefund details to the customer if done via any other mode.
Business model explanationGeneric letter elaborating how the merchant’s business operates once a payment is made by the customer.
Extra Charges DeclarationTerms and conditions stating that the customer would be held accountable for extra charges.
Terms and ConditionsTerms and conditions elaborating refund or cancellation policies of the merchant.
Customer Withdrawal LetterProof stating that the cardholder or customer no longer disputes the transaction, or the issue was resolved with the customer.
Certificate of AuthenticityOriginal purchase receipts issued by the manufacturer that show the products you have sold are genuine.
Reseller AgreementA legal document that authorises you to sell the manufacturer’s products.
Whenever a dispute is created, Cashfree debits merchants with the disputed amount, as banks debit Cashfree Payments on behalf of the merchant to provide provisional credit to the customer. You will get the amount back depending on the dispute result. If the dispute is closed in your favour, the amount will be returned. Otherwise, it will be credited to your customer.
Multiple disputes occur when there are partial disputes created on a transaction. For example, if the transaction amount was Rs. 100, and the customer has raised a dispute for Rs. 30 initially for a product, the remaining amount of Rs. 70 would be eligible for creating disputes later at some point in time.
The following are the representation deadlines given to merchants depending on the type of dispute:
Dispute typeDeadline
Disputes3 calendar days. In some special cases, for real-time fraudulent transaction disputes, a 1-day deadline is given.
Retrieval3 calendar days
Chargeback3 calendar days
Pre-arbitration2 calendar days
Arbitration1 calendar day