Chargeback evidence for 'item arrived damaged' disputes

A customer says your item arrived broken. They didn’t ask you for a refund. They went to their bank, and now your payment processor has pulled the money back and wants evidence.

How a damaged-item chargeback works, step by step

The customer disputes the charge with their card issuer (their bank). Card networks usually allow this within 120 days of the payment, per Stripe’s overview of how disputes work.
The issuer files a chargeback through the network (Visa, Mastercard). The money plus a dispute fee comes out of your processor balance and stays held while the case runs.
Your processor tells you and sets a deadline. Stripe says it’s typically 7 to 21 days, depending on the network.
You respond with evidence (representment). Your processor forwards it to the issuer. The issuer then usually has 60 to 75 days to decide, and the whole thing often takes 2 to 3 months (Stripe).
Pre-arbitration and arbitration. If the issuer still disagrees, it can escalate. Under Visa’s rules, a pre-arbitration on a not-as-described case needs the issuer to bring something new, such as third-party evidence that the goods were defective (Visa Core Rules, 18 April 2026, section 11.10.4.7). Stripe doesn’t support the arbitration stage, so for many small sellers your one representment is the whole fight.

The reason codes: Visa 13.3 and Mastercard 4853

At the time of writing (October 2026):

Visa 13.3, Not as Described or Defective Merchandise/Services. It covers goods that didn’t match the description, arrived damaged or defective, or that the cardholder thinks are poor quality (Visa Dispute Management Guidelines, June 2024).
Mastercard 4853, Cardholder Dispute, under the section “Goods or Services Were Either Not as Described or Defective.” It covers goods that arrived broken or didn’t match their description (Mastercard Chargeback Guide, Merchant Edition, 19 May 2026).

Stripe and Shopify both call this category “Product unacceptable.”

The cardholder’s preconditions are your best rebuttal points

Both networks expect the customer to have tried to sort it out with you first:

Visa: before the issuer can file, the cardholder must try to resolve it with you and return or try to return the merchandise. The issuer must then wait 15 calendar days after that return attempt. The dispute amount is limited to the value of what was returned or offered back (Visa Core Rules, 11.10.4.2 and 11.10.4.4).
Mastercard: the cardholder must have contacted (or tried to contact) you, you must have refused to repair, replace or refund, and they must have told you the goods were available for return or pickup (Mastercard Chargeback Guide).

If the customer never contacted you, or you offered a return or replacement and they ignored it, say so plainly. Stripe’s guidance for this category says the same: if they never contacted you before disputing, make that clear.

What evidence actually helps

Lead with the evidence that answers “was it damaged, and did you get the chance to fix it?”

Condition at dispatch. Dated packing photos or video: item intact, packing, sealed box with label. Mastercard’s guide lists merchant documentation that goods “were not damaged, or were not defective” as grounds for a second presentment.

Proof of delivery. Tracking with delivery date, full address, and any damage scan (or none).

The customer’s own damage evidence, and how it was captured. Look at the photos they sent you or the bank. Do they show your item, your packaging and your label? Were they taken after delivery? Mastercard lets the merchant second present for Suspected Altered or Falsified Documentation (code 2001) with a “reasonably specific explanation” of why you think the cardholder’s documents were altered. It also allows Suspected return merchandise fraud (code 2004) when the returned goods aren’t the ones you sent. See how to spot fake damage photos and, for AI-made images, what to do about an AI damage photo.

Communication log. Your replies, any return, replacement or refund offer, and whether the customer answered. Trim threads to the relevant messages.

Refund or replacement already given. A direct answer under both networks’ rules. Include amount, date and reference.

Listing as shown at purchase. For not-as-described claims, show the product page the customer saw.

Return policy accepted at checkout. Include it, but don’t lead with it. Visa’s guidelines say a merchant’s return policy “has no bearing” on 13.3 disputes. Stripe says the issuer may or may not take it into account. It works best as context (“we offered a free return under this policy, and the customer didn’t use it”), not as your main argument.

How to present it

Issuers review thousands of responses a day, so keep it tight. From Stripe’s best practices:

One short rebuttal letter that answers each point the cardholder made. Visa’s guidelines recommend addressing every one.
A timeline in date order.
Labeled exhibits grouped by type, one file per type.
PDF, JPEG or PNG only. Stripe caps the combined file at 4.5 MB, and Mastercard cases at 19 pages.
12pt text, portrait pages, arrows or bold labels on what matters. No links, video or audio.

