Free · no install · no signup

Is this chargeback worth fighting?

Answer six questions and the real triage engine — the same deterministic code that runs inside the paid app — gives you a verdict and shows the arithmetic behind it. Including when the answer is don't, which on Stripe it often is. On Shopify Payments, where contesting costs nothing extra, it rarely is — and we show you why rather than taking credit for it.

Nothing to install · no account · no order or customer data · Shopify Payments and Stripe

The check

Six questions. None of them about your customer.

No order id, no name, no email, no charge id — the engine does not use them, so we do not ask for them and there is nothing to store.

Just the number the bank pulled back.

Our fee thresholds are published in US dollars and are not converted. Pick anything but USD and the result says plainly that the figures are US-dollar approximations.

Your dispute notification says this in plain words — you do not need the reason code.

This decides what fighting costs you, which is half the arithmetic.

The address-match rule below exists on Visa and Mastercard only, so we have to know.

A completed 3-D Secure authentication moves fraud liability to the card issuer — the single strongest thing a fraud dispute can have. If you are not sure, leave this as no.

Both halves have to be true. On a Visa or Mastercard fraud claim that pairing is a valid representment under the network rules on its own. On other reason codes and on Amex or Discover it is not, and we will say so on the result instead of quietly counting it.

Nothing is saved. We count that a check happened and which way it went — that is all.

What fighting costs, by processor

  • Shopify Payments — The bank fee is charged when the dispute is filed, whether or not you respond — Shopify charges nothing extra to contest, in any region.
  • Stripe — Stripe charges a $15 dispute fee at filing AND a separate $15 fee for contesting, so fighting costs $15 more than not fighting (US, since Jun 2025).
  • Another processor — We do not publish a fee schedule we have not sourced, so this uses Stripe’s $15 contest fee — the conservative assumption. Your real fee may be lower.

How the verdict is reached

One formula, no judgement calls.

Fight when expected win probability × disputed amount is at least what fighting costs you (your processor's fee for contesting). Accept when it is not — the money is already gone, and fighting only adds the fee to the loss.

Win probabilities are published industry figures with their denominators, adjusted for the amount band and for any network remedy you actually hold. They are not our own win rates and we do not present them as such.

The engine is pure, deterministic code that takes no order data — which is exactly why this page can run the real thing for a stranger instead of an approximation of it.

Questions

Straight answers.

Should I fight this chargeback?

It depends on three things: how likely that reason code is to win, how much is disputed, and what your processor charges to contest. If the expected recovery (win probability × amount) is less than the contest fee, fighting loses money on average — accept it. This tool runs those numbers for you and shows the arithmetic.

Why does it always say fight when I pick Shopify Payments?

Because Shopify charges no separate fee to contest a chargeback — the bank's fee is taken when the dispute is filed whether you respond or not, and it comes back if you win. With no extra fee to clear, there is no amount at which the fee arithmetic says "don't bother", so on Shopify Payments the answer is effectively always yes on cost grounds. What is left is the win probability and your own time, which is why we show the probability rather than hiding it behind the verdict. Stripe is the opposite: it charges $15 to contest on top of the $15 filing fee, so small disputes genuinely are not worth fighting there.

Why would anyone tell me NOT to fight a chargeback?

Because it is often the right answer, and because we charge a flat monthly fee rather than a percentage of what you recover. An app paid a success fee has no reason to ever say "don't fight" — every fight it files is a lottery ticket it did not pay for.

Do I have to install anything or enter customer details?

No. The page needs no account and asks for no order id, customer name, email or charge id — six non-identifying answers are enough for the triage engine, so there is nothing about your customer to give us and nothing for us to store.

Is this the same engine the paid app uses?

Yes — literally the same function. Triage in Counterproof is deterministic code with no order data as input, which is exactly why this page can run it for a stranger. A test asserts the page's verdict equals the engine's for the same inputs, so the two cannot drift.