What are dispute fees?

A dispute (also known as a chargeback) occurs when a cardholder questions your payment with their card issuer. The card issuer creates a formal dispute which immediately reverses the payment. Stripe notifies you of the dispute and debits your Stripe balance for the dispute amount plus a dispute received fee. If you choose to counter the dispute, a dispute countered fee applies (excluding businesses in Mexico and Japan), in addition to the dispute received fee. If you win the dispute, the dispute countered fee is returned to you.

The disputed amount and dispute received fee will appear in your balance history as a single balance transaction. The dispute countered fee will appear as a separate transaction.

Can I refund a charge to avoid paying the dispute fee?

The dispute received fee can’t be avoided once a cardholder initiates a dispute.

If you issue a full refund on a charge before a dispute happens, the cardholder can’t dispute it. In this case, you’re protected from a future dispute or dispute received fee.

How much is the dispute fee?

Dispute fees vary by region, find out more on our pricing page.