Speeding Up the Disputes Process
Dispute Reversals
Typically, the fastest way for you to resolve a dispute is to contact your customer. If you’re able to communicate with them and come to an agreement, make sure to follow the directions below that relate to you.
For security reasons, we cannot share cardholders’ personal information. Any collection of your customers’ names, emails, or other personally identifiable information needed for reasons other than completing a purchase will have to occur outside of Square.
A. The Funds Need to be Returned to You
If you haven’t yet sent us your information for the card issuer, request that your customer cancel the dispute with their bank. After your customer cancels, their bank will send them a confirmation letter or email. Please collect that letter from your customer and email it to us as a PDF or JPG attachment. We’ll only be able to release the funds back to you if we receive this confirmation letter.
If you have already sent us your information for the card issuer and the case has not yet been resolved, we’ll need to wait for the issuer to resolve the case. Please email us to check on the status of your case. Once we receive the issuer’s resolution, we can guide you through the next steps.
If your case has been resolved in your favour, but you’d like to receive your funds faster than the standard 60-day re-dispute period, you can speed up the process by asking your customer to re-dispute the case with their bank. Your customer’s card issuer will then repay the customer and they can then pay those funds to you outside the dispute process. Afterwards, let us know via email and we’ll accept the re-dispute to ensure your customer is not debited again.
B. The Funds Need to be Returned to Your Customer
If you have already sent us your information for the card issuer and the case has not yet been resolved, we’ll need to wait for the issuer to resolve the case. Please email us to check on the status of your case. Once we receive the issuer’s resolution, we can guide you through the next steps.
If your case has been resolved in your favour, but your customer still has 60 days to file a re-dispute, request your customer to re-dispute the case, and then let us know with an email. We’ll accept the re-dispute.
If your case has been resolved in your favour and it’s after the 60 day re-dispute period,email us. We’ll release the funds back to your account so you can reimburse your customer.
If you’ve come to an agreement with your customer and are still unsure what to do, send us an email. We’ll let you know what steps to take.
Holds on Disputed Funds
When the credit card issuer notifies us of your dispute, the card issuer also debits Square’s account. We let you know of the dispute right away and also place a hold on the disputed funds by either withholding funds from your Square balance or initiating a debit to your linked bank account.
If the withholding or debit is successful, we’ll hold the funds until the case is resolved by the card issuer.
If the withholding or debit is unsuccessful, we will place a hold on your Square balance for the disputed amount. Your Square balance will then reflect the negative disputed amount and any future payments you take will go towards the outstanding balance.
If the card issuer resolves the case in your favour and we were unable to debit your account or collect the funds, we will release the deferred amount back to your Square balance. Your bank account will not be credited. Rather, your Square balance will be adjusted to reflect the resolution.
Per our Seller Agreement with you, we are not liable for any overdraft fees you may incur caused by the debit. To protect yourself from incurring an overdraft fee, please make sure you have enough funds in your linked bank account to cover a dispute on your largest transaction.