Confido’s Disputes Module enables brands to recover dollars lost to invalid retailer deductions. Whether your team prefers hands-on control or a fully automated approach, Confido provides two distinct disputing workflows.
This article introduces the core concepts behind disputes and gives you a high-level view of the two approaches — Manual Disputes and Auto Disputes — so you can decide which workflow is right for your team.
Key Concepts
Deduction: A charge taken by a retailer against a brand’s remittance (e.g., shortage, compliance fine, early payment discount).
Dispute: A formal challenge submitted to the retailer when a deduction is believed to be invalid.
Supporting Documents: Proof used to validate your dispute — typically Bills of Lading (BOLs), Proof of Delivery (PODs), invoices, and vendor agreements.
Recovery: The repayment received from a retailer after a dispute is approved.
Manual Disputes vs. Auto Disputes
Confido offers two approaches to disputing deductions. The right choice depends on your team’s capacity, preferred level of control, and which retailers you work with.
| Manual Disputes | Auto Disputes |
Overview | You initiate and manage each dispute yourself through the Confido disputes dashboard. | Confido automatically detects disputable deductions, pulls documents, drafts the dispute, and submits it to the retailer portal on your behalf. |
Document Sourcing | You locate and attach supporting documents (BOLs, PODs, invoices) from your freight portals, warehouses, or email. | Confido connects to your freight portals (e.g., RJW, CH Robinson) or ingests documents from your email, and automatically attaches the right documents. |
Dispute Message | You write the dispute message from scratch for each submission. | Confido generates the dispute message automatically based on the deduction type and supporting evidence. |
Submission | You submit the dispute through the Confido deduction or disputes module, which routes it to the correct retailer portal. | Confido auto-submits the dispute directly to the retailer portal or via email. |
Tracking & Updates | Dispute status updates are pulled from the retailer portal and displayed in your Confido timeline. | Dispute status updates are pulled from the retailer portal and displayed in your Confido timeline. |
The Dispute Lifecycle
Every dispute in Confido follows the same lifecycle through a series of standardized statuses. Understanding these statuses helps you know exactly where each dispute stands and what action is required from your team.
Status | Description |
Incomplete | The dispute process has been initiated but has not been fully submitted. For auto-disputes, disputes missing required information such as supporting documents, are filed into this queue. |
Pending Decision | The dispute has been submitted to the retailer and is awaiting their decision. Confido monitors the portal and pulls in status updates as they happen. |
Awaiting Repay | The retailer has approved your dispute. The repayment has been confirmed but has not yet appeared on a remittance. |
Repaid | The retailer has issued the repayment and Confido has matched it to the original dispute. The recovery amount and GL impact are recorded in your financials. |
Denied | The retailer has rejected the dispute. The denial reason will be visible in the timeline. You may choose to re-dispute with additional evidence. |
Closed | The dispute has been finalized with no further action possible. This may occur after a final denial, expiration of the dispute window, or a manual close. |