Merchant Dispute

A merchant dispute is a disagreement about a payment viewed from the merchant's side. The phrase covers two situations. In the first, a customer complains directly to the merchant about a charge, for example a wrong amount or an undelivered order, and the merchant resolves it, often with a refund, before the customer contacts the bank. In the second, more formal sense, the merchant challenges a chargeback raised by the card issuer by submitting dispute evidence, such as delivery records or proof of authentication, through its acquirer. This response is known as representment. If the issuer rejects the evidence, the case may move to pre-arbitration and arbitration under card network rules. Merchants track the outcome of their disputes through measures such as their win rate, and keep their dispute volumes low to avoid network monitoring programmes. The term is used in contrast with an issuer dispute.