Shopify chargeback readiness audit: 15-point checklist

Most stores find out how ready they are for a chargeback the hard way: a dispute lands, the deadline is nine days away, and half the proof is missing. A readiness audit lets you find the gaps while nothing is on fire.

Chargeback readiness is how well your store can prevent a dispute and answer one if it comes. This 15-point audit checks your contact details, policies, billing descriptor, receipts, evidence and deadline routine, scores each out of 2, and shows what to fix first.

This guide is for you if:

You run a Shopify store in Australia and want to know whether you could answer a dispute properly tomorrow.
You have had a few chargebacks and want to find out what is causing them.
You want a score you can repeat every quarter and a short fix list in priority order.

Last updated: 14 October 2026. Written by the ChargeFix team. Reviewed against sources on 14 October 2026.

The 30-second answer (TL;DR)

A chargeback readiness audit has 15 points, scored 0, 1 or 2, for a total out of 30.

Six points come straight from Shopify's own prevention guidance: contact details, clear shipping and returns policies, a subscription cancellation policy, the billing descriptor and payment receipts.

The other points are my own additions, covering product pages, evidence you keep, deadline routines and review. Shopify does not require them, and they are marked as mine.

The audit takes about 90 minutes the first time, or A$60 at A$40 an hour. One prevented dispute on an A$120 order saves A$145.

Winning does not remove a dispute from your chargeback rate, according to Shopify, so prevention beats a good response.

I could not verify a Shopify chargeback rate threshold for Australia. Sources conflict, so I give none.

Fix the lowest scores first, starting with anything that makes customers fail to recognise your charge.

Quick note The misunderstanding: chargeback readiness means having a good evidence template. The correct version: a template only helps after a dispute. Readiness starts earlier, with the descriptor, the policies, the receipts and the records that stop the dispute or make it easy to answer.

The 15 points at a glance

Area	Points	Where the point comes from
Customer can reach you and understand the terms	1 to 5, plus 6	Shopify's prevention guidance for 1 to 5, my addition for 6
Customer recognises and trusts the charge	7 to 8	Shopify's prevention guidance, plus tracking emails
You keep the evidence	9 to 11	My additions
You respond on time	12 to 13	My additions
You learn from every dispute	14 to 15	Shopify's rate warning, plus my additions

What is chargeback readiness?

Chargeback readiness is your store's ability to avoid disputes and to answer the ones that arrive. It has two halves: prevention, which stops customers from disputing, and evidence, which lets you respond well when they do. A store with good chargeback readiness does both without a scramble, and can show its chargeback readiness on paper.

The reason to measure chargeback readiness is that Shopify says winning a dispute does not remove it from your chargeback rate, and a high rate can affect your Shopify Payments status and features such as the Shop app. So a clean response is the second best result. The best result is no dispute at all. Chargeback readiness is the habit of working on the first half so the second half is rarely needed.

Chargeback readiness is also cheap to check. You do not need software, only an hour and a half and your own store open in front of you. If you want a measure of what a dispute costs you first, work that out with the chargeback cost calculator, then come back and see where your chargeback readiness is weakest.

How does the chargeback readiness scoring work?

You score each of the 15 points as 0, 1 or 2. In this chargeback readiness scorecard, zero means not in place. One means partly in place, or in place but hard to find. Two means fully in place and easy to prove. The total is out of 30, and the bands tell you what to do next.

Score	What it means	What to do
25 to 30	Strong chargeback readiness	Keep it up and repeat the audit every quarter
18 to 24	Good base with gaps	Fix every point scored 0 or 1, lowest first
10 to 17	Real exposure	Spend a week on the fix plan below
0 to 9	Weak chargeback readiness	Start with the descriptor, the contact details and the policies

Be strict with yourself, because a flattering chargeback readiness score helps nobody. If you cannot show a point to a stranger in two minutes, it is a 1, not a 2. The score is for you alone, so there is no reason to flatter your chargeback readiness.

CHARGEBACK READINESS SCORECARD (score each 0, 1 or 2)

 1. Contact details easy to find           ___
 2. Shipping policy clear and visible      ___
 3. Returns and refund policy clear        ___
 4. Subscription cancellation clear (n/a = 2)  ___
 5. Terms and checkout link to policies    ___
 6. Product pages accurate                 ___
 7. Billing descriptor recognisable        ___
 8. Receipts and tracking emails sent      ___
 9. Proof of delivery saved                ___
10. Customer messages in one place         ___
11. Order and fraud notes kept             ___
12. Dispute alerts reach a person          ___
13. Internal deadline routine in place     ___
14. Dispute log kept and reviewed monthly  ___
15. Genuine problems refunded quickly      ___

TOTAL: ___ / 30      Lowest three points: ______, ______, ______
Audit date: ____________    Next audit: ____________

Points 1 to 6: can customers reach you and understand your terms?

