This guide walks you through the arbitration lifecycle and resolution flow.

Arbitration serves as the final, legally binding stage of a dispute resolution process, occurring only when the initiating and receiving parties fail to reach an agreement during preliminary cycles. In this phase, the case is escalated to an independent governing body or committee that conducts a definitive review of all submitted evidence to determine liability. Because this stage often carries significant administrative fees and its ruling cannot be appealed, it acts as a "court of last resort" to ensure a conclusive end to the dispute lifecycle.

Arbitration is part of the extended dispute lifecycle, defined here.

Arbitration Lifecycle

Note: There are currently no actions available at the arbitration phase.

Status Definitions

Understanding arbitration states helps you track progress and know what actions are available:

State	Description
OPEN	Ready for available actions (currently none are possible)
UNDER_REVIEW	An arbitration committee is actively reviewing all evidence
WON	Arbitration committee ruled in the merchant's favor
LOST	Arbitration committee ruled in the consumer's favor

Supported Payment Methods

The following payment methods utilise arbitration:

Wero

Arbitration Resolution Flow

1. Receive arbitration notification

When a dispute is escalated to arbitration against a merchant account, an ARBITRATION_OPEN webhook notification is sent to the registered endpoint.

2. Retrieve arbitration details

Retrieve detailed information about the dispute, including the reason, status, any files and messages, as well as allowedActions and allowedCapabilities. Full list of reason codes can be accessed here.

API endpoint: GET /v1/disputes/{disputeId}

When to use:

Immediately after receiving ARBITRATION_OPEN webhook
To check current status of in-progress disputes

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Important: There are currently no allowedActions or allowedCapabilities during arbitration. Retrieving details is used to view any additional messages or files added since the earlier stages.

3. Download consumer files (when available)

Download any documentation or evidence submitted by the consumer/ consumer bank.

API endpoint: GET /v1/disputes/{disputeId}/files/{fileId}

The response provides:

A time-limited download URL for secure file access
File metadata (name, type, size)

When to use:

After retrieving arbitration details (if files are attached)

4. Track dispute resolution

Webhook events:

ARBITRATION_UPDATED
ARBITRATION_WON
ARBITRATION_LOST

Possible final outcomes:

Status	Meaning	Impact
WON	Arbitration committee ruled in the merchant's favor	Merchant retains funds, the chargeback is reversed, dispute closed.
LOST	Arbitration committee ruled in the consumer's favor	Dispute is closed.