By Fake Review Detector
If you paid by UK credit card for an item costing over £100, use Section 75 — it is the law, and your card company is jointly liable with the seller. For smaller amounts, or if you paid by debit card, use chargeback within 120 days. If you paid through PayPal, open a PayPal dispute within 180 days — but escalate it to a claim within 20 days, or it closes for good.
You ordered something online. It never arrived, it arrived broken, or it was a fake. The seller has gone quiet, and now you want your money back. Three routes can get it for you — chargeback, Section 75, and PayPal Buyer Protection — but they are not the same thing. Pick the wrong one, or miss its deadline, and your refund dies with it. This guide compares all three, with the exact limits, deadlines, and the order to try them in, for shoppers in the UK, the US, and the EU.
Chargeback vs Section 75 vs PayPal Protection at a glance
Chargeback is a card-network rule: your bank asks the seller's bank to reverse the payment. It works on credit and debit cards, has no minimum amount, and usually must be started within 120 days of the payment — or of the expected delivery date when goods never arrive. It is not a law; it is an agreement between Visa, Mastercard, and American Express and their banks.
Section 75 is UK law — Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. It applies only to credit cards, only when a single item costs more than £100 and no more than £30,000, and it makes your card company jointly liable with the seller. There is no 120-day clock: you generally have up to six years in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and five years in Scotland.
PayPal Buyer Protection is PayPal's own programme. It covers eligible Goods and Services payments when an item does not arrive or is significantly not as described. You have 180 days from the payment to open a dispute — but once opened, you have only 20 days to escalate it to a claim, or the dispute closes automatically and can never be reopened.
Chargeback: card-network scheme rule; credit and debit cards; no minimum, no maximum; about 120 days from payment or expected delivery; decided by your bank and the card network; typically 30 to 90 days to resolve.
Section 75: UK law (Consumer Credit Act 1974); UK credit cards only; single item over £100, up to £30,000; up to 6 years (England, Wales, NI), 5 years (Scotland); decided by your card company, then the Financial Ombudsman; a few weeks to several months.
PayPal Buyer Protection: PayPal's own programme; PayPal Goods and Services payments; no fixed limit, but exclusions apply; 180 days from payment, escalate within 20 days of opening; decided by PayPal; about 14 to 30 days.
What is a chargeback — and when it works
A chargeback is a reversal of a card payment, raised by your bank with the seller's bank under the Visa, Mastercard, or American Express scheme rules. You do not sue anyone and you do not need a law on your side: your bank argues the payment should be reversed because the goods never arrived, arrived faulty or fake, were charged twice, or were charged without your authorisation.
Chargeback's biggest strength is its reach. It covers credit cards and debit cards, and there is no minimum spend — a £12 scam order qualifies just as well as a £900 one. That makes it the default route for most online shopping problems, and the only card route available to debit-card users, because Section 75 never applies to debit cards.
Its biggest weakness is the clock. The usual window is 120 days from the transaction date — or, for goods that never arrived, 120 days from the expected delivery date, with some non-receipt cases stretching to 540 days from processing under network rules. Miss that window and the route is closed, whatever happened. A chargeback also takes time: banks typically quote 30 to 90 days while the seller's bank responds and the network decides.
To raise one, call your bank or use its app, explain what went wrong, and give the evidence: the order confirmation, the listing or advert, photos of what arrived, and a record of your messages to the seller. If the seller cannot prove delivery or defend the charge, the money comes back to your account.
What is Section 75 — the UK law that makes your card company pay
Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 is the strongest refund right UK shoppers have, and one of the least used. When you buy a single item or service costing more than £100 and no more than £30,000 on a credit card, your card company becomes jointly liable with the seller for any breach of contract or misrepresentation. In plain terms: if the seller fails you, the card company must put it right — and you can claim the whole amount from the card company even if the seller has vanished.
Three details catch people out. First, the £100 test applies to the price of the single item, not your basket total — two £95 items in one order do not qualify. Second, you only need to have paid part of the price on the credit card: pay a £50 deposit on a £400 item by card and the whole £400 is covered. Third, it is credit cards only. Debit cards, charge cards with no credit element, and prepaid cards are excluded.
