Sooner or later a customer will ask for their money back. It is normal. A calm, fast refund is often cheaper than a fight, and it protects your account.
This guide covers two different things:
- A refund is when you give the money back yourself.
- A dispute, also called a chargeback, is when the shopper asks their bank to take the money back. The shopper does this instead of asking you.
Why this matters
Disputes cost more than refunds. On Whop, each dispute has a $15 fee, whether you win or lose. Too many disputes can also lead to payout holds or a closed account. Whop makes those decisions, not CheckoutFlare.
What you need before you start
- A paid order in your Orders list.
- Access to your Shopify admin, if you want to refund from there.
Refund from CheckoutFlare
- Click Orders in the left menu and open the order.
- Click Refund.
- Choose the type:
- Refund everything left. Returns the full amount that can still be refunded.
- Refund part of it. Enter the Amount to refund. You cannot enter more than what is left.
- Choose a Reason. Only you can see it. The choices are: Customer asked for a refund, Item arrived damaged, Item not as described, Lost in shipping, Duplicate order, Other.
- Optionally write a Note. It is limited to 200 characters.
- Read the warning: Refunds cannot be undone. Then confirm.
You will see “Refund sent. The money goes back to your customer through Whop.” The order status changes to partially refunded or refunded. The money returns to the shopper’s original payment method. How long it takes to show up is up to Whop and the shopper’s bank.
On a test order, you see “This will be recorded, but no money moves”, because nothing was really charged.
Refund from Shopify
You can also refund in your Shopify admin, as you do for any order. CheckoutFlare receives a message from Shopify when you do. It then sends the same refund to Whop, so the card is refunded. If the order was already fully refunded, nothing more happens.
To stay safe, refund each order in one place only. Do not refund the same money in Shopify and again in CheckoutFlare, or the customer is refunded twice. If you refunded in CheckoutFlare and want Shopify’s stock to match, open the order in Shopify, choose Refund, set the refund amount to $0.00 and restock the items. After a refund, open the order in both places and check that they agree.
If Shopify refunded an order but Whop did not, the order in CheckoutFlare shows an error message that says what went wrong. Open the order to see it.
Tracking numbers
When you fulfil an order in Shopify and add tracking, CheckoutFlare passes the tracking to Whop. This helps if the shopper later disputes the payment, because a tracking number shows the parcel was sent. Always add tracking.
What is a dispute?
A shopper contacts their bank and says “I did not get what I paid for” or “I did not authorize this”. The bank then asks Whop to take the money back. Whop handles the dispute. You respond to it in your Whop account, not in CheckoutFlare. CheckoutFlare records that a dispute event happened, but it does not file the evidence for you.
Because rules and deadlines come from Whop and the card networks, read the message Whop sends you and reply before the deadline. Do not ignore it.
How dropshippers can avoid chargebacks
Most disputes in dropshipping come from “where is my order?”. These habits help.
- Show honest delivery dates. Set real delivery times in Shipping rates. If shipping takes 10 to 20 days, say so.
- Send tracking quickly. Add a tracking number to every order as soon as you have it.
- Make your policies easy to find. Put your refund, shipping, privacy and terms pages in the footer. You can add links in the checkout editor, under Settings, then Policy links.
- Answer fast. Most disputes start when a shopper cannot reach anyone. Reply to emails within a day.
- Use a clear store name. A shopper should recognise the charge on their card statement.
- Describe products honestly. Items that look different from the page cause “not as described” disputes.
- Offer a refund early. If a parcel is lost or very late, refund before the shopper calls the bank.
- Grow slowly. Raise ad spend in steps.
If something goes wrong
- The Refund button is missing. The order has nothing left to refund, or it is not a paid order. Only paid and partly refunded orders can be refunded.
- “You can refund up to …”. You entered more than what is left. Lower the amount.
- “This order was just changed. Reload the page and try again.” Two changes happened at once. Reload and look at the current amounts.
- “Refund sent” but the customer says no money arrived. Banks can take several days. If it stays missing, contact Whop with the order’s Whop reference. It is shown under References on the order page.
- A refund in Shopify did not reach the card. Open the order. Read the error message. Then refund it from CheckoutFlare, but only if Whop has not refunded it yet.
- You got a dispute notice. Open it in Whop and follow Whop’s steps. Collect your proof: tracking, delivery proof, messages and your policy pages.
Next step
Last, understand what CheckoutFlare costs and how to go live: Billing and plans.