Stripe, Inc.

Stripe operates within a variety of constraints imposed by our banking partners, credit card networks and applicable law. As a result, Stripe must fully understand its users to ensure their businesses are consistent with Stripe's Terms of Service. All users agree to these terms when activating...

Stripe accounts, and the terms are posted here: https://stripe.com/terms Since Stripe bears financial responsibility for all accounts using Stripe to accept payments, Stripe needs to have a high degree of confidence about their legitimacy, and their likelihood of delivering promised goods and services. Stripe periodically reviews accounts to verify that they meet these standards, and reaches out to merchants should any issues arise.During a routine review, Stripe identified strong signals that the complainant's account was in violation of the Stripe Terms of Service. Stripe cannot process payments for any businesses that are closely related to the firearm industry. This includes businesses that are not directly selling firearms, but are instead providing parts and accessories used in direct relation to these products. On July 22, 20**, Stripe reached out to the complainant to advise them of our decision and the closing of the account. The closing of this account is in accordance with the following section of the Stripe Terms of Service. Our terms very clearly state that Stripe "may suspend your Stripe Account and your access to the Service and any funds in your Stripe Account, or terminate this Agreement, if we determine in our sole discretion that you are ineligible for the Service because of the risk associated with your Stripe Account, including without limitation significant credit or fraud risk, or for any other reason". https://stripe.com/us/terms#terminationWhile we will not be able to continue processing transactions on the account, this does not preclude the complainant from signing into Stripe and accessing any of the account's existing data.

PADDING-RIGHT: 60px; opacity: 1">Funds in the amount as requested by the compliant have been initiated for return to their bank account.  These
 
funds should post within the next 2 business days.
Stripe temporarily disabled the login to this account on [redacted] as security measure since it had come to
 
our attention that the complainant's login credentials may have been obtained by a third party. In order to regain
 
access to this account, we asked the complainant to please contact us at [email protected] so we could verify
 
their identity over the phone. This is a security measure in place to protect the complainant's account.
 
Correspondence between the complainant and Stripe followed over the next two weeks to arrange a time to
 
speak on the phone. Stripe will continue to reach out to complainant until an arranged time to call is achieved.
 
Once contact is made and the account verified, the complainant will be able to close their Stripe account.

My name is[redacted]. I'd like to withdraw Complaint #[redacted] against Stripe, Inc. in [redacted],[redacted] as they have finally resolved the issue. Thank you.

Because the complainant the party with the most information about their customer -- if they're someone the complainant knows, if they've purchased from them before, if their order is a normal one for their shipping address -- they're best equipped to determine whether or not a purchase is fraudulent. They have a better sense of their customers than any algorithm we could write ever write. Identifying when a credit card is being used by someone other than the cardholder can be difficult, and if their ever suspicious about a purchase's validity going forward, we give the complainant the option to refund the charge and mark it as fraud.Stripe also helps users such as the complainant by supplying tools that allow our users to fight disputes through the guided submission of evidence. Once this evidence is submitted, we will send this to the card issuing bank. During the dispute process, the card issuing bank does not reach out to the merchant. The credit card processor is the party in which the card issuing bank reaches out to -- this is not a Stripe specific practice.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 9, 2014/11/13) */
We were able to successfully resolve this issue with the user, and have been advised that they consider this issue to be closed. This was the last communication from them that we received:
I am pleased to advise that the transfer of...

£1369.15 arrived in our account this morning. We are grateful to you and your team in helping us resolve this issue and hope this glitch will now stay at bay.
[redacted], we also owe our thanks to you and Revdex.com as a whole, who help businesses and consumers alike. Can you please now close this complaint (case# XXXXXXXX) or kindly advise me if I need to do anything. We are happy with how Stripe has resolved this issue,
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 11, 2014/11/17) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/06/29) */
On 29th May we notified the complainant that we had to pause transfers to their bank account as we could not verify the URL associated with their Stripe account application: https://stripe.com/us/terms#company-descriptions-and-site-url
Our...