Section 75 also has the longest fuse of the three routes. There is no 120-day scheme deadline; the usual legal time limits apply instead — up to six years from the breach in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and five years in Scotland. If your card company rejects the claim, you can take it to the Financial Ombudsman Service once you have the final response, or after eight weeks with no response — and you have six months from the final response to do so.
One warning: Section 75 usually does not apply when you pay through PayPal. Because the card payment goes to PayPal rather than directly to the seller, the direct chain the law requires is broken. Paying the seller directly with your credit card keeps Section 75 alive; routing the same purchase through PayPal trades it for PayPal Buyer Protection instead. A 2026 change worth knowing: from 15 July 2026, the Financial Conduct Authority began regulating deferred payment credit, and Section 75 now applies to eligible third-party buy-now-pay-later agreements too.
What is PayPal Buyer Protection — and its 20-day trap
PayPal Buyer Protection covers eligible purchases paid as Goods and Services when the item does not arrive, or arrives significantly not as described. It does not cover Friends and Family payments at all — if a seller asks you to pay that way, you have no PayPal protection, full stop. Vehicles, real estate, custom-made items, and goods collected in person are among the other exclusions.
The opening window is generous: 180 days from the payment date for an item-not-received claim. For a significantly-not-as-described claim, the window is 30 days from delivery or 180 days from payment, whichever comes first. But the trap is what happens next. Once you open a dispute in the Resolution Center, you have 20 days to escalate it to a claim. If nobody escalates within 20 days, PayPal closes the dispute automatically — and a closed dispute cannot be reopened or escalated. That 20-day clock is the deadline most buyers miss, so set a reminder the moment you open a dispute.
After escalation, PayPal asks both sides for evidence and usually decides within about 14 to 30 days. If you funded the PayPal payment with a credit or debit card, a separate route stays open: your card issuer's chargeback process, which runs on its own clock of about 120 days from the transaction. Pursue one route at a time — a PayPal refund plus a card reversal on the same payment is a double refund, and the second one will be clawed back.
Which route is fastest?
If speed is what matters, the ranking depends on your payment method. PayPal claims are usually the quickest to a decision — around 14 to 30 days once escalated — because one company decides. A chargeback usually takes 30 to 90 days while two banks and a card network exchange evidence. A Section 75 claim can take anywhere from a few weeks to several months, depending on the complexity and how quickly the card provider and the seller respond.
But the fastest route is not always the best route. A PayPal decision is quick, but it is PayPal's decision, and it only exists while you are inside the 180-day window and the 20-day escalation clock. A chargeback is slower but reaches further — it covers debit cards and any amount. Section 75 is the slowest to resolve but the strongest in law: your card company cannot refuse it the way a bank can decline a chargeback, and it stays open for years after the other two routes have expired. When all three are available, speed says PayPal, strength says Section 75, and reach says chargeback.
Which route should you use? Seven common situations
You paid by UK credit card, the item cost over £100, and the seller has gone bust or refuses to refund. Use Section 75. It is a legal right, it covers the whole amount even if you only paid the deposit by card, and the seller going out of business does not end your claim — the card company is jointly liable.
You paid by debit card, or the item cost under £100. Use chargeback. Section 75 is not available, so the card scheme route is your route — but start within 120 days of the payment or the expected delivery date.
You paid through PayPal as Goods and Services. Open a PayPal dispute within 180 days, then escalate it to a claim within 20 days. If PayPal denies the claim and a card funded the payment, you can still try a chargeback with your card issuer — but check the 120-day card clock first, because it is usually shorter than PayPal's 180 days.
The item never arrived and the seller is a scam site. Act in the first hour using the same evidence steps in our guide "Paid a Scam Website? 9 Steps to Take" at fakereviewdetector.org/blog/paid-a-scam-website-9-steps-to-take — then raise a chargeback or a PayPal dispute, whichever matches how you paid. A scam seller will not answer either process, which is exactly why the payment route exists.
The item arrived but is fake or nothing like the description. For PayPal, file a significantly-not-as-described claim within 30 days of delivery. For cards, a chargeback for goods not as described — or Section 75 if it is a UK credit card purchase over £100. Photograph everything before you return anything, and keep the packaging.
