About Cardmember Disputes
A dispute occurs when a Cardmember contacts American Express to question a charge on their statement that they don't recognise. A chargeback occurs when, after investigation of the dispute, we debit your account for the amount of the disputed transaction and credit the Cardmember with this amount. There are simple steps you can take to minimize the chances of a dispute and chargeback happening.
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Access the full range of tools available to you as Merchant.
Watch the below video to learn how you can help fight and prevent fraud from impacting your business.
Ways to avoid disputes
There are many ways that you can protect your business from disputes and chargebacks. Watch the below video to learn about the things you can do for your business.
On-demand Disputes 101 webinar
Watch our disputes experts explain all the basics about disputes and fraud protection.
Advise Cardmember of your return policy for damaged and unwanted goods or cancellations of any kind.
Advise Cardmember of Terms and Conditions in detail at the time of the transaction or booking.
Ensure your trading name appears correctly on Cardmember statements. To check your trading name, call us on 2277 2277 between 9:00am and 6:00pm, Monday to Friday (except public holidays).
Itemize the bill (e.g. by room, restaurant or mini-bar).
Check the Card is not altered, damaged or expired.
Always obtain a valid authorization code for the full value of the transaction.
Never split a charge to avoid your floor limit threshold or to skip authorization.
Be suspicious of purchases with different delivery and billing addresses, orders for large numbers of identical items, and requests for immediate delivery of expensive items.
Always prioritize Chip and Pin procedure for chip card. The terminal will give further instruction on how to proceed with the transaction(s).
Ensure the signature on terminal receipt(s) is matching with the signature at the back of Card. (Not applicable to FastPay transaction).
Ensure you keep all your records of sales and charges for 12 months, including signed receipts for delivery items.
Provide all supporting documents, as specified in the 'Retrieval Request Letter’, within the stated timeframe.
There may be certain circumstances where we will make a chargeback without sending a 'Retrieval Request Letter’ (for example, where a Cardmember provides proof of a refund that hasn't been processed to their account.).
Download guides for your industry transaction type
- Compelling Evidence Policy updates – find out the full policy requirements here.
- Hotel
- Restaurant
- Retail
- Pre-authorization
- Recurring Billing Policy updates for Introductory Offers and Free Trials
- Recurring Transactions
- Card Not Present (Online transactions)
- Disputes Process
- Estimated Authorization Policy updates for Card Not Present Grocery and Retail
Managing disputes
1
If a dispute cannot be resolved directly with the Cardmember, you may receive a ‘Retrieval Request Letter’ or an ‘Upfront Chargeback’ letter outlining your requirements.
2
Respond by the required date by post, fax or online. Otherwise we may deduct the amount of the transaction from your Merchant account.
3
After we reach a final decision, either the Cardmember pays the charge, or your account is debited by the required amount.
To sign up to manage disputes online, register here
Fraud Prevention and Protection
Watch the below video to learn how you can help fight and prevent fraud from impacting your business.
American Express offers a suite of fraud tools including Verify It, American Express SafeKey® and Accertify Fraud Management that are designed to help your business minimize fraudulent transactions.
Accept our Cards and enjoy the backing of American Express