Ask a merchant how long they have to answer a chargeback and they will usually quote the network: 30 days for Visa, 45 for Mastercard. That answer loses cases. The network deadline runs to the acquirer, and your processor keeps part of it for review, formatting and forwarding — so the date in your dashboard is days, sometimes weeks, earlier. This guide separates the two clocks, gives every window with its source, states plainly where the sources disagree instead of picking a winner, and ends with what to do on day one. If you just want your own date, the Merchant Response Deadline Calculator computes it from your notice date, network and processor.
Two clocks, one deadline
The binding date is the earliest safe date among your processor window and the network window — and above both, the date printed on your own case notice. The chain runs cardholder → issuer → acquirer → processor → you, and every handoff eats days before you ever see the case. Notification lag is the silent killer here: acquirers batch notifications, and by the time a case reaches your inbox, several days of the window may already be gone. That is why this guide — and the calculator — always plans to the short end of any range. Planning to the long end of a 7–21 day range is planning to lose on day 8.
Two more rules govern everything below. First, all windows here are calendar days from the notice date, not business days, and the notice date is the date on the notice — not the date you opened the email. Second, missing the representment deadline ends the case: the dispute is decided by default in the cardholder's favour with no evidence review, and the chargeback stands regardless of how strong your evidence was. There is no late-evidence lane on a missed representment date.
Network windows
The published general windows are Visa 30 days, Mastercard 45 days, American Express 20 days per phase, and Discover 20–45 days by reason code. Network rulebooks are not public, so these figures are cross-checked published windows, not rulebook text — and the Discover range is a range precisely because the sources do not agree on a single figure (see where the sources disagree). The cardholder's filing window is a different clock entirely — generally up to 120 days from the transaction date, and up to 540 days for some Visa cases where goods or services arrive long after purchase — and it must never be confused with your response window. A customer having 120 days to file does not give you 120 days to answer.
Network
Representment (merchant response)
Counted from
Visa
30 days
Chargeback notification
Mastercard
45 days (second presentment)
First chargeback
American Express
20 days per phase
Dispute notice
Discover
20–45 days by reason code
Chargeback notification
Processor windows
Processor windows are the ones that actually bind, and unlike network windows they come from the processor's own pages. Stripe's documentation states that after a chargeback is created you have "usually 7-21 days, depending on the card network" to respond, with the issuer then usually taking 60-75 days to decide and the full lifecycle running 2-3 months — and Stripe publishes no per-network split, so any guide that states a Stripe-Visa or Stripe-Mastercard figure is inventing it. Shopify's help center states the due date "varies from 7 to 21 days after the chargeback or inquiry is filed", shown per case in the store's timezone (11:59 PM if no time is shown), with no exceptions after it passes and bank review up to 75 days after submission. Square's help states seven days from the initial notification email to submit information, with the exact deadline on the form and the bank's decision taking up to 90 days. Adyen publishes the most granular table of all: Visa 9 days for disputes opened on payments processed locally in the US and Canada from July 21, 2025, and 18 days elsewhere; Mastercard 40 days; American Express 14 days; Discover 25 days — all counted from the notification-of-chargeback date.
Processor
Window (from the processor's own pages)
What governs
Stripe
Usually 7–21 days, all networks
The date in your Stripe Dashboard
Shopify Payments
7–21 days after filing
The due date shown on the case, store timezone
Square
7 days from notification email
The exact deadline on the information request form
The compression is the story: Adyen takes 21 days off the Visa window, 5 off Mastercard, 6 off Amex — and on Discover, Adyen's 25 days sits inside the network's 20–45 range, which means it is not automatically safe (a 20-day reason code still beats it). Processors also differ after you submit: Shopify's bank review runs up to 75 days, Square's up to 90, Stripe's issuer decision usually 60–75. None of those review windows can be shortened by chasing the processor.
The escalation ladder
If the issuer rejects your representment, the case can escalate — but each stage starts on its own notice, so ladder dates cannot be computed from the first notice. Pre-arbitration gives the acquirer a further window to accept or decline the issuer's position: Visa 28–30 days (see conflicts), Mastercard 8–30 days by reason code, Discover mirroring the initial timing with no fixed published figure, and American Express none at all — Amex reviews internally and its ruling is final, which is the consequence of a closed-loop network acting as its own issuer and acquirer. Arbitration, the final network ruling, carries a filing window of 10 days after the pre-arbitration decision on Visa, roughly 10–15 days on Discover, and no single verified figure on Mastercard. The calculator dates the pre-arbitration stage when you enter its notice date, and shows the ladder as windows otherwise, so no date is ever invented for a notice that has not arrived.
