Disputes & chargebacks

A customer can sometimes challenge a payment after it has already been completed.

For card payments, this process usually starts as a dispute with the customer’s card issuer. The issuer may then decide to initiate a chargeback, which reverses the card transaction through the card payment network.

ICEPAY notifies you when a dispute is opened. The dispute can then be reviewed and tracked in the ICEPAY Portal.

This page primarily covers card payments

The dispute process described here applies primarily to Visa and Mastercard payments.

Other payment methods can have different rules for reversals, returns, or customer claims.

Dispute or chargeback?

A dispute and a chargeback are related, but they are not the same thing.

Dispute

A cardholder challenges a card payment through their card issuer.

The issuer reviews the customer’s claim and determines what should happen next.

Chargeback

The card issuer reverses the debit for the cardholder and starts the chargeback process through the Visa or Mastercard network.

The card scheme then claims the disputed amount from ICEPAY.

A dispute does not necessarily mean that a chargeback has already occurred.

The card issuer first receives the customer’s dispute and may then decide to initiate a chargeback.

How the process works

A typical card dispute follows this process:

1. The customer disputes the payment

   The cardholder contacts their card issuer and challenges the payment.

2. The issuer reviews the dispute

   The card issuer reviews the customer’s claim and the payment.

3. A chargeback may be initiated

   If the issuer proceeds with a chargeback, the debit is reversed for the cardholder and the card scheme is notified.

4. ICEPAY is notified

   Visa or Mastercard forwards the chargeback through the card payment network to ICEPAY.

5. You are notified

   ICEPAY contacts you when a dispute is opened for one of your payments.

   The dispute is made available in the ICEPAY Portal.

6. Review the dispute in the Portal

   Open the dispute in the ICEPAY Portal and review the available information.

7. The dispute is handled

   Depending on the situation, the chargeback may be accepted or defended.

   The ICEPAY team will advise you on the appropriate next steps.

Disputes are managed in the ICEPAY Portal

The dispute workflow is the same whether you use the ICEPAY Portal, a ready-made e-commerce integration, or a custom Checkout API integration.

ICEPAY notifies you about the dispute, and the dispute itself is reviewed and tracked in the ICEPAY Portal.

How long can a customer dispute a payment?

For Visa and Mastercard payments, a cardholder can open a dispute with their card issuer for up to 180 days after the payment.

This means that a payment can already have been completed and settled for some time before a dispute is opened.

Completed payments can still be disputed

A completed payment is not protected from a later card dispute.

Payment completion describes the original payment lifecycle. A dispute or chargeback is a separate process that can occur afterwards.

View and track disputes

Ongoing disputes are managed through the ICEPAY Portal.

When a dispute is opened, ICEPAY notifies you so that you can review the case.

To view a dispute:

1. Sign in to the ICEPAY Portal

   Sign in with your ICEPAY User Account and select the ICEPAY Account that contains the payment.

2. Go to Disputes

   Open the Disputes section.

3. Select the dispute

   Use the Dispute Reference to open the case.

4. Review the information

   Check the available dispute and payment information.

5. Follow the dispute in the Portal

   Continue using the ICEPAY Portal to track the case until it has been resolved.

Contact the ICEPAY team before taking action

Do not take action using the controls within an open dispute before discussing the case with the ICEPAY team.

The ICEPAY team will advise you on the appropriate next steps for the dispute.

Matching a dispute to an order

Disputes are not automatically synchronised with your e-commerce platform or custom application.

There is currently no mechanism outside the ICEPAY Portal for automatically matching a dispute to an order or keeping the dispute state synchronised.

When ICEPAY notifies you about a dispute:

1. Open the dispute in the ICEPAY Portal

   Review the dispute and the associated payment information.

2. Identify the original payment

   Use the payment information available in the Portal to determine which payment the dispute belongs to.

3. Find the corresponding order

   Match the payment to the order in your store or internal system.

4. Update your own records if needed

   Add internal notes or update your customer-service records so the dispute is visible to the people handling the order.

5. Continue tracking the dispute in the Portal

   The ICEPAY Portal remains the place where the actual dispute is managed and followed.

This applies to every integration type

Using a ready-made integration or the Checkout API does not change how disputes are handled.

Payment integrations can synchronise the normal payment lifecycle, but they do not automatically synchronise disputes or chargebacks.

Always use the ICEPAY Portal to review and track an open dispute.

Defending a chargeback

Depending on the dispute, you can choose to defend a chargeback.

Defending a chargeback means challenging the reversal through the card payment process.

The ICEPAY team will advise you when a chargeback can be defended and how to proceed.

Follow the instructions for the individual dispute

The information required to handle a chargeback can differ between cases.

