What to do with an UNFULFILLED order if it's already got a chargeback

Payments + Shipping & Fulfilment
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Topic summary

A $3,200 order was flagged high‑risk and soon triggered a chargeback ($3,200 reversed plus a $15 fee). The merchant asked whether canceling now would cause another $3,200 deduction and how to handle the unfulfilled order.

Key guidance:

  • Don’t issue a separate refund once a chargeback is opened. Instead, manage it by submitting evidence or accepting it (chargeback = bank reverses a card payment at the cardholder’s request).
  • If you win: the bank returns the $3,200 and reverses the fee. You can then cancel/archive the order in Shopify without refunding (to remove it from Open orders).
  • If you lose: the $3,200 remains with the cardholder and you lose the fee; there’s no second $3,200 deduction beyond the amount already withdrawn when the chargeback was opened.

Risk/long‑term impact:

  • Multiple chargebacks can jeopardize eligibility for payment gateways like Shopify Payments.
  • Use fraud tools (fraud analysis, third‑party protection such as Signifyd) to reduce exposure and get financial guarantees on approved orders.

Status: Clarifications provided; action is to handle the chargeback via evidence and not issue a refund. Discussion appears resolved.

Summarized with AI on January 19. AI used: gpt-5.
2

Hi, @LilyOuyang .

Thank you for reaching out and bringing this to our attention.

If an order was marked as high risk, then we’d recommend viewing the fraud analysis indicators to determine whether or not you should refund or fulfill the order. Since most financial institutions recommend buyers to wait 30 days before initiating a chargeback, then it’s possible that this order was placed using a stolen credit card and the cardholder was able to catch the transaction in order to initiate a chargeback within a few days. As the chargeback has already been initiated by the cardholder and the funds have been withdrawn by the bank, then we wouldn’t recommend issuing another refund. Instead, you’ll want to follow our guide on 'Managing chargebacks and inquiries’ so that you can add evidence and submit the chargeback or accept the chargeback.

That being said, if your store begins to experience more high-risk orders or chargebacks, then we’d recommend taking a look at something like Signifyd-Chargeback Protection as these services can help you make real-time decisions on your orders and provide 100% financial guarantee on approved orders. If you need to get help with a third-party app, then the app developer is always available to assist you. Simply get in touch with them using the contact information found at the bottom of their app’s page.

I noticed that you’re a new member of our Shopify Community! Once you’ve resolved the chargeback, I’d love to hear more about your business and share some resources to help you get started.