How to Manage Billing Disputes
Billing disputes are never fun, but they don't have to be difficult. When a transaction is disputed, you'll be able to either accept the dispute or provide evidence that the dispute is invalid.
Checking for Disputes
If there is an unresolved dispute, you will be notified via email. You can also see disputes via the following:
- Go to Partner Center > Commerce > Payments.
- If there are any disputes, you'll see a banner above the payments table. The status will also be marked as Disputed next to the relevant payment.
Viewing a Dispute
To view the details of a dispute, you can click on the payment amount.
You'll be brought to the Dispute details screen, which gives you a few key pieces of information:
- Date - The date the dispute was opened
- Evidence Due - When you need to provide evidence to the financial institution. This date cannot be changed and is not set by Vendasta, so it's recommended to provide evidence as soon as you can.
- Status - See what stage the dispute is in. For new disputes, the most important status is Needs Response.
- Reason - The reason provided by the customer's financial institution.
- Amount - The amount that has been disputed. In general, this will match the amount of the initial invoice.
- Fee - The additional fee for the financial institution managing the dispute. Should the dispute be resolved in your favor, this amount will be refunded.
Responding to Disputes
Should you wish to provide evidence that a dispute is illegitimate, you can do so by clicking Provide Evidence. If you wish to accept the dispute, you can click Accept Dispute.
Should you choose to provide evidence, there are a few fields you'll need to fill out. Most fields before Supporting Evidence will be filled out for you, but we strongly recommend reviewing all information before submitting.
Best practices when submitting evidence
- To increase your likelihood of resolving a dispute in your favor, keep the following in mind:
- Keep your evidence relevant and to the point
- Provide clear and accurate evidence
- Include proof of customer authorization
- Include proof of service or delivery
For more details on these best practices, please see Stripe's recommendations.
When submitting evidence, it is recommended to include all information about the transaction. For each file uploaded, you'll need to select which type of evidence it is. When you're ready to submit, click Submit Evidence.
PLEASE NOTE
You will only be able to submit evidence ONE TIME. Please make sure all evidence is included before submitting.
You'll be prompted to confirm your submission before it's put through. If you are certain things look correct, click Submit.
Monitoring ongoing disputes
Once the evidence has been submitted, you'll need to wait for the bank to process the information. Once the bank has reviewed the evidence, you'll receive a notification and email on their decision. Many banks err closer to the 3-month mark, so don't be alarmed if you don't receive notice before that.
Note: This decision is final and Vendasta has no impact on the outcome of disputes.
For details on lost disputes, click here.
FAQs
Q: How do I know if I have won or lost a payment dispute?
A: The dispute status is shown on the Payment Details page. Navigate to Partner Center > Commerce > Payments > click on the amount. Additionally, Stripe will take the amount out of your Stripe account when the dispute occurs and if you win the dispute you will see the amount back in your account.
Q: What is the number of files I can upload as evidence? What is the file limit size?
A:
- Only PDF, JPEG, or PNG file types are accepted
- The combined file size can’t be more than 5MB
- The combined page count must be less than 50 pages
- You can compress your files with tools such as Smallpdf
Q: Can more evidence be submitted after I have already submitted evidence?
A: We leverage what Stripe offers to handle disputes. Once you submit your evidence, you cannot submit more. We recommend you save your submission so you can continue to upload evidence and submit it when you have all evidence available.