Disputes API
Last updated: April 29, 2022
Our disputes API helps you find out about and act on all of your open disputes within the required timeframe. Together with our webhooks, which help you keep track of each status change of a dispute, you'll be well equipped to handle any disputes that arise.
With our disputes API, you can:
Information
If you want to simulate a dispute for testing purposes, you can do so in the sandbox environment. Simply create a payment with one of the test cards and specify the amount as documented here.
Most of the time, customers dispute a payment because of fraudulent charges. However, there are many other possible reasons. You can tell why a dispute was raised by looking at the category
field of the response.
Learn more about the reasons for disputes and the type of evidence we suggest submitting when responding.
Each dispute has an associated status
that describes which stage of the dispute process it has reached.
If you would like to be notified when the status of a dispute changes, you can use our webhooks.
Status | Description | Webhook event type |
---|---|---|
| An action on your side is required (you need to respond to the dispute). At this stage, your account gets debited the disputed amount. |
|
| We automatically resolve the dispute because it had already been refunded previously. There are no further financial implications. |
View a dispute resolved webhook example. |
| The dispute is canceled by the issuing bank and your account is credited back of the amount of the dispute. You don’t need to take any further action. |
View a dispute canceled webhook example. |
| You have submitted evidence to defend against the dispute. Your evidence is now under review by our Disputes team. Once reviewed, the team will send it to the card scheme for review. No further action is required on your side. | There is no equivalent webhook because your action triggered the status change. |
| The issuing bank has rejected your evidence and you have lost the dispute. There are no further financial implications. |
View a dispute lost webhook example. |
| The issuing bank has accepted your evidence and you have won the dispute. Your account has been credited back of the amount of the dispute. |
View a dispute won webhook example. |
| The time limit to take action is met. There is no further implication and you can’t respond to the dispute anymore. |
View a dispute expired webhook example. |
| You have accepted the dispute. There is no further implication or action required. | There is no equivalent webhook because your action triggered the status change. |
You can use our API to view a list of disputes or to retrieve information about a specific dispute.
Use the endpoint below to retrieve a list of disputes against your business. These will be returned in reverse chronological order, showing the last modified dispute (for example, where you've recently added a piece of evidence) first. You can use the additional parameters to skip or limit results.
For the full specification, as well as complete request and response examples, see our API Reference
get
https://api.checkout.com/disputes/
You can use the following additional parameters to specify results. Simply add them to the end of the endpoint URL.
Parameter | Description |
---|---|
optional string | The number of items to return. |
optional integer | The number of items to skip before starting to collect the result set. |
optional string | Filter by 'last update' after the provided value (formatted in ISO 8601). |
optional string | Filter by 'last update' before the provided value (formatted in ISO 8601). |
optional string | One or more statuses, separated by commas, e.g. |
1curl https://api.sandbox.checkout.com/disputes/?limit=10&skip=10&from=2017-08-12T00:00:00Z&to=2017-08-13T00:00:00Z2-H "Authorization: sk_test_55aedccc-7f53-4ccc-b0a6-d943decc3c31"3-H "Content-Type:application/json;charset=UTF-8"4-X GET
1{2"limit": 10,3"skip": 10,4"from": "2018-01-01T00:00:00Z",5"to": "2018-01-02T00:00:00Z",6"total_count": 1,7"data": [8{9"id": "dsp_bd69ed775Z1e5df940d3",10"category": "product_or_service_not_received",11"status": "evidence_required",12"amount": 999,13"currency": "GBP",14"payment_id": "pay_88cb4e671m1da22e9bbbyx",15"payment_reference": "th7zxa1kcnqmes8",16"payment_arn": "74548998294293193445538",17"payment_method": "Visa",18"evidence_required_by": "2018-08-22T00:00:00Z",19"received_on": "2018-08-12T00:00:00Z",20"last_update": "2018-08-12T00:00:00Z",21"_links": {22"self": {23"href": "https://api.sandbox.checkout.com/disputes/dsp_bd69ed775Z1e5df940d3"24}25}26}27]28}
Use the following endpoint to retrieve all the information relating to a specific dispute.
For the full specification, as well as complete request and response examples, see our API Reference
get
https://api.checkout.com/disputes/{dispute_id}
1curl https://api.sandbox.checkout.com/disputes/dsp_BD69ED775Z1E5DF940D32-H "Authorization: sk_test_55aedccc-7f53-4ccc-b0a6-d943decc3c31"3-H "Content-Type:application/json;charset=UTF-8"4-X GET
1{2"id": "dsp_bd69ed775Z1e5df940d3",3"category": "product_or_service_not_received",4"amount": 999,5"reason_code": "13.1",6"status": "evidence_required",7"relevant_evidence": [8"proof_of_delivery_or_service, invoice_or_receipt, customer_communication, additional_evidence"9],10"evidence_required_by": "2018-08-16T00:00:00Z",11"received_on": "2018-08-12T00:00:00Z",12"last_update": "2018-08-12T00:00:00Z",13"payment": {14"id": "pay_c8daae073p1e4b5b8a4ayx",15"reference": "04100ab2110f66e4",16"amount": 999,17"currency": "GBP",18"arn": "24687325357357107380887",19"method": "Visa",20"processed_on": "2018-08-01T00:00:00Z"21},22"_links": {23"self": {24"href": "https://api.sandbox.checkout.com/disputes/dsp_bd69ed775z1e5df940d3"25},26"evidence": {27"href": "https://api.sandbox.checkout.com/disputes/dsp_bd69ed775z1e5df940d3/evidence"28}29}30}
In order to win a dispute, you will need to provide relevant evidence to your case. This could be the invoice, the proof of delivery, or even customer communication regarding the payment that was charged back. You can use our API to upload evidence, review this evidence, and submit it when you're ready.
