How to respond to a Shopify Payments dispute in Australia

The bank has already taken the money, and the reviewer who decides your case may give it only a few minutes, so the way your evidence is arranged matters as much as what it contains.

To respond to a Shopify Payments dispute, open the disputed order, choose Add evidence in the chargeback banner, upload proof that matches the dispute reason, and submit before the due date. Put direct proof first, label every file, and remember that a submitted response cannot be edited.

This guide is for you if:

You need to respond to a Shopify chargeback and want to build the response properly, not just click through the form.
You have submitted responses before and lost, and suspect the evidence was in the wrong order, the wrong format, or aimed at the wrong claim.
You sell to Australian customers and want a worked example with real file sizes, dates and wording you can copy.

Last updated: 9 October 2026. Written by the ChargeFix team. Reviewed against sources on 9 October 2026.

The 30-second answer (TL;DR)

Start from the order page. The chargeback banner shows the reason, the amount and the due date in your store's timezone.
Decide first whether to respond at all. An inquiry can be ended by a full refund, and an open chargeback cannot be refunded.
Shopify Payments already includes order details, addresses, IP address, fulfilment and tracking, refund records and prior orders. You add what only you have.
Put direct proof first, then customer acknowledgements, then your policies, then supporting context.
Shopify chargeback evidence files must be PDF, JPEG or PNG, up to 2 MB each and 4 MB in total, one file per evidence type, with no links, audio or video.
You can edit until the due date. After you press Submit now, nothing can change.
Shopify submits on the due date even if you did nothing, so a response you shaped is better than the automatic one.

Quick note: A response is not an argument. Shopify says reviewers may spend only minutes on a case, so one clean delivery record at the top of your evidence does more than three paragraphs of explanation.

The response at a glance

Step	What you do	Time it takes
1	Open the order, read the reason and due date	5 minutes
2	Decide: refund, withdrawal, fight or accept	10 minutes
3	Gather proof that answers the specific claim	20 minutes
4	Turn proof into labelled files within size limits	20 minutes
5	Write a short, factual explanation	20 minutes
6	Check, then submit	15 minutes

How do you respond to a Shopify Payments dispute, step by step?

Read the reason, check the due date, decide whether to fight, gather proof that answers the specific claim, turn it into labelled files within the limits, write a short factual explanation, and submit before the due date. The steps below follow that order.

Step 1: Open the order and read the dispute

Open the disputed order from your orders list. The chargeback banner on the order page shows why the bank opened the case, how much is held and the due date, which uses your store's timezone and ends at 11:59 PM if no time is shown. To see every order still waiting for a response, filter orders by chargeback and inquiry status set to Open.

Step 2: Put the Shopify dispute due date in your calendar

Shopify's window is usually 7 to 21 days from when the dispute was filed. Work back two business days from the date shown and treat that as your real deadline. We could not verify how weekends or public holidays affect the due date, so assume they do not give you extra time.

Step 3: Decide whether to settle or fight

Before you respond to a dispute at all, ask whether you should. If it is only an inquiry and the customer is owed money, a full refund ends it. If it is an open chargeback, you cannot refund, because the bank already holds the funds. If the customer now agrees the charge was valid, ask them to have the bank withdraw it and submit the formal withdrawal letter. If you have no proof and the order is small, you can accept by not submitting.

Step 4: Gather Shopify chargeback evidence that answers the exact claim

Match the evidence to the reason on the dispute. A not received claim needs delivery proof. A not as described claim needs your product page and what you shipped. An unrecognised charge needs proof that the buyer is the cardholder. Do not send everything you have, because a pile of unrelated files hides the one that matters.

Step 5: Turn your proof into files within the evidence file limits

Take screenshots of tracking pages, messages and policy pages, then save them as PDF, JPEG or PNG. PDFs must be PDF/A compliant, not PDF Portfolios, and under 50 pages. Each file must be 2 MB or smaller, and all files together 4 MB or smaller. Merge related pages so you submit one file per evidence type.

