While it is not common to see chargebacks, or payment disputes, it does happen. When it does, it can be a cumbersome process. To handle disputes with a third-party payment processor like Stripe or PayPal, your organization typically has to work with representative(s) of that processor, which is far from ideal. One of the benefits of using Payments as your processor is the ability to manage those disputes directly without having to go through a third party, which means the process is smoother.
What Happens When There is a Dispute?
Once a donor initiates a dispute, a few things will happen. First, Stripe will receive a notification that a dispute has been initiated. Then, your organization will receive an email from Legacy RaiseDonors with several different pieces of information:
- A link to the dispute in Legacy RaiseDonors
- A PDF of the receipt as a download in the email
- A link to a help article with the dispute process (and how to respond).
Here's an example of the email:
Who gets notified?
This is set by your organization. You should select manage account from the drop down menu in the upper right corner of the screen. Once on the account management page, you'll choose notifications from the right side. Here, you can adjust what members of your team receive notifications. Make sure to separate email addresses by a comma (no space).
Where to Manage Disputes
Once you receive your email that there has been a dispute, click the link to take you to the dispute.
From this screen, you'll see the information about the transaction that's being disputed. From here, you'll click the View Dispute option under status. This will take you to Stripe where you will enter the information needed to dispute the claim
You'll notice there is a Dispute Hold for this payment; this will be held until there is a resolution.
To challenge the dispute, Provide any supporting documentation - this can include materials like receipts, invoices, etc. The receipt that we send with the initial dispute email is what should be uploaded here as well as any other documentation you have to support that this is not a fraudulent charge. Be sure to respond by the date listed.
Once a donation has gone through the dispute, the status in Legacy RaiseDonors will update as needed (dispute_won vs dispute_lost). If the dispute is lost, the integration for Virtuous CRM+ will create a reversing transaction in the CRM (virtuous). If the dispute is won, we don’t send anything more to the CRM, because we already sent the original donation earlier.
Want to know more about disputes? Check out this article!