A fan buys a $150 custom. You film it, deliver it, and he is delighted. Three weeks later the money disappears from your balance. He told his bank he never made the purchase.
That is a chargeback. You cannot prevent them completely, but you can understand them and lower the odds.
Refund or chargeback: the difference
- A refund is handled by OnlyFans. The fan contacts support and OnlyFans decides. Its terms say purchases are final, so refunds are the exception.
- A chargeback goes around OnlyFans. The fan tells his bank or card company that a payment was unauthorised or not as described, and the bank pulls the money back.
Chargebacks are the bigger problem, because the decision sits with a bank that has never heard of you.
What happens to your money
OnlyFans' terms say that amounts a fan refunds or charges back are removed from the creator's earnings. In practice, as creators describe it:
- The fan disputes the payment with his bank.
- The amount is deducted from your balance, sometimes weeks after the sale.
- The payment processor may contest the dispute with the bank.
- The bank decides. This can take one to three months.
You are not part of that conversation. If the bank sides with the fan, you have lost the money and the content you already delivered.
An account with frequent chargebacks may also attract closer review, and creators report delayed payouts while disputes are open. We have not seen OnlyFans publish a specific threshold, so treat any exact number you read online as a guess.
Why fans charge back
Mostly one of four reasons:
- Buyer's remorse. He spent more than he meant to, often late at night.
- Hiding it. A partner saw the card statement and he denied the purchase.
- Deliberate fraud. He planned to get the content free from the start.
- Stolen cards. The real cardholder disputes a purchase they never made.
Only the last two are malicious, but all four cost you the same.
Warning signs of a risky buyer
None of these proves anything. Together they are a reason to slow down:
- A brand-new account that spends heavily within hours
- Pressure to deliver immediately, before the payment has had time to settle
- Requests to pay outside OnlyFans, or to move to another app
- Haggling hard, then suddenly agreeing to a high price
- Threats to dispute unless you add extras for free
When the refund goes to the fan anyway
Creators regularly report a frustrating version of this: the custom was delivered exactly as ordered, the fan was happy at the time, and the money was still taken back after he claimed it was not what he asked for. You will not always get a say in that decision, and some will go against you however careful you are.
What you can control is the evidence. If a dispute is contested, or if you appeal to OnlyFans support, the strongest case you can make is one chat that shows, in order:
| Record | What it proves |
|---|---|
| His request, in his own words | What he actually asked for |
| Your confirmation of the details, price and delivery date | What you agreed to make |
| His clear yes | That he accepted those terms |
| The payment, made in the same chat | That he paid for that specific item |
| The delivery, in the same chat, matching the description | That you delivered what was agreed |
| Any reaction after delivery | That he received it and was happy at the time |
Keep all of it on OnlyFans. Agreements made on another app, or content sent outside the platform, are much harder to rely on. Screenshot the conversation once the custom is delivered, so you still have it if the fan deletes his account.
If a refund still goes his way, contact OnlyFans support with the screenshots, keep your message short and factual, and restrict him from buying again. Then let it go. Records will not win every case, but they win more of them, and they make it obvious to support which fans are a pattern.
How to lower your exposure
Keep every payment on the platform. Taking money through other apps breaks OnlyFans' rules and removes what little protection you have.
Write the agreement down in the chat. Before a custom, confirm in a message what he is getting, the price, and the delivery date. Get a clear yes. A written record helps if the dispute is contested.
Build up with new fans. Start with smaller unlocks before agreeing to a large custom. Most fraud shows itself early. Our PPV pricing guide covers tiering prices by relationship, which helps here too.
Deliver exactly what you described. "Not as described" is a common dispute reason. Do not oversell in the pitch.
Don't push a hesitant fan into a big purchase. Pressure sales are the ones regretted the next morning. This is also why mass-blasted hard sells are risky, beyond being against the rules on spam.
Look after your regulars. A fan who feels he knows you is far less likely to dispute. A fan who feels tricked, or who thinks he has been talking to a bot or a stranger, is far more likely to.
Restrict or block repeat offenders. Once a fan has charged back, do not sell to him again.
What not to do
- Don't threaten or expose the fan. Publishing someone's details or messages can break the law and platform rules, and will hurt you more than him.
- Don't retaliate in messages. Anything you write may be read by support later.
- Don't plan around winning disputes. Treat chargebacks as a cost of doing business and budget for them.
Budget for it
Every business that takes card payments loses some income to disputes. A sensible approach is to:
- Track chargebacks each month as a percentage of income
- Avoid spending money from a very large sale until a few weeks have passed
- Look for patterns, such as one type of content or one kind of buyer
If your rate is climbing, the cause is usually in how sales are being made, not in the fans.
Where the conversation comes in
Most of the advice above comes down to the quality of your conversations: clear agreements, honest descriptions, no pressure, and fans who feel they know you. That is hard to keep up when you are answering hundreds of messages a day.
Naughtii helps with the typing, not the judgement. It drafts replies in your voice, with your real prices and limits, and you decide what is sent. It also has a "say no" goal, for turning down a request or an aggressive haggler politely without losing the fan.
The bottom line
A chargeback takes the money back weeks after the sale, and the decision is made by the fan's bank. You cannot stop them all. You can reduce them by keeping payments on the platform, confirming customs in writing, building up gradually with new fans, and selling without pressure.
Updated 17 October 2026 with a section on refunds granted after a custom was delivered as ordered. This article reflects publicly available information as of 17 October 2026 and creators' reported experience. It is not legal or financial advice, and OnlyFans' terms can change. Naughtii is not affiliated with OnlyFans.