Customers who can find your contact details and read clear terms are less likely to go to their bank first. Shopify's prevention guidance names easy-to-find contact information, clear policies, a clear returns policy and a subscription cancellation policy. These six points cover them.

Point 1: is your contact information easy to find?

Check it from the customer's side. Open your store on a phone, and find your email, a contact form or a phone number within two clicks. Put it in the footer, on the contact page and in every order email. Score 2 if all three are in place, 1 if it exists but takes effort to find, 0 if a customer would have to guess.

Point 2: is your shipping policy clear?

It should state where you ship, how long it takes, what it costs and what happens if a parcel is late or lost. Write dates and ranges, not "fast". Score 2 if it is linked from the footer and the checkout. I could not verify how long carriers keep tracking, so tell customers to contact you early rather than late.

Point 3: are your returns and refund policies clear?

Shopify names a clear returns policy as a prevention step. State who pays for returns, the time limit, the condition required and how refunds are issued. WA Consumer Protection says online orders from Australian sellers must meet consumer guarantees, and a no-refund sign cannot remove those rights, so your policy should not claim otherwise.

Point 4: do you have a subscription cancellation policy?

Shopify lists it for stores that sell subscriptions. If you do, say how to cancel, when the last charge happens and what a customer gets back. If you do not sell subscriptions, score 2 and move on. A customer who cannot find the cancel button often finds their bank instead.

Point 5: do the terms and checkout link to your policies?

A policy nobody sees does not help. Link it in the footer and near the pay button, and keep a dated copy of each version. If a customer disputes later, you want to show what the page said on the day they ordered. Score 2 if you can show the policy as it stood on any past order date.

Point 6: are your product pages accurate?

This is my addition, not one of Shopify's. Disputes for "not as described" often start with a page that promised more than the product delivered. Check sizes, materials, colours, what is included and any delivery times shown on the page. Score 2 if a stranger would know exactly what they are getting.

Points 7 and 8: will customers recognise and trust the charge?

A customer who does not recognise a charge on their statement is likely to dispute it. Shopify's prevention guidance names the billing descriptor and payment receipts. These two points make sure the charge looks familiar and arrives with a record the customer can read.

Point 7: is your billing descriptor recognisable?

Shopify says to set the billing descriptor in Shopify Payments to your store name or domain, so the line on the statement matches what the customer remembers. Check yours against the name on your site and in your emails. Score 2 if they match, 1 if they are close, 0 if a customer could not link them.

Point 8: do receipts and tracking emails go out?

Shopify names payment receipts as a prevention step. Send an order confirmation and a shipping email with a tracking link, and check both land in a real inbox, not spam. Send yourself a test order. Score 2 if the receipt shows your store name, the amount in A$ and the items, and the shipping email shows the tracking link.

Illustration 1: what does one unrecognised charge cost?

Say a customer does not recognise a charge for an A$95 order and disputes it. If you lose, you are out A$95 and the A$25 fee, which is A$120. Shopify's fee table lists Australia as a country where the A$25 fee is refunded if you win. If you have one such dispute a month, that is A$1,440 a year. Fixing the descriptor takes minutes. This is an illustration of the order of magnitude, not a forecast of how many disputes it prevents.

Points 9 to 11: do you keep the evidence?

Points 9 to 11 are my additions, not Shopify's. They cover the records you will need if a dispute arrives, and they are the part most stores skip. A dispute is easy to answer when the proof is saved in advance and slow when it must be rebuilt from memory.

Point 9: is proof of delivery saved?

Save the carrier record on the day of delivery, because tracking pages can expire. One seller reports Australia Post keeps tracking for about 35 days, which I could not verify. The proof of delivery guide shows how. Score 2 if you save proof for every order above a value you set, and can find any file in a minute.

Point 10: are customer messages in one place?

Messages that confirm receipt, ask for a change or complain are evidence. If they live across three inboxes and a chat tool, you will miss some. Keep them in one place linked to the order, even if that is only a labelled folder. Score 2 if you can pull every message for an order in a minute.

