Disputes and Chargebacks
Why did my donor or buyer dispute their payment?
A payment dispute or chargeback occurs when a cardholder files a claim with their card-issuing bank to request a reversal of the charge. Most often, this happens when an individual doesn't recognize a charge from Zeffy on their bank statement and issues a dispute with their bank.
What happens when a charge is disputed?
When a dispute is filed, the card issuer (bank) will temporarily reverse the charges pending further investigation to protect the cardholder from credit card fraud. The automatic reversal of this payment looks like a refund on your end. However, these funds are not officially returned to the donor until the card issuer has reviewed the transaction.
Zeffy submits evidence to the card issuer on the organization's behalf to prove that the charge was legitimate.
As soon as the bank informs us that a donor has disputed the charge, you will immediately be informed via email that a charge was disputed. We will inform you of the charge that was disputed and will provide the buyer's contact information in said email. The buyer will also be informed that they disputed a charge via email.
To view a disputed transaction in your Zeffy account:
Login to Zeffy and navigate to the Payments tab
Filter the Payments page by "Payment status" : Remove the default statuses and select the "Disputed" status instead to pull up all disputed payments
If the amount of the transaction mentioned in the notification email does not match the amount you are seeing in your account, this is likely because the donor left a contribution to Zeffy at the payment step. The amount of the contribution is not displayed in your account, but it will be included in the amount details of the dispute email.
What should I do if a charge is disputed?
Zeffy will investigate each dispute to determine if the transaction was indeed legitimate. We will submit evidence on the organization's behalf to the bank resolve the dispute in your favour. There are actions you can take to help our team resolve these disputes:
Contact your donor
Get in touch with the cardholder to inquire about the reason for the dispute. Reaching out may help them recognize the charge or determine the reason for the dispute. Below is a list of common reasons for disputes and how to react based on the donor's response:
If they confirm that they recognize the transaction: Ask that they contact their bank to withdraw their dispute. Send us a copy of your email exchange with the donor, confirming they have contacted their bank to withdraw the dispute or obtain their confirmation that they recognize the charge in writing.
If they confirm that they recognize the transaction, but they want a refund for a contribution to Zeffy: Inform them that the Zeffy team can refund the contribution they left and ask that they withdraw the dispute with their bank. Send us a copy of your email exchange with the donor, confirming they have contacted their bank to withdraw the dispute or obtain their confirmation that they recognize the charge in writing.
If they confirm that they recognize the transaction, but they want a full refund:
If your organization would like to refund them, follow the same steps as above. The option to issue the refund will become available once the dispute has been withdrawn.
If the payment they made is non-refundable, communicate your organization's refund policy to them. If they refuse to withdraw the dispute, you can share your organization's refund policy with us, proof that it was shared with the donor, and any proof that they recognized the transaction was non-refundable with our team to submit as evidence of the legitimacy of the charge.
If they do not reply, we will still submit evidence of the transaction's legitimacy on your behalf. If you have any evidence you think might be relevant, you can reply to the dispute email with the information for our team.
Update your statement descriptor
While our payment descriptors always start with ZEFFY, you can customize what shows up after. Having a good payment descriptor will help your donors identify their payments more easily in the future, to avoid any additional disputes. To update your statement descriptor, you can consult the instructions here.
How long does it take to resolve a dispute?
Disputes usually take around 90 days to go through a full dispute cycle.
We usually have between 30 to 40 days to provide a response with evidence to the bank. Once this information is submitted to the issuing bank, we await their decision.
Once the evidence is submitted, it is entirely up to the bank whether or not the funds will be returned to you or the donor. Unfortunately, Zeffy has no control over the result of a dispute, as it is entirely in the donor's banking institution's hands.
Once we have submitted evidence, it can take another 30 + days for the bank to reach a decision.
When will I know if the dispute is resolved?
Once the dispute is resolved, you will receive an email notifying you that the dispute status has been updated. Consult your Payments list to view the status of the dispute in your account. Click on the payment to view the updated status.
If the dispute is resolved in your favor, it will be marked as "Dispute won" in the payment details drawer. The funds will be deposited back into your Zeffy account automatically and included in an upcoming payout.
If the dispute is resolved in the donor's favor, marked as "Dispute lost," the donor will keep their refund.