Use the information provided for the specific dispute and follow the guidance from ICEPAY rather than assuming every chargeback requires the same response.

Customer complaint or payment dispute?

A complaint from a customer is not automatically a payment dispute.

Customer complaint

The customer contacts your business about an order, delivery, refund, or another issue related to the purchase.

These issues should normally be handled by your own customer support team.

Payment dispute

The cardholder formally challenges the card transaction through their card issuer.

This starts the card scheme dispute process and can potentially result in a chargeback.

ICEPAY processes payments on behalf of merchants but is not a party to the agreement between the merchant and the customer.

Questions about an order, product, service, delivery, or an expected refund should therefore normally be handled between you and your customer first.

Resolve customer issues through your normal support process

If a customer contacts you about an order or payment, investigate the issue through your normal customer-service process.

A customer-service issue and a formal card dispute are separate processes.

How a chargeback affects the original payment

A chargeback happens after the original card payment.

The original payment lifecycle and the dispute process should therefore be considered separately.

For example, a card payment can move through the normal payment lifecycle and only become disputed later:

1. Card payment completed

   The original card payment completes successfully.

2. Payment settled

   The payment is settled according to the normal payment process.

3. Customer opens a dispute

   The cardholder challenges the payment through their card issuer.

4. Issuer reviews the dispute

   The issuer decides whether to initiate a chargeback.

5. Chargeback is reviewed

   The chargeback can be reviewed and, where applicable, defended.

6. Dispute is resolved

   The dispute process reaches its final outcome.

A payment being completed or settled does not prevent a cardholder from opening a later dispute within the applicable dispute period.

Payment status and dispute status are separate

A later dispute does not become part of the normal Checkout API payment lifecycle.

The original payment and the dispute should be treated as separate processes.

Financial impact

A chargeback can have a financial impact even when the original payment was already paid out.

When a chargeback is initiated, the card issuer reverses the customer’s debit and the card scheme claims the disputed amount through the payment network.

Your ICEPAY agreement can also include costs related to disputes.

If dispute-related costs apply, they can appear as payment-method costs on your ICEPAY invoice.

Costs depend on your agreement

The exact financial treatment and any dispute-related fees depend on your ICEPAY agreement.

Review your invoice and dispute details for the amounts that apply to your account.

Holdbacks and chargeback risk

Some payments can be subject to a holdback.

With a holdback, part of the payment amount is temporarily retained instead of being paid out immediately.

ICEPAY applies holdbacks to payment methods where chargeback risk can continue after the original payment, including:

• card payments;
• direct debit.

The held amount becomes available after the agreed holdback period has ended.

Why holdbacks can outlive the payment

A chargeback can still occur after the original payment has been completed.

This is why funds subject to a holdback are only released after the agreed holdback period has passed.

Disputes and your statements

Chargebacks can also appear in your financial reporting.

When exporting payments from an ICEPAY statement, the export can include:

• payments;
• refunds;
• chargebacks.

This makes the statement export useful when reconciling chargebacks with your accounting records.

Use statement exports for reconciliation

If you need a financial overview that includes chargebacks, use the export from the relevant ICEPAY statement rather than relying only on the Payments overview.

Disputes and integrations

The normal payment lifecycle can be handled through:

• the ICEPAY Portal;
• a ready-made e-commerce integration;
• a custom Checkout API integration.

Disputes work differently.

They are not automatically communicated through the normal payment integration or Checkout API workflow.

Notification

ICEPAY contacts you when a dispute is opened for one of your payments.

Management

Review, manage, and track the dispute in the ICEPAY Portal.

Matching

Use the payment information in the Portal to identify the corresponding order in your store or internal system.

Do not expect a dispute webhook or API update

The Checkout API and its payment webhooks synchronise the normal payment lifecycle.

They do not provide an automatic dispute-management or dispute-matching workflow.

Use the notification from ICEPAY and the ICEPAY Portal when a dispute occurs.

What to do when a dispute is opened

Regardless of how you integrated ICEPAY, follow the same process:

1. Review the notification from ICEPAY

   Confirm that a dispute has been opened and note the available dispute information.

2. Open the dispute in the ICEPAY Portal

   Use the dispute reference to review the case.

3. Identify the related payment and order

   Match the payment information from the Portal with the corresponding order in your store or internal system.

4. Contact the ICEPAY team before taking action

   Discuss the case with the ICEPAY team and follow the instructions provided for the dispute.

5. Update your internal records

   Link the dispute to the relevant order or support case in your system.

6. Track the dispute in the Portal

   Continue following the case in the ICEPAY Portal until it is resolved.

Continue reading

Refunds

Learn how to return all or part of a payment to a customer.

Payouts

Learn how card payments and other ICEPAY payment methods work.