Shopify Chargeback Audit: 30-Point UK Checklist (2026)

Most UK Shopify merchants find out their dispute process is broken at the worst moment: the email arrives, the money has already left the account, and the response deadline is nine days away. Then they discover the refund policy is a footer link nobody reads, the tracking page cannot be found, and the only record of what the customer was told is in someone's inbox.

A chargeback audit is a structured check of your store, done before a dispute arrives, that tells you whether you could answer one properly today. This one has 30 checks across six areas: policies, checkout records, delivery proof, customer communication, your dispute routine and your numbers. It takes about 90 minutes, produces a score, and ends with a dated plan to fix the gaps. You do not need a tool to run it, only a spreadsheet and access to your Shopify admin.

This guide is for you if:

You run a UK Shopify store on Shopify Payments, you get a few disputes a month, and you suspect you are losing some you could have won.
You have never checked what your store would show a bank if a customer said "I never received it" or "I didn't authorise this".
You want a practical audit with a pass mark, not a general lecture on chargebacks.

Last updated: 22 October 2026. Written by the ChargeFix team. Reviewed against sources on 22 October 2026. General information, not legal advice.

Disclosure. ChargeFix is a tool that builds dispute responses, so I have an interest in you taking disputes seriously. Nothing in this chargeback audit needs a paid product, and I say where a tool would help and where a spreadsheet is enough. The examples are made up to show the method and are labelled as such.

The 30-second answer (TL;DR)

Score your store on 30 yes or no checks in six areas. Each yes is one point.

Under 15 means a dispute would probably be lost for lack of records. 15 to 24 means you can win the easy ones. 25 or more means you are ready.

Fix the lowest-scoring area first. For most UK stores that is delivery proof or the written policy shown at checkout.

Shopify's own rules set the clock: the response deadline is usually 7 to 21 days, and the dispute amount plus a £10 fee leave your account immediately.

Re-run the chargeback audit every quarter. A repeat chargeback audit takes 20 minutes.

Do this today (10 minutes):

Open Shopify admin, go to Orders, and pick one order from the last 30 days.

Ask whether you could prove what was ordered, who paid, where it went and that it arrived, using only what is stored for that order.

Write down what is missing. That list is the start of your chargeback audit.

From audit to action

Step	What you do	Time
1. Pull 5 recent orders for the chargeback audit	Sample across product types and countries	10 minutes
2. Score the 30 checks	Yes or no, with a note	60 minutes
3. Total the scorecard	Find the weakest area	5 minutes
4. Fix the top 5 gaps	Dated plan below	4 weeks
5. Re-run	Quarterly	20 minutes

Why run a chargeback audit before you get a dispute?

Because a dispute is decided on records you either have or do not have, and you cannot create them afterwards. Shopify's process shows why. When a customer's bank opens a chargeback, Shopify withdraws the disputed amount and the dispute fee from your balance straight away. In the UK that fee is £10, and it is returned only if you win. You then have a response deadline, which Shopify says is usually 7 to 21 days, and if no time is shown it ends at 11:59 PM on the due date. Once you submit your evidence you cannot edit it, and if you submit nothing Shopify sends whatever you have collected when the date arrives.

Put those facts together and the problem is clear. You have days, not weeks, to assemble proof, and the proof has to already exist: the policy the customer agreed to, the delivery scan, the messages sent, the payment checks. A chargeback audit checks that those records exist and are easy to reach, while there is no deadline pressing.

There is a second reason. Shopify says its Automated Dispute Response lifts win rates from 20% to 37%, which is its own claim for disputes on Shopify Payments, and it works on the evidence already in your store. Better records from a chargeback audit help whichever route you take, whether that is Shopify's automation, a tool or your own hands.

How does the 30-point chargeback audit work?

You answer 30 questions with yes or no. A yes means the thing exists, is current and you could find it in under two minutes. A "sort of" is a no. Be strict in your chargeback audit, because a bank reviewer will be.

Work from a sample, not from memory. Pick five orders from the last 60 days: one domestic, one international, one over £150, one with a discount code and one that was refunded or partly refunded. Check each against the questions. If the answer differs between orders, score the worst one.

Use this scorecard to record results.

