How Long Do Chargebacks Take? The Merchant's Timeline

Two clocks: the customer's and yours

A chargeback timeline has two parts that restaurant and retail owners often mix up. The first is how long the customer has to raise a dispute with their bank. The second is how long you, through your processor, have to answer it. The first clock is long. Visa's Core Rules give a cardholder up to 120 days from the processing date to dispute under the Merchandise/Services Not Received condition, or from the last date they expected the goods or service, capped at 540 days from processing. American Express's US guide says cardholders generally have 120 days from the transaction date in most categories. The second clock is short, and it is the one that decides whether you keep the money.

Stage by stage on Visa

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What happens if you do not respond

Visa's rules say that if a member does not respond in Visa Resolve Online within the time allowed, the dispute cycle is closed. For a merchant, that usually means the debit taken when the dispute arrived stays in place. Silence is a decision. If you have no evidence, accepting the dispute on purpose, rather than missing the deadline by accident, means you know where you stand and can close the case in your books.

You usually get one shot

Visa's rules say the acquirer must not respond more than once to the original dispute. Send the full package the first time: the receipt, proof of delivery or pickup, any refund already issued, and messages with the customer. Our guide to winning a chargeback walks through how to build that package, and the reason code guide shows which evidence answers which complaint.

Mastercard and American Express

Mastercard publishes its own stages and time frames in the Chargeback Guide Merchant Edition, and they are not the same as Visa's, so read your processor's notice rather than assuming the Visa schedule. American Express's US disputes guide says it may either send an inquiry or debit your account as an upfront chargeback, and that you have 20 days to respond with supporting documents.

A working routine for restaurants and stores

Deadlines are the easiest part of a dispute to control. A simple routine: check the processor portal or dispute email every business day, log each dispute with its reason code and the processor's deadline, pull the receipt and any signed or tipped copy the same day, and decide within a few days whether to fight, refund or accept. Keep your batch closed daily and your billing descriptor recognisable, because both cut the number of disputes that start at all.

Common questions

<strong>How long does a chargeback take to resolve?</strong> It depends how far it goes. If you do not contest it, it is settled when the response window closes. If you respond and the issuer accepts your evidence, it ends there. Pre-arbitration and arbitration add their own 30-day and 10-day steps on Visa. <strong>Can a merchant refuse a chargeback?</strong> You cannot refuse it, but you can respond with evidence before the deadline. <strong>Do I get the chargeback fee back if I win?</strong> Only if your merchant agreement says so; see our chargeback fee guide.