Point 11: do you keep order and fraud notes?

Note anything unusual at the time: a mismatched address, a rush request, a changed shipping address, a prior order from the same customer. These notes support a fraud response and show you looked. I could not verify a fraud score as proof, and I would not treat one as evidence. Score 2 if you add a note to the order whenever something looks odd.

ORDER EVIDENCE NOTE (add to any order that looks odd)

Order: ______   Date: ______   Value: A$______
What looked unusual: ______________________
Checks I did (address match, contact, prior orders): ______________________
Customer contact attempts (date, method, reply): ______________________
Proof of delivery saved as: ______________________
Noted by and date: ______________

Points 12 and 13: do you respond on time?

Missing a deadline is the one error you cannot fix later. Shopify says the response is typically due 7 to 21 days after filing, and that it submits what you have saved on the due date. Once the deadline has passed, a dispute cannot be changed. These two points protect you from that.

Point 12: do dispute alerts reach a person?

Shopify sends dispute emails even for closed or paused stores. Make sure the email goes to an address someone reads every working day, not an old inbox. Add a second person if you can. Score 2 if two people would see it within a day, 0 if it goes to an address nobody checks.

Point 13: is there an internal deadline routine?

My suggestion is a simple one: set your own cutoff two days before the due date, and check open disputes on a fixed day each week. The deadline guide sets this out in full. Score 2 if the chargeback readiness routine is written down and a second person could follow it.

Points 14 and 15: do you learn from every dispute?

A dispute tells you something about your store. A log shows what keeps going wrong, and a quick refund policy for genuine problems stops some disputes before the bank is involved. These two points turn individual disputes into fixes.

Point 14: is there a dispute log, reviewed monthly?

Record the date, reason, amount, outcome and cause of every dispute, and look at it once a month. Count disputes and orders to see your rate. I could not verify a Shopify threshold for Australia, and sources conflict, so watch your own trend instead. Score 2 if you log every dispute and have a review date.

Point 15: do genuine problems get refunded quickly?

If a parcel is lost or an item is faulty, a quick refund or replacement beats a dispute. Shopify's help centre also covers the "credit not processed" reason, where a customer says a refund they expected never came. I could not verify whether a refund while a dispute is open prevents the chargeback, so check before you refund. Score 2 if you resolve valid complaints within a couple of days.

Illustration 2: what does the audit cost against what it saves?

The audit takes about 90 minutes the first time. At A$40 an hour that is A$60. Say your store has 400 orders a month and four disputes a month, and each lost dispute costs about A$145 on an A$120 order. If the audit leads to one fewer dispute a month, you save A$145 a month, which is A$1,740 a year. That is about 2.4 times the cost of the audit in the first month alone. These are illustrations of the sums, not a promise of a result.

Illustration 3: where should you start?

Say you score 16 out of 30, with the lowest points at 7 (descriptor, score 0), 9 (proof of delivery, score 0) and 13 (deadline routine, score 1). Fix the descriptor first, since it takes minutes and works on every order. Next set up proof of delivery for orders above A$150. Last write the deadline routine. That order puts the cheapest, widest fix first.

How do you fix a low chargeback readiness score in two weeks?

Start with the zeros, work through the ones and leave the twos alone, because chargeback readiness gains come from the weakest points. This plan runs from Thursday 15 October to Wednesday 28 October 2026. Do the chargeback readiness audit in the first three days, then spend the rest of the time on the fix list, one item a day.

Day and date	What to do
Thu 15 Oct	Score points 1 to 5 using the scorecard. Note the evidence for each score.
Fri 16 Oct	Score points 6 to 10. Open your store on a phone to check what customers see.
Mon 19 Oct	Score points 11 to 15 and add up your total. List your lowest three points.
Tue 20 Oct	Fix point 7, the billing descriptor, if it scored 0 or 1.
Wed 21 Oct	Fix point 1, the contact details, and point 8, the receipts and tracking emails.
Thu 22 Oct	Rewrite your shipping and returns policies if points 2 or 3 scored below 2.
Fri 23 Oct	Set up the proof of delivery routine for point 9.
Mon 26 Oct	Set your dispute alerts and internal cutoff for points 12 and 13.
Tue 27 Oct	Start the dispute log for point 14 and note your first monthly review date.
Wed 28 Oct	Rescore your chargeback readiness and put the next audit date in your diary.