right to pause transfers to a user's bank account is consented to upon signing up for a Stripe account: https://stripe.com/us/terms#payout-schedule
The complainant responded with the updated URL we required on 3rd June. We acknowledged receipt of this URL on 5th June and stated that a review to verify this URL would be required before we could resume transfers to the complainant's bank account. The manual review to verify this URL's validity took longer than expected. On 25th June we acknowledged this URL was valid and resumed transfers to the complainant's bank account. The complainant can now continue using their Stripe account.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2014/07/31) */
The dispute process is an unfortunate one, but one that Stripe has handled in accordance with Card Network rules, as well as our Terms of Service, which the complainant agreed to as a condition of account activation. The pertinent section...

of Stripe's TOS is included below:
When a Chargeback is issued, you are immediately liable to Stripe for the full amount of payment of the Chargeback plus any associated Fees, fines, expenses or penalties (including those assessed by the Card Networks or our payment processors). You agree that Stripe may recover these amounts by debiting your Bank Account associated with your Stripe account (using ACH, the mechanisms of the Canadian Payments Association or other method), debiting your Reserve Account, or setting off any amounts owed to you by us. If we are unable to recover funds related to a Chargeback for which you are liable, you will pay us the full amount of the Chargeback immediately upon demand. You agree to pay all costs and expenses, including without limitation legal fees and other legal expenses, incurred by or on behalf of us in connection with the collection of any unpaid Chargebacks unpaid by you.
From Section 6 of Stripes Canadian Terms of Service: https://stripe.com/ca/terms#chargebacks
Stripe serves the role of a payments processor and as such, assists businesses in accepting online payments from their customers. Part of this process is to receive the information provided by a cardholder or customer during the payment flow (such as card number, CVC, and postal code), and pass ** along to their bank. This information is checked with the issuing bank to ensure the information contains a valid card number, and the card is able to have charges attempted. Additionally, for most cards issued in the US, and some cards issued in Canada and the UK, the banks may also provide Stripe with a True, False, or Unchecked response indicating if the address and postal code information provided matches what the bank has on file. Similarly, cards issued in almost every country support this same check for the CVC code. We return these results in an easily accessible and readable format in the Stripe dashboard.
Stripe provides direct feedback from the bank as part of processing a payment for our users to aid them in detecting fraud, but Stripe is not a fraud detection company. Approval of a payment by the card issuing bank does not indicate that the payment won't be disputed in the future.
When a cardholder disputes a charge, Stripe is notified by the cardholder's bankwhich automatically refunds the transaction. Through the dashboard and email, Stripe then passes ** as much information to our user as we get from the bank. We help the user submit evidence which we have done in this case after extending the submission deadline once but the cardholder's bank ultimately makes the decision as to how the dispute is resolved.
Companies using Stripe have different customer profiles, and various levels of risk regarding disputed charges and declined payments. We provide as much information about a payment and the cardholder as possible, but because they are the party with the most information about their customersif the customer is someone they know, if they have purchased before, if their order is a normal one for their shipping address our users are best equipped to determine whether or not a purchase is fraudulent.
Identifying when a credit card is being used by someone other than the cardholder can be difficult, and if our users are ever suspicious about a purchase's validity, we recommend issuing a refund immediately in order to avoid getting hit with a chargeback. On June 18th, a Stripe representative informed the complainant of this exact suggestion regarding suspicious payments made through the complainant's account.
Additionally, we do provide resources to help detect and prevent fraud, which allow our users to auto-decline charges that fail the Address Verification and CVC checks mentioned earlier. Activating these settings is easily done from the account dashboard of a Stripe account.
Stripe is always willing to help our users respond to disputes, and both our email communications as well as our website upload dialog, explain the evidence requirements. In this case Stripe didn't receive evidence that adhered to the bank's specifications (under 5MB in size) until July 18, which is when we then submitted that evidence to the bank. This was done after explaining the evidence upload requirements multiple times (which are set by the bank) and extending the deadline once already. We will notify the complainant as soon as we receive feedback from the bank about the outcome of the dispute. It's important to note that, even with this submission of evidence, the bank could still resolve the dispute in favor of its cardholder rather than the complainant. This possibility was acknowledged and all financial liability was accepted by the complainant at the time of account activation.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2014/08/17) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Thank you for the response.
Firstly, could you please forward the signed form from one of our signing officers that states our compliance with Stripe's TOS and accepting of financial liability. Otherwise, please paste the rule(s) as part of the Card Network that states our compliance to Stripe's TOS and financial liability by simply activating an account with Stripe.
When discussing payment validity as part of the merchant's discretion, there were no signs that would have shown any form of fraud or wrong-doing as these purchases were made by good-standing, long-term customers with a regular address and non-abnormal order amounts. Yes, on June 18th a representative suggested this to us, but this was far after the charges in question were made and would have been more useful prior to.
We agree that identification of a cardholder online is a difficult task for all industries, however I think we can also agree that a lot of this difficulty can eased by simply activating the most basic tools given - CVC and address verification. These are settings that should always be activated, unless specified by the merchant and should be automatically activated by Stripe as part of their default settings, not the opposite. Online fraud is a multi-billion dollar problem and if Stripe genuinely cared to aid their clients in fraud detection, the settings for these very obvious pre-cursors to a legitimate purchase, would have been automatically turned "On".
Although Stripe may see their own services and dashboard as easy-to-operate, they are difficult to someone who has no previous experience with their company or in the industry of payment processing. Stripe's services and dashboard were never properly explained to us by a Stripe representative, and considering that Stripe's default settings are set to have the easiest and most efficient verification tools turned "off" automatically, this should have been a priority on their part to explain this.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2014/08/22) */
At the time of writing (August 22, 2014), this user has encountered four (4) disputes on their Stripe account. From those four disputes, two of them have been ruled in favor of the user, and have been reflected in their account balance.
Upon further review, I've gone ahead and personally waived the remaining amounts owed on the two withstanding chargebacks, totaling $738.12. Due to these waived chargebacks, this Stripe user now has a balance of $419.58 CAD that is to be transferred to their bank account. They can initiate this transfer from their dashboard, at the following page: https://dashboard.stripe.com/transfers/overview
Our team takes dealing with disputes very seriouslyit's unfortunate that this scenario occurred, and I agree that enabling those checks up front would help prevent fraudulent charges. I'll pass [redacted] feedback along to our team and see if we can change this for future users, going forward. My apologies for any frustration and inconvenience that this has caused.
Best,
Stripe team member
Final Consumer Response /* (2000, 11, 2014/08/30) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
We appreciate Stripe's ability to claim ownership of any mistakes made on their part. Thank you for your attention to this issue and I believe both parties will be able to walk away from this experience having learned something.
If Stripe still cares to value our business, we would be willing to carry on our payment processing with you, with an attention on collectively setting up the account to prevent fraudulent activity. Contact us by email to discuss this matter.

