A buyer opened a PayPal dispute. How do I respond?

1. Shopify's help says disputes from third-party payment providers such as PayPal Express Checkout might follow different processes and timelines. For PayPal, use your PayPal Resolution Center.
2. PayPal says you have 20 days in the dispute stage to exchange messages, and disputes close automatically after 20 days unless you or the buyer escalate.
3. You must respond within the first 10 days after a dispute is created. PayPal says that if you do not, and the buyer escalates to a claim, it will resolve the case in the buyer's favor.
4. In the claim stage PayPal says it usually decides within 10 days, but sometimes longer. You can appeal within 10 days of closure, but not if you did not respond during the claim stage.
5. The first four points are from PayPal's US help pages. PayPal's UK help article says 20 days as well, but states a decision usually takes 14 days (some 30 days or longer) and does not mention the 10 day rule. Details are below.

Source: PayPal Help: respond to Item Not Received and Significantly Not As Described disputes; PayPal's Seller Protection program; PayPal UK Help Centre: respond to Item Not Received and Significantly Not As Described disputes; PayPal's Seller Protection Program (UK page); Shopify's note is in the responding article at Shopify Help: responding to chargebacks and inquiries, read 4 October 2026.

1. Go to your PayPal Resolution Center and open the dispute that needs your response.
2. Respond within the first 10 days after the dispute was created. PayPal shares your response and supporting information with the buyer.
3. Upload your documents and keep talking to the buyer. PayPal says that continuing to engage positively may encourage the buyer not to escalate.
4. If the buyer escalates to a claim, PayPal says it will not ask for your supporting information again, because it records it on the dispute.
5. If the claim goes against you and you responded, you can appeal in the Resolution Center: closed cases tab, open the case, click Appeal Outcome, within 10 days of closure.

PayPal lists these documents for Item Not Received and Significantly Not As Described disputes.

• A third-party shipping receipt
• A tracking number, or a signature confirmation
• Proof of refund
• Other evidence that the buyer received the item, or downloaded your products in the case of digital goods

Seller Protection basics

• PayPal's page (last updated 26 January 2026) says Seller Protection may apply to Unauthorized Transaction claims and Item Not Received claims, and PayPal decides eligibility at its sole discretion.
• Basic requirements it lists include: your PayPal account's primary address is in the United States, the item is a physical good that can be shipped, you ship to the address on the PayPal Transaction Details page, you respond to PayPal's requests in time, and you provide valid proof of shipment or delivery.
• Proof of delivery documentation must include a verifiable tracking number, the delivery date and 'delivered' status, and a recipient address that matches the shipping address on the Transaction Details page.
• For Unauthorized Transaction claims, PayPal says proof of shipment must show the item shipped no later than two days after PayPal notified you of the dispute.
• Not eligible, per the same page: Item Not Received claims filed by the buyer directly with their card issuer, Significantly Not as Described claims, gift cards, and items sent after PayPal advised you not to release them, among others. PayPal recommends not using a shipping service arranged by the buyer.

PayPal UK: what the UK pages say

• PayPal UK's help article for Item Not Received and Significantly Not As Described disputes says you have 20 days to exchange messages with the other party in your Resolution Centre, and a dispute closes automatically after 20 days unless it has been escalated. If you need more time, it says to get in touch before the deadline and PayPal will look at extending it.
• It says either party can escalate to a claim, which asks PayPal to investigate and decide, that PayPal usually reaches a decision within 14 days, and that some cases take 30 days or longer.
• It lists the documents to submit: a third-party shipping receipt; a tracking number or signature confirmation; proof of refund; and other evidence that the buyer received the item or downloaded digital goods. It does not state the 10 day response rule or the 10 day appeal window that the US pages give.
• The UK Seller Protection page (last updated 15 July 2026) says the primary address of your PayPal account must be in one of the countries to which the user agreement applies, where the US page says the United States. It adds that you must accept a single payment from one PayPal account for the purchase (partial payment and payment in instalments are excluded).
• The UK page repeats the key conditions: ship to the address on the Transaction Details page, respond to PayPal's requests in time, and provide proof of shipment or delivery. For Unauthorised Transaction claims the proof of shipment must show the item shipped no later than two days after PayPal notified you.
• It also says Significantly Not as Described claims, and Item Not Received claims that a buyer files directly with the card issuer, are not eligible. The page excludes guest checkout and standard card payments for business accounts registered in a list of countries; the United Kingdom is not in that list.
• Whether a given payment is covered is shown on that payment's Transaction Details page, and PayPal decides at its sole discretion.

Plain words: An IP address is the internet address of the phone or computer used to order. The issuer is the bank that issued the customer's card.

Plain text. Replace every [bracket] with a fact from your records and delete any line you cannot back with a file.

Hello,

Order [order number], placed on [date] for [amount].

[One or two plain sentences on what happened, only facts you can show.]

Shipping: the item was shipped on [date] with [carrier], tracking [number], to the address on the PayPal Transaction Details page. It was delivered on [date], status "delivered" (attached: [file name]).
[If you refunded: A refund of [amount] was issued on [date] (attached: file name).]
[If digital: the item was sent on [date] to [email or IP] and accessed on [date] (attached: file name).]

