A dispute — also called a chargeback — is when someone tells their bank they don't recognize or don't accept a charge. The bank pulls the money back from you immediately and then asks for your side. Disputes are rare on donations, but they do happen, and they have deadlines, so it's worth knowing the drill before you get one.
What happens the moment one opens
- The cardholder's bank reverses the charge. The money leaves your Stripe balance right away, before anyone has looked at the merits.
- Stripe charges a dispute fee — $15 in the US at the time of writing — regardless of who eventually wins.
- Stripe emails you and posts it under Disputes in your dashboard.
- You have a limited window to respond, typically 7 to 21 days depending on the card network. Miss it and you automatically lose.
Your two options
Accept it. If the charge really was a mistake — a duplicate gift, a family member using someone's card — accepting closes it out. You don't get the dispute fee back, but you don't spend a week on paperwork either.
Challenge it. Click Counter dispute in Stripe and work through the evidence form. A second fee applies when you challenge, refunded if you win. The bank takes up to three months to decide, and you get exactly one submission — no edits, no follow-ups — so assemble everything before you click send.
Stripe's full walkthrough is at Respond to disputes.
Evidence that actually works
Match the evidence to the reason the bank gave. For a donation marked "unrecognized" or "fraudulent," the useful items are:
- The donation receipt Studio emailed, showing the date, amount, and email address.
- Any correspondence with the donor — a thank-you reply, an event confirmation, a pledge form.
- Records showing the same person gave before from the same email or card.
- For an event registration, evidence the person attended or was checked in.
- Your refund policy as published on your public site.
Banks won't follow links, watch videos, or call you. Combine documents into a single PDF per evidence type, keep it under 4.5 MB total, and put the strongest item first.
Inquiries are your best chance
Sometimes Stripe shows an inquiry instead of a formal dispute. That's a pre-dispute question from the bank, and it's the cheapest moment to resolve things. Answer it and it often disappears without ever becoming a chargeback or costing you a fee. Don't ignore these because they look less urgent.
Preventing them in the first place
- Fix your statement descriptor. Most donation disputes are "I don't recognize this," not fraud. If the statement says something the donor doesn't associate with you, you've created the problem. Set it under public details.
- Publish a real support email and phone number. People call their bank when they can't reach you.
- Send receipts immediately. Studio does this automatically — leave it on.
- Be explicit about recurring gifts. Say plainly, on the form and in the receipt, that it repeats monthly and how to cancel. Surprise recurring charges are the second biggest source of disputes.
- Refund quickly when someone asks. A refund costs you the processing fee. A dispute costs you the fee, the dispute fee, staff time, and a mark against your dispute rate. Always refund first — see Issuing Refunds.
Why your dispute rate matters
Card networks watch the ratio of disputes to total transactions. Cross their thresholds and you land in a monitoring program with fines, and Stripe may hold a reserve against your payouts. For a normal donation-driven organization this is very hard to hit, but a badly worded recurring giving program can get there. Stripe explains the mechanics at Dispute monitoring programs.
Where this is handled
Disputes are answered in your Stripe Dashboard only — there's no dispute screen in Studio. Studio shows the charge and lets you pull the receipt and donor history you'll need as evidence. Make sure the person who watches the Stripe account's email actually reads it, because the clock starts whether or not anyone opens the message.
Fee amounts are set by Stripe and can change. Current figures are at stripe.com/pricing.