Hello Android Devs, I work in fraud analysis and not app development. Cases pass through me before they get to the dispute team, and while researching more on disputes I saw the changes Google Play recently made.

I was interested to see how this change affected developers, and I couldn't find these numbers anywhere so I worked them out.

What has changed?
They started sharing the costs of chargebacks with developers for orders placed after 3 August 2026.
Google used to cover them entirely.

What it costs per dispute:
So you pay back what you kept (the price minus Google's cut), plus the bank's chargeback fee, Stripe is $15, PayPal $20, and some banks go up to $100. Google hasn't said what that fee will be.

Example: $5 item pack, Google takes 30%, you keep $3.50. A dispute costs you that $3.50 back plus a ~$25 fee.
A total of $28.50 is gone on a $5 sale.

The $3.50 is minuscule compared to the $25 bank fee.

What it adds up to:
Say a studio is doing $30k a month with $8 average purchases and 0.7% dispute rate. That is around 26 disputes a month, which adds up to $803 a month, and $9,639 a year. About 4% of that company's yearly net revenue.

The 24-hour timeframe:
After these changes, Google will now send you a PendingRefundReviewNotification. You will have 24 hours to call the ReviewRefund API with evidence (was the item delivered/was it consumed). Only your first call counts though. Google will fight the bank for you, but only with what you gave it. Google calls the API optional, but without it they have nothing to fight the bank with, and you eat the loss.

Why is this important now?
Chargebacks can usually take between 30 and 120 days after the initial purchase. The orders for August are only now reaching the dispute stage. I think many developers will be surprised when comparing the last 3 months to the next 3 months.

Calculator & sources:

I made a calculator if you want to try with your own numbers.
Beneath the calculator link are the sources.

Calculator: https://playchargebacks.com

Google's policy page: https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/17068375

Review Refund API: https://developer.android.com/google/play/billing/provide-refund-and-chargeback-suggestions

submitted by /u/CaptainEliass
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