How do you read your chargeback readiness results?

Read the total, then read the pattern. A total of 22 out of 30 can hide very different stores. One has solid policies and no evidence habit, and another has the reverse. The pattern tells you which half of chargeback readiness needs work: prevention, evidence or process.

Add up the points in each group:

Group	Points	Maximum	If you score under half
Prevention: terms and trust	1 to 8	16	Customers are likely confused or surprised, so fix the descriptor, policies and emails first
Evidence you keep	9 to 11	6	You will struggle to answer disputes well, so start saving proof of delivery and messages
Deadlines and learning	12 to 15	8	You risk missing a due date or repeating the same mistake, so set the routine and the log

A store that is strong on prevention and weak on evidence has few disputes and loses the ones it gets. A store that is weak on prevention and strong on evidence wins many of its disputes but has far too many of them, and each win still counts toward the rate, according to Shopify. Neither is the goal. The aim is a balanced chargeback readiness score, with no group below half.

What does a well-prepared store look like?

A well-prepared store looks boring. The descriptor matches the name on the site, the policies are linked from the footer and the checkout, receipts and tracking emails arrive on time, and a folder of delivery records sits ready. When a dispute arrives, someone opens the case, follows a short routine and meets the deadline without a scramble.

Take a store with 28 out of 30 in chargeback readiness. It lost two points only because its dispute log is reviewed quarterly, not monthly. It does not have fewer customers or easier products than yours. It simply did the small things once, wrote them down and repeated them. That is the thing to copy for your own chargeback readiness, and none of it needs software or a large budget.

Here is what the day looks like when a dispute arrives at such a store:

The email arrives in a shared inbox, and one of two people sees it the same day.
They open the dispute, note the reason, the amount and the due date, and set the internal cutoff two days earlier.
They pull the order, the saved proof of delivery and the customer messages, which are in known places.
They write a short response from the template, check it against the records and save it in Shopify.
They log the dispute with its cause, and the cause goes into the monthly review.

That routine takes minutes where an unprepared store takes hours. It is also the easiest way to see why chargeback readiness pays: the same dispute costs far less to answer.

How do you check each point in practice?

For each point, look at your store as a customer would, then look at your records as a bank would. The table shows one concrete check per point, so you can score honestly in minutes without guessing.

Point	A concrete check	A score of 2 means
1 Contact details	Find your email from a phone in under 20 seconds	In the footer, contact page and order emails
2 Shipping policy	Read it as a stranger and find the delivery time	Dates and costs stated, linked at checkout
3 Returns policy	Find who pays for returns and the time limit	Stated plainly and consistent with consumer law
5 Policy links	Open an old order and see the policy that applied	A dated copy of each version
7 Descriptor	Compare the statement line with your store name	Matches your store name or domain
8 Emails	Place a test order and read both emails	Receipt and tracking link arrive in the inbox
9 Proof of delivery	Find the file for last month's order	Found in under a minute
12 Alerts	Check who gets the dispute email	Two people who read it daily
13 Cutoff	Ask someone else to describe the routine	They can, without you
14 Log	Open the log and count this month's disputes	Up to date, with a review date

Test yourself on one point you think is strong. If you cannot prove it in a couple of minutes, it was a 1 all along. Honest scoring makes your chargeback readiness number useful.

What if you only have an hour for chargeback readiness?

Do the three fastest, widest fixes: check the billing descriptor, confirm the dispute alert goes to a person, and write your internal deadline rule. These cost almost nothing, apply to every order and cover the two ways a dispute starts and the way it is lost on time.

After that, spend the next hour on proof of delivery for high-value orders. That covers the product not received disputes, which are the ones where your own records decide the outcome. If you only fix four things in a month, fix those four, and your chargeback readiness will improve more than any template could.

What's different for Australian merchants?

Australian merchants pay A$25 per dispute on Shopify Payments, refunded if they win, and sell under Australian consumer law. Both affect chargeback readiness: the fee makes each dispute costly, and the law shapes what your policies can say. Local carriers also change what proof you can collect.

Three Australian points that change your chargeback readiness work:

Policies must respect consumer guarantees. WA Consumer Protection says a no-refund sign cannot remove consumer rights and that online orders from Australian sellers must meet them. Point 3 should reflect that.
Carrier proof differs. I could not verify what Sendle, StarTrack or Aramex provide, so check each one when you score point 9.
Customers have a long window. Consumer bodies and one payments provider put customer time limits at roughly 45 to 120 days depending on the provider. Your records need to last at least that long.

