This one is for sellers, not buyers. A PayPal dispute, claim, chargeback, or pre-chargeback alert landed in your Resolution Center — and PayPal's own pages give you different evidence, a different clock, and a different protection answer for each one. Pick what landed, say what you sold, and get the evidence pack for it, your response deadline, and your Seller Protection verdict.
By Muhammad Umer, founder of Chargeback Clock. Evidence lists and windows checked November 1, 2026 — every pack item is drawn from PayPal's own help and legal pages. The deadline on your own case in the Resolution Center beats every date on this page: if it differs, use it.
What evidence does your PayPal case need?
Pick the case type exactly as PayPal shows it, say what you sold, and add the case-opened date if you have it. Answer the three protection questions honestly — they decide the verdict, and a wrong answer here is worse than no verdict. Everything runs in your browser and is never sent anywhere. This builder asks for no order numbers, card numbers, or account IDs — never enter those into any checker.
The date the dispute or claim was created, not the date you opened the email. With it, the builder gives you the 10-day respond-by date, the 20-day auto-close, and a 2-day-early target. Chargebacks and alerts use their own rules instead — see the result.
Used for two things only: flagging the above-$750 signature-confirmation rule, and showing the 0.40% Chargeback Protection math. Never enter a card number here.
For Item Not Received: did the buyer file through PayPal, or straight with their card issuer?
For physical items: did you ship to the address on the Transaction Details page?
Does the Transaction Details page mark this payment eligible or partially eligible?
For Unauthorized Transaction only: did the item ship (or was it provided) no later than 2 days after PayPal notified you?
Advertisement
Where this comes from
The pack is PayPal's own list, not our invention
Every item in every pack above is drawn from PayPal's own pages, checked November 1, 2026: the Seller Protection Program page (last updated January 26, 2026) for proof-of-shipment and proof-of-delivery definitions, the 2-day unauthorized rule, the eligible/partially-eligible label, and the exclusion list; PayPal help help1083 for the 10-day dispute response rule, the 20-day auto-close, and the dispute evidence list; PayPal help help1103 for the chargeback evidence table and the 75-day issuer decision window; PayPal help help1007 for the 20-hour alert window; and the PayPal US Business Fees page for the 0.40% Chargeback Protection figure. Program wording varies by country — your own country's Seller Protection page governs over any summary here.
Why the claim type decides the pack — and the protection answer
PayPal is not one process with one clock. A PayPal dispute gives you 20 days to talk and demands a response inside the first 10; a claim demands a response within 10 days and an appeal within 10 days of closure; a pre-chargeback alert gives you 20 hours to refund an unfulfilled order; an issuer chargeback has no fixed PayPal window at all — PayPal says only that issuer deadlines are strict. And Seller Protection, the thing sellers most want to hear about, covers exactly two complaint types (Unauthorized Transaction and Item Not Received through PayPal) and expressly excludes the third (Significantly Not as Described) and Item Not Received claims taken straight to the issuer. A builder that gave every case the same pack and the same "you're covered" verdict would be wrong on most cases. This one gives each case its own pack, its own clock, and its own verdict.
The three traps in every PayPal case
First, the 10-day trap. PayPal's dispute rule is blunt: respond within the first 10 days following dispute creation, or an escalated case is resolved in the buyer's favour. The dispute-stage response is then recorded on the case — PayPal does not ask for it again at claim stage — so a thin first response cannot be fixed later by a better second one. Second, the SNAD trap: sellers who assume Seller Protection covers every PayPal claim discover, after losing, that Significantly Not as Described was never covered at all. Third, the chargeback trap that is not a PayPal window: because PayPal publishes no fixed seller window for issuer chargebacks, sellers who wait for a "PayPal deadline" that never comes miss the issuer's strict deadline on their own case. For chargebacks, the deadline on your case governs — respond promptly, submit everything at once, and do not wait for a number this page refuses to invent.
