A dispute (also known as a chargeback) occurs when a cardholder questions your payment with their credit card company. To process a chargeback, the bank creates a formal dispute which, if lost, will reverse the payment.

A dispute fee (currently $15.00) is deducted from your account balance when the dispute is opened, whatever the outcome. If the dispute is lost, the payment amount is deducted too. See Fees below.

Viewing Your Disputes

To see every dispute on your account:

1. Go to Orders & Payouts.
2. Click the Disputes tab.

The list shows the date of each dispute, the order number, the purchaser, the status (Pending, Won, or Lost), and the amount. Click View on any row to open the order. Pending and lost disputes also show an alert on the order itself.

You need access to every organization on your account to open the Disputes tab. If you don’t have it, you’ll see “You must have access to all funds to access disputes.” Ask your account owner to update your access.

Notifications and Responses

When a dispute is received:

• An email is sent to the purchaser and account owner. See below for more information.
• Alerts are placed on the order and transactions informing the admin of the dispute.

FutureFund responds to disputes of $50 or more by preparing evidence for the cardholder’s bank, including the order receipt. Disputes under $50 are not contested, because the cost of contesting is usually more than the amount in question.

Whatever the amount, the purchaser still gets the dispute email with their receipt attached. Purchasers often withdraw a dispute once they recognize the charge.

Order and Transaction Alerts

The following alert is displayed on orders and transactions when a dispute is pending. Disputes that are won are not displayed in the admin.

Transaction listings will include the dispute label for their status:

Lost disputes display the following alert.

Dispute Emails

The following email is sent to the purchaser and account owner when a dispute is received by FutureFund. With respect to this email:

• The messaging cannot be customized and the email cannot be disabled
• The email shows your organization’s name as the sender and comes from noreply@futurefund.com. If the purchaser replies, the reply goes to FutureFund Support at support@futurefund.com
• The account owner is copied on the purchaser’s email
• The receipt is included as an attachment in the email

The following emails are sent to the account owner when the dispute is won or lost. No email is sent to the purchaser.

Refunds During a Dispute

While a dispute is open, the order can’t be refunded. The Refund button is hidden on the disputed payment. This keeps the purchaser from getting their money back twice: once from the refund and once from the dispute.

• If the dispute is won, or the purchaser withdraws it, the Refund button comes back. You can refund the order as usual if you still want to. A withdrawal isn’t instant: the dispute stays open, and Refund stays hidden, until the purchaser’s card company reports the withdrawal. That can take a week or more after the purchaser calls them.
• If the dispute is lost, the payment has already gone back to the purchaser, so the order can’t be refunded.

Fees

The card processor charges a dispute fee, currently $15.00, as soon as a dispute is opened. This fee is deducted from your account balance when the dispute is opened, and it is not returned if the dispute is won or withdrawn.

If a dispute is contested and then lost, the card processor may charge a second fee for the response. That fee is deducted from your account balance too.

Reporting

When a dispute is lost, the full amount the purchaser was charged is deducted from the organization’s account balance. This includes any processing fee the purchaser chose to cover at checkout. If more than one organization is involved in the dispute, the amount is prorated between the organizations based on the amount of the purchase. The dispute fee is deducted separately.

The amount deducted is displayed as a refund in the reports and exported CSV files.

Notes

• Disputes are decided by your customer’s bank and their decisions are final. When a decision is rendered, they are not required to provide a rationale for their decision.
• We encourage you to reach out to the purchaser to help remedy their dispute. If they realize they made a mistake, they can cancel the dispute by contacting their credit card company.
• While a dispute is open, or after it’s lost, the disputed payment can’t be refunded. See Refunds During a Dispute.
• Disputes usually take 60-75 days to resolve.
• When an order is in dispute, it is the admin’s responsibility to determine if products should be fulfilled.