Handle chargebacks

Prerequisites

• Sales created with a sale_callback_url that handles sale-chargeback and sale-chargeback-refund

Related

• Callback types reference
• Understand the sale lifecycle
• Sale Statuses
• Refund a sale
• List transactions
• Reconcile sales and withdrawals
• How 3D Secure works on PayMe
• Accept PayPal payments

A chargeback is a payment that the buyer's card issuer (or bank) takes back after the buyer disputes it. The issuer decides the case. PayMe and the acquirer pass the dispute, your evidence and the decision between the issuer and the seller.

This page explains how you learn about a chargeback, what happens to the money, how to respond, and how the case ends.

How you learn about a chargeback

Callback. PayMe sends a sale-chargeback callback to the sale's sale_callback_url, and to your partner's sale callback URL if PayMe has set one. The sale's status changes:

On top of the usual sale callback fields, the callback carries:

payme_transaction_id and payme_transaction_total in this callback describe the original payment, not the chargeback. Read the charged-back amount from get-transactions; see What happens to the money. As with any callback, confirm the sale with get-sales before you act on it.

Email. PayMe also emails the seller about the chargeback, with the details of the sale and how to respond.

There's no API call to respond to a chargeback. To find charged-back sales, call get-sales with "sale_status": ["chargeback", "partial-chargeback"].

What happens to the money

For a seller whose sales are paid out from the PayMe balance:

• PayMe takes the charged-back amount from the seller's PayMe balance.
• A chargeback handling fee may also apply under the seller's agreement. PayMe charges it from the balance separately, and partners get a charge-complete callback for it. If the chargeback is later reversed, the fee isn't returned automatically.
• If the chargeback is reversed in the seller's favor, PayMe adds the amount back to the balance.

For a seller paid directly by the card companies, the chargeback amount isn't taken from a PayMe balance: it is settled between the seller and the card company. PayMe still sends the callbacks.

Each chargeback, and each reversal, is its own row in get-transactions. To list them for a period:

POST https://sandbox.payme.io/api/get-transactions (production: https://live.payme.io/api/get-transactions)

{
  "seller_payme_id": "MPLDEMO-MPLDEMO-MPLDEMO-1234567",
  "transaction_status": ["chargeback", "partial-chargeback", "chargeback-refund", "partial-chargeback-refund"],
  "transaction_created_min": "2026-10-01 00:00:00",
  "transaction_created_max": "2026-10-31 23:59:59",
  "page": 1,
  "page_size": 500
}

A chargeback row in the response (other fields omitted):

{
  "sale_payme_id": "SALEDEMO-XXXXXXXX-XXXXXXXX-XXXXXXXX",
  "transaction_id": "order-1001",
  "transaction_created_at": "2026-10-14 09:12:40",
  "sale_status": "chargeback",
  "transaction_status": "chargeback",
  "transaction_action": "Chargeback",
  "sale_currency": "ILS",
  "transaction_price": 9000,
  "sale_is_3ds": false
}

transaction_price is positive on every row, so apply the sign yourself. transaction_comment holds the chargeback reason. To match chargebacks against withdrawals, see Reconcile sales and withdrawals.

Respond to a chargeback

The card issuer decides from the evidence it receives. To contest a chargeback:

1. Reply the way the email from PayMe describes, within the deadline stated in the email. PayMe passes what you send to the card company.
2. Send what shows that the buyer ordered and received what they paid for: for example the invoice or receipt, the order details, proof of delivery, and your messages with the buyer.

You can also contact the buyer. If the buyer withdraws the dispute with their card issuer, the chargeback can be reversed.

How the case ends

• In the seller's favor. PayMe sends a sale-chargeback-refund callback and adds a chargeback-refund or partial-chargeback-refund row in get-transactions. The callback carries the standard sale fields only. Read the sale's sale_status from the callback, or with get-sales, rather than assuming a value.
• In the buyer's favor. PayMe sends no further callback. The sale stays chargeback or partial-chargeback, and the money stays with the buyer.

You can't refund a charged-back sale

refund-sale works only on completed and partial-refund sales. On a sale in chargeback or partial-chargeback it fails with HTTP 500 and error 305, with the sale's status in status_additional_info:

{
  "status_code": 1,
  "status_error_details": "Cannot perform action due to an incorrect status",
  "status_additional_info": "chargeback",
  "status_error_code": 305,
  "session": "Ab12Cd34"
}

The chargeback already returns the money to the buyer, so don't refund them in another way as well.

Reduce chargebacks

• Use 3D Secure. It confirms that the buyer is the cardholder. It doesn't stop a buyer from disputing for other reasons, such as an order that never arrived. Charges on a saved card (buyer_key) and subscription charges run without it. See How 3D Secure works.
• Refund when a buyer asks. Once a chargeback opens, you can no longer refund the sale.
• Keep your evidence. Store order details, receipts, delivery confirmations and messages with the buyer, so you can respond in time.

Test your chargeback handling

Test Cards and Payment Methods lists a SEPA test account, DE35370400440532013002, whose sale completes and then moves to chargeback. You can use it if SEPA is active on your sandbox account (SEPA sales are in EUR). Otherwise, ask PayMe how to test chargebacks.

PayPal disputes don't go through PayMe; see Accept PayPal payments.