You are in the US. Section 75 does not exist there, but the Fair Credit Billing Act gives you a federal right to dispute billing errors: you must write to your card issuer within 60 days of the statement that first showed the charge. For debit cards, the Electronic Fund Transfer Act limits your liability to $50 if you report an unauthorised transaction within two business days, and to $500 if you report within 60 days of your statement. Card chargebacks under Visa and Mastercard rules still apply on top of those rights.
You are in the EU. Chargeback through your card network works the same way, and EU law adds its own layers: unauthorised transactions must be refunded under the Payment Services Directive, and distance purchases come with a 14-day cooling-off right under the Consumer Rights Directive. If a seller in another EU country will not refund, the EU's Online Dispute Resolution platform is a free route to a trader based in the EU.
What to do if your claim is rejected
A rejection is not the end. First, read the reason: most rejections are missing evidence, a missed deadline, or the wrong route for the payment method. Fix the gap and re-file if the rules allow it — a chargeback can sometimes be re-presented with stronger evidence, and a Section 75 claim can be escalated to the Financial Ombudsman Service within six months of the card company's final response.
Second, try the next route down the list. PayPal denied you? Check whether a card funded the payment and whether the 120-day chargeback window is still open. Chargeback refused? If it was a UK credit card purchase over £100, Section 75 may still be available for up to six years. Nothing left? In the UK, the small claims track can recover a purchase price without a lawyer; in the EU, the European Small Claims Procedure covers cross-border claims up to €5,000.
Third, report the seller. A fake store that took your money will take the next shopper's too. Report it to your bank, to the platform it advertised on, and — in the UK — to Action Fraud; in the US, to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov; in the EU, to your national consumer authority. Then run the store through our website checker at fakereviewdetector.org/website-checker before you ever pay a similar shop again.
Before you pay next time: check the seller first
A refund route is a safety net, not a plan. The cheapest refund is the one you never need. Before you pay an unfamiliar store, read its reviews with suspicion, not trust: check the reviewer profiles, the wording, the timing, and the rating shape. If a shop's reviews look polished but hollow, paste the review text into our fake review checker at fakereviewdetector.org/fake-review-checker and see what the patterns say. Then check the store itself with our website checker, and check the payment route before you enter your card: paying directly by credit card keeps Section 75 alive in the UK, while paying through PayPal swaps it for PayPal Buyer Protection. Knowing which protection you are buying with is part of the purchase — decide it before you pay, not after the parcel never arrives.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use both chargeback and Section 75 for the same purchase?
No — not at the same time. They are alternative routes for the same loss, and using both risks a double refund that will be clawed back. Start with Section 75 if it applies, because it is a legal right; if it is refused, chargeback may still be open if you are inside the 120-day window.
Does Section 75 cover purchases made abroad or online?
Yes. Section 75 applies to online purchases and purchases made abroad, as long as you used a UK credit card and the single item cost more than £100 and no more than £30,000. The seller does not need to be based in the UK.
What happens if I miss the 120-day chargeback deadline?
The chargeback route is closed, but you may still have options. If it was a UK credit card purchase over £100, Section 75 can run for up to six years. If you paid through PayPal, its 180-day dispute window may still be open. After that, small claims or the Financial Ombudsman may be the remaining routes.
Does PayPal Buyer Protection cover Friends and Family payments?
No. Friends and Family payments have no Buyer Protection at all. If a seller asks you to pay that way, refuse — it is one of the clearest warning signs of a scam, and your only remaining route would be a card chargeback if a card funded the payment.
Is a chargeback the same as a refund from the seller?
No. A refund comes from the seller voluntarily. A chargeback is forced: your bank reverses the payment through the card network after the seller fails to defend the charge. Always ask the seller for a refund first — a chargeback raised while a refund is already on its way can create a double refund.
Your next step: check your payment. Find the transaction, note the date, the amount, and how you paid — credit card, debit card, or PayPal. That one fact decides which of these three routes is yours, and which deadline is already running. Then gather the evidence, file the claim, and put the 20-day or 120-day date in your calendar before you close this tab.
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