If your terms are unclear or your customer never actually agreed to them, a payment dispute (chargeback) is very hard to win, even when you were right.

Why this matters to you financially

Under your Core Payment contract, you are financially responsible for any chargeback on your transactions, regardless of the cause. This includes commercial disputes (a customer claiming a service wasn't delivered or wasn't as agreed), which are in practice the most common reason for a lost chargeback, not fraud. Having clear terms, properly accepted by your customer before payment, is your single best defence: it's what allows a dispute to be won rather than automatically charged back to you.

This guide gives you what to check, and ready-to-use wording for the part that doesn't depend on your business.

Part 1 — Checklist: what your own terms must cover

(Fill this in yourself, based on your own business rules. This part depends on what you sell, so we can't write it for you.)

1. Order / booking confirmation — when is an order or booking considered confirmed (on payment, on validation, etc.)?
2. Cancellation by the customer — free cancellation window, fees beyond it, and how a no-show is handled if relevant.
3. Cancellation or unavailability on your side — what happens if you can't fulfil the order (full refund, unless the customer is at fault).
4. Refunds — timeframe and method when a refund is due.
5. Contact before a dispute — a clear way for the customer to reach you first.
6. Acceptance — a statement confirming the customer read and accepted these terms before paying.

Part 2 — Ready-to-copy wording (points 5 and 6)

(These two don't depend on your business type. Copy them as-is into your own terms.)

• Contact before a dispute

Any question or disagreement about your order should be sent directly to [your contact — replace with your own email or phone] before taking any other action, so we can resolve it quickly and fairly.

• Acceptance

By confirming your payment, you acknowledge that you have read and accepted these terms.

Why clear terms win disputes

Card networks require clear terms, shown to the customer at the time of purchase, to defend a chargeback. A visible link is not enough: your customer needs to actively accept these terms, ideally with a checkbox, before paying. Without this, the chargeback is very likely to be lost, and the transaction amount plus a EUR 30 handling fee will be charged to you.

Where to display this

• Core Checkout or e-commerce module: display your terms and require acceptance on your own site/cart, before payment.
• Core PayLink: your terms must be presented and accepted upstream, on your own website or through your booking/order process, since the Core payment page does not include this feature today.

Core does not act in the commercial relationship between you and your customer, and cannot verify or guarantee that your own terms are applied. This guide is provided to help you reduce the risk of disputes.

Updated on: 01/10/2026