Tools Chargeback Policy

This Chargeback Policy applies to payments made by card or card-backed wallet on the worldwide-shipped Tools Marketplace — the orders processed by Stripe. Chargebacks are a card-network mechanism; they do not exist on cash-settled in-person sales or rentals because no card payment ever takes place there. It is an addendum to the Tools Marketplace Terms, the Seller Agreement, the Buyer Terms, and the Return & Refund Policy. Your mandatory consumer-law rights always apply on top of this document.

1. What a chargeback is

A chargeback is a forced reversal of a card payment initiated by the Buyer's issuing bank at the Buyer's request. It is a bank-level action routed through the card networks (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, etc.) and the payment-services regulation applicable to the Buyer's bank.

• Chargebacks are not the same as refunds. A refund is a contractual reversal through the Marketplace. A chargeback is a forced reversal routed through card networks.
• The card network gives the merchant an evidence window to defend the charge. Networks currently grant up to 21 days to submit evidence from the notification date; Stripe communicates the actual cut-off per case.

2. Scope — worldwide Stripe-processed orders only

• Worldwide-shipped orders. Paid by card through Stripe. This policy applies in full.
• In-person sales and rentals. Paid in cash between the parties. There is no card charge and therefore no chargeback. Any dispute is resolved between the parties under the Return & Refund Policy section 13 and mandatory consumer-law rules.

3. Use the return flow first — friendly-fraud policy

Buyers must attempt the in-app Return & Refund flow before filing a chargeback. Filing a chargeback while a refund is still possible through the Marketplace, or knowingly misrepresenting facts to the issuing bank, is "friendly fraud" and is treated as abuse:

• Typical friendly-fraud patterns. Claiming "item not received" after a successful signed delivery; claiming "not as described" without opening a return; claiming "unauthorised" while still in possession of the item; claiming "duplicate charge" when the second charge is a separate legitimate order.
• ChefSphere will defend the chargeback on the merits using the full evidence package in section 5 and will pass the network's chargeback fee to the Seller when the Seller is in the right, or to the Buyer's account when the Buyer is in the wrong.
• Repeat friendly-fraud abuse leads to permanent suspension of the Buyer account, forfeiture of any pending refunds on other orders, reporting to the Buyer's bank, and — where the card network and applicable law allow — to the network's industry fraud-sharing programmes (Visa CE3.0, Ethoca, Verifi).

4. Common chargeback reasons and outcomes

Reason code family	What the Buyer's bank alleges	Expected outcome (subject to evidence)
Fraud / unauthorised use	Card was used without the Buyer's consent	Platform defends with device, IP, delivery, and KYC evidence; if fraud confirmed, refund the Buyer and investigate merchant-side compromise
Item not received	Buyer did not receive the parcel	Seller provides the Shippo tracking record and, for high-value orders, the signature-on-delivery scan; with clean tracking, network usually sides with us
Item not as described / damaged	Delivered item is wrong or damaged	Seller provides listing snapshot, inspection photos; if the description is wrong, we refund and recover from the Seller
Duplicate / technical	Two charges for one order	Platform reconciles with Stripe and refunds the duplicate; Seller is not liable

5. Evidence and defence

Within the network's evidence window, ChefSphere submits a single consolidated defence package on behalf of the Marketplace and the Seller. The package typically contains:

• the listing snapshot at purchase (title, description, condition, variants, photos);
• the order record (items, price, VAT, shipping address, customer IP, device fingerprint, timestamps);
• the payment record (payment intent, application fee, transfer to Seller);
• the shipping record from Shippo (tracking, delivery scan, signature for high-value orders);
• the in-app chat record (minus encrypted sensitive data);
• any return-flow history and inspection notes;
• for cart orders, the per-item breakdown;
• a plain-English narrative summarising the case.

The Seller must respond to our evidence request within 48 hours, via in-app notification and email. Failure to respond shifts the evidentiary burden to the platform — we still submit what we have, and the Seller remains liable for the chargeback fee and the refunded amount if we lose.

6. Seller liability

When a chargeback is lost:

• The refund is funded in this order from the Seller's balances: available → reserve → pending → card on file → negative balance.
• A chargeback fee set by the card network is passed to the Seller. The fee reflects Stripe's actual fee (currently €15 at the card-network's published level) and may change if the network changes it.
• A negative balance of €500 or more triggers automatic sales pause until the debt is cleared.
• Repeated losses degrade trust level (more reserve, longer hold period) and, at high volumes, trigger account suspension. The chargeback-rate thresholds used for trust-level determination: < 1 % for REGULAR, < 0.5 % for TRUSTED, < 0.3 % for EXPERT.

7. Card on file

Sellers who have enrolled a card on file (see Seller Agreement section 5) authorise ChefSphere to charge that card for:

• Chargeback fees that cannot be drawn from the Seller's balances.
• Refunded principal amounts that exceed the Seller's balances.
• Any enforceable recoverable loss attributable to the Seller's conduct.

ChefSphere will only charge the card-on-file after the internal balances have been exhausted and after notifying the Seller in-app.

8. Platform liability

ChefSphere covers the platform's own infrastructure chargebacks (duplicates caused by platform bugs, unauthorised platform-side charges). The platform does not guarantee the outcome of network disputes and cannot reverse the issuer's final decision.

9. Interaction with returns and refunds

• When a chargeback is opened on an order already being refunded through the Return & Refund Policy, the in-app refund is paused and the network is asked to withdraw the dispute.
• When the in-app refund completes while the dispute is open, Stripe reconciles to avoid a double reversal.
• If the Buyer files a chargeback after receiving a partial refund in the app, the chargeback is defended on the net amount.

10. Buyer-side consequences of abuse

Buyers who file chargebacks instead of using the refund flow may face:

• permanent suspension of the ChefSphere account;
• recording in our internal fraud list and, where lawful, in network fraud-sharing programmes;
• refusal of refunds for subsequent orders;
• civil recovery of the platform's defence costs where the law allows.

11. Manual review ceilings

• Refunds ≥ €500 (including chargebacks routed through refund) pass through manual review.
• Per-buyer daily refund ceiling: €1,000 (Fee Schedule section 7).

12. Counterfeit cash and in-person fraud (informational)

Because in-person sales and rentals are paid in cash, the card-network chargeback mechanism does not apply. If you receive counterfeit cash, or if the counterparty takes your cash and refuses to deliver, the correct remedy is:

• police report in your country (counterfeiting and obtaining goods/money by deception are criminal offences);
• Trust & Safety report to [email protected] so the account is flagged and the evidence preserved;
• consumer-protection authority in your country where the Seller is a professional.

Refer to the In-Person Safety addendum for prevention (public locations, counterfeit-cash checks, ID verification for high-value meet-ups).

13. Documentation and record-keeping

ChefSphere retains chargeback documentation, Seller responses, defence packages, and network decisions for the period required by EU commercial and tax law, normally 7 years after the transaction, and longer where a legal hold applies.

14. Changes

Card-network rules change frequently. We will post a new version when the network's time windows, reason codes, or fees change materially. Material changes take effect no sooner than 30 days after in-app and email notice, unless a shorter notice is required to comply with an updated network rule.

15. Contact

• Chargeback defence support (worldwide): [email protected]
• Trust & safety / abuse reports: [email protected]
• Legal notices: [email protected]