La réponse courte
Square is a payment facilitator, not a card network, so it does not decide who wins a dispute — Visa, Mastercard, American Express or Discover does, under their own reason codes and deadlines. What you control is the evidence you submit and how fast you submit it. Under American Express's public merchant guide, a merchant gets 20 days to respond to an Inquiry or Chargeback with supporting documents; under Visa's Core Rules, the acquirer's own reply to a dispute is capped at 30 calendar days from the dispute processing date. Square's own in-app deadline and upload steps are set inside the Square Dashboard and were not independently verifiable from Square's published pages at the time of writing, so treat the dashboard's own stated due date as the one that governs, and work faster than the network ceiling above rather than up to it.
Square processes the card, the network rules on the dispute
A chargeback on a Square account is not Square's call. Square routes the transaction to Visa, Mastercard, American Express or Discover, and when a cardholder disputes it, the network's own reason code decides what evidence actually matters — fraud, "goods or services not received," "credit not processed," or a duplicate charge each call for a different document. Square's role is to collect what you upload and forward it; it cannot overrule a network decision in your favour. That is true of every acquirer and payment facilitator, not a Square-specific limitation.
The deadline is the part you cannot negotiate
American Express's public merchant guide puts it plainly: "YOU HAVE 20 DAYS TO RESPOND" to an Inquiry or Chargeback with the required documents, and a late or insufficient reply converts an Inquiry straight into a Chargeback. Visa's Core Rules give the acquirer up to 30 calendar days from the dispute processing date to reply, with some regional exceptions, and the acquirer cannot respond twice to the same dispute — so there is no second attempt once your window closes. Square sets its own in-Dashboard due date against these ceilings, and it is usually shorter in practice. Whatever date the Dashboard shows you, treat that as final; do not count on the network maximum.
What to submit, and why vague evidence loses
Across every network's public guidance, the pattern is the same: evidence has to answer the specific reason code, not just prove the sale happened. A "not received" dispute needs delivery or fulfilment proof dated before the dispute, not a receipt. A "credit not processed" dispute needs the credit record, since Amex's guide requires merchants to "process and submit credits within seven (7) days of determining that a credit is due" — submit later than that and you have handed the cardholder the argument. A duplicate-charge dispute needs both transaction records side by side showing they are not the same sale. Square's upload screen takes PDFs and images; the content of what you upload is what wins or loses, not the platform.
Funds move before the case is decided
Card networks allow the dispute amount to be debited from the merchant while the case is open, which is standard across acquirers and not something Square added. If Square debits your balance or a linked bank account at the start of a dispute, that is the industry's provisional-debit model working as designed, not a sign you have already lost. Winning the dispute reverses it. This is also why a thin Square balance during a dispute-heavy stretch can leave you short — a second reason to answer fast rather than wait.
Where the real leverage is: not having the dispute in the first place
The cheapest win is the chargeback that never gets filed. A legible billing descriptor, a refund processed before the cardholder calls their bank, and a receipt or confirmation that matches what the cardholder actually sees on their statement remove most of the "I didn't recognise this charge" and "I was never refunded" disputes before they start. Our reason-code breakdown below maps the specific Visa and Amex categories to the fix that prevents each one.
Points clés à retenir
- Square forwards your evidence; the card network's reason code decides the outcome
- Amex's public guide gives merchants 20 days to respond to an Inquiry or Chargeback
- Visa's Core Rules cap the acquirer's own reply at 30 calendar days from the dispute processing date, with no second attempt
- Evidence has to answer the specific reason code — delivery proof, the credit record, or matching transaction records, not a generic receipt
- Process any credit within 7 days of deciding it's due, or a "credit not processed" dispute becomes hard to win
- Funds can be debited while a dispute is open under every acquirer's model; winning reverses it
- A clear billing descriptor and a fast refund prevent more disputes than any response ever wins back
Guides connexes
Sources
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