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Merchant help > Resolving disputes > Handling chargebacks

Chargeback best practices

A chargeback occurs when your customer contacts their bank or credit card company to dispute the charge for an order that they placed on your website. Chargebacks are also known as "charge disputes" and “reversals,” and they can be filed for a variety of reasons, including unauthorized use of the credit card.

Consider the following tips for preventing disputes and protecting your business:

  • Review and comply with the information in the Customer Service Policy.
  • Describe your products and services in as much detail as possible.
  • If your customer service policy prohibits refunds or is otherwise unsatisfactory to buyers, you may receive more chargebacks than average. Therefore, we recommend reviewing your customer service and business practices for opportunities to resolve customer disputes in a manner that meets both the needs of the customer and your business.
  • Make return and refund policies easily accessible to all customers. Ensure that these policies are available to customers during the purchase and checkout process, and easily accessible on your website.
  • Provide easy access to customer service. Ensure customer service contact information is visible so customers can contact you with questions or concerns. Always respond to customer contacts as quickly as possible.
  • Use a shipping method that provides a tracking number and requires a signature from the recipient for high value merchandise.
  • We strongly encourage you to keep records of the date on which the merchandise was shipped, the shipping method used, and any available tracking information for at least 6 months past the order date.
  • Do not change the shipping address that was provided to you by Amazon Pay. You are liable for any disputes filed for orders that you send to a different shipping address.
  • Retain a copy of the order confirmation email or receipt that was provided to the buyer.
  • Retain a copy of any communication that you had with the customer regarding a disputed item.

Note: If you choose to dispute a chargeback, and request assistance from Amazon Pay, we will assess a Disputed Chargeback fee of $20.00, and we will require you to provide us with information that we will need to dispute the claim. For detailed information, see the Chargeback FAQ.