Chargeback period
What is chargeback period?
Chargeback period is the window during which a can dispute a card transaction and request a from their . Once the window closes, the transaction can no longer be challenged through the card network.
The length isn't fixed across the industry. Each card network sets its own limits, and within a network the window shifts depending on the behind the dispute. A 120-day window measured from the original transaction date covers most dispute categories, but delivery and service disputes start counting from a later date, which pushes the effective deadline further out.
Key facts
- Typical window: 120 days from the transaction date for most dispute categories under Visa and Mastercard rules
- Clock start: the transaction date for most reason codes; the expected delivery date or service date for goods-not-received and service-quality disputes
- Outer limit: Visa caps delivery-based disputes (reason code 13.1) at 540 days from the transaction date
- Set by: the card network, not the or the
- Merchant response window: 30 days under Visa rules and 45 days under Mastercard rules, counted from the chargeback notification rather than the transaction
- Also known as: chargeback timeframe, chargeback time limit, dispute window
How it works
- The transaction settles. Funds move to the merchant, but the payment stays reversible for the duration of the chargeback period.
- The clock starts. For fraud and processing-error disputes the start date is the transaction date. For merchandise or services not received, it's the expected delivery or service date, which can sit months after the charge.
- The cardholder contacts the issuing bank. The bank assigns a reason code, and that code determines which time limit applies.
- The issuer checks timing before filing. A submitted after the applicable deadline is rejected at this stage and never reaches the merchant.
- The merchant receives notification. arrive through the acquirer, and a separate, shorter response clock starts running inside the .
- The window closes. After the outer limit passes, the transaction is final as far as the card network is concerned, whatever the cardholder's claim.
Why it matters
- A dispute filed after the deadline is rejected by the issuing bank before the merchant sees it, and the payment stands.
- Settled revenue is not final revenue. Funds received today stay reversible for months, which is why subscription and digital-goods businesses carry dispute exposure long after fulfilment.
- Transaction records purged at 90 days leave nothing to submit when a dispute arrives on day 118, and the chargeback is lost by default.
- The outer limit caps exposure in the other direction: once it passes, the transaction is closed to network disputes and the balance sheet item is settled for good.
Common issues
- Clock-start ambiguity. For goods not received, the window runs from expected delivery. A pre-order shipping six months after payment stays disputable far beyond 120 days from the charge date.
- Subscriptions and free trials. Each charge carries its own window, so the recurring payment a cardholder finally notices in month four is disputable even when the original signup is long past.
- Missed merchant deadlines. The response window is much shorter than the filing window. Evidence submitted after the network deadline isn't reviewed, and the chargeback stands regardless of how strong the would have been.
- Notification lag. Time spent moving a chargeback notification from issuer to acquirer to merchant comes out of the merchant's response window, not the filing window.
- late in the window. Disputes filed near the deadline are the hardest to defend, because delivery confirmations, session logs, and support transcripts are the records most likely to have aged out of retention.
