Chargeback Reason Code 10.4: Card-Absent Fraud
A 10.4 dispute says the cardholder never made or allowed your online, mail order or phone sale. Here is what that claim means and how to answer it.
A dispute lands on your shop with the code 10.4 on it. You never met the buyer. The sale went through your website, or over the phone, or through a mail order form. This page explains what Visa chargeback reason code 10.4 says, how it differs from its neighbors, and what you can do about it. If you are new to disputes in general, start with the basics of what a chargeback reason is.
What Visa dispute condition 10.4 is
Visa dispute condition 10.4 is Other Fraud: Card-Absent Environment. The name has two parts. "Other Fraud" puts it in Visa's fraud family of disputes. "Card-Absent Environment" says the card was not there when the sale happened. Nobody swiped, dipped or tapped anything. The buyer was somewhere else, typing digits or reading them out.
What the cardholder claims under 10.4
Under 10.4, the cardholder says they did not make or allow an online, mail order or phone order purchase. Read that claim closely. It is not "the product was broken" or "the box never came." Those are other dispute families. This one says the person holding the account never bought the thing at all, and never gave anyone else permission to buy it either.
That is why you got a 10.4 dispute without ever meeting the cardholder. The whole sale rested on digits you could not see.
Which sales 10.4 covers
The card-absent environments are online sales, mail orders and phone orders. If your shop takes a Visa card number without the card being present, a fraud claim on that sale can carry 10.4. A farmers market stall with the buyer standing there is not this code. A web shop selling to strangers at midnight is exactly this code.
10.4 vs. 10.3: card-absent vs. card-present fraud
The closest neighbor is 10.3. Visa dispute condition 10.3 is Other Fraud: Card-Present Environment. Under 10.3, the cardholder denies making a purchase that was keyed in by hand while the card was present.
So the line between them is where the card sat. In a 10.3 sale, someone handed over a physical card and the merchant typed its numbers into a terminal. In a 10.4 sale, no card ever appeared. If you want the full picture of that sibling code, read about chargeback reason code 10.3.
How 10.4 differs from a cancelled recurring transaction dispute
A 13.2 dispute can look like fraud from a distance, but it is a different animal. 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.
The buyer in a 13.2 dispute admits the account is theirs. They just say the permission ran out. The buyer in a 10.4 dispute says they never made or allowed the purchase at all.
The two codes also rule each other out in one direction. A 13.2 dispute is invalid for an Unscheduled Credential-on-File Transaction or a charge the cardholder calls fraud. So if a cardholder frames a charge as fraud, 13.2 is the wrong code for it. See the page on chargeback reason code 13.2 for that condition in full.
Compelling Evidence 3.0: Visa's remedy rule for 10.4
Visa's remedy rule for condition 10.4 is commonly known as Compelling Evidence 3.0. It is the framework Visa built for merchants answering this exact claim. The details of what evidence qualifies live in Visa's own dispute rules, and your card processor can walk you through what applies to your sale.
How to fight a 10.4 dispute
To fight a 10.4 dispute, show the dispute is invalid or the cardholder no longer disputes it. Those are the two doors Visa leaves open.
The first door asks for proof. That is where Compelling Evidence 3.0 comes in. The second door is simpler. If the cardholder withdraws the claim, the dispute ends.
The role of Visa Secure authentication
One record matters more than most. For a card absent fraud dispute, tell your card processor if the sale was authenticated with Visa Secure. If the buyer passed that identity check at checkout, your processor needs to know it when you answer the claim. Keep the authentication record with the order it belongs to, so you can find it the week a dispute arrives.
Where 10.4 fits in the full Visa reason code list
10.4 is one code in a large family. Visa uses other conditions too, such as 10.3 and 13.2. Each code carries its own rules for what counts as a valid claim and what counts as an answer. To see the whole map, read the full chargeback reason code list.