Where the sources disagree
Three disagreements are stated rather than smoothed over, because each one changes a plan. First, Discover representment: Adyen's table gives 25 days for its merchants, Chargeflow's calendar gives 20–45 days by reason code, and other guides give 20 or 30 — so the honest figure is the range, planned to day 20. Second, Visa pre-arbitration: Adyen lists 28 days for the Collaboration flow while Chargeflow lists 30 — plan to 28. Third, Mastercard arbitration filing: Chargeflow lists 10 days after the pre-arbitration outcome while DirectPayNet lists 45 — no single figure is used anywhere on this site, and the only safe advice is to confirm with your acquirer and not plan past 10 days. A guide that hides these conflicts looks cleaner and costs its readers cases; this one does not.
The day-one checklist
Do these the day a notice arrives, in this order: write down the deadline printed on the case itself and set an internal target two days earlier, for assembly and forwarding time; read the reason code and build evidence that answers exactly that code — delivery proof for a not-received claim, authentication proof for a fraud claim, and never the reverse; assign one owner to the case so it cannot sit unanswered while forwarded between teams; gather the order record, delivery proof and customer messages before drafting anything; and if the deadline cannot be met, contact the processor or acquirer before it passes, not after. Two things that do not help: refunding after a chargeback has started (it does not stop the process, and the funds are already debited), and assuming a win fixes your ratio (winning recovers revenue; the dispute still counts as filed for monitoring purposes — see the Merchant Monitoring Program Checker).
Run your own numbers
Your binding date from your notice date, network and processor — with the network date beside it — in under a minute.
The date that binds is the earliest safe date among your processor's window and the network's window — and above both, the date printed on your own case notice. Stripe and Shopify Payments allow 7–21 days, Square 7 days, Adyen 9 or 18 days for Visa, 40 for Mastercard, 14 for American Express and 25 for Discover, against network windows of 30 days (Visa), 45 days (Mastercard), 20 days (American Express) and 20–45 days (Discover).
Because the network deadline runs to the acquirer, and the processor holds part of it for review, formatting and forwarding. The network's 30 or 45 days is the acquirer's deadline, not yours.
The dispute is decided by default in the cardholder's favour with no evidence review, and the chargeback stands regardless of how strong your evidence was.
Stripe publishes only a range — usually 7–21 days depending on the card network — and no per-network split. Plan to the short end (7 days) and use the date in your Stripe Dashboard.
Related reading
Start with the calculator for your own date, then check what that case does to your monitoring position and what it costs if lost.
Sources (checked October 28, 2026): Stripe Documentation, "How disputes work" — "usually 7-21 days, depending on the card network" to respond, issuer usually 60-75 days to decide, full lifecycle 2-3 months, inquiries on American Express and Discover; Shopify Help Center, "Managing chargebacks in the Shopify admin" and "Resolving a chargeback or inquiry" — due date varies from 7 to 21 days after filing, shown per case in the store's timezone (11:59 PM if no time shown), bank review up to 75 days; Square Support, "Manage payment disputes" and "Prepare documents to challenge disputes" — seven days from the initial notification email, exact deadline on the form, bank decision up to 90 days; Adyen Docs, "Dispute timeframes" table and Visa chargebacks guide — Visa 9 days (US/Canada local, from July 21, 2025) or 18 days (elsewhere), Mastercard 40, American Express 14, Discover 25, Diners 25, JCB 40, pre-arbitration Visa Collaboration 28 days and Mastercard 8-28 days by reason code; Chargeflow, "Chargeback Calendar" (updated October 6, 2026) — Visa 30 / pre-arbitration 30 / arbitration filing 10 days, Mastercard 45 / pre-arbitration 30 / arbitration filing 10 days, American Express 20 days per phase with no separate pre-arbitration or arbitration, Discover 20-45 by reason code with pre-arbitration mirroring the initial timing and arbitration filing roughly 10-15 days; DirectPayNet timeline table and Chargeback.io timeline guide as corroboration for Visa 30 / Mastercard 45 / American Express 20 and for the Mastercard arbitration conflict (45 days). Network rulebooks are not public; network figures are published general windows and can vary by reason code.
General information only — not financial or legal advice. Deadlines vary by network, reason code, processor and merchant agreement, and the date on your own case notice governs. Verify your position with your processor or acquirer.
Chargeback Clock