Disputes

Queues → Disputes is “cases against a deadline. A missed deadline loses the money with no hearing.”

Two permissions, and the second one moves money:

Permission	Covers
dispute.read	The queue and the case file.
dispute.write	Assigning, advancing, notifying, and every evidence operation.
dispute.resolve	Resolving a case. Dual controlled, and it releases a balance hold.

The queue is a queue, not a workspace

Every row opens the case file. Nothing is worked from the table — a row carries no evidence and no timeline, so an action offered against one would be an action taken without reading the case.

The stats above the table

Open, Win rate, Lost by expiry, and Lost in money.

Read the per-currency panel, not the platform total

“The platform-wide totals add different currencies together, so these are the figures that mean something.” The Disputes by currency panel is the one to quote.

Lost by expiry is the number to care about most. Every one of them was winnable and nobody answered.

There is also a standing panel: Cases already past their deadline — “lost by default unless the scheme allows a late filing. This read covers the whole set, not just this page.” A row there shows whether money is still frozen or there is no hold.

Columns

Column	What it holds
Dispute	The reference.
Merchant	—
Stage	“Money has actually been taken back from chargeback onwards.”
Status	—
Reason	The scheme’s reason code.
Disputed	“This is the amount frozen on the merchant’s balance.”
Scheme fee	“What the scheme charges us for handling the case, win or lose.”
Evidence	What has been gathered.
Evidence due	Time remaining, or Past due — lost by default.
Opened	—

Filters include Assigned to me. The windows here are on when the case was opened, not on a settlement period.

The case file

Three tabs — Case, Evidence, Timeline — with the deadline in the header rather than buried in a field list, because everything else on the page is context.

What you can do depends on the record, not only on your permission. A resolved case takes nothing: no assignment, no stage move, no evidence, no second resolution. The same applies at arbitration, which is the last stage — there is nowhere forward to move it to. Those actions are not offered rather than offered and refused.

Assign

“Who is answerable for the deadline.” Assign it to a person, not to a team. An unassigned case in a queue of forty is a case nobody is answering.

Field	Notes
Assign to	The colleague who will work it. Leave it empty and take the case to put it on yourself.

Move to another stage

Forward only.

Field	Notes
New stage	The next stage in the scheme’s process.
Status within the new stage	Evidence required, Open, Under review, Evidence submitted.
New evidence deadline	“Optional, but an escalation nearly always carries its own deadline — and a case left on a lapsed one looks lost whether it is or not.”
Why it moved	“Goes in the timeline and the audit log.”

Set the new deadline when you escalate

This is the single most common way a winnable case ends up looking lost: the stage moves, the scheme issues a fresh deadline, and the console still shows the old one as past due. Set it at the same time.

Record that the merchant has been told

“The entry that proves they had the chance to respond.”

Field	Notes
How they were told	“In your own words. This is the entry that proves they were.”

Do this every time. When a merchant later says nobody told them, this entry is the whole of the answer — and its absence is the whole of theirs.

Evidence

Adding evidence that is not a file

“Short free text — a result code, a fingerprint, what was said.”

Field	Notes
What kind of evidence	The evidence type.
The evidence itself	“Kept verbatim. Paste the raw value rather than summarising it — a summary is not evidence.”
What it shows	“One line for whoever reads the case file without today’s context.”

Uploading a file

“Three steps: sign, upload, record. All three have to finish.”

Field	Notes
What kind of evidence	—
The file	“Its exact size and type are signed into the upload URL, so swapping the file afterwards invalidates it.”
What it shows	“Optional, and worth writing. A bucket full of ‘scan.pdf’ is not a case file.”

Opening a file

“Reading a case file is recorded.”

Field	Notes
Why you are opening it	“Recorded against your name. The link that comes back is a credential for this one file and expires shortly.”

Do not paste that link into a chat. It is a credential, it works for whoever holds it, and it was issued against your name and your stated reason.

Filing the package

“This is the package the issuer sees. It cannot be added to afterwards.”

Field	Notes
What was sent, and to whom	“Goes in the timeline. Name the channel, so the next person can find the thread.”

One submission, and it closes the window

Gather everything first. A package filed early cannot be topped up, and the deadline does not reopen because something better turned up afterwards.

Evidence can be removed up until it is filed.

Resolving a case

dispute.resolve, dual controlled. “Closing a dispute releases its balance hold.”

Field	Notes
How the case ended	Won — the claim was refused. Lost — the claim succeeded. Accepted — we did not contest it. Expired — the deadline passed with no response. Withdrawn — the customer dropped the claim.
Who carried it	Merchant — their sale, their loss. Platform — our error: routing, duplicate capture, a bug. Partner — the acquirer or rail got it wrong. Customer — the claim was not honest. “‘Undetermined’ is refused on a resolved case, which is why it is not offered.”
Ledger journal	Searched by its reference. Optional when we post the chargeback for you; see below.
What was decided, and on what evidence	“An auditor reads this, possibly years later, with none of today’s context. Name the evidence that decided it.”

The journal: posted for you, or posted first

Lost, accepted or expired, with merchant or platform liability: the form says “The chargeback is posted for you”, and the journal is optional (“Leave empty and the chargeback is posted when you resolve.”). Resolving releases the hold and posts the chargeback: merchant liability debits the merchant’s payable, platform liability debits platform.expense.dispute_losses.{CCY} (“PaySigna bears the amount as a dispute loss”), and both credit the partner receivable.

Partner or customer liability still needs a journal you posted first: “post the adjustment that moves the money first, then search for it by its reference.”

A journal you cite must be a chargeback or adjustment journal for this merchant and this payment, and one journal can close only one dispute.

Post the journal that moves the money, then find it here

“Post the journal that moves the money FIRST, then search for it by its reference.” Pick it from the matches; each shows its total, environment and posted time, so check you have the right one.

Resolving without the journal, or with the wrong one, produces a closed case whose money movement cannot be reconstructed. See the ledger.

A reversal journal does not reach the settlement batch

A reversal journal you post for a dispute moves the merchant’s balance, but it does not add a reversal line to their open settlement batch (a known gap). Check the batch before it is approved; if the reversal should come off it, hold the batch and raise it rather than let it pay the full net.

Liability is a real field, not a formality

Platform liability means we got it wrong — a routing error, a duplicate capture, a bug. Recording it as merchant liability because that is the default shape of a chargeback hides a platform defect inside somebody else’s loss account. If it was ours, say so; that figure is how the defect gets fixed.

How to work a case

1. Read the deadline first. If it is close, decide what can realistically be gathered in the time and start there.
2. Assign it to yourself. A case with an owner gets answered.
3. Tell the merchant, and record that you did. Most of the evidence that wins a case is theirs, not ours — see the merchant’s side of this.
4. Gather everything, with a line of description on each item.
5. File once.
6. Record the outcome when the scheme reports it, with the journal and a reason an auditor could follow.

And the thing that moves the win rate more than any of the above: answer inquiries before they become chargebacks. The stage column tells you which cases have not yet taken money back.