Payment disputes
What happens when a client disputes a payment, how Arketa recovers the funds, and how to counter a dispute from your dashboard.
A dispute (also called a chargeback) happens when a client asks their bank to reverse a card payment instead of asking you for a refund. The bank pulls the funds back while it investigates, and Stripe charges a dispute fee.
This process is for Stripe Custom accounts only, the Stripe account Arketa sets up and manages for you, and currently for US studios. Most studios have one. If your studio is on a legacy Stripe Standard account (your own Stripe dashboard at dashboard.stripe.com), nothing on this page applies to you: Stripe charges disputes to your account directly and you respond to them in your Stripe dashboard, as before. Not sure which one you have? See Do I have access to a Stripe dashboard?
What happens when a payment is disputed
When a client disputes a payment, Stripe withdraws the disputed amount plus a $15 dispute fee. On a Stripe Custom account, payments go through Arketa's Stripe account, so Stripe takes those funds from Arketa, and Arketa recovers them from your account:
- The disputed amount is taken back from the payout of the disputed payment.
- The $15 dispute fee is debited from your Stripe balance. If your balance doesn't have enough available funds, it's added to your next Arketa invoice instead.
- If you counter the dispute, Stripe charges a $15 countered-dispute fee, collected the same way.
You get an email as soon as this happens, usually the day the dispute is opened.
The dispute email
The email shows the disputed amount, the reason the client gave, what was charged and how, and the date you need to respond by. Click Counter dispute to go straight to the evidence form, or View the payment to see the payment in your dashboard.
You won't get an email for disputes that were already closed before you could respond.
See a disputed payment
Disputed payments appear in Reporting → All Payments with a status of Dispute, and in the Disputed Payments report.
Open the payment from the client's profile (Customers → Clients → client → Payments) to see:
- Why the client disputed the payment.
- The Accept dispute and Counter dispute buttons, while the dispute is still open.
- Balance adjustments: each amount Arketa recovered or returned for this dispute, when, and how (reversed from the payout, debited from your Stripe balance, or added to your next Arketa invoice).
Respond to a dispute
You can respond until the deadline in the email. After the deadline, the dispute is lost automatically.
Open the disputed payment
Click Counter dispute in the email, or open the payment from the client's profile.
Decide whether to counter or accept
Click Counter dispute if the charge was valid and you want the money back. Click Accept dispute if you agree with the client: the dispute closes, the cardholder keeps the refund, and no countered-dispute fee is charged.
Describe what the client bought
Add a description and choose the type of product or service. For classes, memberships, and appointments, choose Offline service and add the service date.
Upload your evidence
Upload the files that support the charge. The form marks the most relevant types for this dispute as Compelling. You can upload up to 5 MB in total.
Submit
Click Submit. Stripe sends your evidence to the client's bank. You can only submit once, so include everything before you submit.
Strong evidence includes:
- Booking confirmations and check-in or attendance records
- Your cancellation or refund policy as the client saw it at checkout
- A signed waiver or membership agreement
- Emails or messages with the client
- The receipt for the payment
Dispute outcome
The bank decides the dispute, usually within 60–75 days.
- If you win, the disputed amount and the countered-dispute fee are returned to your Stripe balance automatically, and you get an email.
- If you lose, the disputed amount stays with the client.
Stripe keeps the $15 dispute fee either way.
Preventing disputes
- Send booking confirmations with clear descriptions of what was purchased.
- Make your cancellation policy visible and explicit at checkout.
- Require a signed liability waiver. It creates a paper trail.
- Respond to client complaints quickly, before they become disputes.