Introduction to Dispute Prevention Status
Shopify now supports a new dispute status, prevented, aimed at improving clarity and consistency in dispute handling. This update ensures merchants can distinguish cases where chargebacks were stopped upstream, helping to streamline payment operations and reporting.
What Changed?
The prevented status is now available in the Shopify Admin API, including both GraphQL and REST, as well as in webhooks or payloads involving dispute statuses. Additionally, Shopify has refreshed the descriptions of all dispute statuses to better align with payment processor terminology and real-world outcomes.
Key Benefits of the Change
- Merchants and developers can identify cases where disputes were stopped before becoming chargebacks.
- Merchants avoid chargeback fees for disputes marked as prevented.
- Clearer and more actionable status definitions across the dispute lifecycle.
Who Should Take Note?
This update is particularly relevant for the following groups:
- App developers and partners who utilize dispute statuses in their software or workflows.
- Payment tools and operations teams tracking dispute outcomes to optimize costs.
- Agencies building custom workflows around dispute lifecycle events for their clients.
Why It Matters
The prevented status lets merchants and developers clearly distinguish situations where a chargeback was stopped upstream using methods like Visa Rapid Dispute Resolution (RDR). This clarity prevents unnecessary chargeback fees and improves reporting accuracy.
How It Works
Payment processors may send the prevented status for disputes stopped before formal filing, such as Visa transactions under Rapid Dispute Resolution. However, Shopify itself does not enroll merchants into prevention services. Merchants enrolled via third parties will see prevented status updates in the Shopify Admin if their processor provides them.
What You Should Do
To leverage this change effectively, follow these steps:
- Review strict enum handling across your systems to ensure the prevented status is accepted without errors.
- Update your UI copy, translations, and filters to reflect prevented distinctly from open, won, or lost statuses.
- Check analytics and reporting pipelines to categorize prevented disputes correctly.
- Ensure webhook or event processing workflows handle the prevented status appropriately.
Availability and Limitations
The prevented status is available across Shopify Admin APIs and dispute payloads today. However, its usage depends on the payment processor's support and merchant enrollment via third-party prevention services. Merchants not enrolled in such services won’t see this status.
Learn More
For more details, visit the following documentation: