This guide explains chargebacks and why it’s best to avoid a payment dispute in favor of getting a refund instead.
WordPress.com is happy to issue refunds in the first 14 days after purchase for annual, two-year, and three-year plans and 7 days for monthly plans. One exception is to domains, which must be canceled within 96 hours due to their unique registration process.
Disputing the payment does not result in an immediate refund and is generally much slower than requesting a refund from a merchant, as explained in the next section of this guide.
A chargeback is a payment that has been reversed either by the purchaser or the bank used to make the purchase.
Chargebacks are a tool for fraud prevention. It’s a way to reverse a charge made by an unauthorized purchaser.
Chargebacks are not intended as a means of obtaining a refund or canceling a billing agreement or subscription. They are used to stop a payment made by a purchaser who has fraudulently obtained payment information rather than a charge made by the actual cardholder, even when they have changed their mind.
Refunds are intended to help with dissatisfaction or a change of heart. However, WordPress.com cannot issue a refund while a dispute is active. When a chargeback occurs, the payment is placed on hold while the dispute is mediated. The WordPress.com site in question is automatically suspended as a result of the dispute.
The payment dispute mediation process can take up to 80 days to complete, at the end of which any resulting refund would be issued by the issuing bank or payment provider.
If the chargeback completes and the credit is issued by the payment provider rather than refunded by WordPress.com, a $15 fee is incurred to cover the cost of the dispute resolution process. Once this fee is paid, the site can be restored and used normally with or without upgrades. There is no fee if the dispute is canceled.
Chargebacks can usually be canceled in the first 10 days after they have been issued. You can cancel a chargeback by contacting the bank or payment provider through their website or by phone — generally, they can be canceled in the same way they were initiated.
If a refund is desired, the chargeback/dispute should be canceled and a refund requested instead. There is no fee if the dispute is canceled.