I am glad to help sort this out. [Offer you are actually willing to make, or delete this line.]

[Name], [store name]

Never state anything you cannot prove. Every sentence in the response should point to a file you can attach. Delete any line you have no file for.

• Missing the 10 days. PayPal says that without a response in that time, a claim is resolved in the buyer's favor.
• Shipping to a different address than the one on the Transaction Details page, or a package that gets redirected. PayPal says either can make you ineligible for Seller Protection.
• Using carrier options that cannot show 'delivered' at the correct address, especially for international orders. PayPal warns this can lead to a denied claim.
• Not responding during the claim stage and then expecting to appeal. PayPal says you are not eligible for an appeal in that case.
• Assuming Seller Protection covers a buyer's card-issuer chargeback for an item not received. PayPal's page says those are not eligible.

Is a PayPal dispute shown in my Shopify admin?

Shopify's help says disputes from third-party payment providers such as PayPal Express Checkout might follow different processes and timelines, and tells you to check the provider's documentation. PayPal's own help describes responding in the Resolution Center.

How long do I have?

PayPal's US help says 20 days in the dispute stage to exchange messages, but that you must respond within the first 10 days after the dispute was created. PayPal's UK help article says 20 days and does not mention the 10 day rule, so check the dates in your own Resolution Center.

What is the difference between a dispute and a claim?

PayPal says either party can escalate a dispute to a claim, which asks PayPal to investigate and decide the outcome. It usually decides within 10 days, sometimes longer.

What does PayPal want from me?

Per PayPal's help: a third-party shipping receipt, a tracking number or signature confirmation, proof of refund, and other evidence the buyer received the item or downloaded digital goods.

Am I covered by Seller Protection?

It depends on PayPal's conditions, and PayPal decides in its sole discretion. Its US page lists requirements such as a US primary address and the UK page one in a country the user agreement covers, shipping to the address on Transaction Details, and valid proof of delivery. Check the Transaction Details page for the payment.

• A buyer opened a PayPal 'item not received' dispute. What do I send?
• A buyer opened a PayPal 'significantly not as described' dispute. What counts?
• A PayPal payment was reported as unauthorised. Does Seller Protection cover me?
• PayPal dispute, claim and chargeback: what is the difference?

• A customer disputed a Shop Pay Installments order. Who handles it?
• A customer opened a Klarna dispute. How do I respond?
• They filed a chargeback after I refunded them. What do I send?
• A Stripe dispute on my Shopify store: where do I submit evidence?

We read PayPal's US and UK pages. Other countries' pages were not read. We did not read PayPal's buyer-protection terms in the user agreement or its time limits for card-funded chargebacks, so those are left out. How a PayPal dispute shows on a Shopify order is not described by Shopify beyond its note that third-party disputes may follow different processes. Rules and deadlines can change, so use the due date and form on your own dispute.

The Chargeback Evidence Checklist, or its ready text to paste into ChatGPT, asks for your dispute reason and lists the proof to gather. Or pick the reason on the chargebacks page.

The kit now has six fill-in response letters for Word or Google Docs (one per reason), evidence checklists, worked examples and a one-page Start-here guide, plus an optional ready text for ChatGPT or a similar assistant that fills the letter in for you. The Chargeback Response Kit and the free Chargeback Evidence Checklist are written around Shopify's chargeback reason names: Fraudulent, Unrecognized, Product not received, Product unacceptable, Subscription canceled, Duplicate, Credit not processed and General. The Writer's README says it also handles inquiries, Shopify Protect orders and orders that were already refunded. Its response structure carries over to other payment methods, because the questions a bank asks are similar. Where and how you submit differs, and we have not tested the skill against PayPal's Resolution Center. Check the form's own limits before you paste anything in. What carries over to PayPal, Stripe and other processors: the way the response is built (what happened, evidence as numbered exhibits, the policy quoted word for word, dated contact with the customer, nothing you cannot back with a file) and the evidence ideas for each kind of claim. The fill-in letters follow Shopify's reason names, so for another processor pick the letter for the closest reason and use it to organise your facts. What does not: the reason names, the deadlines, the evidence field names and where you submit, which belong to each processor, so check them against that processor's own page above.

Before: a merchant sent delivery photos against a fraud dispute and lost.
After: a verdict (weak, fight only if cheap), what the bank actually asks, and what to gather instead.

It is also one of the six helpers in the Store Ops Pack, $29.

Send the dispute reason, the amount, the due date and the evidence you hold, with no card or customer data. We reply with what looks strong, what is missing and whether accepting may cost less. Free, no call, no sign-up. We cannot promise a day, and nobody can promise how a bank or payment provider will decide.

Kai Ventura, Pro Skill Packs

General information from the public sources above and our own checklists. It is not legal advice, and no response can promise how a bank or payment provider will decide. Pro Skill Packs is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Shopify Inc., Affirm, Klarna, PayPal or Stripe. All chargeback pages.