I could not verify how GST or BAS applies to a disputed or refunded sale, so none of the sums include it. Ask your accountant.

Common mistakes

Scoring yourself generously. If you cannot show it in two minutes, it is a 1.
Starting chargeback readiness with templates. A response template helps after a dispute. Readiness starts before one.
Ignoring the descriptor. An unrecognised charge is a cheap dispute to prevent and an expensive one to lose.
Writing policies nobody can find. Link them in the footer and at checkout.
Sending alerts to an unread inbox. If nobody sees the email, nobody meets the deadline.
Trusting a fraud score as evidence. It is a signal for you, not proof for the bank.
Auditing once. Stores change, so your chargeback readiness changes. Repeat every quarter.
Polishing points that already score 2 in chargeback readiness. Spend your time on the zeros and ones, because that is where the gains are.

Frequently asked questions

What is a chargeback readiness audit?

It is a structured check of how well your store prevents chargebacks and answers the ones that arrive. This guide uses 15 points scored 0, 1 or 2, for a total out of 30. Six points come from Shopify's prevention guidance and the rest are my additions on evidence, deadlines and review.

How long does the audit take?

About 90 minutes the first time, which is A$60 at A$40 an hour, and less on later rounds. Open your store on a phone, check each point from the customer's side and write down the evidence for each score. The fix work after that depends on what you find.

What should I fix first?

Fix the lowest scores that affect every order: the billing descriptor, contact details and receipts. Shopify says to set the descriptor to your store name or domain in Shopify Payments. Then set up proof of delivery for higher-value orders and route dispute alerts to someone who reads them.

Does winning a dispute remove it from my chargeback rate?

No. Shopify says winning does not remove a dispute from your chargeback rate, and a high rate can affect your Shopify Payments status and features such as the Shop app. That is why prevention matters more than a good response. I could not verify a Shopify rate threshold for Australia.

How much does one prevented dispute save?

On an A$120 order, a lost dispute costs A$145 once the A$25 fee is added, and Shopify's fee table lists Australia as refunded only if you win. One fewer dispute a month saves A$1,740 a year in the illustration here. Your numbers will differ, so use your own average order value.

Do I need a subscription cancellation policy?

Shopify lists one as a prevention step for stores that sell subscriptions. If you do, state how to cancel, when the last charge happens and what the customer gets back. If you do not sell subscriptions, score that point 2 and move on. Customers who cannot cancel often go to their bank.

Can my policies say no refunds?

Not safely in Australia. WA Consumer Protection says online orders from Australian sellers must meet consumer guarantees and that a no-refund sign cannot remove those rights. Write a returns policy that states your process and time limits without claiming to override the law, and ask an adviser if you are unsure.

How often should I repeat the audit?

Once a quarter is enough for most stores, plus after any change to your policies, carriers, checkout or payment setup. Keep the scorecard each time so you can see whether your total is rising. A dispute log reviewed monthly shows which points are letting disputes through.

Can an app do the readiness audit for me?

An app can help with parts of it, such as reminders and evidence preparation, but the audit is about your store: your policies, descriptor, emails and records. You can run it yourself in about 90 minutes. Whether a tool is worth paying for is a separate break-even question.

Start free trial with ChargeFix

ChargeFix is a Shopify app that helps you prepare chargeback evidence. You review and file it, or let Auto mode handle them. It never invents facts, so once your chargeback readiness score shows where the gaps are, you can try it on a real dispute during the free trial.

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Sources

Shopify Help Center, "Preventing chargebacks and inquiries" (contact details, policies, billing descriptor, receipts, returns and subscription policies)
Shopify Help Center, "Chargebacks and inquiries" (fees, rate and store status)
Shopify Help Center, "Responding to chargebacks and inquiries"
Shopify Help Center, "Managing chargebacks in the Shopify admin"
WA Consumer Protection on online purchases and consumer guarantees, and Consumer Affairs Victoria and Wise AU on chargeback time limits (verified earlier in this project; add links at publish)
Points 6, 9 to 15 are my own additions, not Shopify requirements. A Shopify chargeback rate threshold for Australia could not be verified.
Stripe, Dispute evidence best practices: further reading on how to format convincing evidence
Adyen, Manage disputes: further reading on how another payment provider handles disputes