Stripe chargebacks and dispute fees, explained

What happens when a customer disputes a payment

A chargeback starts when your customer asks their bank to reverse a payment instead of asking you for a refund. Stripe calls it a dispute. As soon as the bank opens it, Stripe:

• takes the disputed amount, plus a dispute fee, out of your Stripe balance;
• emails you and shows the dispute in the Dashboard with its reason and deadline;
• lets you either accept it or counter it by submitting evidence.

Stripe passes your evidence to the bank but doesn't decide the outcome. The cardholder's bank does. (Stripe docs)

What a Stripe chargeback costs

There are two Stripe fees, on top of the disputed amount itself:

• The dispute fee, charged on every dispute when it arrives: $15 in the US, €20 in the EEA. It isn't refunded, even if you win (Mexico is the exception).
• The counter fee, charged only when you submit evidence: $15 in the US, €20 in the EEA. Stripe returns it if you win. There's no counter fee in Mexico or Japan.

Stripe introduced the counter fee in June 2025. (Stripe docs)

What a $500 dispute costs you in the US, depending on what you do:

If you use Stripe Smart Disputes to respond, Stripe also keeps 30% of every dispute it wins. How that fee works, and when it's worth it.

The deadlines

• To dispute: customers can usually dispute a card payment within 120 days, and sometimes longer, for example when they paid for a future event or service.
• To respond: you usually get 7 to 21 days, depending on the card network. Stripe shows the exact deadline on each dispute. Miss it and the dispute is lost.
• For the decision: after you submit, the bank usually takes 60 to 75 days, and up to about 3 months, to decide.

You can submit evidence only once per dispute, so send everything in one go. The decision is final, with rare exceptions Stripe calls "late wins". (Stripe docs)

Inquiries: the warning before a chargeback

American Express and Discover often start with an inquiry: the bank asks for information before opening a formal chargeback. There's no dispute fee at this stage, and a clear answer often ends it.

Don't ignore one. An unanswered inquiry can escalate into a chargeback that's very hard to win, and on Discover it can become one you can't challenge at all. If an inquiry stays quiet for 120 days, Stripe closes it. (Stripe docs)

Fight or accept?

Countering costs $15 up front, refunded only if you win, so it's worth it when two things are true:

1. The amount is worth more than the fee. On a $12 dispute, even a likely win barely covers the counter fee.
2. You have real evidence for the dispute reason. For a "fraudulent" claim on software or a course, that's the customer logging in and using what they bought after paying, ideally from the same IP address or device as the purchase. For "subscription canceled", it's your cancellation terms and proof they didn't cancel in time.

When both are true, fight. When the evidence is thin, accepting saves the counter fee, and refunding before a dispute is opened saves the dispute fee as well.

What to send for each reason: the Stripe dispute evidence guide, and every reason code explained.

Keep your dispute rate low

Every dispute counts toward your dispute rate, whether you win, lose or never respond. Above about 0.75% of payments, payment providers treat it as high, and Visa and Mastercard monitoring programs start at 1.5%. Visa also counts its early fraud reports, even when no dispute follows. What early fraud warnings mean, and the free dispute-rate calculator.

How Flatfight helps

Flatfight imports every Stripe dispute as it arrives and scores each case honestly, so you know which ones are worth the counter fee. It builds the evidence from your Stripe data plus what Stripe can't see, such as logins, lessons and support messages, and submits only when you approve. It costs $9 per won dispute ($19 from $100), or a flat monthly price. Never a percentage of what you win.