Direct answer

A client filed a Stripe chargeback on your AI work. Here is the evidence that answers it.

The money is already gone from your balance, and the clock is already running. Stripe gives you one chance to send evidence to the client bank, and the bank decides. You do not win by arguing that you worked hard. You win, when you can, by answering the exact reason the client gave the bank with records that were saved before the dispute existed: the agreement, the delivery, the acceptance, the use of the work, and the terms the client agreed to.

Before you upload anything, make your delivery exhibit checkable: check any Zambo receipt free at zambo.dev/verify, with no signup. If the job ran through Zambo, its handover link is the delivery and acceptance exhibit in the packet below.

Updated October 24, 2026.

First, read the reason, not your feelings

Open the dispute in Stripe and write down three things before you touch evidence: the dispute reason, the amount, and the deadline Stripe shows for submitting evidence. Deadlines are short, commonly a matter of days to a few weeks depending on the card network, and a dispute you do not answer in time closes in the client favor by default. The reason matters more than anything else, because each reason asks for a different exhibit.

Product or service not received. The bank is asking one question: was it delivered? Your answer is the delivery record, not a description of the work.
Product not as described, or defective. The bank is asking whether what arrived matches what was promised. Your answer pairs the agreed scope with the delivered output and the acceptance.
Fraudulent or not recognized. The bank is asking whether this person authorized the charge. Your answer is the agreement thread, the invoice, prior charges the client paid without complaint, and any record tying the client to the order.
Subscription canceled, or duplicate. The bank is asking about timing and terms. Your answer is the terms shown at purchase, the cancellation record if one exists, and the two separate transaction records if the claim is a duplicate.
Credit not processed. The bank is asking whether a promised refund happened. Your answer is your refund policy as it stood at purchase and any refund record.

Everything you send should map to the reason on the dispute. Evidence that answers a different claim is noise, and reviewers read fast.

The evidence packet, in the order a reviewer reads it

1. A one page summary that names the reason and answers it. Two or three short paragraphs: who the client is, what was bought, when it was delivered, when the client accepted or used it, and which exhibits prove each point. Name the exhibit numbers as you go. A reviewer who understands your case in one page reads the rest in your favor.

2. The agreement. The contract, statement of work, proposal the client approved, or the email thread where scope, price, and deadline were agreed in writing. Include the refund and cancellation terms exactly as they stood when the client paid, with the date they were shown.

3. Proof of delivery, saved at delivery time. The delivery email with its full date, the shared folder or download record, and strongest of all a delivery record saved when the work was handed over. A record created at delivery, with the result attached and a timestamp the client cannot rewrite, answers not received better than any screenshot taken after the dispute. The general method is covered in prove I delivered the work, and the download version is in prove the client downloaded the files.

4. Proof of acceptance or use. The client reply approving the work, the recorded acceptance on the handover, or the work live in the client product, site, or campaign with its date. Use answers not as described and not received at the same time: the client cannot easily say both that nothing arrived and that what arrived was wrong, once acceptance is on record.

5. The communication trail. The messages around delivery and any complaint the client raised before going to the bank, with your replies. If the client never complained to you at all, say so plainly in the summary and let the empty space in the trail make the point.

6. The invoice and payment record. The invoice matching the charged amount, the Stripe payment record, and any earlier invoices this client paid on the same terms. A pattern of paid work on identical terms is hard to describe as fraud.

Where the work record fits for AI work

AI work has a specific weakness in disputes: the output can be regenerated, edited, or denied, and a chat transcript can be cropped to say almost anything. That is why the record under the work matters. Zambo is the verifiable work layer for AI, and HANDOVER is its flagship product. When a job runs through Zambo, each call saves its result as it runs and returns a receipt. At the end you close the job with a handover: goal, steps, outputs, and receipts in one link. The client opens it and accepts it, and that acceptance is recorded.

For a Stripe dispute, that handover is exhibits 3 and 4 in one file. Upload a printout of the handover and its verification result, and write the link itself in your summary so the reviewer can open it. Anyone with the link can check the record at zambo.dev/verify: the check recomputes the saved record and confirms the saved result was not changed after it was saved. The receipt format under it is AER-1, an open Internet-Draft (draft-zambo-aer1-26), not a finalized standard. You do not need to explain the format to a bank. You need the exhibit to check out when opened.

