The clock starts on the wedding day, not the day they paid.

Everything here is drawn from the processors' and card networks' own documentation, linked at the bottom. Where a number is an industry estimate rather than a rule, we say so.

What a chargeback is

The couple calls their bank and says a charge was fraudulent, or the service was never provided, or was not what they agreed to. The bank reverses the payment immediately. Your processor debits the amount and a fee from your balance, sends you the bank's reason code, and gives you a short window to send evidence. The bank reads the evidence and decides. Your processor does not decide, and neither does Lazo. Whop puts it plainly: "The customer's bank makes the final decision, not Whop."⁶

Stripe describes the typical lifecycle as two to three months from the dispute to the final word, with the bank taking 60 to 75 days to rule after you respond.¹

Why weddings are different: the clock

For most purchases the dispute window runs from the day the card was charged. For a service delivered later, the networks start the clock at the date the service was due. Stripe's documentation states it directly: for future events "the dispute window starts on the event date, not the payment date."¹

Think through what that means. A couple pays a deposit in January for an October wedding. Their right to dispute the deposit does not expire in May; it opens in October and runs into the following February. Every deposit you hold is disputable until roughly four months after the wedding it was for. This is the single fact behind most of what processors do to wedding vendors: the reserves, the payout delays, the extra questions. Their exposure on your account is the sum of every booking you have not yet delivered.

The reason codes you will see

Each network has its own code list. Stripe groups them into plain categories; the ones that matter for a wedding business are below.²

The code tells you which evidence is relevant. Stripe's guidance is blunt about mismatches: evidence about your refund policy "isn't relevant for a dispute claiming that the customer never received the product."⁵ Answer the claim that was made.

The evidence that wins

Stripe's own estimate is sobering: "Even in the most favorable cases, it's very difficult to overturn a disputed payment," and its strongest evidence band wins about 60% of the time, its weakest about 5%.⁵ Industry surveys of merchants generally put the average win rate for a contested dispute near 20%.⁷ So the goal is to be in the top band every time, and to prevent the dispute in the first place (see Lower your risk).

What the networks and processors list as evidence, by claim:^2,5,6

For "service not received"

• Proof you delivered: the gallery delivery email with the date, the download log, the final film link, the timeline you worked from, geotagged photos from the day, a venue or planner confirming you were there.
• The signed contract naming the date, the venue, and what was to be delivered and when. If delivery is "8 to 12 weeks after the wedding" and the dispute arrives in week six, the contract is your whole case.
• Written communication with the couple about scheduling and delivery, excerpted to the relevant messages. Stripe warns that long undifferentiated dumps of email "don't verify identity" and dilute the point.⁵

For "not as described"

• The contract's description of the deliverable: hours, number of shooters, edited image count or film length, style. Plus the proposal they accepted.
• Proof the couple reviewed and accepted the work: a gallery-viewed notification, a thank-you message, a review, a social post sharing your photos.
• Your delivery or revision policy, and proof it was shown before payment.

For "fraud" (card not present)

• Anything tying the cardholder to the booking: the e-signed contract with their name and email, the IP address and timestamp of signature, AVS and CVC matches from the checkout, prior payments on the same card that were not disputed. Visa's compelling-evidence rules give real weight to a history of undisputed transactions with the same customer.⁵
• Communication in which the cardholder discusses the booking after the charge.

For "credit not processed"

• Your cancellation and refund policy exactly as it appeared when they signed, plus proof they agreed to it. Stripe: "it's critical to provide proof that your customer agreed to and understood your terms of service at checkout."⁵ A screenshot of the signature page with the clause visible is worth more than the clause pasted into an email.
• The cancellation correspondence, with dates, showing what the policy entitled them to and what you did.

