Handle transaction disputes
A transaction dispute occurs when a cardholder contests the legitimacy of a payment. Customers issued with Airwallex cards can raise a dispute with Airwallex for any of the following reasons:
- Fraud: Applicable when the cardholder did not participate in or authorize the transaction.
- Authorization: Applicable when the required authorization was not processed for the transaction.
- Processing error: Applicable when the transaction was not appropriately processed as per card scheme rules.
- Consumer: Applicable when the cardholder has a dispute with a merchant over the goods or services.
Also see dispute reasons applicable to each category.
Raising disputes
Disputes can be raised with Airwallex using the following options:
- Contact your Airwallex Account Manager or email support@airwallex.com to initiate the dispute process.
- Use Airwallex Dispute APIs API if you want to programmatically manage a high volume of disputes. Dispute APIs allow you to raise disputes and to manage the entire lifecycle of a dispute through to resolution. While it can take up to 100 days for a dispute to resolve, you can receive real-time notifications on the dispute by subscribing to webhook notifications. See Create disputes.
Airwallex will use the information that you provide in the dispute request and initiate a dispute flow with card schemes. The purchase amount is reversed while the dispute process takes place. If the dispute is upheld, this amount is credited back to your account.
Before raising a dispute, ensure the transaction is eligible for a dispute. See Dispute rights.
Dispute reasons
Disputes can be submitted to Airwallex with one of these reasons.
| Dispute Reason | Dispute Category | Description |
|---|---|---|
| SUSPECTED_FRAUD | Fraud | The cardholder did not participate in or authorize the transaction. There is reason to suspect that the transaction is fraudulent. |
| UNAUTHORIZED_TRANSACTION | Authorization | The required authorization was not processed for the transaction. |
| DUPLICATED_TRANSACTION | Processing Error | The transaction was not appropriately processed per the card scheme rules. |
| PAID_BY_OTHER_MEANS | Consumer | The cardholder has paid the merchant for the goods or service by other means but still got a charge on the card. |
| GOODS_SERVICE_NOT_AS_DESCRIBED | Consumer | The cardholder has received goods or services that are not as described by the merchant. |
| GOODS_DAMAGED | Consumer | The cardholder has received damaged goods from the merchant. |
| GOODS_SERVICE_NOT_RECEIVED | Consumer | The cardholder has not received the goods or services from the merchant. |
| REFUND_UNPROCESSED | Consumer | The cardholder has requested for a refund but the merchant did not process the refund. |
| GOODS_SERVICE_CANCELED | Consumer | The cardholder has not canceled the request for the goods or services but still got a charge on the card. |
| RECURRING_CANCELED | Consumer | The cardholder has canceled a recurring request (e.g Subscription) for the goods or services but still got a charge on the card. |
| OTHER | - | For any disputes that do not fall into the categories above. |
Dispute rights
Airwallex deems the transaction as not eligible for a dispute when the dispute reason is SUSPECTED_FRAUD and the following conditions are met.
- The transaction is a successfully authenticated transaction via 3DS.
- The POS entry mode of the transaction is either an EMV contact chip transaction or an EMV contactless chip transaction.
- The POS entry mode of the transaction is a magstripe transaction and the transaction is a fallback transaction. A fallback transaction occurs when a payment terminal that supports EMV transaction is unable to process the EMV transaction and uses magstripe as a fallback option.
Check the transaction’s dispute eligibility before submission as Airwallex will reject the dispute on ineligible transactions.