Shoppers can initiate chargebacks directly with Affirm up to 60 days after the payment, order cancellation, or expected delivery of goods or services. When a shopper initiates a chargeback, Affirm opens a dispute and the funds are charged back. The shopper now has five days to upload the required information. Until the shopper has provided that information, you cannot defend the dispute.
Affirm will inform you in a supportContact email as soon as the dispute has become defendable. From that moment, you have 15 days to defend the dispute. If you do not respond within 15 days, the dispute is lost in favor of the shopper. If you do respond within 15 days and win the dispute, the funds are returned to you.
The Affirm chargeback flow is as follows:
Notification of Chargeback
Affirm sent a Notification of Chargeback (NoC). The NotificationOfChargeback journal is booked, and the dispute process has started.
The 15-day period in which you can defend the dispute starts after the shopper has provided the required information. This can be up to five days after the NoC. Affirm informs you in a supportContact email when the dispute becomes defendable.
Chargeback
Affirm initiates the chargeback on behalf of the cardholder and notifies Adyen of the dispute reason. This usually happens on the same day that you receive the NoC.
We assign the dispute to you for review in your Customer Area > Revenue & risk > Disputes, and send you a CHARGEBACK webhook. At the same time, your account is debited for the chargeback amount, and the Chargeback journal is booked.
After your review, you can decide to either:
- Accept the chargeback in your Customer Area. The dispute is lost, and you can no longer defend it. If you accept the chargeback or fail to submit defense documents within 15 days from the day the dispute became defendable, Chargeback is the final status.
- Defend the dispute. You need to upload the relevant defense documents in your Customer Area or using the Disputes API. See Defense requirements for file formats and for defense documents per dispute type.
There is no opportunity later in the process to provide information.
Information Supplied
Adyen received your defense documents and forwarded them to Affirm. It is no longer possible to change these documents.
Pre-Arbitration
Affirm is reviewing your defense documents.
- If Affirm rejects your defense, the dispute is lost and the final status is Pre-Arbitration Lost. The disputed amount remains charged back.
- If Affirm accepts your defense, the dispute is won. The Pre-Arbitration Won journal is booked and the disputed amount will be returned to you.
Chargeback Reversed
Affirm reviewed and accepted your defense. This is the final status.
The disputed amount is returned to your account, the ChargebackReversed journal is booked, and we send you a CHARGEBACK_REVERSED webhook.
Reason codes and guidelines
For dispute reason codes and defense requirements, see the table for Affirm. The defense timeframe in this table is listed as 15 days from receiving the NoC. In practice, the dispute becomes defendable after the shopper has provided the required information. This can be up to five days after receiving the NoC. Affirm informs you in a supportContact email when the dispute becomes defendable.