How do I defend a PayPal dispute?

Beta: The Mollie Dispute Portal is currently in beta phase for a select number of customers. To request access, contact your CSM or Mollie Support and include your merchant account details.

What you need to know in advance

  • PayPal disputes accept GIF, JPG/JPEG, PNG, and PDF files, with a maximum of 7 MB per file.
  • Once you submit your evidence, you cannot modify it — prepare your documents and notes before submitting.
  • Each piece of evidence has its own Notes field (up to 2,000 characters) — you write a short note per document you attach, rather than one combined summary.
  • A PayPal dispute can move through up to three stages, and what you can submit changes at each one. Check the Reason and Response due date shown on the dispute. PayPal sets the due date for each dispute (not a fixed number of days) and it can't be extended.

The three stages

1. Dispute (Inquiry) — up to ~20 days. The customer has raised the issue directly; you and the customer can try to resolve it between yourselves. If you respond here, you submit evidence the same way as at the claim stage (see below).

2. Claim (Chargeback) — if the dispute isn't resolved, either side can escalate it to a claim (an additional “Escalate” button appears below the “Accept”/”Defend” buttons. PayPal now reviews the case directly and decides the outcome using the evidence submitted. The Response due date shown on the dispute reflects PayPal's deadline for this stage.

3. Appeal (Pre-arbitration / Arbitration) — if a claim is decided against you, PayPal may allow an appeal. At this stage, you can only add a short note — new evidence/document uploads aren't part of the appeal form.

Submitting evidence (Dispute and Claim stages)

Open the dispute and check the Reason — PayPal's reasons on Mollie's Dispute Portal are:

Reason What it means
Merchandise or service not received Customer says they never got the product/service
Merchandise or service not as described Customer says what arrived didn't match the listing
Unauthorized transaction Customer says they didn't make/authorize the purchase
Credit not processed Customer says a promised refund/credit never arrived
Duplicate transaction Customer says they were charged twice
Paid by other means Customer says they already paid another way
Canceled recurring billing Customer says a subscription kept being charged after cancellation
Problem with remittance Issue with a payment sent via PayPal's remittance flow
Incorrect amount Customer disputes the charged amount
Other Doesn't fit the categories above

For each dispute, PayPal usually suggests which evidence to provide. Therefore the UI displays evidence cards with pre-filled evidence types that cannot be changed. In cases where PayPal does not suggest an evidence type, the UI provides free-evidences, allowing you to select the specific evidence type (such as proof of fulfillment, proof of refund, proof of delivery, return policy, or item description) and attach a supporting file. 

Common combinations:

  • Merchandise/service not received or not as described — proof of fulfillment or delivery, tracking/carrier details (selecting "Proof of fulfillment" requires a tracking number and carrier), item description shown at checkout vs. what was shipped.
  • Unauthorized transaction — order details, prior communication with the customer, any IP/account evidence you have access to.
  • Credit not processed — proof of refund, referencing the PayPal refund ID (this points to a Mollie refund you've already processed).
  • Duplicate transaction / Incorrect amount — order and transaction details showing the correct, single charge.

PayPal's own guidance

For general background on how PayPal disputes and claims work, please visit:

These are written for PayPal's own Resolution Center, not the Mollie integration, so timelines/UI won't match exactly — but the evidence expectations per reason still apply.

After you submit

Once you submit your evidence, the dispute moves to Under review. You cannot change your submission after this point, but you can monitor the status in the Dispute Portal. When PayPal reaches a decision, the dispute moves to Won or Lost. If a claim is lost, you may be able to appeal (see Stage 3 above). See How do I respond to a dispute? for the full status flow.

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