How this differs from the Shopify and Square builders
The live Shopify Chargeback Evidence Checker maps Shopify's eight admin reason categories, Shopify's 7–21 day window, and Shopify's file rules (2 MB per file, 4 MB combined, PDF/A). The Square Dispute Response Builder maps Square's fraud/non-fraud framing, Square's 7-day dashboard window, and Square's file rules (5 MB, 15 pages). This builder is built for PayPal instead, and PayPal's shape is genuinely different: a four-stage process (dispute → claim → chargeback → alert) with a different clock at each stage, a Seller Protection program with named exclusions and per-transaction eligibility labels, a 2-day shipping rule for unauthorized claims, a $750 signature threshold, intangible-goods compelling-evidence rules with no carrier at all, and a separate 0.40% opt-in Chargeback Protection product. The three builders share nothing but the checklist pattern — use the one for the platform that actually processed the payment.
Want the full story, with the sources?
The companion article works through all five case types, the Seller Protection verdict rules, the $750 threshold, digital-goods evidence, the alert window, and what happens after you submit — each claim tied to its PayPal source. Read it here: PayPal seller disputes: the evidence pack for each claim type, and the SNAD trap.
It depends on the claim type: Unauthorized Transaction needs shipment or delivery proof to the Transaction Details address (shipped within 2 days of PayPal's notice for protection); Item Not Received needs delivery proof, not shipment alone; Significantly Not as Described needs the description as sold next to what was delivered, plus return/exchange policy and terms; chargebacks use PayPal's per-reason evidence table; alerts need fulfillment evidence or a 20-hour refund.
Respond within the first 10 days of dispute creation, or an escalated case is resolved in the buyer's favour. Disputes auto-close after 20 days unless escalated. Claim responses are due within 10 days, and appeals within 10 days of closure. The deadline on your own case governs.
No. PayPal's program expressly excludes SNAD claims, and Item Not Received claims filed directly with the card issuer. It covers Unauthorized Transaction and Item Not Received claims filed through PayPal, on eligible transactions.
An alert warns a chargeback may arrive. Refunding an unfulfilled order within 20 hours can avoid the chargeback and its fees; submitting fulfilled-order evidence in the alert lets PayPal contest a later chargeback. Outside the window the regular 10 days still apply.
Yes, within 10 days of the claim's closure in the Resolution Center — but not if you did not respond during the claim stage.
Sources (checked November 1, 2026): PayPal Seller Protection Program page (legalhub, last updated January 26, 2026) — two covered complaint types, SNAD and issuer-filed INR exclusions, Transaction Details eligibility labels, proof-of-shipment/delivery definitions, 2-day unauthorized shipping rule, intangible-goods compelling evidence, sole-discretion eligibility; PayPal help, "What is PayPal Seller Protection?" (help156) — two complaint types, physical/intangible requirements, exclusion list; PayPal help, "How do I respond to Item Not Received and Significantly Not as Described disputes?" (help1083) — 20-day dispute window, 10-day first-response rule, auto-close, dispute evidence list, 10-day appeal, no-appeal-if-no-claim-response rule; PayPal help, "Evidence to Provide for Chargebacks: A Guide for Sellers" (help1103) — issuer decides chargebacks, strict issuer deadlines, per-reason evidence table, submit-everything-at-once tip, 75-day issuer decision window; PayPal help, "How do I respond to a pre-chargeback alert?" (help1007) — alert is not a chargeback, 20-hour refund window, evidence-in-alert use, regular 10 days outside the window; PayPal help, "How do I prove that I have sent an item to the buyer?" (help177) — above-$750 signature confirmation; PayPal US Business Fees page — Chargeback Protection Tool 0.40% per transaction (Advanced Credit and Debit Card Payments); PayPal Developer docs, "Add File Evidence" — 4 MB per file / 5 MB total (API scope only, labelled as such).
General information only — not legal or financial advice. Evidence requirements are set by PayPal and, for chargebacks, the card issuer for your specific case, and the deadline and evidence list on your own case in the Resolution Center govern. This builder applies PayPal's published evidence lists to the claim type you picked. Never enter an order number, card number, or account ID into any checker — no genuine evidence check needs them.
Chargeback Clock