Please note that these recommendations come directly from our processor and were last updated on September 9th, 2020. They are provided in an effort to help and may not be comprehensive.

The evidence you submit should be appropriate to the reason for the dispute. Web logs, email communications, shipment tracking numbers, and delivery confirmation, proof of prior refunds or replacement shipments, etc., can all be helpful. For example, a response to a dispute with the reason “product not received” should have evidence that includes shipping information and any screenshots of package tracking. Stripe electronically submits this information to your cardholder’s issuer and notifies you of any updates to the dispute.

Don’t include audio or video files, requests to call or email for more information, or links to click for further information (e.g., file downloads or links to tracking information) because the card issuer evaluating the dispute won’t take action on these. Card issuers won’t call merchants or follow external links, so it’s important to submit all available evidence through Stripe.

Dispute evidence can only be submitted once. Make sure to provide all relevant information and review it carefully before you submit it. Your progress is automatically saved, so you can return to the submission process at a later time and review the evidence you've provided before submitting it.

You can prepare a suitable response that has the most relevant evidence using the following best practices. These can help ensure you have the greatest possible chance of a dispute being found in your favor—and your funds returned.

Card issuers review thousands of dispute responses every day. A long introduction about your product or company, complaint about the customer, or the unfairness of the dispute isn’t going to make your responses more compelling. Instead, provide only the facts surrounding the original purchase, using a neutral and professional tone. For example:

Jenny Rosen purchased X from our company on [date] using their Visa credit card. The customer agreed to our terms of service and authorized this transaction. We shipped the product on [date] to the address provided by the customer, and it was delivered on [date].

You may want to take some time to investigate the dispute while collecting evidence to submit. For instance, you can take a look at Google Maps and Street View to see where your delivery took place, or check social media like Facebook or LinkedIn to help establish the customer as a legitimate cardholder.

Many merchants also include email correspondence or texts with the customer, but it’s important to be aware that these exchanges do not verify identity. If you’re going to include them, make sure only the relevant information is included (e.g., if you’re going to include a long email thread, redact any text that is only quoting previous emails).

Your evidence should be factual, professional, and concise. While providing little evidence is a problem, overwhelming the card issuer with unnecessary information can have the same effect.

Card issuers do not follow any links provided in a response. Instead, you must include a clear screenshot of your terms or policies as they appear during checkout or on your site if they are an important part of your defense (e.g., a customer disputed a subscription but there is a minimum contract term that must be adhered to).

Fraudulent disputes account for over half of all disputes. Proving the legitimate cardholder was aware of and authorized the transaction being disputed is vitally important in such cases. Any data that shows proof of this is a standard part of a compelling response, such as:

Stripe always includes any AVS/CVC results as well as the purchase IP (if available from your Stripe integration), but if you have any other evidence of authorization be sure to include it.

In addition to fraudulent disputes, claims from cardholders that products or services never arrived or happened, were defective or unsatisfactory, or not as described are also potential dispute reasons. Assuming that all is well on your side (the product was not faulty, was as described, was shipped and delivered prior to the dispute date) then you’ll want to provide proof of service or delivery.

For a merchandise purchase, provide proof of shipment and delivery that includes the full delivery address, not just the city and ZIP code. Choosing a carrier or delivery method that requires a signature on delivery provides the best defense against product not received or fraudulent disputes where you’ve shipped to a verified billing address that has passed AVS and ZIP code verification.

If your customer provides a “Ship To” name that differs from their own (e.g., gift purchase), be prepared to provide documentation explaining why they are different. While it’s common practice to purchase and ship to an address that doesn’t match the card’s verified billing address, this is an additional dispute risk.

If your business provides digital goods, include evidence such as an IP address or system log proving the customer downloaded the content or used your software or service.

When it comes to disputes, fine print matters. Providing proof that your customer agreed to and understood your terms of service at checkout, or did not follow your policies when it comes to returns or refunds is critical. A clean screenshot of how your terms of service or other policies are presented during checkout is an important addition to your evidence—it is not enough to simply include a text copy of these.

Dispute evidence is often transmitted through several legacy systems and most card issuers are still utilizing paper faxing. Before sending your response, ensure that any text or images are clear and large enough to show up clearly in a black and white fax transmission.

While you can zoom in on your electronic documents, the card issuer will not be able to do so. Any evidence that is too small to transmit clearly won’t be considered by the card issuer, so it’s better to have large, full-page images than try to fit too many on one page.

When submitting documents or images as evidence, use the following recommendations to make sure they can remain legible:

When uploading screenshots:

Any illegible text or data that is submitted with a response will be considered incomplete by the card issuer and not reviewed.

You can accept a dispute, effectively agreeing with the cardholder that the dispute was valid for the reason given. Accepting a dispute is not considered an admission of wrongdoing and is sometimes the most appropriate response. The customer has already received their refund via the dispute process—if you agree they should have been refunded, it’s best to accept the dispute. You should always perform this action if you do not intend to respond and submit evidence. Although accepting disputes does not negatively affect your business any further, it should not be seen as an alternative to an effective refund or returns policy. Dispute activity is calculated based upon the disputes received, not won or lost, so dispute prevention is critical.

For disputes that are the result of a misunderstanding, your customer can tell their card issuer that they no longer dispute the transaction. It’s still important that you submit evidence to show that the payment was valid, however, and to ensure that the card issuer knows you are not accepting the dispute.

In cases where you agree that the customer should keep the disputed funds, you should accept the dispute rather than ask the cardholder to withdraw the dispute for a regular refund. Remember, the card networks do not consider how many disputes you win or lose, only how many you receive.

While uncommon, payment can be disputed for the full amount even if a partial refund has already been made (e.g., a refund of a smaller amount that has been agreed upon). We understand this can be frustrating as it leaves you responsible for the partial refund you’ve already processed and the full amount disputed, though card issuers are very willing to rectify this situation.

Even if you plan to accept the unrefunded portion of the dispute, it’s important for you to provide evidence of the partial refund in your response. This should include the amount and date of the refund, and even a screenshot of the refund information from your Dashboard (this is known as a “credit issued” response).

In most cases, the card issuer cancels the original dispute and then creates a separate one for the corrected amount. On Stripe, the existing dispute is used to track the overall outcome. If the dispute is fully resolved in your favor, the entire amount is returned to you. If it’s not, only the partially refunded amount is returned.

Visa has more stringent requirements on the evidence required to overturn disputes for a reason of fraud or product not received. You must provide at least one piece of compelling evidence—proof that the cardholder participated in the transaction, received any goods or services, or benefited from the transaction—with any dispute response. Certain types of compelling evidence are comprised of multiple pieces of information (e.g., customer’s IP address and their device’s location.