Area                          Points (out of 5)
1. Policies shown at checkout      __
2. Checkout and payment records    __
3. Delivery proof                  __
4. Customer communication          __
5. Dispute routine                 __
6. Numbers and monitoring          __
TOTAL                              __ / 30

Now the checks in your chargeback audit.

Area 1: are your policies visible where the customer agrees to them?

A policy that exists but was never shown is weak evidence. A bank wants to see what the customer saw at the time of purchase. These five checks cover it.

#	Check	Yes if
1	Refund policy is linked at checkout	A link appears on the checkout page, not only in the footer
2	Refund policy states time limits and conditions	It gives the number of days, who pays return postage and what condition items must be in
3	Shipping policy states delivery times and carriers	It gives realistic ranges and says tracking is provided
4	Policies have a visible "last updated" date	You can show what the policy said on the order date
5	Terms cover digital, personalised or made-to-order goods	Exceptions are written down in plain words

Your refund policy matters most here, because "item not as described" and "I returned it" disputes turn on it. A weak policy says "we accept returns on most items". A strong one says "You can return unworn items within 30 days of delivery. We refund to the original payment method within 5 working days of receiving the parcel. Return postage is paid by the customer unless the item is faulty."

UK sellers who sell to consumers online should also remember that consumer law gives buyers cancellation and return rights that a policy cannot remove. I have not set out those rules in detail here, so check Citizens Advice or Trading Standards guidance for your goods. What the chargeback audit tests is that your own policy is clear, visible and consistent with those rights.

Fix tip. Add a line above the pay button: "By placing this order you agree to our shipping and refund policies" with both linked. Keep a dated copy of each policy in a folder.

Area 2: can you prove who paid and what they bought?

This area covers fraud and "I didn't authorise this" disputes. Shopify records many of these checks for you, but only if you look.

#	Check	Yes if
6	You can see AVS and CVV results on orders	The order's payment details show the postcode and security code check results
7	You know what your fraud analysis flags mean	You can say what a medium or high risk flag requires from you
8	Billing and shipping addresses are compared	Mismatches are reviewed before dispatch on higher-value orders
9	Customer IP and device details are retained	You can see the IP address recorded on the order
10	Order confirmation emails are sent and logged	You can show the exact email and its timestamp

On AVS and CVV, UK card issuers support these checks, and a match on both is useful evidence. Remember that a match is not proof of the cardholder's identity, only that the details given matched. Our guides on AVS and CVV checks and billing and shipping address matching go deeper on each.

Worked example (made up). A store sells £180 headphones. A customer disputes the payment as fraudulent. In the chargeback audit, the owner finds that the order shows a postcode match, a security code match, a billing address that equals the shipping address, an IP in the same city as the delivery address and a confirmation email sent four minutes after payment. That is five yes answers and a strong set of facts. Another order from the sample shows a billing address in Leeds, a delivery address in Lagos, an unchecked security code and no review note. That is a no on three checks and an order that should have been held for review before dispatch.

Area 3: can you prove the goods arrived?

"Item not received" is among the most common disputes for online stores, and it is the one where records win cases. This area is where most UK stores score lowest in a chargeback audit, so give it time.

#	Check	Yes if
11	Every order has tracking sent to the customer	The tracking number is on the order and in the shipping email
12	Carrier tracking shows delivered status with date and address	You can see a final scan, not just "out for delivery"
13	You can find proof of delivery quickly	A signature, photo or safe place note is stored or retrievable for higher-value orders
14	High-value parcels use signed or tracked-and-signed service	You have a threshold, for example £100, above which signature is required
15	Delivery address is the one on the order	You do not let customers change it by email without a record

The reason carrier tracking is so central is simple. A bank reviewing "I never got it" wants a delivered status that matches the address the customer gave. If the tracking shows delivery to a different address, or just an attempted delivery card, the case is weak. If the record also shows a signature or a photo, it is strong.

Use a threshold rule. For example: orders under £50 ship tracked, orders from £50 to £150 ship tracked with photo proof where the carrier offers it, and orders over £150 require a signature. Write the rule down. A rule you can quote is one you can prove you followed.

