How do reason codes work?
When a cardholder contests a payment, the issuer chooses the code that matches the claim and raises the dispute through the network. The code travels to the acquirer and the merchant with the dispute, and the network’s rules for that code set the time limits, the evidence the merchant may submit and, for some codes, whether the merchant can respond at all. Stripe’s documentation notes that each payment method defines many codes, which often overlap across networks, and groups them into eight categories to guide responses.
Why do they matter?
The mix of reason codes shows where disputes come from and what will reduce them. As an illustrative example: a merchant receives 150 disputes in a month. 90 are coded as card-absent fraud, 40 as goods not received and 20 as cancelled recurring. The fraud share points to authentication and fraud screening, the non-receipt share to delivery tracking and communication, and the subscription share to clearer cancellation and reminders. Treating all 150 the same would miss all three fixes.
What should merchants track?
Disputes by reason code, provider, card country and product, alongside the win rate for each code. Codes with low win rates are better prevented than fought, while codes with high win rates are worth a structured evidence process. Disputed amounts can also differ from the original payment, for example after currency conversion or partial refunds, which Stripe’s documentation describes.
Where does Omno use it?
Disputes are raised and answered through the PSP or acquirer that processed the payment. Omno’s routing-decision log shows which provider that was, transaction-level reporting supports dispute monitoring per provider and merchant account, and card blocking stops a card linked to a chargeback from being used again.