Revdex.com:I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. Sincerely

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/07/21) */
We're legally required to review every business that signs up with us here at Stripe, and that includes verify ownership of a domain as well as being able to view a website. We were unable to do either of those things at the moment that...

this complaint was filed.
Currently, the user's website lead us to an error and we were unable to visit the webpage. We responded and attached a screenshot of this error. The user was able to provide an alternative domain and we were able to verify domain ownership.
We've released the user's funds, and this issue has been resolved.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/07/22) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Their response was extremely delinquent and since the domain they asked that we verify did not exist in email format we had to hire an IT programmer to create the unusable email address. All I wanted was to communicate to STRIPE and they did not deliver on their promised '24 hour' response time. 1-2 weeks to respond when salary funds are held up is deplorable.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/07/27) */
On April June 14th, we reached out to the complainant requesting information to complete their identity verification. Stripe must verify all of our user's identities to stay in compliance with KYC, or Know Your Customer, regulations. The URL that the complainant originally provided was incorrect, and we needed the additional info to finish the verification process. We allow our users to start processing before verification is complete, but [redacted] ask for more data or clarification in some cases having a verifiable online presence is a necessary step in Stripe's identity verification procedure. If the user doesn't respond within a few days of our message, we [redacted] disable their transfers until they are able to send over the requested information.
This was the case with the complainant. The complainant responded regarding our June 14th message on July 11th providing a working URL. We then sent an e-mail to the complainant on July 22nd, informing them that their account had been verified and transfers had been enabled.
We would like to sincerely apologize for the delay in releasing the complainant's transfers. The verification process is vital to our business, but in this case the time it took adversely effect our user's business. If the user has any issues or questions we can help with as they continue to process with Stripe, we [redacted] do everything possible to respond efficiently.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/06/05) */
On May 15, 2015, Stripe reached out to ask the complainant for an updated business website. Complainant responded promptly to the request. However, due to delays on Stripe's end, the complainant did not receive a resolution to their...

