Refund Policies: What the Card Rules Require You to Disclose

What Visa requires you to disclose, and where

Section 1.5.4.14 of the Core Rules says a merchant may establish its own credit refund policy but must disclose it as specified in the disclosure rule. That rule applies when a merchant restricts the return of goods or cancellation of services and sets out where the disclosure goes: for card-present transactions, at the point of transaction before the cardholder completes the transaction, or on the front of the transaction receipt, and if the disclosure is on the receipt or in a separate contract it must be accompanied by a space for the cardholder to indicate acceptance; for e-commerce, during the sequence of pages before final checkout with a click to accept button, checkbox or other acknowledgement, which may include a link to the policy page if the link forms part of that acknowledgement; and for other card-absent sales, through mail, email or text message. The same section says a merchant must not require a cardholder to waive the right to dispute a transaction.

Why the disclosure is the evidence

Dispute condition 13.7 covers cancelled merchandise or services. The acquirer's dispute response documentation includes the transaction receipt or another record proving the merchant properly disclosed a limited return or cancellation policy at the time of the transaction, and evidence that the cardholder received the policy and did not cancel according to it. In other words, the policy itself is not the evidence; the record that the customer saw and accepted it is. A timestamped checkout acceptance, a signed receipt line or the email that carried the terms is what your provider can actually submit.

Refunds you promised have their own clock

Dispute condition 13.6 is credit not processed. Before initiating that dispute the issuer must wait 15 calendar days from the date on the credit transaction receipt, and the dispute must be processed no later than 120 calendar days from that date. Practically, a refund you announced but did not process turns into a chargeback about three weeks later. Visa also requires that, to the extent possible, a refund is processed to the same payment credential used for the original transaction.

Mail, internet and telephone orders

The FTC's Rule in 16 CFR Part 435 applies to sales ordered by mail, over the internet or by telephone, whatever the payment method. A seller must have a reasonable basis to expect it can ship within the time clearly and conspicuously stated in the solicitation, or within 30 days if no time is stated. If it cannot, it must offer the buyer the option to consent to a delay or to cancel for a prompt refund. A prompt refund generally means one sent within seven working days of the date the buyer's right to a refund vests, or within one billing cycle where the refund route in paragraph (d)(2)(i) applies. The FTC's own business guide is the plain-language version; the rule text is the authority.

The cardholder's statutory route

Regulation Z section 1026.12(c) lets a cardholder who cannot satisfactorily resolve a dispute about goods or services assert claims and defences against the card issuer and withhold payment up to the amount of credit outstanding, provided the cardholder first made a good faith attempt to resolve it with the merchant, and, subject to listed exclusions, the amount exceeds $50 and the transaction occurred in the cardholder's state or within 100 miles of their address. The good faith attempt requirement is the part merchants can influence: an answered phone and a workable returns process keeps most of these from starting.

What to publish, and where

Write the policy in plain terms: the return window, the condition goods must be in, who pays return shipping, how long refunds take once received, and what is excluded. Put it behind the checkout acknowledgement, on the receipt, in the order confirmation email and on a linked page. Keep the acceptance records with the order. If your policy changes, keep the dated versions, because a dispute six months from now is judged against the terms that applied on the sale date. Consumer protection statutes in your state or province may add rights that your terms cannot remove, so check them before publishing an absolute no-refund rule. This is general information, not legal advice (September 17, 2026).