Not Receiving Chargeback Alerts? Troubleshooting Guide

If you’re not seeing chargeback alerts in your dashboard, follow these quick checks before contacting support:

• Make sure your billing descriptor and payment processor haven’t changed.
• Confirm all alert enrollments (Ethoca, CDRN, RDR) show as active in your dashboard.
• Wait 2 –7 days if you recently enabled RDR.
• See this guide to make sure they aren't RDR alerts.

If you plan to contact support, scroll to What to Send Our Support Team for a checklist of details to include.

Reading this guide first will help you fix common issues or give support the information they need to resolve it faster.

 

1. Issues You Can Fix Now

These are common setup or payment issues that stop alerts from showing.

You can fix most of them yourself or with help from our team.

1. “Chargeback” Was Actually an RDR Alert

If you use RDR, you may see Visa disputes marked as lost where you cannot upload evidence. These are RDR alerts, not true chargebacks.

They do not result in chargeback fees or raise your chargeback rate.

Some processors show them as chargebacks for a few days before removing them. This happens because the processor hasn’t updated its system.

What to do:

• Do not refund these again. You’ll double-refund the customer.
• Wait a few days for the alert to appear on your Chargeback.io dashboard.
• Contact Chargeback.io support if the alert has not appeared on the dashboard after 5 business days.

2. Card Was Tokenized

Cards used with Apple Pay, Google Pay, Shop Pay, or Stripe Link are tokenized. Because the card number is hidden, Ethoca and Verifi often can’t match them.

What to do:

• Check if most missing alerts involve wallet payments.
• If you get warnings from your processor or your chargeback rate is rising, consider turning off these wallets temporarily.
• Add a note to review after 30 days to see if alert volume improves.

3. Unsupported Payment Method

Ethoca and Verifi mostly cover Visa and Mastercard. For other card brands or wallets, alerts work only for fraud cases.

What to do:

• Track which payment methods have the most chargebacks.
• If most come from unsupported types, pause them until rates drop.
• Add a banner or checkout note offering card alternatives.

4. Alerts Not Fully Set Up

Many accounts miss alerts because one or more enrollments (RDR, Ethoca, CDRN) are incomplete. Missing ARNs can block up to 97% of Visa alerts.

1. Click Alerts on the sidebar, Configure on the dropdown
2. Make sure all descriptor statuses shows “Active.”
3. If missing descriptor(s) and / or aren't connected to RDR, then click + Enroll More Descriptors.
   1. If you don't have ARNs, see this guide for alternatives.
4. If you want automatically refunded CDRN and Ethoca alerts, connect an integration (if supported).
   1. Read these guides on integration connection for different processors.
5. Wait for activation:
   1. CDRN/Ethoca: up to 12 hours
   2. RDR: up to 7 business days (14 or more if backlogged)
6. If it takes longer, contact support.

5. Billing Name (Descriptor) Mismatch

Ethoca and Verifi use your billing descriptor to match transactions.

If it’s different from what appears on your customer’s bank statement, the alert fails.

Dynamic descriptors (used by Airwallex, NMI, PayArc, some Shopify apps) can also cause this.

What to do:

• Compare the billing name on your Chargeback.io account with the one on the chargeback record.
  • If they differ, update your descriptor in Chargeback.io.
• Avoid using dynamic descriptors unless required.

6. Missed Response Window

Each network gives a short time to act on alerts. If you miss it, the alert status changes to Lost and the chargeback goes through automatically.

This can happen on weekends or holidays.

What to do:

• Adjust auto-refund thresholds to cover days when no one monitors alerts.
• Add advanced RDR rules (e.g., dispute category, transaction date).
  • See this guide for all available RDR rules.
• Ask support to apply these changes; they’re not editable in the dashboard.

7. Auto-Refund Rules

By default, RDR refunds only USD transactions automatically. If you sell in other currencies, you must ask support to expand the rule.

Transactions from other currencies will result in a Declined status on the alert, resulting in a chargeback.