issue with their delayed transfer until one week later. We want to make sure that Stripe users have the very best experiences, and are committed to doing the right thing in situations where a mistake on Stripe's end has impacted a legitimate business's operations. For that reason, we have refunded the fees associated with the complainant's delayed payment, which was transferred to their bank account on May 22, 2015.

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because:The Stripe company was so negligent in processing the money transfer in a timely manner to my business account. I attempted several times over the course of two weeks to input the correct bank information without success.  At the end of this back and forth I was then asked to provide a copy of a voided check for the correct account information.  Why didn't this happen at the beginning of this transaction?  This could have avoided all the complications, wasted time, frustration and extreme detriment to my company and customer base.  Because I had to refund the order to a dear customer who may have lost confidence in my company due to Stripe dropping the ball!  I will no longer be using Stripe and have no desire to further communication with them and would strongly urge you to investigate their business practices.  
Sincerely,[redacted]

Revdex.com:I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. However it does not make sense to me how my Stripe account was disabled on [redacted] and I still had funds being taken from my bank account on [redacted]. No one had answered how this happened  when according to Stripe the account was disabled and I have yet to receive the call is needed to have before I can cancel this service.  My mom passed away yesterday and I don't need to deal with this inept company. Sincerely, [redacted]

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/03/24) */
As the customer stated, they initially reached out with an email on March 6th to ask why a transfer had not been scheduled along with a question regarding Stripe's pricing. In our initial reply on March 7th, we answered the pricing...

question and let them know that we were initiating an investigation into their transfer.
This investigation took several days to complete, with several internal staff working to resolve the transfer problem. We responded on March 17th as soon as we were able to rectify the issue on the customer's account. Transfers are currently functioning properly, and we have sent multiple transfers to the customer since our last email, including the $372.62 mentioned in the complaint.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/03/02) */
One of the ways that Stripe is able to get users up and running quickly is because of our rather unique registration process. When you sign up for a Stripe account, we use the information you enter to verify both your website and the...

person signing up for the Stripe account.
That said, in this case we unfortunately had trouble viewing and/or matching the user's website (www.solidrock-media.com) with their submitted account information. We emailed them on October 20, 2014, asking them to provide a website that provided information about what they sell and how customers might get in touch with them.
Unfortunately, we were not able to confirm this information until February 2, 2015. At this time, we re-enabled transfers to the user's account, and they should have received the outstanding funds by February 6.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/09/23) */
Stripe operates within a variety of constraints imposed by our banking partners, credit card networks and applicable law. One of these constraints is that we can only support businesses that are primarily located in the countries where we are...

licensed to operate. During a scheduled review of the complainant's account, it came to our attention that the majority of the complainant's activity was from Nicaragua--a country Stripe is not yet licensed to operate in--and so we were obliged to stop processing payments for their business.
Stripe notified the complainant of these restrictions on September 1st and allowed 14 days for the complainant to switch to another processor. During this time we received a number of emails from the complainant providing additional information about their business operations. We reviewed all of the information provided and concluded that we would in fact be able to continue supporting their business. This review was completed on September 22nd, the complainant's account was immediately re-enabled and the complainant was informed by email that they would be able to resume processing payments through Stripe.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 7, 2015/09/24) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
I accept that the company re-enabled my account, as I understand they should have since I was not operating outside of their terms of agreement. However, I do NOT accept that it took 3 weeks and 7 emails, and finally involving the Revdex.com in order to get a real person to provide a 2 paragraph response and a basic amount of customer service. I will no longer be requiring the services of Stripe, I think I'll quit while I'm ahead and find another card processing company that actually values their customers.