Step 6: Label and order the files

Name every file with what it is, its date and what it shows, for example 01-delivery-proof-2026-10-07.pdf. Put your strongest proof first. Shopify's own advice is direct proof, then customer acknowledgements, then applicable policies, then supporting context, so reviewers see the decisive item before they see anything else.

Step 7: Write the explanation

To respond to a Shopify Payments dispute well, write a short factual summary: what was ordered and when, what was shipped and when, what the records show, and what each file proves. Use dates and numbers, point to files by name, and leave out opinions about the customer. Templates for each dispute type are further down this page.

Step 8: Check the files, then submit

Open the order, click Add evidence in the chargeback banner, add your information, upload the files and click Save. Then either click Submit now and confirm, or let Shopify submit on the due date. Once you press Submit now, no changes are possible, so check every file one last time first.

Menu wording changes, so follow what your admin shows. The labels above are the ones Shopify's help pages use for the order page banner and the Add evidence and Submit now actions.

What does Shopify include automatically, and what must you add?

For Shopify Payments, Shopify attaches order details, billing and shipping addresses, the IP address, fulfilment and tracking information, refund records, and prior orders and disputes by itself. You add what only you can: customer messages, delivery photos, policies as the customer saw them, and access logs for digital goods.

This split changes how you respond to a Shopify Payments dispute. You do not need to re-enter the order total or paste in tracking numbers, because Shopify already supplies them. Your time is better spent on the Shopify chargeback evidence that is not in the order record.

Shopify includes it	You add it
Order details and totals	Customer emails, chats and messages
Billing and shipping addresses	Photos of the delivery or the parcel
IP address	Your shipping, refund and terms pages as they were
Fulfilment and tracking data	Screenshots of the carrier's tracking page
Refund records	A withdrawal letter from the bank, if the customer withdrew
Prior orders and disputes	Access or download logs for digital goods

You can opt out of AI-generated insights on the evidence form if you prefer to rely only on your own material. If you do not add anything yourself, Shopify Payments still submits what it collected on the due date.

How do you build an evidence pack within the evidence file limits?

Plan your Shopify Payments dispute files before you create them. Aim for four to six files, each under 2 MB, with one file per evidence type, and add up the sizes before you upload. Compress screenshots by cropping empty space and saving as PDF or PNG at a sensible resolution.

Illustration: an evidence pack for a not received dispute

Imagine an A$180 order, disputed as not received. The carrier's tracking page shows delivery. The customer wrote to you after delivery about a different matter. Your shipping policy states delivery timeframes. The dispute was filed on Tuesday 13 October 2026 and is due on Tuesday 27 October 2026, a 14 day window used for the example.

Order	File name	What it proves	Size
1	01-delivery-proof-tracking.pdf	Carrier shows delivered on 7 October 2026 to the order address	0.9 MB
2	02-customer-messages.pdf	Customer wrote on 9 October 2026 about an unrelated matter and mentioned the parcel	0.7 MB
3	03-policies-at-checkout.pdf	Shipping and refund terms the customer accepted	0.4 MB
4	04-order-address-match.png	Billing and delivery details match the order record	0.3 MB
	Total		2.3 MB

Check the arithmetic: 0.9 plus 0.7 plus 0.4 plus 0.3 is 2.3 MB. No file is over 2 MB and the total is well under 4 MB, which leaves room if you need to add a fifth file. This is an example, and the sizes are typical for screenshots, not measured.

Do not split one record across many small files. If your delivery proof is three screenshots, merge them into one PDF. Shopify allows one file per evidence type, and the form shows its own evidence slots, so use the slot that fits each file.

What should you write when you respond to a Shopify Payments dispute?

Write a plain summary of dated facts, point to each file by name, and ask for a decision on that evidence. Keep it short. The reviewer should be able to read it in under a minute and then open the file that backs each claim.

A good explanation has four parts: what was ordered, what was done, what the records show, and what you are asking. It avoids adjectives and never accuses the customer of lying or fraud, because reviewers read accusations as a sign the facts are weak.

