Ebook Chargeback Policy

This Ebook Chargeback Policy explains what happens when a buyer disputes an ebook purchase with their bank or card issuer. It is an addendum to the Ebook Marketplace Terms, the Ebook Refund Policy, and the Ebook Fee Schedule.

1. What a chargeback is, and how it differs from a refund

• A refund is initiated inside ChefSphere. The buyer uses the Refunds flow; the platform applies the Ebook Refund Policy; if approved, the money is returned to the buyer and the Author's balance is adjusted, all inside our system.
• A chargeback is initiated outside ChefSphere, by the buyer's bank or card issuer. The bank withdraws the amount from the payment-processor (Stripe), usually without asking the platform first. A chargeback is a credit-card-network dispute mechanism; it cannot be prevented by ChefSphere once the buyer files it.

The Marketplace always prefers a refund to a chargeback: refunds are faster for the buyer, cheaper for the Author, and do not count against the platform's health metrics with Stripe and the card networks.

2. When chargebacks happen

Common chargeback reasons include:

• the buyer claims the transaction was unauthorised (card used by someone else);
• the buyer claims the ebook was not as described or defective;
• the buyer claims they never received access (even though the library entry and download log prove otherwise);
• buyer-remorse / friendly fraud — a legitimate purchase disputed as unauthorised to get a refund without going through the Refunds flow;
• duplicate charges claimed by the buyer that are actually separate purchases.

3. The chargeback lifecycle

When a chargeback arrives:

1. Receipt. Stripe withdraws the disputed amount from our platform balance and sends us the dispute reason and any evidence the bank has attached. We mark the purchase as "disputed" in real time.
2. Author notification. The Author is notified in-app and by email, with the dispute reason, the affected ebook, the affected purchase identifier, and the deadline to submit evidence. Author payouts that touch the disputed amount are paused.
3. Evidence submission. The Author can upload evidence through the dashboard within the deadline (typically 7–21 days depending on the dispute reason). ChefSphere automatically adds platform-level evidence it can prove on its own: the purchase log, IP and device fingerprint at purchase, reading-activity timeline, download log, library ownership, and sample receipt. The Author may add their own context (messages with the buyer, supporting notes, corrections to the listing).
4. Decision. Stripe submits the combined evidence pack to the card network. The issuing bank decides:
   • Won in favour of ChefSphere / Author — the disputed amount is returned to our platform balance and re-credited through the earnings lifecycle; the Author receives the full share minus Stripe's chargeback fee (see section 5).
   • Lost in favour of the buyer — the disputed amount stays with the buyer, Stripe withholds the chargeback fee, and the Author bears the loss through the earnings lifecycle (see section 6). The ebook is removed from the buyer's library.
5. Final. Chargeback outcomes are final at the bank level. There is no internal appeal ChefSphere can file after the network's decision is returned.

4. Reserve balance — why it exists

Every Author has a reserve balance (typically 5 %–20 % of pending earnings for approximately 30 days), described in the Ebook Fee Schedule. Its purpose is exactly this scenario: to absorb chargebacks and late refunds without forcing the Author into a negative balance and without taking the loss against the platform.

If chargebacks rise above normal levels for your account, we may temporarily increase your reserve percentage, increase your hold period, or request a card on file. We will tell you why and for how long.

5. Chargeback fees

• Stripe charges a chargeback fee for every dispute it processes. That fee is passed through to the Author because it is the Author's sale that triggered the dispute. The fee is charged regardless of the outcome (won or lost).
• The fee is deducted from the Author's balance in the order described in section 5.5 of the Ebook Fee Schedule: available → reserve → pending.
• ChefSphere does not add its own surcharge on top of the Stripe chargeback fee.

6. How the loss is absorbed

When a chargeback is lost, the loss is absorbed in this sequence on the Author's account:

1. deducted from the Author's available balance first;
2. deducted from the Author's reserve balance if the available balance is insufficient;
3. deducted from the Author's pending balance if the reserve is also insufficient;
4. if combined balances still do not cover the deficit, the remainder is an amount owed to ChefSphere. ChefSphere may:
   • offset the deficit against future earnings from new sales;
   • charge the card on file on the Author account (where you enrolled one);
   • invoice the Author directly for the remaining deficit;
   • for business-account Authors, refer the deficit for collection after reasonable notice.

Authors cannot withdraw their balance while there is an open dispute affecting that amount.

7. Chargeback abuse

• A buyer who files a bank-level chargeback without first using the Refunds flow is treated as having committed a material breach of the Ebook Marketplace Terms. We may suspend or terminate the buyer's ChefSphere account, revoke access to ebooks in their library, and deny future purchases.
• An Author with an unusually high chargeback rate (absolute number of disputes and the percentage of sales disputed) may be:
  • placed in a higher reserve / longer hold regime;
  • required to add a card on file as a condition of continued publishing;
  • restricted from listing new ebooks pending investigation;
  • terminated if the pattern continues.
• Persistent, co-ordinated abuse is reported to law-enforcement authorities where the law requires and to Stripe as the payment-rail operator.

8. Evidence Authors should keep

You do not have to produce most of this on your own — the platform's evidence is attached automatically — but, if you choose to add context, it helps the decision when you have:

• clean, accurate ebook metadata that matches the file we hosted at the time of sale;
• records of any messages you exchanged with the buyer inside ChefSphere (never move the conversation to another platform; it weakens the evidence trail);
• proof of corrections you made after an honest mistake was flagged (e.g., an allergen warning added within 24 hours);
• the dates of any refund you offered voluntarily and the buyer's response.

9. Apple App Store and Google Play disputes

• Apple and Google handle their own dispute flow for iOS and Android in-app purchases; when those rails refund a purchase, the platform treats it like a normal refund inside the Author's earnings lifecycle, not a chargeback.
• Occasionally a buyer on iOS or Android may chargeback the card they had on file with Apple or Google directly; in those cases the store absorbs the rail-level chargeback and passes a refund through to us. We treat that inbound refund using the same earnings lifecycle as a web chargeback loss.

10. Buyer rights are never reduced

Nothing in this Chargeback Policy reduces any statutory right a buyer has as a consumer — including the right to dispute an unauthorised transaction with their bank — or any right under the EU Directive 2011/83/EU, the Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2), or your country's implementation of them. What this Policy does is describe the internal consequences of a chargeback for Author balances and platform health; it does not contract-out of the buyer's bank-level rights.

11. Changes

We will post a new version of this policy when the dispute flow, the reserve model, or applicable payment-network rules change materially. Material changes take effect 30 days after we notify Authors and buyers.

12. Contact

• Billing, payouts, chargeback evidence: [email protected]
• Trust & safety (suspected chargeback fraud): [email protected]
• Legal notices: [email protected]