Use the endpoint below to add supporting evidence to a dispute. Note that this only attaches the evidence to the dispute, it does not send it to us. Once ready, you will need to submit it to us.
Information
The type of evidence we recommend submitting depends on the reason for the dispute.
Note
If you wish to submit files as evidence, you will first need to upload them using the file uploader API. This will give you a file id
(prefixed by file_
) which you can then use in your request.
For the full specification, as well as complete request and response examples, see our API reference.
put
https://api.checkout.com/disputes/{dispute_id}/evidence
Note
If you run this request more than once, you will overwrite the previous request.
You must provide at least one of the evidence types listed below in the body of your request. Each of the following can be provided as either a text string and/or a file ID previously uploaded. Simply specify it in your request as {evidence_type}_file
or {evidence_type}_text
(e.g., proof_of_delivery_or_service_file
).
Information
Text strings are limited to 500 characters because they should typically be used only as an addition to a file.
Evidence type | Description |
---|---|
optional string | Your proof of delivery or service. Please make sure to add the date of delivery here too. |
optional string | The invoice or receipt of the payment. |
optional string | Your invoice showing two distinct transactions. This is relevant in case the cardholder claims a payment was charged twice (duplicate). |
optional string | Customer communication relevant to the case which proves that the payment was valid. |
optional string | Your refund or cancellation policy. Please always just upload the part of the document that is relevant to this case. |
optional string | Your recurring transaction agreement. Please always just upload the part of the document that is relevant to this case. |
optional string | Additional evidence supporting your case that does not fall under the above categories. |
1curl https://api.sandbox.checkout.com/disputes/dsp_BD69ED775Z1E5DF940D32-H "Authorization: sk_test_55aedccc-7f53-4ccc-b0a6-d943decc3c31"3-H "Content-Type:application/json;charset=UTF-8"4-X PUT5-d {6"proof_of_delivery_or_service_file": "file_bd69ed775z1e5df940d3",7"proof_of_delivery_or_service_text": "a brief description of the file",8"customer_communication_file": "file_iw68oe795o1e5xc940s9"9}
If you receive a 2XX
response, then your dispute evidence was successfully provided. You can submit it when ready.
If you receive a 4XX
response, then something went wrong. Check the error codes below to find out why.
Possible error codes
no_evidence_provided
dispute_already_under_review
dispute_already_resolved
dispute_already_expired
dispute_already_won
dispute_already_lost
dispute_already_canceled
dispute_already_accepted
Use the following endpoint to view a list of the evidence you provided for a specific dispute.
For the full specification, as well as complete request and response examples, see our API reference.
get
https://api.checkout.com/disputes/{dispute_id}/evidence
1curl https://api.sandbox.checkout.com/disputes/dsp_BD69ED775Z1E5DF940D3/evidence2-H "Authorization: sk_test_55aedccc-7f53-4ccc-b0a6-d943decc3c31"3-H "Content-Type:application/json;charset=UTF-8"4-X GET
1{2"proof_of_delivery_or_service_file": "file_bd69ed775z1e5df940d3",3"proof_of_delivery_or_service_text": "a brief description of the file",4"customer_communication": "file_iw68oe795o1e5xc940s9"5}
Use the following endpoint to submit the evidence that you've provided.
Note
You will not be able to amend your evidence once you have submitted it. Make sure you have provided all the relevant information before using this request.
For the full specification, as well as complete request and response examples, see our API Reference
post
https://api.checkout.com/disputes/{dispute_id}/evidence
1curl https://api.sandbox.checkout.com/disputes/dsp_BD69ED775Z1E5DF940D3/evidence2-H "Authorization: sk_test_55aedccc-7f53-4ccc-b0a6-d943decc3c31"3-H "Content-Type:application/json;charset=UTF-8"4-X POST
If you receive a 2XX
response, then your dispute evidence was successfully submitted. We will pass it on to the card scheme.
If you receive a 4XX
response, then something went wrong. Check the error codes below to find out why.
Possible error codes
no_evidence_provided
dispute_already_under_review
dispute_already_resolved
dispute_already_expired
dispute_already_won
dispute_already_lost
dispute_already_canceled
dispute_already_accepted
If a dispute is legitimate, you can use the following endpoint to accept it. This will close it for you and remove it from your list of open disputes. There are no further financial implications.
For the full specification, as well as complete request and response examples, see our API Reference
post
https://api.checkout.com/disputes/{dispute_id}/accept
1curl https://api.sandbox.checkout.com/disputes/dsp_BD69ED775Z1E5DF940D3/accept2-H "Authorization: sk_test_55aedccc-7f53-4ccc-b0a6-d943decc3c31"3-H "Content-Type:application/json;charset=UTF-8"4-X POST
If you receive a 2XX
response, then you successfully accepted the dispute.
If you receive a 4XX
response, then something went wrong. Check the error codes below to find out why.
Possible error codes
dispute_already_under_review
dispute_already_resolved
dispute_already_expired
dispute_already_won
dispute_already_lost
dispute_already_canceled
dispute_already_accepted