Chargeback response template: a general cover note

Order #[number], A$[amount], placed [date].
Dispute reason shown: [reason].

What happened
The customer ordered [product] on [date] and paid by card. We shipped it on [date] with [carrier], tracking [number]. The carrier record shows [event] on [date] at the delivery address on the order.

Evidence attached
01 [file name]: [what it shows, with date]
02 [file name]: [what it shows, with date]
03 [file name]: [what it shows, with date]

Request
We ask that the dispute be decided in the merchant's favour on this evidence.

Chargeback response template: not received

The order was shipped on [date] with [carrier], tracking [number], to the address entered at checkout: [address as on order].

File 01 is the carrier tracking page, captured on [date]. It records delivery on [date] at [time] to that address. [If there is a delivery photo or signature: File 02 is the delivery photo / signature record.]

File 03 is the customer's message of [date], in which they [describe neutrally, for example "asked about the warranty for this product"].

The address on the order matches the billing address held by the card issuer [only if true]. We ask for a decision in the merchant's favour.

Chargeback response template: not as described

The product page for [product], as it appeared on [order date], is in File 01. It states [key specification the customer disputes].

File 02 is the packing record and photos of the item as sent on [date]. They show [what the photos show].

File 03 is our exchange with the customer on [dates]. On [date] we offered [replacement / return / refund] and the customer [response, or "did not reply"].

Our returns terms, which the customer accepted at checkout, are in File 04.

Chargeback response template: unrecognised or unauthorised charge

The order was placed on [date] from [city or region] using an account created on [date]. The email, phone number and delivery address match records from earlier orders on [dates] (File 01).

The goods were delivered on [date] to the address on the order (File 02). The customer contacted us on [date] about [topic], from the email address used at checkout (File 03).

The statement descriptor for this charge is [descriptor], which is explained in the order confirmation (File 04).

Chargeback response template: duplicate or incorrect amount

Our payment records show one charge of A$[amount] for order #[number] on [date] (File 01). [If a second charge exists: A second charge of A$[amount] was created on [date] and was refunded on [date], reference [ref] (File 02).]

The order total in File 03 matches the amount charged, including shipping of A$[amount] and the items listed.

Chargeback response template: refund not received

A refund of A$[amount] for order #[number] was issued on [date], reference [ref] (File 01). The refund was returned to the original card, which is the method required by our policy (File 02).

We told the customer on [date] that the refund could take [time] to appear (File 03). [If more than that time has passed: We have asked the customer to contact their bank with the reference above.]

These templates assume facts you have. If you do not have the record that a sentence refers to, delete the sentence. A response with three solid statements is stronger than one with six where two are guesses.

How do you respond to a Shopify Payments dispute built on a fraud claim?

When the claim is that the buyer never made the purchase, your response must show that the buyer and the cardholder are probably the same person, or that the goods reached the buyer. Delivery to the order address, matching customer details and a history of earlier orders carry the most weight.

A fraud claim is a different question from a customer problem, and it calls for a different shape of response. The table shows the contrast.

	Customer problem claim	Unauthorised or unrecognised claim
What the reviewer is asking	Did the customer get what they paid for?	Did the cardholder make or benefit from this purchase?
Lead evidence	Delivery proof, product page, customer messages	Matching name, email, phone and address, earlier orders, delivery record
Tone	Helpful, with any remedy you offered	Neutral and strictly factual
Risk of fighting	You may owe a remedy under consumer law	Lower, if your records genuinely match
Settlement route	Refund or replacement	Often none, because the cardholder may not know the order exists

NAB's merchant guidance supports the same split. For unauthorised transaction claims it points to proof of delivery or receipt, matching customer details such as login, phone and delivery address, and evidence of other genuine use. It adds that when 3D Secure authentication succeeds, fraud liability moves to the issuer, which is worth checking in your checkout settings before the next dispute.

