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# Respond to a card dispute (Portal)

> Submit a defense or accept liability for a card dispute before the reply by deadline

When a chargeback is initiated, the disputed funds are immediately debited from the merchant's account. You're responding to recover money that's already gone. You have until the **Reply By** date on the dispute record to either submit evidence defending the transaction or accept liability and close it as a loss. Missing the deadline is an automatic loss.

For background on the full chargeback process, see [Payment disputes](/guides/pay-ops-disputes-chargebacks-returns-overview). To find the dispute first, see [Find and review card disputes](/guides/pay-in-portal-card-disputes-find).

Responding to a dispute requires an Admin or Manager role. You can respond from either the organization or paypoint level.

## Decide whether to respond or accept liability

Both are legitimate responses — the right choice depends on whether you have evidence that the transaction was valid.

**Dispute the chargeback** if you have documentation showing the transaction was authorized and fulfilled. Evidence can include a signed receipt, delivery confirmation, or correspondence with the customer. Submitting a dispute doesn't guarantee a win, but an unanswered dispute is always a loss.

**Accept liability** if the chargeback is valid, the transaction was genuinely unauthorized, or you don't have documentation to support a defense.

Retrieval requests don't have a liability question. You respond with documentation or risk escalation to a chargeback. See [Respond to a retrieval request](#respond-to-a-retrieval-request).

## Respond to a chargeback

Your response must address every claim in the dispute and state whether any credit was issued to the customer. If you issued a partial refund, explain why the full amount wasn't credited. Card network rules require this disclosure.

1. Locate the dispute. See [Find and review card disputes](/guides/pay-in-portal-card-disputes-find) if you need help.
2. Open the dispute panel and click **Respond to Dispute**.
3. Enter the **Merchant Contact Name** and **Merchant Contact Email**.
4. Upload your supporting documentation. You can upload 5 MB of PDF, PNG, and JPG files.
5. Enter your response as text into the modal, addressing each claim in the dispute (you have a maximum of 2500 characters).
6. Click **Send Response**.

<img alt="The Chargeback Response modal showing a file upload area and a text field for the response" src="https://files.buildwithfern.com/payabli.docs.buildwithfern.com/14bb0b6b1bcd303aa52c56b1abd9381acde3e4208c95a98d85cece9f842b87f3/images/pay-in-chargeback-response-modal.png" />

Your response goes to Payabli's chargeback team, who submits it to the card processor on your behalf. It isn't submitted directly to the card network. The dispute status moves to **Pending** while the response is under review.

For guidance on what documentation to include, see [Chargeback documentation requirements](/guides/pay-ops-disputes-chargebacks-returns-overview#chargeback-documentation-requirements).

## Respond to a retrieval request

A retrieval request is an information request from the issuing bank. Unlike a chargeback, no funds are withdrawn when one is initiated. If you don't respond or the documentation isn't satisfactory, the issuer may escalate to a chargeback.

1. Locate the retrieval request. See [Find and review card disputes](/guides/pay-in-portal-card-disputes-find) if you need help.
2. Open the dispute panel and click **Respond to Dispute**.
3. Upload your supporting documentation. You can upload 5 MB of PDF, PNG, and JPG files.
4. Add a response explaining the transaction details.
5. Click **Send Response**.

You can still refund the transaction while a retrieval request is open. See [Payment disputes](/guides/pay-ops-disputes-chargebacks-returns-overview) for more on how retrieval requests differ from chargebacks.

## Accept liability for a chargeback

1. Locate the dispute. See [Find and review card disputes](/guides/pay-in-portal-card-disputes-find) if you need help.
2. Open the dispute record and click **Accept Liability**.
3. Enter a reason for accepting liability for this dispute.
4. Click **Accept Liability**.

The dispute status changes to **Closed-Lost**.

## Add notes to a dispute

Admins can add notes to a dispute that aren't part of the response. Use notes to track updates and manage your card dispute cases. To add notes to a dispute:

1. Locate the dispute. See [Find and review card disputes](/guides/pay-in-portal-card-disputes-find) if you need help.
2. Open the dispute record.
3. Click the **Notes** tab.
4. Enter any notes or updates regarding this dispute. These notes are visible to other portal users with access to this dispute.

## Related resources

See these related resources to help you get the most out of Payabli.

* **[Find and review card disputes (Portal)](/guides/pay-in-portal-card-disputes-find)** - Find and review the dispute record before responding

- **[Payment disputes](/guides/pay-ops-disputes-chargebacks-returns-overview)** - Learn how payment disputes like chargebacks and ACH returns work

* **[Manage ACH returns (Portal)](/guides/pay-in-portal-ach-returns-manage)** - Find, review, and add notes to ACH returns in the ACH Returns report