What a gap looks like (made up). A candle shop ships everything on an untracked small-parcel service to save £1.50 a parcel. Its audit scores 1 out of 5 on this area. Over a year, three "not received" disputes at £35 each cost £105 in refunded sales plus £30 in dispute fees, and the shop cannot contest any of them. The saving on 400 parcels was £600. The chargeback audit makes that trade visible, so the owner can decide with numbers instead of habit.

Area 4: have you kept what you told the customer?

Customer messages are evidence of good faith, of agreed terms and of attempts to fix the problem before a dispute. They also show when a customer contacted you and when they did not.

#	Check	Yes if
16	Customer emails and chats are searchable by order	You can pull the thread for any order in under two minutes
17	Refund and return requests get a written reply	The reply states what you will do and by when
18	Promises are recorded	Delivery estimates and exceptions agreed by email are saved
19	Order notes record special handling	Notes on gifts, changes or delays are on the order
20	Complaints are answered inside a set time	You have a target such as one working day

Many disputes that look like fraud are customers who could not find the support email, wrote once and gave up. A visible contact route and a fast reply prevent the chargeback in the first place, which is cheaper than winning one. Our guide on using customer emails and chats as dispute evidence covers what to save and how.

Fix tip. Pick one shared inbox and make sure every message about an order mentions the order number in the subject. Search becomes trivial, and a second person can answer when you are away.

Area 5: do you have a routine when a dispute arrives?

Having the records is half the work. The other half is what happens in the first hour. Disputes arrive by email notification and sit in Shopify under Payments, and nobody notices for a week if nobody owns them.

#	Check	Yes if
21	One named person owns disputes	There is a name, and a named backup
22	Dispute alerts reach a monitored inbox	Notifications go to a shared address, not one person's old email
23	You calendar the response deadline on day one	The due date and time are entered in a calendar when the dispute opens
24	You have templates by dispute reason	Drafts exist for fraud, not received, not as described and subscription disputes
25	You record outcomes	Won, lost and reason code go in a log

The response deadline is the number that matters. Shopify's help pages say it is usually 7 to 21 days, shown on the dispute, and 11:59 PM on the day if no time appears. Put the earlier of that date and "two working days before" in the calendar, because a response submitted early locks your edits and a response submitted late is not read. Progress autosaves, so you can start and return.

Writing the response is a skill in itself. If you want a framework, our guide to responding to a Shopify chargeback and the dispute SOP for small teams cover the steps. For the chargeback audit, what counts is that someone owns the job and the dates are in the calendar.

Area 6: do you know your numbers?

If you cannot say how many disputes you had last quarter, you cannot tell whether the audit is working.

#	Check	Yes if
26	You count disputes monthly	A number exists for each of the last three months
27	You know your dispute rate	Disputes divided by orders, by month
28	You track win rate by reason	You can say how fraud and not-received differ
29	You total your dispute fees and lost sales	Fees and refunded amounts are summed per quarter
30	You review the log quarterly	A date is in the calendar

Your dispute rate matters because card schemes watch it. Our chargeback rate calculator and thresholds guide explains the limits, and I will not repeat them here. For the chargeback audit, you need the number. A simple sheet with one row per dispute is enough: order number, date opened, amount, reason, response deadline, submitted date, outcome and the £10 dispute fee.

Worked example (made up). Over a quarter, a store has 9 disputes totalling £840. It wins 4, loses 5 and pays £90 in dispute fees, of which £40 comes back on the four wins, so £50 stays lost. The five lost disputes cost £420 in sales. The total hit is £470 plus whatever the goods cost. Win rate is 44%. Splitting by reason shows three of the five losses were "not received" with no delivery proof. The audit now has a target.

How do you read the chargeback audit scorecard?

Add up your yes answers from the chargeback audit. The bands below tell you where to focus.

Score	Meaning	What to do
0 to 14	Most disputes will be lost for lack of records	Fix policies and delivery proof first. Do not buy a tool yet
15 to 24	You can win the straightforward ones	Close the gaps in your weakest area, then consider automation
25 to 30	Ready	Keep the routine, re-run quarterly, consider automating the simple cases

Look at the area totals as well as the overall score. A store scoring 4 out of 5 in five areas and 0 in delivery proof is a store that will lose every "not received" dispute, whatever its total says. Treat any area scoring 2 or below as the first fix, whatever the total.

