Responding to disputes using the API

Learn how to manage disputes programmatically.

In response to the elevated disputes faced by many merchants in the travel and entertainment industries due to COVID-19, Visa and Mastercard have issued guidelines for resolving them. These guidelines relate specifically to goods and services canceled directly due to a government order or prohibition. If your business is receiving disputes that fall into this category and you need to submit dispute evidence before the submission date, please proceed to this guide.

For all industries, the best actions you can take are to proactively communicate with your customers and issue refunds where appropriate, especially when requested.

While we recommend most users respond to disputes through the Dashboard, you can programmatically manage disputes using the API. With the API, you can upload evidence, respond to disputes, and receive dispute events using webhooks. For more details, retrieve a Dispute object:

Terminal

curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/disputes/{{DISPUTE_ID}} \
  -u sk_test_4eC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc

The response contains information about the dispute and any response or evidence that’s already been provided.

{
  object: "dispute"
  id: "{{DISPUTE_ID}}",
  charge: "ch_5Q4BjL06oPWwho",
  evidence: {
    customer_name: "Jane Austen",
    customer_purchase_ip: "127.0.0.1",
    product_description: "Widget ABC, color: red",
    shipping_tracking_number: "Z01234567890",
    uncategorized_text: "Additional notes and comments",
  },
  evidence_details: {
    due_by: 1403047735,
    submission_count: 1
  }
  ...
}

You update the Dispute object and pass structured evidence with the evidence parameter.

Terminal

curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/disputes/{{DISPUTE_ID}} \
  -u sk_test_4eC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc
 \
  -d "evidence[customer_email_address]"="email@example.com" \
  -d "evidence[shipping_date]"=4/14/2021 \
  -d "evidence[shipping_documentation]"="{{FILE_ID}}"

To view all available fields for the evidence parameter, see Dispute evidence. There are two types of evidence you can provide, depending on the field being updated:

Text-based evidence, such as customer_email and service_date. These types of evidence take a string of text.
File-based evidence, such as service_documentation and customer_communication. These take a file_upload object ID.

The combined character count for all text-based evidence field submissions is limited to 150,000.

You can provide documents or images (e.g., a contract or screenshot) as part of dispute evidence using the File Upload API. A document is first uploaded with the purpose of dispute_evidence, which generates a File_upload object that you can use when submitting evidence. To ensure readability is preserved, make sure the file meets Stripe’s recommendations before uploading it for evidence submission.

If you’re only interested in submitting a single file or a large amount of plaintext as evidence, use uncategorized_text or uncategorized_file. However, Stripe strongly recommends filling in as many fields as possible so you have the best chance at overturning a dispute.

If you require assistance with a dispute, please contact Stripe support.

Responding to disputes using the API

See also