So far I have lost two chargebacks. As a merchant selling and shipping physical products we are very focused on shipping and delivery times. The two chargebacks i lost were Subscription based orders that the customers signed up for willingly. Both customers recieved products on time and there is successful delivery. Our terms and conditions only apply refunds to damaged products. Despite full evidence and proof that these customers do not have a canceled subscription and received the product, we are losing. Shopify is of no help. What are other merchants doing to avoid this? One customer also had recieved 12 orders before deciding to chargeback the last one they recieved. How is this fair to merchants?
It’s not fair, that’s why there’s a market for chargeback protection. Chargeflow, Chargeback, Signifyd, all specialize in this.
But the unfairness does go both ways.. The data says that there could be upwards of 20% of all Shopify stores that are fraudulent or dangerous to consumers… That’s a pretty big number, and fraudulent stores vastly outweigh fraudulent customers.
Subscription chargebacks are tough because the card networks tend to side with the customer on recurring charges, even when the merchant has proof of delivery.
A few things that helped merchants I’ve worked with reduce these:
First, make sure your billing descriptor is super clear. If the customer sees a charge they don’t recognize on their statement, that’s often what triggers the dispute. Include your brand name and “subscription” in the descriptor if possible.
Second, send a reminder email 3-5 days before each renewal. Something like “your next order is shipping soon, here’s what to expect.” It reduces the “I didn’t know I was being charged” disputes significantly.
Third, make your cancellation flow obvious and easy to find. A lot of subscription chargebacks happen because the customer couldn’t figure out how to cancel. If cancellation is two clicks away, they’ll cancel instead of calling their bank.
For the dispute evidence itself, the order history showing 12 previous successful deliveries is actually strong evidence. Did you include that full history in your chargeback response? Sometimes merchants only submit the disputed order’s tracking instead of the full relationship timeline.
What reason code did the bank give for the chargeback? That changes the strategy for responding.
I have all possible email reminders set up that occur prior to a active aubscription being charged, as well as when payment doesnt process for some reason. Billing statements have our shop name, and we are a LLC. We have very clear access to manage accounts that appear on all emails that have “manage my account” and its all on our website as well. I showed the bank all the last 12 orders that were successfull as well. The reason code was just “subscription cancelled” however the customer had two active subscriptions the entire time that went out same day every month. they only cancelled one and not the other one. I showed the bank this and i still lost.
Well in my experience Shopify has been very picky about having the correct info so my Shop can stay open. I have had to submit EINs to prove who we are. I would find it incredibly difficult to try and open a fraudulent store in Shopify without some real Tax Docs, LLC papers etc…Even my social, bank info i submitted to them.
Oh and also, Shopify doesnt show me emails that are sent to customers either, just the check box i have set up to send customers those reminders. I have tested this with a “dummy” order/subscription i have open in my name so i can see what comes through
That’s a frustrating gap. For the email proof side, check your Shopify email notification logs under Settings > Notifications. It won’t show you the actual email content, but the order timeline should at least log when automated emails were sent. If you’re using a subscription app like Recharge or Bold, those usually keep their own email logs too which can be stronger evidence.
For the “subscription cancelled” reason code specifically, the strongest response is usually showing that the customer only cancelled one of two active subscriptions. That proves they understood how to cancel and chose not to cancel the other one. Screenshots of the cancellation action with timestamps alongside the still-active subscription are hard for the bank to argue with.
Are you using a third-party subscription app or Shopify’s native subscriptions?