What to do:

• Contact support to apply auto-refund rules to all currencies you use.
• For CDRN and Ethoca, check your limit (for example, $100).
  • Alerts over this amount will show “Attention.”
  • Refund or respond within 48 hours to avoid chargebacks.

8. Another Provider Handles Some Descriptors

Some merchants use more than one chargeback alert provider. Others may be automatically enrolled under RDR through payment processors like Airwallex. If that's the case, there may be interference in how alerts are received.

What to do:

• List all providers or platforms that manage your chargebacks.
• Check which ones handle Visa transactions.
• Contact them to confirm where each descriptor is enrolled.
• Send this list to our support team so we can trace coverage correctly.

 

2. Issues Outside Your Control

Some chargebacks don’t send alerts even when your setup is correct. These limits come from how banks and card networks share data.

1. Lack of Network Coverage

Not all banks or card brands work with every alert network (Ethoca, CDRN, RDR). If a customer’s bank isn’t part of one, no alert can be sent.

What this means:

If the customer’s card or bank isn’t part of these networks, you will not receive the alert. Coverage is improving as more banks join, but it’s not yet complete.

Typical prevention rates (based on real data):

• CDRN: 17 – 41% of chargebacks stopped
• Ethoca: up to 40%
• RDR: 50 – 70%

2. Dispute Filed Before Alerts Activated

If a customer started a chargeback before your alerts went live, no system can stop or alert it.

This only affects chargebacks from the activation week.

What you can do:

• Note the chargeback date.
• Focus on future transactions after your enrollment was confirmed.

3. Data Leakages from Issuers

Sometimes a bank that should send alerts files a chargeback first instead. This happens when the issuer’s system misroutes data.

4. Partially Refunded Transactions

Visa’s RDR doesn’t send alerts for transactions that were partially refunded. Only fully refunded payments qualify for alerts.

5. Limited Reason Code Coverage

Some banks only send alerts for certain types of disputes.

For example, a bank might share “Fraudulent” cases but not “Product Not as Described.”

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3. What to Send Our Support Team

To help us find out why you didn’t get a chargeback alert, please send the details below for each chargeback.

• Authorization (Auth) code
  • Guide for Shopify and Stripe
• ARN (Acquirer Reference Number)
• BIN / IIN (first 6 digits)
• Last 4 digits of the card
• Transaction date
• Transaction amount
• Currency (e.g., USD)
• Billing descriptor
• Chargeback reason (for example, fraud or product not received)
• Chargeback date (the date of the dispute, not the sale)
• Card brand (Visa, Mastercard, etc.)

The most important information is the Issuer BIN. This isn't the same BIN you might have used to sign up for RDR with.

If you use Shopify, see this guide on finding Issuer BINs.

If your processor doesn’t display BINs, contact their support using this template:

Hello,

Could you provide the Issuer BIN or IIN for [transaction ID(s)]?

Visa and Mastercard requested this for an investigation into missing chargeback alerts.

Some processors may decline due to regional regulations, but it’s still worth requesting.

When we have this data, we can quickly see if the problem is from your setup or from a bank that doesn’t send alerts.

If we see a clear pattern, we’ll tell you how to fix it right away. If not, we send the data to Ethoca and Verifi to investigate further.

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How Chargeback.io Finds the Cause

Here’s what we do after you send your details:

1. Check if any alerts are reaching your account and if RDR is active.
2. Confirm if your descriptor(s) or payment processor changed.
3. Check whether descriptor(s) are Exact_match or Starts_with.
4. Whether you have filters on your account to prevent you from receiving alerts.
5. Ask our Enrollment team to check if all alert connections work.
6. Send your chargeback info to Ethoca and Verifi to find out what happened.

How long it takes:

• Responses from Ethoca: 1 – 3 business days
• Verifi responses: About 7 business days or more if they’re busy
• Enrollment team response: Typically less than an hour, but it can range up to 8 hours depending on the time zone

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