Visa Chargeback Reason Code 10.3: What It Means
A cardholder says they did not make a sale, but the card was in your shop and you keyed it by hand. Here is what Visa says the code covers and how to answer it.
A customer walks into your shop. Their card will not swipe, so you type the digits by hand. Weeks later, a fraud dispute lands on that sale. The code on it is 10.3. This page explains what that code means, in Visa's own words, and how a merchant answers it. For the full set of codes, see the chargeback reason code list.
What chargeback reason code 10.3 is
Visa dispute condition 10.3 is Other Fraud: Card-Present Environment. The name tells you the two things that make this code different from its siblings. The sale happened with the card physically there, and the cardholder is calling it fraud.
What the cardholder is claiming
Under 10.3, the cardholder denies making a purchase that was keyed in by hand while the card was present. That is the whole claim. Someone typed the card number into a terminal, money left the account, and the cardholder says it was not them.
Note what is missing. They are not saying the product never came. They are not saying you billed the wrong amount. Those are other codes. This one is only about who made the purchase.
When a 10.3 dispute is invalid
There is one clear case. A 10.3 dispute is invalid when the sale was approved on a card the issuer had already reported for fraud. If the issuer had already reported the card for fraud when the sale was approved, the 10.3 dispute is invalid. Check the timeline on the dispute before you build a response.
The evidence to send
For a card present fraud dispute, send the authorization record showing the magnetic stripe or chip was read. That record is your proof that the terminal talked to the real card. Store it with the order, along with the receipt.
10.3 versus 10.4
These two codes are near twins. Visa dispute condition 10.4 is Other Fraud: Card-Absent Environment. Under 10.4, the cardholder says they did not make or allow an online, mail order or phone order purchase. The claim is the same who-made-it question. The setting is the difference. In 10.3 the card was in your shop. In 10.4 the sale was an online, mail order or phone order purchase. Read more on the chargeback reason code 10.4 page.
10.3 versus 11.3
Visa dispute condition 11.3 is No Authorization/Late Presentment. It belongs to Dispute Category 11, which is Authorization. Under 11.3, a sale was processed without a required authorization, or it was not processed in time. No one is calling that sale fraud. The argument is about the authorization itself, which means the fix and the evidence are different too.
What it means for recurring billing
When the problem is a customer pulling permission for later charges, the code is different. Visa dispute condition 13.2 is Cancelled Recurring Transaction. Under 13.2, the cardholder withdrew permission for a recurring charge, or the merchant was told the account was closed. See the chargeback reason code 13.2 page for that path.
What to do next
When a 10.3 dispute lands in your dashboard, work it in order. Read the claim and confirm it is the who-made-it kind. Pull the authorization record and the receipt. Check whether the issuer had already flagged the card. Then send what you have before the response window closes. A hand-keyed sale you cannot document is a sale you may have to give back.