Chargebacks occur when a donor contacts their card issuer to dispute the donation they made on GoFundMe Charity. This automatically returns the money to the donor and reduces the amount raised on the campaign, just like a refund.
If the money has already been paid out to the charity, this may cause our payment partner to pull the money out of the charity's bank account, or it may create a negative balance in the charity's payment account, which can be covered by other future donations.
The most common reason for a chargeback is a donor forgetting that they donated or not recognizing the charge on their credit card statement. It can also happen if they donated the incorrect amount.
Donors, if you have any issues with or questions about a donation you made, whether you don't remember the campaign you donated to or you donated the wrong amount, please contact us right away. We can usually resolve it more quickly than the dispute process through your card issuer.
Organizers, if you receive a chargeback notification, we recommend reaching out to the donor directly to remind them which campaign they donated to and ask if they'd be willing to donate again. Donating again is the fastest way to resolve a chargeback, because the process to cancel or overturn a dispute can take up to 45 days.
For charity transaction reporting, each chargeback appears in the report center as a secondary entry with an "R" next to the transaction ID. If it is reversed or canceled, it appears appears a third time with an "RC" next to the transaction ID.