Shopify Chargeback Response Template: What to Write and What to Attach
So you got a chargeback on your Shopify store and you're searching for a response template.
I'll give you one. But first I have to tell you why most templates lose.
Before building ChargebackWiz I read a lot of merchant chargeback responses. The losing ones all look the same. A long angry paragraph, 3 screenshots, and a template someone found on a forum that has nothing to do with the actual dispute.
The mistake is same everywhere. Merchants write one generic response for every chargeback.
Banks don't read it that way. The person reviewing your case checks your evidence against a list. And the list changes with the reason code. If your response doesn't answer the specific reason code, it doesn't matter how well it's written.
So here's the template. One structure, then a different evidence list per reason code.
What the bank reviewer actually does
Quick version (I wrote a longer breakdown in how Shopify chargebacks work).
When a customer disputes a charge, their bank assigns a reason code. Item not received. Fraudulent. Product unacceptable. And so on.
Your response goes to that bank. A reviewer spends a few minutes on it. They are not reading your story for emotional context. They are checking: does the evidence disprove this specific claim?
That's the whole game. Answer the reason code. Nothing else counts.
The template structure
Five parts. Keep each one short.
1. One-line summary. State what you're proving, not how you feel.
"This order was delivered to the cardholder's verified billing address on [date], confirmed by [carrier] tracking [number]."
That's it. The reviewer now knows what to look for in your attachments.
2. Order facts. Order number, date, amount, product, customer name and email, shipping address, billing address. Pull it straight from your Shopify order page. No commentary.
3. The evidence, listed. Number each attachment and say what it shows in one line each.
"Attachment 1: UPS tracking page showing delivery scan on March 14 at the shipping address." "Attachment 2: Shopify order confirmation email sent to the customer."
Reviewers work fast. Make the list do the navigation for them.
4. The policy the customer agreed to. Screenshot your refund policy or terms as they appeared at checkout, and note that the customer accepted them. Only include this when it's relevant to the claim.
5. One closing line. "Based on this evidence we ask that the chargeback be reversed." Done. No plea, no anger.
What to attach, by reason code
This is the part generic templates skip. Same structure every time, different evidence every time.
Item not received. Tracking number, carrier name, delivery scan with date, and proof the delivery address matches the order. Address match is the piece most merchants forget. A delivery scan to the address the customer gave you beats five paragraphs of explanation. I wrote a full evidence checklist for this one on our product not received page because it's the most common code we see.
Fraudulent / unauthorized. You're proving the real cardholder made the purchase. AVS and CVV match results, billing address matching shipping address, IP location at checkout, and any past orders from the same customer. A repeat customer claiming fraud on their fourth order is a strong signal for you. Show the history.
Product unacceptable / not as described. Your product page as it looked when they bought, photos of what shipped, and any chat or email where the customer discussed the item. If they never contacted support before disputing, say so plainly. Reviewers notice that.
Credit not processed. Your refund policy, proof the customer saw it at checkout, and either the refund transaction record or the reason no refund was owed under the policy.
Subscription canceled. Cancellation terms, when the customer actually canceled versus when they were billed, and logs showing what they had access to.
Unrecognized transaction. Often this is just your billing descriptor confusing the customer. Show the order, the confirmation email to their address, and what your descriptor looks like on a statement. These are winnable more often than merchants think.
A filled example
Reason code: item not received. Here's the whole response.
"This order was delivered to the shipping address provided by the cardholder on June 2, confirmed by USPS tracking 9400 1000 0000 0000 0000 00.
Order #1482, placed May 28, $64.00, one ceramic pour-over set. Customer: [name], [email]. Shipping and billing address: [address], identical.
Attachment 1: USPS tracking page showing delivery scan, June 2, 11:41 AM. Attachment 2: Shopify order page showing the shipping address matches the tracking destination. Attachment 3: Order confirmation and shipping notification emails sent to the customer.
Based on this evidence we ask that the chargeback be reversed."
Under 100 words. It will beat almost every 800-word essay, because every line answers the claim.
Three mistakes that lose winnable disputes
One. Missing the deadline. Shopify shows the response due date on every chargeback. Miss it and you lose automatically, evidence or not. Calendar it the moment the dispute lands.
Two. Attacking the customer. Calling them a scammer doesn't move the reviewer. Evidence does. Even when it really is friendly fraud, the winning response is a calm delivery scan, not an accusation.
Three. Dumping unlabeled files. Ten screenshots with no list means the reviewer has to figure out your case for you. They won't.
Where a template stops helping
Honest part. A template gives you the structure, but the work is in the gathering. Pulling tracking, matching addresses, screenshotting the product page from the right date, checking AVS results, doing it before the deadline. For one chargeback that's maybe an hour. If you're getting several a month it becomes a job.
That's the part I automated. ChargebackWiz watches your Shopify Payments disputes, pulls the order data, tracking, delivery confirmation and customer history, and builds the evidence packet matched to the reason code. You review it and submit, or let auto-pilot handle it before the deadline. Pricing is a success fee on won disputes. No monthly fee, so if you win nothing you pay nothing.
We're early and I'm not going to quote you win rates yet. Will share real numbers once we have enough data to be honest about it.
Use the template either way. It's how the winning responses are built, whether a human or an app assembles them.
What reason code are you fighting right now? If you're stuck on one, the per-code breakdowns on our chargeback reasons pages go deeper than this post could.