Chargeback Prevention Checklist for New Shopify Stores: Before You Run Paid Traffic

New stores don't lose disputes because they lack evidence — they lose because they never built the infrastructure to generate it

A merchant launches, runs their first Meta campaign, and ships 200 orders in two weeks. No billing descriptor set. Refund policy buried in the footer. No delivery confirmation on orders over $100. Fraud filters at default. The first chargeback wave hits around week six — and there's almost nothing to submit.

This checklist is for the window before that happens. Run it before you scale spend. Each item is independently verifiable. Check it off only when you can confirm it's live — not when you've planned to do it.

Prerequisites

• Shopify store is live and accepting real payments (not test mode).
• You have access to Shopify Admin → Settings → Payments and Admin → Settings → Policies.
• You know your payment processor and acquirer — some fraud filter settings and dispute timelines vary by processor. If you're on Shopify Payments, confirm your dispute response window (typically 7–10 days; verify in your dashboard).
• If you sell subscriptions or recurring billing, flag those SKUs before starting — they require additional steps below.

Section 1: Billing Descriptor and Contact Visibility

1. Set your billing descriptor in Shopify Admin → Settings → Payments → Statement descriptor. It should match your store name or a recognizable brand variant. Unrecognized descriptors are the single most common trigger for "I didn't authorize this" disputes from customers who simply forgot they ordered.
2. Add a customer-facing phone number or live chat to your store header and order confirmation emails. Customers who can't reach you file disputes instead. The contact point doesn't need to be staffed 24/7 — it needs to exist and respond within 24 hours.
3. Verify your support email is active and monitored. Send a test message. Confirm it routes somewhere real. Order confirmation emails that bounce or go unanswered are a direct pipeline to chargebacks.

Section 2: Policy Visibility

4. Publish your refund policy at Admin → Settings → Policies → Refund policy. Shopify auto-links this in the checkout footer. Confirm it's populated — not blank, not a placeholder.
5. Write specific timeframes and conditions into the policy. "30 days from delivery for unused items in original packaging" is defensible. "We accept returns" is not. Vague policies don't hold up in representment.
6. Confirm the refund policy link is visible on the checkout page. Place a test order and verify the footer link renders. Issuers look for evidence that the cardholder had access to policy terms at the time of purchase.
7. Add policy summary language to your order confirmation email. Something like: "Returns accepted within 30 days. Questions? Reply to this email." One sentence is enough. It creates a timestamped record that the customer received policy terms post-purchase.

Section 3: Fraud Filter Configuration

8. Review fraud filter settings at Admin → Settings → Payments → Fraud prevention. Shopify Payments surfaces AVS and CVV mismatch flags here. Default settings are not optimized for your product type or average order value — review them.
9. Set a manual review threshold for high-value orders. What "high-value" means depends on your AOV. A $300 order on a store with a $45 AOV deserves a second look. Define the number and document it.
10. Flag orders with mismatched billing/shipping addresses for manual review — don't auto-cancel them. Reshippers and freight forwarders generate legitimate orders too. The flag is a trigger for review, not automatic cancellation.
11. Check for velocity patterns before fulfilling: same card on multiple orders, same shipping address across different billing names, multiple orders within 10 minutes. These don't always mean fraud, but they warrant a hold and a quick review before you ship.
12. Do not fulfill any order with a high Shopify fraud score without reviewing the order details manually. Shopify's fraud analysis (visible on the order detail page) surfaces risk indicators. A "High" score with multiple red flags is not a green light.

Section 4: Fulfillment Proof Infrastructure

13. Enable automatic tracking number upload to Shopify. Every fulfilled order should have a carrier and tracking number attached in Admin → Orders before the shipment leaves. This is the minimum evidence layer for "item not received" disputes.
14. Require signature confirmation on orders above a defined threshold. The right threshold varies — confirm with your carrier and processor what dollar amount makes signature confirmation cost-effective for your margins. A common starting point is $200–$250, but this is not universal.
15. Send a shipping confirmation email with the tracking link immediately on fulfillment. Shopify does this automatically if notifications are enabled at Admin → Settings → Notifications → Shipping confirmation. Verify it's on.
16. Send a delivery confirmation or follow-up email within 48 hours of carrier-confirmed delivery. This creates a post-delivery touchpoint. Customers who receive it are less likely to dispute; the email itself becomes evidence if they do.
17. Keep carrier delivery screenshots for high-value orders. Carrier tracking pages expire or change. Screenshot the delivery confirmation — carrier name, tracking number, delivery timestamp, destination ZIP — and store it with the order record.

Section 5: Subscription and Recurring Billing Disclosures

Skip this section if you have no subscription products. If you do, these steps are non-negotiable — recurring billing disputes are among the hardest to win without explicit pre-authorization evidence.

18. Display recurring billing terms on the product page, not just in the checkout flow. "Billed monthly at $X. Cancel anytime at [URL]." The product page is the first place an issuer looks for evidence that the cardholder understood the recurring nature of the charge.
19. Add a billing frequency summary to the checkout confirmation screen and the order confirmation email. "Your next charge of $X will occur on [date]." Explicit, timestamped, and tied to the customer's email address.
20. Send a reminder email 3–5 days before each recurring charge. This is not legally required in all jurisdictions — confirm requirements for your customer geography — but it dramatically reduces "I didn't know I'd be charged" disputes.
21. Make cancellation self-service and document the path. A cancellation link buried in a PDF is not self-service. The path should be: customer logs in → account page → cancel subscription. If it requires a support ticket, expect disputes instead.

Common Mistakes

• Setting the billing descriptor once and forgetting it. If you rebrand or change your DBA, update the descriptor immediately. Mismatches between the descriptor and the brand customers recognize are a direct dispute trigger.
• Treating fraud filters as a one-time setup. Fraud patterns shift. A filter configuration that worked at launch may be too loose at 500 orders/month. Review quarterly at minimum.
• Fulfilling flagged orders to avoid delay. A merchant ships a $340 order with a high fraud score to avoid a customer complaint — and loses the chargeback two weeks later with no recourse. The delay cost is almost always lower than the dispute loss.
• Publishing a refund policy that doesn't match actual practice. If your policy says 30 days but you've been accepting returns at 60, the policy is evidence against you in a dispute. Keep policy text and operational practice aligned.
• Skipping delivery confirmation emails because "the carrier sends them." Carrier notifications go to the address on file with the carrier — not always the customer's email. Your own confirmation creates a direct, documented touchpoint.
• Assuming Shopify Protect covers all disputes. Shopify Protect (where available) covers specific fraud-type disputes on eligible orders. It does not cover "item not as described," subscription disputes, or orders that fail eligibility criteria. Check eligibility at Admin → Settings → Payments → Shopify Protect.

Revisit This Checklist When…

• You launch a new product category with a different price point, shipping profile, or customer type.
• You add a subscription or recurring billing product for the first time.
• Your monthly order volume crosses a new threshold — what works at 50 orders/month breaks at 500.
• You switch payment processors or acquirers. Fraud filter settings, dispute windows, and descriptor configurations don't transfer automatically.
• Your dispute rate exceeds 0.5% in any rolling 30-day window. At that point, this checklist is a diagnostic, not a setup guide.
• You run a promotion or flash sale that significantly changes your average order value or customer geography.