A caution about the pass mark: I chose these bands to give you a practical order of work, not from a published standard. There is no official chargeback audit threshold, and no regulator publishes one. The checks are drawn from what Shopify and card schemes ask evidence to show, and from the cases where the records usually decide the result.

What should your chargeback audit fix first? A dated four-week plan

Fix the biggest gap in each week. This plan assumes you run the audit on Monday 26 October 2026.

Date	Task	Time
Mon 26 Oct	Run the audit, total the scorecard	90 minutes
Tue 27 Oct	Choose your top five gaps. Write them in a list with an owner	20 minutes
Wed 28 Oct	Fix Area 1 gaps: checkout policy link, dated policy copies	45 minutes
Fri 30 Oct	Set up dispute alerts to a shared inbox and put the owner and backup in writing	20 minutes
Mon 2 Nov	Fix delivery proof: set your signature threshold and update shipping rules	45 minutes
Wed 4 Nov	Create three response templates (fraud, not received, not as described)	60 minutes
Mon 9 Nov	Start the dispute log sheet and back-fill the last 90 days from Shopify	45 minutes
Mon 16 Nov	Spot-check five new orders against the 30 checks	30 minutes
Mon 23 Nov	Re-score. Compare to 26 Oct	20 minutes

Most stores that run a chargeback audit move 6 to 10 points in four weeks by doing only these steps. They are mostly settings and writing, not spending.

After a chargeback audit, should you use a tool, Shopify's automation or do it by hand?

After the audit you will know which of three routes fits. They are not exclusive.

Route	Best when	Watch out for
By hand with templates	Fewer than 5 disputes a month	Missed deadlines, inconsistent evidence
Shopify's own automation	You want a baseline for Shopify Payments disputes	It uses the evidence you already have, so audit first
A dispute tool	Regular disputes and a team stretched thin	Fees, data access and control. Read our guide to safety first

The point of the chargeback audit is that every route depends on the same inputs. A tool cannot invent a delivery scan or a policy that was never shown. Our comparison of chargeback apps for UK stores and the guide to what to automate are the next steps once your score is in the middle band or higher.

If you do use ChargeFix, the audit feeds it directly. It reads the order, payment checks and delivery records already on the order, drafts a response and, by default, keeps manual review on, so you review and file it, or let Auto mode handle them. It only sees Shopify Payments disputes and the last 60 days of orders, and a filed response cannot be changed, which is the reason the chargeback audit pushes you to fix the records before the deadline, not during it.

What does a chargeback audit look like for three different stores?

These stores are made up to show how scores vary.

A UK fashion brand, 600 orders a month. It scores 12. Policy is clear (4 out of 5) but delivery proof is 1 out of 5 because small parcels go untracked, and the dispute routine is 1 out of 5 because alerts go to a former employee's inbox. First fixes: move alerts, set a tracked-only rule, name an owner. Estimated gain: 8 points in a fortnight.

A made-to-order furniture seller, 80 orders a month at £400 average. It scores 19. It has signatures on every delivery, but the refund policy never mentions made-to-order exceptions, and no one logs outcomes. A single lost dispute costs £400 plus £10, so the policy fix is worth doing this week.

A digital goods store, 1,200 orders a month. It scores 16. Delivery proof is moot because nothing ships, but it fails Area 2 and Area 4 because it keeps no IP records and sends no order confirmation with a timestamp. For digital goods, proof of access and use matters more than tracking, so it should record download or login events.

What is different for UK merchants?

Fees and currency. Shopify's dispute fee on UK stores is £10, and the amount is withdrawn immediately. It comes back only on a win.
Carrier proof. UK carriers offer tracked and signed services at different price points, and many stores can set a value threshold in Shopify's shipping rules.
Consumer law. UK consumers have cancellation and returns rights that your policy sits on top of. Your audit tests clarity and visibility, not whether the law applies.
Shopify Protect. It is US-only, so UK stores cannot rely on it. The audit is your protection.
Banks and schemes. UK card issuers decide disputes under Visa and Mastercard rules, and the detail is not something a merchant can negotiate, which is why complete records matter.