How to respond, step by step

1. Do not refund a disputed charge outside the dispute. The bank has already pulled the money. A second refund pays the couple twice and you lose both. If you want to concede, accept the dispute in the dashboard.
2. Read the reason code, then decide in a day whether to fight. Fight when you have a signed contract and proof of delivery or of the agreed cancellation terms. Concede when you genuinely did not deliver; a fast concession costs the fee but protects the relationship and your ratio counts the same either way. The networks "don't consider how many disputes you win or lose, only how many you receive."⁵
3. Pull the file from the thread. Signed agreement, invoice, receipt, the questionnaire, the relevant messages, the delivery confirmation. On Lazo these are in one thread; export them.
4. Write a one-page cover statement. Who, what, when, what the couple agreed to, what you delivered, what the dispute claims and why the attached evidence answers it. Plain and chronological. Template below.
5. Attach only what answers the code. Label each file. Put the contract page with the signature and the relevant clause first.
6. Submit before the deadline. Whop's documentation: "Submit your evidence before this deadline or you'll automatically lose the dispute."⁶ Calendar it the day the dispute arrives.
7. Do not contact the couple to argue. You may ask them, once and politely, to withdraw the dispute with their bank if it was a misunderstanding. A withdrawn dispute still counts toward your ratio, but it ends the case.

Cover statement template

Your dispute ratio, and why one dispute hurts a wedding business

Visa's Acquirer Monitoring Program divides fraud reports plus disputes by settled transactions each month. A merchant is "excessive" at 1.5% in the US with at least 1,500 disputes a month,³ and Mastercard's Excessive Chargeback Program starts at 1.5% with at least 100 chargebacks.⁴ A wedding vendor will never reach those counts. The problem is the processor's own, tighter rules. Whop tells sellers "the line they care about is 1.5%"⁸ and applies reserves, delays and fees automatically as a rate climbs. Stripe warns that for a business with "fewer than 100 payments per month," one or two disputes have "a very outsized impact on your dispute rate."⁹

Do the arithmetic for a photographer who takes 40 card payments a year. One dispute in a month with three payments is a 33% rate for that month. The networks will never notice. Your processor's risk model will, and that is how a single unhappy couple becomes a reserve on your whole account. Prevention matters more for you than for almost any other kind of business.

Retrieval requests and early alerts

Sometimes a bank asks questions before it files a chargeback (a retrieval request or inquiry), or your processor receives an early fraud warning. Treat both as a dispute you can still prevent. Answer fully and quickly, and if the charge is genuinely fraudulent or the couple genuinely cancelled within their rights, refund it yourself before it becomes a chargeback. Stripe notes that a large share of early fraud warnings turn into disputes if the charge is not refunded.¹ A refund costs the money; a dispute costs the money, the fee and the ratio.

ACH and bank transfers

Bank-to-bank payments do not have card chargebacks. A payer's bank can return an unauthorised debit for a limited period, but there is no "not as described" return. Many vendors take the deposit by card for the couple's convenience and the balance by bank transfer for exactly this reason. Lazo threads can list bank details or a bank-payment link as a method alongside card checkout.

Questions vendors ask

How long does a couple have to dispute a wedding payment?

Card networks typically allow 120 days, and for a future service the window starts on the event date, not the payment date. Visa caps it at 540 days from the transaction.

How long do I have to respond to a chargeback?

Usually 7 to 21 days from when the dispute opens, depending on the card network. Missing the deadline loses the dispute automatically.

What evidence wins a wedding chargeback?

A signed contract naming the date and deliverables, proof of delivery such as the gallery or film delivery record, the policies as shown at signing, and relevant written communication with the cardholder.

Can a couple charge back a deposit after cancelling?

Visa's rules list a transaction the cardholder cancelled before the service date, including buyer's remorse, as an invalid 'not received' dispute, and likewise a partial advance payment where the merchant is willing and able to perform. The bank still decides, so the contract and cancellation record are the evidence.

Does winning a dispute help my dispute rate?

No. Card networks count disputes received, not won, so prevention matters more than winning.