Stripe gives you one submission per dispute. You cannot edit it or add files afterwards, so the pack has to be complete the first time.
Most coaching businesses have nothing ready when the notice lands. The records sit in Zoom, Skool, the inbox and somebody's memory. This page is the pack we build, in the order the bank reads it. It is operating guidance, not legal advice.
What does the bank need to see?
The bank answers one question: is the cardholder's claim true. Every dispute arrives with a reason, and the reason decides which evidence counts. Proof of your refund policy does nothing against a claim that the client never got access.
| Dispute reason (Stripe category) | What the client claims | What answers it |
|---|---|---|
| Product not received | I never got access | Welcome email, first login date, onboarding call record, call attendance |
| Product unacceptable | It was not what I was sold | Sales call transcript lines, the offer page as it was at purchase, the agreement, delivery records |
| Fraudulent or unrecognized | I did not make this payment | Signed agreement, billing details, the onboarding call they joined, later messages from the same email |
| Credit not processed | I was promised a refund | The refund line in the agreement, the written decision email, the timeline of the request |
What goes in a coaching evidence pack?
- A one-page summary: who bought what, on which date, for how much, and why the claim does not hold. Neutral tone, in date order.
- The agreement or checkout terms, with only the relevant lines: the refund line, what is included, the program length. Mark them.
- The sales call: a transcript excerpt with timestamps where the closer stated the price, what is included and that there are no refunds.
- The welcome email and the date the client first got into Skool or the portal.
- The onboarding call: date, length, the meeting note, who attended.
- Participation from the client board: logins, modules finished, calls attended, check-ins answered.
- The client's own messages that show use or satisfaction, cut to the relevant lines, plus any refund decision email.
Item three carries the most weight. If the closer promised a result in 30 days, the bank will find out from the client anyway. Better that you read the transcript first and decide whether to fight at all.
Against chargebacks I want three things: good contacts at the payment processor, Whop or Stripe, a solid contract, and every sales call recorded. With a recorded call and a contract that says no refunds, a chargeback is simple to fight. The processor is more likely to rule for you.
How should the files be formatted?
Short and readable. Stripe accepts PDF, JPEG and PNG, up to 4.5 MB combined, and Mastercard caps the evidence at 19 pages. You upload one file per evidence type, so combine all client messages into one PDF and all access records into another.
Banks will not review audio, video or links. The sales call recording stays on your side; the transcript lines go in the pack. Crop every screenshot to the part that matters, mark it, and use the text field to say what it proves.
Watch out. Do not upload the whole agreement or a 40-message thread. Issuers review thousands of responses a day and will not search for your argument. One marked line beats ten pages.
Which chargebacks should you fight?
Fight when the record shows the client got access, used it, and heard the same terms on the sales call that the agreement states. Those are the cases a bank can rule on in your favour.
Accept when the closer promised something the program does not do. A lot of chargebacks are a sales problem, and that client is right. Accepting is not an admission of wrongdoing in Stripe's terms. The dispute counts against your ratio either way, because the networks count disputes received, not lost.
Countering on Stripe adds a dispute countered fee on top of the received fee. Stripe returns the countered fee if you win. The received fee stays gone.
When should the pack be built?
Before any dispute exists. The response window is usually 7 to 21 days, depending on the card network. If the records live in five tools, nobody pulls them in time. Every client row should already link to the agreement, the call recording, the onboarding note and the progress log.
Further reading: Chargebacks in coaching: 1% against 0.26% · How to document delivery in a coaching program
Diego Miescher
