Section 2: Copy Requests
10 Dispute Management Guidelines for Visa Merchants
© 2018 Visa. All Rights Reserved.
Responding to Copy Requests
When a card issuer sends a copy request to an acquirer, the bank has 30 days from the date it receives the
request to send a copy of the transaction receipt back to the card issuer. If the acquirer sends the request
to you, it will tell you the number of days you have to respond. You must follow the acquirer’s time frame.
Once you receive a copy request, retrieve the appropriate transaction receipt, make a legible copy of it,
and fax or mail it to your acquirer within the specied time frame. Your acquirer will then forward the
copy to the card issuer, which will, in turn, send it to the requesting cardholder. The question or issue the
cardholder had with the transaction is usually resolved at this point.
Note: When you send the copy to the acquirer, use a delivery method that provides proof of delivery. If
you mail the copy, send it by registered or certied mail. If you send the copy electronically, be sure to
keep a written record of the transmittal.
If you store your own transaction receipts, you should retain your merchant copies—or copies of them, for
example, on CD-ROM—for 120 calendar days from the date of the original transaction to ensure your ability to
fulfill copy requests.
Copy Requests by Phone
To assist their cardholders, card issuers may call you directly to request a copy of a transaction receipt. You
are not obligated to fulll a verbal copy request from a card issuer. However, if you do decide to provide a
copy of the transaction receipt, be sure to keep a copy for your own records. You may nd you need it for
dispute-related or accounting purposes.
It Pays to Respond to Copy Requests
Responding to copy requests saves you time and money. As a merchant, you should always:
• Fulll any copy requests you receive, except for chip card, EMV PIN (except in the case of cash and
quasi-cash transactions), and VEPS transactions where the merchant is not required to provide copy.
• Fulll requests in a timely manner.
• Ensure that the receipt copy you send is legible.
• Provide transaction details that may assist the cardholder in recognizing the transaction.
– Cardholder signature (if available)
– Suppressed Visa account number
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– Cardholder name
– Guest name (If different than the cardholder name)
– Dates of entire stay
– Transaction amount
– Authorization code, if available
– Your business name and address
– All itemized charges
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Visa requires that all new and existing eletronic POS terminals provide suppressed account numbers on sales transaction receipts.