Two cautions. Never present details you cannot back up, because one claim that does not match the files makes the rest look weak. And if Shopify's fraud analysis flagged the order as high risk at the time, remember that Shopify lets you review and cancel such orders before they ship. Shipping a flagged order is a decision you made, and a reviewer sees only the records, not your reasoning.

How do you take screenshots a reviewer can trust?

Capture the whole page with the date and time visible, show the order number or tracking number, and save the image straight away. Do it at the moment of dispatch and delivery, not weeks later when a carrier page may have changed or expired.

Practical tips:

Show the identifier. The tracking number, the order number or the message sender must be visible, so the reviewer can tie it to the order.
Show the date. If the page does not display the capture date, add a line in your explanation giving it.
Capture the full thread. For customer messages, include the first message and the replies, not one cherry-picked line.
Use screenshots, not links. Shopify chargeback evidence cannot include external links, audio or video, and reviewers cannot follow links in any case.
Keep the original. Store the unedited screenshot, and do not crop out dates or sender names.

We could not verify how long Australian carrier tracking pages stay available after delivery, which is why capturing at dispatch and delivery is the safe habit.

What should you do if the customer replies while you respond to a Shopify chargeback?

Read the reply, save it, and adjust your plan. If the customer says the charge was valid and the bank claim was a mix-up, ask them to have their bank withdraw it and send you the formal withdrawal letter. If they say something is wrong, you may need to offer the remedy and accept the dispute.

Shopify's help page says a withdrawal letter from the bank is needed, and that a bank statement screenshot does not count. It also warns that letters can take 30 to 90 days or more to process, and that for American Express disputes and Visa disputes with a fraudulent reason code, a withdrawal letter will not speed things up. So keep working on your own response while you wait.

If the customer says the product was faulty or the delivery never arrived, think carefully before you fight. A customer who is legally owed a remedy can get it through the bank, and CHOICE notes that a retailer may end up refunding even after resisting. Paying a fee to lose a dispute you should have settled is the costliest outcome.

What about special cases?

Digital goods need access records, partial shipments need one record per parcel, and refunded orders need the refund proof. When responding to a Shopify dispute in any of these cases, the principle is the same: show what happened, with dates, in the fewest files that carry the proof.

Situation	What to send first	Watch for
Digital product or licence	Download or login logs with dates and IP	Logs that show access before the dispute date
Order shipped in several parcels	One tracking record per parcel, labelled	Parcels delivered on different dates
Customer collected in person	Pickup record or signed note	Whether you can show who collected
Order already refunded	The refund record and date	Whether the refund was before or after the dispute
Recurring or subscription charge	Terms accepted, billing dates, cancellation record	Whether a cancellation reached you before the charge
Customer reported damage	Photos at dispatch, offer made, customer reply	Whether you offered a fix before the dispute

How do you check your response before you press Submit now?

Before you respond to a dispute for the last time, read it as a stranger would, with only the files in front of you. If you cannot find the delivery date, the address and the customer's own words within a minute, a reviewer will not either. Fix what is slow to find, then submit.

Before Submit now
[ ] Dispute reason and amount match what I am answering
[ ] Shopify dispute due date is at least one business day away
[ ] First file is direct proof for this exact claim
[ ] Every file is PDF, JPEG or PNG, under 2 MB, total under 4 MB
[ ] One file per evidence type, merged where needed
[ ] No links, audio, video or "contact me" requests
[ ] Every file name says what it is and the date
[ ] Dates in my explanation match the dates in the files
[ ] The tone is factual and says nothing about the customer's honesty
[ ] I have saved a copy of everything I am about to send

Illustration: two responses to the same A$180 dispute

Take one dispute: A$180, not received, delivered according to the carrier. Two merchants respond with the same underlying facts.

