Bank issued a chargeback due to a stolen card but still wants items.

Payments + Shipping & Fulfilment
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Topic summary

A chargeback was issued for an order placed with a stolen card; the buyer has since replaced the card and still wants the items. The merchant hasn’t shipped and incurred a $15 chargeback fee, asking whether to refund, how funds flow to a replaced card, and if they can fulfill if the dispute is dropped.

Key guidance:

  • Treat the existing order as a dispute and do not fulfill it.
  • Ask the customer to contact their bank to drop the dispute, but don’t rely solely on them; submit evidence/screenshots to the chargeback to improve win odds.
  • If you win or the dispute is dropped, the payment is returned to you; the chargeback fee may be refunded depending on region (e.g., refunded in the US).
  • The customer has effectively been refunded by the chargeback, so have them place a new order with their new card; fulfill that new order only.

Clarification: You don’t need to refund the old (replaced) card yourself; the bank reversal covers the cardholder.

Status: No final resolution yet. Action items are to contest the chargeback and process a fresh order on the new card.

Summarized with AI on January 9. AI used: gpt-5.
1

Hello,

I have a customer who’s card was recently stolen and therefore a chargeback was issued by their bank to my Shopify account. I reached out to said customer and they mentioned that they had already replaced that card because of the fraudulent purchases.

They also mentioned that they still want to purchase those same items from my online store with the new card but I’m not sure about the best way to go about this process. I was issued a $15 fee for the chargeback as well as charged for the items. I noticed the chargeback had happened and didn’t ship the items out yet.

Do I need to have the customer reach out to their bank, I refund the order, and have them resend the order through the website? My only point of confusion for this is that that specific card no longer exists because they had to have it replaced so where would the money go?

Also, if the chargeback is dropped, do I get the money back in my account both from the items purchased and from the chargeback fee? If that’s the case, I assume I can just fulfill the order without the new credit card since the money had already gone into the account? Please let me know the best way to go about this process as it is a bit confusing and I don’t want myself or the customer to lose any money through this process. Thanks so much!

2

Do I need to have the customer reach out to their bank, I refund the order, and have them resend the order through the website? My only point of confusion for this is that that specific card no longer exists because they had to have it replaced so where would the money go?

Yes, before fulfilling any new orders from this customer, first I would ask them to contact their bank and drop the dispute.

Don’t rely on them to do this action even if they tell you they have. It’s better safe than sorry with friendly fraud cases like this and also include screenshots or evidence that this customer’s charges are on purpose on the dispute. This will help increase your odds of winning the chargeback.

Also, if the chargeback is dropped, do I get the money back in my account both from the items purchased and from the chargeback fee?

According to Shopify, if you win the chargeback then you might have the chargeback processing fee returned. It depends on your region.

In that same page I linked to above, they have a table of regions and if the fee is returned if you win the chargeback.

For example, if you’re based in the US then the $15 chargeback processing fee is returned to you.

Just to keep things simple. I would count this chargeback order as a dispute and not fulfill.

Then the customer can make a new order with their new card details, and that order can be fulfilled.

When the chargeback is resolved, you’ll be refunded. The customer has already been made whole by the chargeback, so they can now order from you again with this new card.

That’s just my recommendation!