Chargebacks in Mexico: what actually happens

Nobody explains what a card dispute does to a platform account until it has already happened. This is the sequence, in order, with the Mexico-specific parts that international guides leave out.

The sequence

A customer calls the issuing bank. The bank pulls the funds first and asks questions later. A chargeback reaches the platform as a debit, not as a request, and the platform passes it straight through to the account that received the money.

Meses sin intereses

A purchase split into meses sin intereses (MSI) is not one payment. It is a schedule, and each instalment can be disputed on its own. One sale can therefore come back several times across several months.

What counts as evidence

Chat logs with timestamps, the delivery record, and the payment reference. Screenshots without dates are worth nothing. Platforms give a fixed window to respond, usually between 7 and 10 days.

The second penalty

A dispute rate above roughly 1% puts the account into a risk tier. That tier can mean held payouts, a lower ranking in discovery, or a shadowban that nobody will confirm in writing.

What to do this week

Export the last 90 days of sales, keep them outside the platform, and record the currency for every one. $500 MXN charged to a US card is a different dispute from $500 MXN charged locally.