	Weak response	Stronger response
Files	7 unlabelled screenshots, 5.1 MB in total	4 labelled files, 2.3 MB in total
Order	Whatever order they were saved in	Delivery proof first, then messages, then policies
Explanation	None, relies on the automatic submission	A short cover note naming each file
Tracking	A link to the carrier's site	A screenshot of the tracking page
Against the rules	Total is over 4 MB and it includes a link	Within every limit

The weak response fails before a reviewer reads a word, because 5.1 MB is over the 4 MB total and links are not accepted. The stronger one has identical facts, but they can be found in seconds. That difference, and not any extra fact, is what most response work is for.

What happens after you respond to a Shopify Payments dispute?

Your Shopify Payments dispute response goes to the card company, and the issuer decides, up to 75 days after you submit. Neither you nor Shopify can add evidence or appeal after that. A win returns the amount, a partial win returns part of it, and a loss means the money stays with the cardholder.

While you wait, do not refund the order, and do not contact the customer in a way that could be read as pressure. Keep an eye on your payouts and on the order page status, which will change from submitted to won or lost, or to resolved if a network programme settled it.

If the customer's bank disputes the same transaction again after you win, you get a new deadline and should resubmit your strongest evidence. Shopify points merchants to a separate pre-arbitration guide for that situation.

For the full lifecycle, including the fee and the dispute rate, see Shopify chargebacks Australia: the complete guide.

What's different for Australian merchants?

General information, not legal advice.

To respond to a Shopify Payments dispute in Australia, you follow the same Shopify process as everywhere else, but local rules shape what you should expect. Cardholders can usually dispute for up to 120 days, their banks are expected to pursue valid claims, and customers whose claims are wrongly rejected can complain to AFCA.

Time limits behind the response. Consumer Affairs Victoria says chargebacks can be requested 45 to 120 days after the transaction depending on the provider, and NAB lists 120 days for Visa and Mastercard disputes and 210 days for eftpos. Your Shopify response window is separate and much shorter, so a dispute can reach you months after a sale. Keep order and delivery records for at least 18 months, which covers the 540 day outer limit CHOICE mentions for some goods-not-supplied claims.

What banks look for. NAB's merchant guidance for non-fraud disputes lists undelivered goods, items not as described, unprocessed credits, cancellations and duplicate charges as the common types. For unauthorised transaction claims it points to proof of delivery, matching customer details such as login, phone and delivery address, and refund records. NAB also says that where 3D Secure succeeds, fraud liability shifts to the issuer.

Consumer law runs alongside. Australian Consumer Law gives customers guarantees about the goods and services they buy, and a customer owed a remedy may recover it through a chargeback. We have not re-opened the ACCC guidance for this guide, so the detailed rules on major and minor failures are in our consumer law posts, which cite the ACCC directly.

Carriers. Proof of delivery options differ between Australia Post, Sendle, StarTrack and Aramex. We have not verified them here, so use whatever your carrier's tracking page and delivery records provide, and capture them at the time.

Other systems. Afterpay and PayPal disputes follow their own rules, not the card chargeback process described here, and we have not verified their timelines. GST and BAS treatment of lost chargebacks is a question for your accountant.

How do you keep records so the next response takes minutes?

Capture proof when things happen, not when you have to respond to a dispute. A few screenshots at order, dispatch, delivery and first customer contact turn most responses into assembly work, and they protect you when a carrier page or a message thread is no longer available later.

When	Capture	Why it helps
At order	The order page and the policies shown at checkout, with the date	Proves what the customer agreed to
At dispatch	Tracking number and the parcel or packing photo	Proves what was sent and when
At delivery	The carrier's delivered status, any photo or signature	The strongest direct proof for not received claims
At any customer contact	The full message thread	Shows what the customer knew and when
When you change a policy	A dated copy of the old and new text	Shows which version applied to which order

Dispatch and delivery log (one row per order)
Order #   Dispatched   Carrier / tracking   Delivered (date, time)   Proof saved as
2087      7 Oct 26     [carrier] [number]    9 Oct 26, 14:12         2087-delivery.pdf

A log like this costs a minute per order and turns the 15 minute gathering block into a lookup. It also tells you which carrier routes produce the most disputes, which is a prevention signal you cannot get any other way.

