What happens when a donor initiates a dispute or chargeback?

A dispute (also known as a chargeback) occurs when your donor questions their contribution with their card issuer.  Once initiated, the donor’s credit card company or bank immediately reverses the payment and provides a refund to the donor.

Dispute reasons we see most frequently are below:

• The cardholder doesn't recognize this charge and reported it as fraudulent.
• Your customer says they were charged multiple times for the same product.
• Your customer says they were charged after they canceled a subscription.

Once a dispute of a contribution is initiated by the donor (or cardholder), the amount of the contribution will be deducted from your account on file, along with a $15 dispute fee.  You will receive a receipt for the refund of the contribution and dispute fee processed for your donor. 

If the donor confirms that they would like to retain the contribution (rather than retaining their refund from their card issuer), please make sure to obtain an email (as evidence of written confirmation) from the donor confirming that they have rescinded the dispute with their bank, and Numero can submit that evidence on your behalf to the bank or credit card company to contest the dispute.  If the process is successful, the contribution will be returned to the committee, along with the $15 dispute fee.

You have the following options when addressing a dispute:

1) Accept the dispute and allow the donor to retain the refund from their bank. No further action is required with the bank.

Please remember to mark the contribution as refunded in the platform for your records, as this refund was made via dispute, rather than initiated via our platform. It will not automatically be reflected as refunded in your Numero platform.  (If you need instructions on how to do this, you can find them here.)

2) Reject the disputed charge and submit a claim with the bank. If the donor confirms that they would like to retain the contribution (rather than requesting a refund), please send us email evidence from the donor confirming that they have rescinded the dispute with their bank. Banks will generally require both the donor to contact them rescinding the dispute, AND the Committee submitting evidence of that confirmation.  You will need to respond to Numero within one week of your dispute notification with evidence - evidence is submitted to billing@numero.ai.

Dispute FAQs

What is the $15 dispute fee for? 

This is a direct passthrough fee from Stripe and is passed to each Committee, as applicable. There are no additional Numero fees included within this dispute fee.

Is the dispute fee refunded if we win the dispute? 

If the Committee opts to provide evidence and challenge the dispute, and the dispute is decided in the Committee's favor, the $15 fee is refunded to the Committee along with the original contribution funds. 

Am I likely to win a dispute if countered?

As contributions are voluntary in nature, it is rare that these types of chargebacks are decided in the Committee's favor. If you decide to counter a dispute, we recommend that you have the donor contact their credit card company and rescind the dispute and obtain confirmation that they have taken action.

I want to settle the dispute invoice using a different payment method to the one on file, how do I update this?

We provide a 1 business day grace period from when the dispute notification is sent, to when the card or bank account on file is charged. If you’d like to pay by a different payment method, you can reply to billing@numero.ai and we can send you a manual invoice link.