Visa 13.1 chargeback (merchandise or services not received): what evidence wins

What a 13.1 dispute claims

Reason code 13.1 is Visa’s “merchandise or services not received” dispute. For a subscription box it usually means one shipment in the series, not the whole subscription: the customer says a specific box never arrived.

The bank’s question is: did the merchant ship, and is there proof it arrived where the cardholder asked? A tracking number alone doesn’t answer that.

You get one submission on Shopify Payments and Stripe. Pull the carrier’s own delivery record before you submit.

The evidence that wins

The order to argue it in

1. The order shipped to the address the cardholder provided.
2. The carrier recorded delivery at that address, with timestamp and scan location.
3. The cardholder did not contact support about a missing package, or support resolved it.

When what you sell isn’t a package

For software and content, there is nothing to scan. The engine uses a different argument order:

1. The account was active and available for the whole paid period.
2. The cardholder logged in and used the product during that period (access log).
3. Support never received a report that the product was unavailable.

For gyms, studios and memberships, the same idea applies with attendance or booking records in place of logins.

A response template for a shipped order

Order [order #] for [product], [amount], was placed on [date] and shipped on [date] to [address as entered by the cardholder] via [carrier], tracking [number] (Exhibit A: order, Exhibit B: fulfillment).

The carrier recorded delivery on [date] at [time] at [location] (Exhibit C: carrier delivery record).

We have no record of the cardholder reporting a missing package or contacting support about this order (Exhibit D) [or: our support thread shows … (Exhibit D)].

The goods were delivered to the address the cardholder provided. We ask that the dispute be resolved in the merchant’s favor.

Mistakes that lose winnable 13.1 cases

• A tracking number with no delivery scan. “Label created” or “in transit” isn’t delivery.
• Delivery to an address that isn’t the one on the order. The bank compares them.
• Proof of delivery dated after the dispute was filed.
• Disputing a case where the package was returned to sender or lost. Refund it, claim against the carrier and fix the address problem.
• A summary in your own words instead of the carrier’s record.

The same dispute on other card networks

Stop getting 13.1 disputes

• Validate shipping addresses at checkout and let subscribers update them from the renewal reminder.
• Send a tracking email for every shipment, not just the first.
• Use a carrier that records delivery scans with location for every box.
• Make “where is my order” answerable without a support ticket, so customers don’t go to the bank first.

Questions

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