Discover · Chargeback reason codes
Discover 4863 chargeback: Authorization Non-Compliance explained
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Discover reason code 4863, Authorization Non-Compliance (older letter code AT), means the sale was not properly authorized or was made after the card expired. Fiserv's guide gives the issuer 120 days. Answer with proof of a positive authorization response, and proof the sale happened before the card's expiry date. Authorizing every charge, including renewals, prevents it.
- Category
- Authorization
- Time limit for the bank to file
- 120 calendar days from the processing date for most Discover codes (Fiserv guide, 2016)
- Time limit to respond
- Your processor's deadline: Stripe says usually 7–21 days depending on the network; Adyen gives 25 days for Discover
- Typical evidence
- Positive authorization response; card valid on the sale date
- Can it be prevented?
- Yes: authorize every charge
- Who usually wins
- The merchant with a positive authorization
What PlatformDTC does
PlatformDTC authorizes every card payment through the processor at checkout and on every subscription renewal, so each order carries its own authorization. PlatformDTC answers this kind of dispute with its standard evidence pack built from the order: customer name, email, IP address, billing and shipping address, items bought, carrier, tracking and ship date, the refund policy, and any refund already issued. With "Answer a chargeback automatically" switched on, it sends the response to the bank for you before the deadline.
What it means
The issuer says there was no valid authorization. Stripe maps it to general; Braintree lists it as fraud.
Older Discover documentation pairs 4863 with the letter code AT.
Why customers file it
Charging without authorization, or charging an expired card.
Evidence that wins
Respond to every Discover chargeback, even small ones, as Discover itself advises. Send:
- Proof of a positive authorization response
- Proof the sale occurred before the card expired
How to prevent it
- Authorize every charge
- Update expired cards before renewals
For developers
On Stripe the dispute object arrives with reason "general" and the card network's own code in payment_method_details.card.network_reason_code; listen for charge.dispute.created and read evidence_details.due_by for the deadline.
Discover does not publish its dispute rules publicly; the codes and names here are the ones Stripe reports, and the defences come from processor guides.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Discover 4863 the same as Mastercard 4863?
- No. Discover 4863 is Authorization Non-Compliance; Mastercard's old 4863 meant the cardholder did not recognise the charge.
- Is it defendable?
- Fiserv lists defences; Adyen marks it as not defendable through Adyen.
Sources
- Dispute categories and network reason codes — Stripe
- Dispute Management Guide, Discover chapter (Rev 04/16) — First Data (Fiserv)
- Dispute reason codes: Discover — Adyen
- Chargeback reason codes — Braintree (PayPal)
Related
- 4542 — The sale was submitted more than 10 days after the transaction (30 for travel).
- 7030 — The cardholder says they did not make an online, phone or mail order purchase.
- 4753 — The charge was posted to an invalid card number.
- 4757 — Discover itself initiated the dispute for a breach of its operating rules.
- 4762 — A late dispute raised after the normal chargeback window, within 2 years of processing.
- 7010 — The cardholder denies an in-person purchase.
- 4866 — A counterfeit chip card was used where the chip was not read.