What a chargeback notification contains
- The transaction: date, amount, order or reference number
- The card scheme and the reason code
- The disputed amount, which may be only part of the sale
- The deadline for the merchant's response
- Any documents the issuer attached
The notification arrives by webhook, by email or in the provider's dashboard, and the amount is normally debited at the same moment.
How the deadline in a chargeback notification works
The scheme sets the acquirer's time limit, and the acquirer gives the merchant less, to leave itself time to check and submit the evidence. In the Visa Core Rules of 18 April 2026 an acquirer has 30 calendar days from the dispute's processing date to respond. In Mastercard's Chargeback Guide of 13 May 2025 it has 45 calendar days for a second presentment.
A merchant that misses the provider's deadline is treated as having accepted the chargeback, whatever evidence it holds.
Why it matters to a PSP
A PSP or payment facilitator receives chargebacks from its acquirer in files or through an API, matches each one to a sub-merchant and a transaction, and notifies that merchant at once. Slow or missing notifications turn winnable disputes into losses, so platforms treat each notification as an event with its own audit trail.
Chargeback notification or pre-dispute alert?
- Pre-dispute alert
- Arrives before a chargeback exists, and lets the merchant refund to avoid one. A chargeback notification reports a chargeback already filed.
- Retrieval request
- An issuer's request for information about a transaction, with no money moved. A chargeback notification comes with a debit.
Where a chargeback notification shows up in a platform
Modules that do the work
- NotificationsEmail, SMS, push and in-app messages in your brand, through the providers you choose.
- Card acquiringCard acceptance on the phone, in store and online, through the acquirer you choose.
- BackofficeOne console to run the platform: customers, money, risk, content and staff permissions.
Platforms that need it
Where it is written
The laws and standards this page's facts come from.
- Visa Core Rules and Visa Product and Service Rules, 18 April 2026 (Visa)
- Mastercard Chargeback Guide, Merchant Edition, 13 May 2025 (Mastercard)
General information, not legal advice: what applies to you depends on your services and your market.