When a customer's bank claims a credit card charge or ACH debit was unauthorized, your payment processor or bank will send you a request for proof that the charge was authorized — usually with a short deadline. This article walks through what a valid proof of authorization needs to include and exactly where to find each piece of it inside Sharper.
What Your Bank or Processor Needs From You
Banks and card networks follow the Nacha Operating Rules (for ACH) and network chargeback rules (for cards), which specify what a valid authorization record must show. At minimum, your response should cover:
Required detail | Where it comes from in Sharper |
Receiver's (customer's) name | Signed contract or accepted Terms & Conditions record |
Account and routing number (ACH), or card on file | Saved payment method record |
Clear authorization to debit or charge the account | Signed contract text or accepted Terms & Conditions text |
Whether the charge is one-time or recurring | Contract/Terms & Conditions wording, plus the Default (auto-pay) flag on the saved payment method |
Cancellation policy | Contract/Terms & Conditions wording |
Your company's contact information | Contract/Terms & Conditions wording |
Note: Sharper does not have a separate field for payment frequency, cancellation policy, or contact information — these have to be written into the wording of your Contract or Terms & Conditions template. If a signed document you already have on file is missing one of these, add it to the template now so future disputes are easier to prove. This will not change a document that has already been signed.
The letter from your bank or processor will state a deadline for responding, often as little as ten business days. Submitting proof after the deadline can result in the funds being returned automatically, regardless of whether the charge was authorized.
Where to Find Proof of Authorization in Sharper
Signed E-Sign Contracts
If the customer signed a contract for the reservation, this is normally your strongest single piece of evidence. Once signed, it becomes a permanent, un-editable record that includes fingerprint information about the signer's IP address.
Open the reservation and select Contracts from the toolbar.
Find the signed contract — the E-sign Date column shows when it was signed.
Open the contract's actions menu and select Print or Email to produce a copy to send to your bank.
Terms & Conditions Acceptance
Many reservations also capture a separate Terms & Conditions acceptance at checkout. This record stores the exact wording the customer agreed to, along with the acceptance date, time, IP address, and browser it came from.
Not every reservation will have this. The Terms & Conditions checkbox only appears on reservations made through your online customer portal, and only if your outlet has this setting turned on. A reservation entered by staff, or an outlet without this setting enabled, will not have an acceptance record to pull.
Open the reservation and select Options from the toolbar.
Select Accepted T&C — this option only appears if the reservation has an acceptance on record.
The Accepted Terms & Conditions window shows the exact text the customer agreed to, along with the acceptance timestamp, IP address, and user agent.
Saved Payment Method Record
Go to CRM → Customers, open the customer, and check the Payment Settings section for their saved credit card or ACH details. The Default flag shows whether the customer is enrolled in auto-pay, which supports the one-time-versus-recurring detail your bank is asking about. The last 4 digits of a saved ACH account number are visible under CRM → Payments; full account and routing numbers are masked in Sharper after entry, so check your payment processor (for example, Payroc) if the bank needs the complete numbers.
ACH Authorization Form
If the customer entered their own bank details through a Send ACH Form link, that emailed link is itself part of the authorization trail, since it shows the customer self-entered their information rather than staff keying it in on their behalf. From CRM → Customers, open the customer row's actions menu (the circular ⋯ icon) and select Send ACH Form to see this workflow.
Attachments
If you collected a voided check, ID, or a paper-signed copy of an agreement, open the reservation and select Attachments from the toolbar. These can be exported alongside the signed contract as supporting evidence.
Audit Log Timing
Go to System Settings → Audit Logs to confirm exactly when a reservation, payment method, or invoice record was created or changed. This is useful for showing that a charge matches the date the customer authorized it — see the System Settings - Audit Logs article for how to look up which user made a specific change.
Putting Together Your Response
Read the letter from your bank or processor for its deadline and submission instructions — these vary by institution.
Print or export the signed contract from the reservation's Contracts toolbar button.
If the reservation was made online and has one, note the Terms & Conditions acceptance text, date, and IP address from Options → Accepted T&C.
Pull the saved payment method record from CRM → Payments, including the Default/auto-pay flag.
Add any supporting attachments, such as a voided check, ID, or paper signature.
Combine these into a single response and send it to the address or portal named in your bank's letter before the stated deadline.
A credit card chargeback and an ACH dispute go through different processes — a chargeback is handled through your card processor's dispute portal, while an ACH dispute is handled through your bank.
Either way, the underlying proof your bank or processor needs is generally the same: a signed contract, an accepted Terms & Conditions record, and the payment method on file.