How to Organize Evidence for a Stripe Dispute

Log into your Stripe Dashboard and open the dispute under Payments → Disputes.

Note the dispute reason code, the amount, the customer email, and the response deadline. Stripe displays a countdown — do not ignore it.

Read the dispute reason carefully. An unauthorized transaction response requires different evidence than a subscription cancellation response. Organize around the stated reason.

Find the customer account associated with the disputed charge. Collect: account creation date, email address, any prior orders from the same account or card.

If your product requires login, pull the login history for this account — all session timestamps, IP addresses, and browser/device data your platform captures.

Note any unusual gaps (e.g., a customer claiming they did not authorize the purchase but who has prior logins under the same email).

For SaaS and digital products, delivery is not a tracking number — it is access and usage. Find records that show the customer used what they paid for.

Useful data includes: feature usage events, files downloaded, API calls made, onboarding steps completed, or any product activity logged in your analytics or application database.

If you send onboarding or confirmation emails, locate the delivery record and any open or click data for those emails.

Pull the invoice or receipt from Stripe for the disputed charge. Include the charge ID, date, amount, and last four digits of the card.

If this is a subscription, include the full billing history for this customer — showing all prior charges that were not disputed.

If applicable, include renewal notices, upcoming-charge emails, or billing receipts sent to the customer.

Search your email and support tools for any messages to or from this customer that are relevant to the dispute.

Key messages to include: the original purchase confirmation, any support requests the customer made, your responses to those requests, and any cancellation or refund request (or the absence of one).

Export email threads as PDFs or screenshots. For support tickets, export the full thread with timestamps.

Screenshot your refund policy and cancellation policy as they appeared at the time of the purchase. If your policies have changed since the purchase date, show the version that was in effect then.

Screenshot the checkout page showing that the billing terms, subscription renewal language, or refund policy were visible at the point of purchase.

If your checkout includes a terms agreement checkbox, capture that too.

Create a simple list of events in date order: purchase date, fulfillment date, any logins or usage events, any customer communication, any refund or cancellation request, and the dispute date.

Each timeline entry should have: a date, a brief label (e.g., “Customer first login”), and one sentence describing what happened.

The timeline should be scannable in under two minutes. Do not write paragraphs in the timeline.

Compile all your evidence files: screenshots, exports, receipts, and any other documents. Give each file a descriptive name and a short caption explaining what it shows.

Do not submit files as “Screenshot 1,” “Screenshot 2.” Name them clearly: “Checkout page with billing terms,” “Customer login log Nov–Dec 2024,” etc.

Remove anything that is not directly relevant. A focused, clean submission is more effective than a large disorganized one.

Put everything together in a single document: case summary first, then sections for product description, delivery proof, timeline, communication, policy, and supporting files.

Read through the submission once as if you were the reviewer. Is the reason for the dispute clearly addressed? Is the delivery evidence easy to find? Are all files labeled?

Submit via the Stripe Dashboard dispute response form. You can also paste key text into Stripe's evidence fields and attach your document as a PDF.