1. What a chargeback is
A chargeback occurs when a cardholder asks their bank to reverse a payment. The card networks, not the Platform, decide the outcome. Chargebacks can arrive months after a transaction.
2. Financial responsibility
Because paid votes are charged on the organizer's connected account, chargebacks, related fees and refunds are the organizer's financial responsibility and are applied against the organizer's balance.
3. Payout hold
Funds from a competition are held for a defined period after voting closes before release, so that a portion of dispute risk is covered before payout. The hold period in force is shown in the organizer finance dashboard for each competition.
4. Chargeback reserve
A percentage reserve is retained from settlement and released after the applicable chargeback window closes, less any disputes, refunds and fees charged against it. The reserve rate and release date for each competition are shown in the organizer finance dashboard.
5. Shortfall recovery
Where disputes exceed the reserve, the difference is recorded as a shortfall against the organizer and is recovered by offset against future payouts, or by direct collection where no future payouts are expected.
6. Responding to a dispute
Organizers are notified of disputes and must supply evidence — competition rules, the vote record, receipts and correspondence — within the deadline set by the card network. Failure to respond generally results in the dispute being lost.
7. Elevated risk
Sustained high dispute rates may result in increased reserves, longer holds, suspension of paid voting, or termination of organizer access, and may be reported to our payment partner.
8. Audit record
Every charge, fee, refund, dispute, reserve movement and payout is recorded in an append-only ledger. Ledger entries are never deleted or rewritten; corrections are made by offsetting entries.