Rebuttal letter template

Re: Dispute [case ID], order [number], [amount], [date]

[Customer name] bought [item] on [date]. The cardholder says it arrived damaged. We dispute this for the following reasons.

Condition at dispatch. The item was inspected and photographed intact, packed in [packing], on [date] (Exhibit A).

Delivery. [Carrier] delivered it to [full address] on [date]. No damage was recorded in transit (Exhibit B).

Customer contact. [The cardholder did not contact us before disputing.] OR [On [date] they reported damage. On [date] we offered [a prepaid return label / replacement / refund on return] (Exhibit C). They did not return or offer to return the item.]

Damage photos. The photos supplied [show a different item/packaging / predate delivery / show inconsistencies at the points marked] (Exhibit D).

Policy. Our return terms were shown and accepted at checkout (Exhibit E).

We ask that the chargeback be reversed. Exhibits A–E are attached in date order.

[Name, business, contact]

Delete any line you can’t back with an exhibit.

Evidence checklist

Time limits by platform

At the time of writing (October 2026):

Stripe: typically 7–21 days. You get one submission and can’t edit it or add files afterwards.
Shopify Payments: typically 7–21 days. Shopify sends a response for you on the due date, you can’t change evidence once it’s submitted, and nothing is accepted after the deadline (Shopify Help Center). If you win, the amount, and the fee where applicable, comes back in a later payout.
PayPal: a buyer’s “Significantly Not as Described” dispute must be opened within 30 days of delivery (PayPal). You must respond within 10 days of it opening. Seller Protection excludes SNAD claims, and Chargeback Protection excludes “broken item” chargebacks. If the buyer goes to their card issuer instead, the issuer decides, not PayPal, and that can take up to 75 days.

Submit a day or two early. Missing the deadline loses the dispute automatically.

When to accept instead of fighting

Accept when the damage is real and you can’t show the item left you intact, when the customer did try to return it and you didn’t help, or when the amount is smaller than the extra fee for countering. Stripe says accepting isn’t an admission of wrongdoing. Networks count disputes received, not won or lost, so fighting doesn’t improve your dispute rate. Once a dispute is open you also can’t issue an ordinary refund, so the cheapest move is to offer a return or replacement before the customer goes to their bank. If your returns are leaking money, returnless refunds without getting scammed covers the policy side.

Worked example

Say a customer buys a $240 ceramic lamp. Three weeks after delivery, they file a Visa chargeback saying it arrived cracked. Your record shows:

Packing video from the day of dispatch: lamp intact, double-boxed, label visible.
Tracking: delivered to the billing address, no damage scan.
One message from the customer with a photo of a cracked base. You replied the same day with a prepaid return label. No reply.
On close inspection, the photo shows a different base color from your listing.

Your rebuttal makes four points with four exhibits: intact at dispatch, delivered with no damage scan, return offered but not used, and the photo doesn’t match the item sold. Under Visa 13.3, an unused return offer goes to the heart of the cardholder’s dispute rights. That doesn’t guarantee a win, but it’s a strong, specific case.

UK and EU differences

In the UK, goods stay at the seller’s risk until the consumer has them (Consumer Rights Act 2015, s.29), so “it was the courier” isn’t a defense against a UK consumer. Credit card buyers can also claim against their card provider under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 for purchases over £100 and up to £30,000, a separate route from a chargeback. In the EU, Stripe notes that disputes on payments processed through France’s Cartes Bancaires network can’t be contested by merchants in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA).

How ClaimCam handles this

ClaimCam is a claim link you paste into your reply to a damage complaint. The customer’s phone opens a live camera in the browser, with no upload button, and they photograph the item, the damage and the packaging with a one-time handwritten code in shot. Each frame is fingerprinted (SHA-256) and timestamped by the server. An AI check reads the code, flags photos of screens or prints, and checks it’s the same item throughout. You get a private evidence page you can save as a PDF exhibit. It’s deterrence plus a clean record, not proof: a customer who really broke the item will still photograph real damage, and no evidence guarantees a chargeback result.

This is general information, not legal advice.