If the same dispute is still at the invoice stage rather than the bank stage, start with client disputing my invoice. If the amount is large and the bank rules against you, the court version of this same packet is in small claims court evidence for an unpaid invoice.

What to do, in order, today

1. Note the deadline and work backwards from it. Evidence is submitted once. Leave a day spare.

2. Try the direct route once, in writing. A short, factual message to the client: the work was delivered on this date and accepted on this date, the dispute reference is this, and if it was filed in error the bank can be told to withdraw it. Some disputes are mistakes or a spouse who did not recognize the charge. One message, no pressure, then stop and build the packet either way.

3. Build the packet against the reason. Use the order above. Label every file with its exhibit number and date.

4. Submit through Stripe, then save your own copy. Keep the submitted files, the summary text, and the submission confirmation together. Banks can take weeks to decide, and you will want the exact set you sent.

5. Fix the next job while you wait. The setup section below is the difference between assembling evidence and already having it.

Honest limits

The bank decides, not Stripe and not you, and strong evidence does not win every dispute. Some reasons are hard to answer for services, some reviewers give the cardholder the benefit of every doubt, and a client who claims fraud on work they used can still occasionally prevail. This page is practical guidance for organizing evidence, not legal or financial advice.

A verifiable receipt proves a narrow and useful thing: the saved result was not changed after it was saved. It does not prove the work was good, the price was fair, or the client liked it. In a dispute that narrow thing is exactly what delivery arguments are about, which is why the record helps. Quality is judged from the delivered output and the acceptance, and both belong in the packet beside the receipt, not instead of it.

Set up the record before you need it

The cheapest time to build a dispute packet is while the work is running, not after a chargeback lands. Run the job through Zambo, close it with a handover, and get the acceptance recorded. Exhibits 3 and 4 then already exist, dated and checkable, for any dispute that ever arrives.

Work run through the Zambo MCP endpoint at zambo.dev/mcp (153 tools, 35 on the default surface) saves its result when the call runs and returns a verifiable AER-1 receipt (draft-zambo-aer1-26) for every call. In short, an agent receipt is a record of one ai agent tool call that anyone can check: it keeps the exact saved bytes and their sha-256 digest, and it proves the result was not changed since it was saved, not that it was right. Start free: 20 free calls per day, then they upgrade. The Day Pass is $0.99 for 24 hours. Checking any receipt is always free at zambo.dev/verify.

Questions, answered

How long do I have to answer a Stripe dispute?

Stripe shows the exact deadline on the dispute, and it is set by the card network, commonly days to a few weeks from when the dispute opened. If you miss it, the dispute usually closes in the client favor with no further chance to send evidence. Read the deadline first and build the packet backwards from it.

What evidence matters most for a services chargeback?

Delivery plus acceptance, matched to the dispute reason. For not received, the delivery record saved at handover. For not as described, the agreed scope beside the delivered output and the client acceptance. For fraud claims, the agreement thread, the invoice matching the charge, and earlier paid charges on the same terms. Generic proof that your business is real answers none of these.

Can I submit evidence more than once on Stripe?

Treat it as one submission. Stripe forwards your evidence to the bank and you generally cannot keep adding to it afterwards. That is why the packet is assembled in full, labeled, and checked before you submit, with your own saved copy of exactly what was sent.

The client used my work and still charged back. Does that help me?

Yes, it is one of the strongest facts you can document. Print the work live in the client product, site, or campaign with its date, pair it with the delivery and acceptance records, and name it in the first paragraph of your summary. Use after delivery sits badly beside a claim that nothing was received.

Should I refund instead of fighting the dispute?

Sometimes. If the amount is small, the evidence is thin, or the client has a real complaint you would rather settle, accepting the dispute can cost less than the hours a fight takes. Decide with the packet in front of you: if exhibits 3 and 4 are strong, the fight is usually worth it. If delivery was never recorded, settle this one and fix the record on the next job.

Start where the work starts: run the next job through zambo.dev/mcp, close it with a handover, and check any receipt free at zambo.dev/verify. If you only need a day, the Day Pass is at zambo.dev/day-pass.

Proof works best when it travels with the work itself. The AER-1 badge kit turns verifiable receipts into an embeddable badge for project pages, docs, and profiles, so anyone who sees the claim can reach the check in one click.