A 90 minute workflow for each dispute

Time-box every Shopify chargeback response so the work does not drift. Most disputes do not need more than an hour and a half if you have the records to hand, and anything longer is usually a sign the records are scattered.

Illustration: a planning estimate, not a measured average.

Block	Minutes	Output
Read reason, due date, order	10	A decision: refund, withdrawal, fight, accept
Gather proof	15	Screenshots saved in one folder
Build files	20	Four to six labelled files under the size limits
Write the explanation	20	A short cover note using the matching template
Check files and wording	15	Sizes added up, dates checked, tone reviewed
Submit and log	10	Submitted, with a note in your dispute log

Ten plus fifteen plus twenty plus twenty plus fifteen plus ten is 90 minutes. If you handle several disputes a month, the saving comes from capturing proof at dispatch and delivery so the gathering block shrinks to a few minutes.

Common mistakes when you respond to a Shopify Payments dispute

Leaving it to auto-submit. Shopify Payments will send what it has on the due date, but your own dispute response is almost always stronger.
Sending evidence for the wrong claim. Delivery proof does not answer a not as described claim.
Burying the key file. Put direct proof first, because reviewers may spend only minutes.
Breaking the file rules. Links, audio, video, files over 2 MB and several files for one evidence type are all problems.
Accusing the customer. State facts and exhibits and leave judgement to the reviewer.
Editing out context. A cropped message thread looks selective. Show the whole exchange.
Trying to refund an open chargeback. The bank holds the money already, so a refund risks paying twice.
Submitting in the last hour. Leave a business day or two for a file that fails a check.
Not logging the outcome. Without a record, you cannot see which kinds of response win and which do not.

Frequently asked questions

How do I respond to a Shopify Payments dispute?

Open the disputed order, click Add evidence in the chargeback banner, upload your files, save, and press Submit now or wait for the automatic submission on the due date. Match the evidence to the dispute reason, put the strongest proof first, and keep each file within the size limits.

What is the Shopify dispute due date?

Shopify sets the window, usually 7 to 21 days after the dispute is filed. The due date is on the order page in your store's timezone, and it ends at 11:59 PM if no time is shown. Shopify Payments submits automatically on that date even if you add nothing.

Can I edit my response after I submit it?

No. You can edit and add evidence until the due date, but once you click Submit now the response is locked. If you spot a missing file after submitting, you cannot add it, so check every file and every date before you confirm.

What are the evidence file limits and accepted types?

PDF, JPEG and PNG only. PDFs must be PDF/A compliant, not PDF Portfolios, and under 50 pages. Each file can be up to 2 MB and all files together up to 4 MB. Submit one file per evidence type, and do not include audio, video or external links.

What evidence does Shopify add on its own?

For Shopify Payments, it includes order details, addresses, the IP address, fulfilment and tracking information, refund records and prior orders and disputes. You supply customer messages, delivery photos, your policies and, for digital goods, access logs. Adding your own proof is what separates a strong response from the default.

Can I respond if my store is paused or closed?

You still receive the chargeback emails, but you cannot submit more evidence until you reopen. Shopify says to follow the link in the email, log in and choose a new plan. Do this early, because you will need time to reopen before the due date.

Should I contact the customer during a dispute?

Often yes, politely, and early. If the customer agrees the charge was valid, they can ask their bank to withdraw the dispute, and you submit the bank's formal withdrawal letter. A screenshot of a bank statement is not accepted, and letters can take 30 to 90 days or more.

What if I miss the deadline?

With Shopify Payments, a response is still submitted on the due date using only what Shopify collected, so you lose the chance to add your own proof. After the bank decides, you cannot add evidence or appeal. If you decide not to fight, you can accept by closing the form.

Can I win a dispute if the customer says they never received the parcel?

It depends on your records. Delivery proof such as a tracking record, a delivery photo or a signature, together with an address that matches the order, is the strongest evidence. If your records are thin, or the customer is legally owed a remedy, consider settling instead.

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