Stripe dispute evidence guide: what to submit for each reason

How Stripe disputes work

When a customer disputes a payment with their bank, Stripe takes the disputed amount and a dispute fee from your balance and opens a dispute in your Dashboard. You then have until the deadline Stripe shows on the dispute to respond. The deadline is set by the card network and is often only a week or two away.

You have three options:

Counter the dispute by submitting evidence. In the US, Stripe charges a $15 counter fee, refunded if you win.
Accept it. The customer keeps the money, and you avoid the counter fee. Accepting isn't an admission of wrongdoing.
Do nothing. You lose by default, unless Smart Disputes submits a packet for you.

The card issuer, not Stripe, decides the outcome, usually weeks or months later. You can normally submit evidence only once, so get it right the first time.

The evidence fields

Stripe groups evidence into named fields. Fill the ones that matter for the dispute reason, and leave the rest empty.

Field	What goes in it
`product_description`	What was sold, and how it was presented at checkout
`customer_name`, `customer_email_address`, `billing_address`	Who bought it, as entered at checkout
`customer_purchase_ip`	The IP address used for the purchase
`receipt`	The receipt or confirmation you sent
`access_activity_log`	Logins and usage after the purchase: time, IP, device, what they did
`service_date`, `service_documentation`	When and how a service was delivered
`refund_policy`, `cancellation_policy`	The relevant section of your policy, and how the customer saw it
`customer_communication`	Relevant emails or chats, combined into one file
`uncategorized_text`, `uncategorized_file`	Anything else, such as a summary of the case

Evidence by dispute reason

Fraudulent and unrecognized

The cardholder says they didn't make the payment. This is the most common reason and, for digital goods, the most winnable with the right data. Show that the real cardholder made the purchase and used what they bought:

AVS and CVC matches, and 3D Secure authentication if the payment used it. Authenticated payments usually shift fraud liability to the issuer.
The purchase IP address, and later logins from the same IP or device.
An activity log showing use after the purchase: logins, lessons completed, downloads, features used. Use after the dispute date is especially strong.
Earlier undisputed payments from the same card. For Visa, see Compelling Evidence 3.0 below.

Subscription canceled

The customer says they cancelled, or tried to, before they were charged. Show:

your cancellation policy, and how the customer agreed to it at checkout;
that no cancellation request arrived before the charge, or that it arrived after the renewal date;
use of the service after the charge they dispute;
the renewal reminder or receipt you sent.

Product not received

The customer says they never got what they paid for. For digital products, "delivery" is access, so show:

the access email or account creation, with time and IP;
logins, downloads or usage after the purchase;
for services, the dates the service was delivered and evidence it took place.

Product unacceptable

The customer says it was defective or not as described. Show:

the product description as presented at checkout;
that the customer used it, which often contradicts "unusable";
your refund policy, and whether the customer asked for a refund under it;
your replies to any complaint, to show you tried to resolve it.

Duplicate and credit not processed

For duplicate, show that each charge was for something different, with separate receipts, or that you already refunded the duplicate. For credit not processed, show that the customer wasn't entitled to a refund under your policy, or that you already refunded what they were owed, with the amount and date.

Visa Compelling Evidence 3.0

For Visa fraud disputes (reason code 10.4), Compelling Evidence 3.0 lets you show a history of undisputed purchases by the same cardholder. Stripe says qualifying evidence significantly increases the chance of the issuer reversing a friendly-fraud dispute.

To qualify on Stripe:

the dispute must be a Visa dispute with reason code 10.4;
you need at least two earlier paid, undisputed payments on the same card, made 120 to 364 days before the disputed payment;
the disputed payment and both earlier payments must match on two main identifiers, or one main and one secondary identifier.

Main identifiers	Secondary identifiers
Customer purchase IP	Customer account ID
Device fingerprint or device ID (not both)	Customer email address
	Shipping address

You also need a product description for each payment, and must say whether the disputed one was merchandise or services.

Stripe flags eligible disputes and lets you submit CE 3.0 data through the Dashboard or the API. The hard part is usually the identifiers. Stripe knows the email and purchase IP of each payment, but often only your product knows the customer's account ID and device. Flatfight matches those from your activity log, and includes a payment only when the identifiers actually match.

File limits and formatting

Card issuers reject or ignore evidence they can't read. Stripe's limits:

4.5 MB combined across all files.
Fewer than 50 pages in total, and no more than 19 pages for Mastercard.
PDF, JPEG or PNG only.
One file per evidence type. Combine several emails into one customer_communication file.

Formatting tips from Stripe: 12 pt text or larger, Letter or A4 portrait pages, and bold text or callouts rather than colour highlighting.

Common mistakes

Sending everything. A 40-page terms of service buries the one clause that matters. Send the relevant section.
Arguing instead of proving. "This customer is lying" persuades no one. A dated login from the checkout IP does.
Missing the deadline. There are no extensions. Respond early.
Leaving Smart Disputes on while using another tool. Stripe may submit its own packet first, and evidence is usually accepted only once.
Fighting unwinnable cases. If you have no evidence beyond the receipt, accepting can save the counter fee.
Inventing or embellishing evidence. Card networks penalise it, and it puts your Stripe account at risk. Only submit facts you can back up.

Sources: Stripe's dispute categories, evidence best practices and Smart Disputes documentation, as of 2 October 2026.

The Stripe dispute evidence guide