What I could not verify: current Visa or Mastercard evidence requirements in detail, your specific carrier's proof-of-delivery formats, and how any particular UK bank weighs each type of evidence. Run the chargeback audit as a floor, not a guarantee.

What are the common mistakes in a chargeback audit?

Scoring from memory. Pull five real orders and check them.
Counting "sort of" as yes. A policy nobody can find is a no.
Checking only the policy pages. Show what the customer saw at checkout.
Ignoring international orders. Disputes often come from abroad and tracking can stop at the border.
Fixing the strongest area first. Fix the lowest score.
Leaving alerts with one person. Name a backup.
Not saving dated copies of policies. You may need the version from the order date.
Tracking disputes but not reasons. The reason tells you which area to fix.
Buying a tool before the audit. A tool cannot prove what you never recorded.
Running it once. Re-run each quarter, because your products and carriers change.

Frequently asked questions

What is a chargeback audit?

A chargeback audit is a structured check of your store's records, policies and routines to see whether you could answer a dispute properly today. This one has 30 yes or no checks across six areas, a scorecard with bands and a dated plan to fix the gaps, and it takes about 90 minutes.

How long does a chargeback audit take?

The first run takes about 90 minutes: ten to pull five sample orders and about an hour to score the 30 checks. Fixing the top gaps takes a few hours spread over four weeks. After that, a quarterly re-check takes around 20 minutes because you already know where each record sits.

What is a good chargeback audit score?

Under 15 of 30 means records are too thin to win most disputes. 15 to 24 means you can win the straightforward ones. 25 or more means you are ready. These bands are practical guidance, not an official standard, so also look at each area and fix any that scores 2 out of 5 or below.

Do I need a tool to run a chargeback audit?

No. A spreadsheet and your Shopify admin are enough. You sample five recent orders, answer 30 questions and total the result. A tool can help after the chargeback audit by drafting responses, but it cannot fix missing records, so the audit comes first whichever route you choose.

How often should I audit my store for chargebacks?

Run the full audit once, then re-check every quarter, and again whenever you change carrier, add a product type, launch in a new country or rewrite your refund policy. The second and later runs are faster, around 20 minutes, because you only look for changes since the last score.

What records win a chargeback on Shopify?

It depends on the reason, but the core set is the policy the customer saw, payment check results, order and confirmation emails, carrier tracking with a delivered status and address, and customer messages. For fraud, payment checks and device data matter most. For not received, delivery proof matters most.

How much does a dispute cost a UK Shopify store?

On Shopify Payments a UK store loses the disputed amount immediately and pays a £10 dispute fee, which is returned only if you win. Add the cost of goods you cannot recover and the time spent responding. A lost £60 order can therefore cost well over £70.

What is the deadline to respond to a Shopify dispute?

Shopify says the response deadline is usually 7 to 21 days and is shown on the dispute. If no time is shown, it ends at 11:59 PM on the due date. Submitting early locks your edits, and Shopify submits collected evidence automatically when the date arrives.

Which dispute type should I fix first?

Fix the type that costs you most, which your chargeback audit log will show. For many UK stores that is not received, where carrier tracking and signature rules decide the result. For others it is fraud, where payment checks and review rules matter more. Let your own numbers decide.

Can a chargeback audit stop disputes happening?

It can reduce them, mainly by exposing weak points such as hidden policies, unclear contact routes and untracked parcels, which cause disputes that customers could have solved with you. It cannot stop genuine fraud or a determined customer, so pair prevention with evidence you can produce on demand.

Start free trial with ChargeFix

Once your chargeback audit shows your records are in good shape, ChargeFix turns them into a dispute response. It reads the order, payment checks and delivery records on the order, drafts the response, and keeps manual review on by default, so you review and file it, or let Auto mode handle them. It works with Shopify Payments disputes only. Start free trial

Sources

Responding to chargebacks and inquiries, Shopify Help Center
Shopify Payments dispute fees, Shopify Help Center
Automated Dispute Response, Shopify blog, 4 July 2026
Shopify Protect, Shopify
ChargeFix support page
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

The Shopify chargeback audit: a 30-point readiness check for UK stores