How Mastercom works
Each disputed transaction becomes a claim, and every event in the dispute is attached to it. Mastercard's developer documentation lists the stages that Mastercom carries:
- Collaboration, before a chargeback
- First chargeback, by the issuer
- Second presentment, the acquirer's answer
- Pre-arbitration and arbitration cases
- Pre-compliance and compliance cases, for rule violations
- Fee collections
Mastercom in Mastercard's rules
Mastercom handles the cases and the documents, while the money moves through Mastercard's clearing system. Mastercard's Chargeback Guide of 13 May 2025 states that taking part in chargeback and compliance processing requires access to the Mastercom application.
Who uses Mastercom
Issuers and acquirers use it directly, on screen or by connecting their own dispute software to the API. A merchant does not log in: its acquirer or payment provider turns Mastercom events into dispute notifications, collects the merchant's evidence and submits the second presentment before the deadline.
A company that builds issuing or acquiring on a sponsor's licence reaches Mastercom through the sponsor or the processor. The dispute screens in its own back office sit on top of that connection.
Mastercom, Visa Resolve Online or Ethoca?
- Visa Resolve Online
- Visa's counterpart: the system in which Visa issuers and acquirers process disputes.
- Ethoca
- Mastercard's network that links issuers with merchants directly, before a chargeback. Mastercom links issuers with acquirers.
Where Mastercom shows up in a platform
Modules that do the work
- Card acquiringCard acceptance on the phone, in store and online, through the acquirer you choose.
- Card issuingVirtual and physical cards, wallets and controls, on the issuer processor you choose.
- BackofficeOne console to run the platform: customers, money, risk, content and staff permissions.
- NotificationsEmail, SMS, push and in-app messages in your brand, through the providers you choose.
Platforms that need it
Guides that go deeper
- How to become a PSP or a payment facilitatorGateway, acquirer, payment facilitator or payment institution: where the licence line falls, how the card schemes register payment facilitators, what merchant KYB demands, and the UK and UAE rules.
- BIN sponsorship: how to launch a card programmeWho does what in a sponsored card programme, what the BIN sponsor, Visa and Mastercard ask of a programme manager, the rules for crypto-linked cards, and where an EMI licence fits.
Where it is written
The laws and standards this page's facts come from.
- Mastercom documentation, read 13 October 2026 (Mastercard Developers)
- Mastercard Chargeback Guide, Merchant Edition, 13 May 2025 (Mastercard)
- Mastercard Chargebacks Made Simple Guide, July 2025 (Mastercard)
General information, not legal advice: what applies to you depends on your services and your market.