Retailer Chargeback Dispute Guides
How you dispute a retail chargeback depends entirely on the retailer. Each one defines its own reason-code taxonomy, its own submission channel (some accept email, others require a vendor portal), and its own required evidence in its vendor and routing compliance guide. This library covers the process for each retailer we hold a vendor guide for: the submission channel where the guide gives one, the evidence a dispute uses, and the reason codes each retailer issues.
OnePublished retailer guides
| Retailer | Dispute channel | What the guide covers | Guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dollar General | Three dispute types, each with its own team: short-paid invoices (shortages and price), vendor performance chargebacks, and post audit claims. | Read guide | |
| Kohl's | Kohl's Routing Guide (2019): routing through TMS, the weekly routing calendar, the charges the guide names, and the BOL fields for an accessorial dispute. | Read guide | |
| Burlington | Shortage disputes: email to Vendor.Relations@Burlington.com. | DMQ: shortage deduction. DMC: price difference, discount, substitution. Shortage disputes to Vendor Relations within 6 months of check remittance, on Burlington's Shortage Dispute Form. Proof of delivery: a BOL signed or stamped by Burlington receivers, and Burlington's own sealed-trailer liability rule. | Read guide |
| Macy's (and Macy's Backstage) | macysnet AP Forms | AP Forms for Macy's and Backstage. 60 days from the deduction date for Macy's; no published Backstage window. Proof of delivery with the final-destination street address, and, for Macy's, Appendix H expense offsets. | Read guide |
| Bealls | Error codes in five groups, from the Bealls Inc. Chargeback Policy. Correspondence on an expense offset must start within 6 months of the expense offset check date. | Read guide | |
| Kroger (Fred Meyer, Ralphs, Smith's) | Timing against ORAD (3% of the invoiced amount), plus the appointment and Fred Meyer GM timing fees, across Fred Meyer, Ralphs, and Smith's. | Read guide | |
| TJX (T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods) | TJX's VSS user guide (April 2006): chargebacks are mailed with the check. How to read INV, VCB, PB and the Chargeback column in VSS. | Read guide | |
| Ross Stores (Ross Dress for Less, dd's DISCOUNTS) | Ross's domestic routing guide (September 2024): when to request routing, keeping Ross and dd's freight apart, and the RTS and Ross BOL Numbers. | Read guide |
See the guides side by side: deductions compared across major retailers.
Retailer deduction rule changes, dated.
Roy, our AI agent, disputes across many more retailers than the ones listed here. We publish a retailer’s detailed guide once its vendor guide is sourced, and we only publish a specific (a channel, a reason code, an evidence gate) when it is sourced, never a guessed value.
How retailer chargeback disputes work
A retail chargeback (also called a deduction or an expense offset) is money the retailer withholds from your payment because it says a purchase order shipped short, shipped late, shipped wrong, or violated a compliance rule. Winning it back is not one process. It is a different process at every retailer, and three things vary the most.
The submission channel varies
Macy's deductions are disputed through macysnet AP Forms. Dollar General accepts disputes by email. Burlington's vendor manual (May 2026) says all shortage disputes should be emailed to Vendor.Relations@Burlington.com within 6 months of check remittance.
The reason-code taxonomy varies
Each retailer names the reason for a charge in its own way. Burlington marks each item type with a prefix (DMQ for a shortage deduction, DMC for a price difference, discount, or substitution). Bealls' Chargeback Policy lists each charge as an expense offset with an error code.
The evidence bar varies
A retailer can name the only proof it accepts. Burlington's Domestic Vendor Partnership Manual (May 2026) states: “The only acceptable proof of delivery is a BOL signed/stamped by Burlington receivers.”
How Roy handles it
Roy matches each deduction to the documents that answer it, in the retailer’s own channel, and prepares the dispute for review by ROIAI One’s analysts before anything is filed.
The problem this addresses is structural: vendor revenue is lost to deductions and chargebacks continuously, and a deduction is disputable when the shipping and EDI evidence contradicts the claim. Matching each deduction to the right evidence, at the right retailer, in the right channel, before the window closes, is the work Roy does.
Explore further
See the code-by-code Deduction Code Library for the meaning and disputability of an individual reason code, or start with your retail volume and get a real number from your own deductions.