Below is Stripe's Response to the complaint submitted by [redacted] (herein referred to as the "Complainant") on October 17, 2017.
Stripe Overview
As background, Stripe provides a technology platform that allows merchants selling permissible goods or services online, or through a mobile...

device, to quickly and simply accept credit card payments.[1] Merchants register for an account by providing contact information, some information about their business and its principals, and bank account information. This information is submitted through an electronic application process and additional information, such as ID scans, may be requested by Stripe after submission.
 
Merchants have control over what information is provided to Stripe – for credit card charges, this must minimally contain the card number and expiration date. Most merchants also elect to provide the name, CVC, ZIP code as an anti-fraud measure, but are not required to. It is important to note that funds are briefly held in an aggregated clearing account at a bank before being deposited into the merchant's bank account.  It is important to note that merchants identify the account into which funds are ultimately deposited through the Stripe management interface. Merchants consent to Stripe’s Services Agreement when establishing their account. A current version of the Stripe Services Agreement is available at [redacted]
Merchant Account Overview 
The Complainant submitted an account with Stripe on June 11, 2017 under the name "[redacted]" at [redacted]. Stripe processed payments for the account owner until September 28, 2017. During a routine review, Stripe identified strong signals that the Complainant's account was in violation of the Stripe Terms of Service. Specifically, Stripe cannot process payments that appear to be unauthorized by the owner of the charged card. The majority of the Complainant’s business seemed to be driven through unauthorized, fraudulent charges.
Subsequently, 100% of the charges accumulated on the account were charged back using the mechanisms provided by the credit card network, indicating that the charges were fraudulent or otherwise improper. As these chargebacks accumulated, pursuant to the Complaint's agreement with Stripe and as described in further detail below, Stripe debited these funds from the Complainant. Specifically, as further described below, we debited the amount that was charged back and a fee of $15 for each chargeback that we processed.
Dispute Resolution Terms
Stripe charges a fee for providing the service outlined above ([redacted]). This includes both fees per transaction as well as fees for other services, such as dispute resolution. For US accounts, a merchant incurs a $15 dispute fee for each dispute submitted on a charge processed through Stripe's platform ([redacted]). We charge this because Stripe incurs fees and costs for each dispute filed against a merchant. If the dispute is resolved in the favor of the merchant, the $15 dispute fee is refunded to the merchant even though Stripe receives no reimbursement of fees and costs incurred in supporting the merchant with the dispute resolution process. 
When a cardholder initiates a dispute against a merchant using the dispute mechanisms provided by the cardholder's bank, Stripe provides tools for the user to submit evidence that illustrates that the charge was legitimate. However, Stripe plays no role in the ultimate decision made on whether the chargeback is valid.  When a merchant signs up to use Stripe's services, the merchant agrees to be immediately liable for all disputes. 
In specific, the Complainant's agreement with Stripe states:
"When a Chargeback is issued, you are immediately liable to Stripe for the full amount of the transaction related to the Chargeback plus any associated Fees, fines, expenses or penalties (including those assessed by the Card Networks or our payment processors). You agree that Stripe may recover these amounts by debiting your Bank Account, debiting the Reserve Account, or setting off any amounts owed to you by us. If we are unable to recover funds related to a Chargeback for which you are liable, you will pay us the full amount of the Chargeback immediately upon demand. Where such amounts are not immediately paid to us, you agree to pay all costs and expenses, including without limitation attorneys’ fees and other legal expenses, incurred by or on behalf of us in connection with the collection of any unpaid Chargebacks unpaid by you." 
(see [redacted])
The Complainant has won these chargebacks. As a result, the funds will be transferred to them shortly.
For the reasons explained in detail above, Stripe acted in accordance with its terms of service in the handling of this merchant account and the Complainant's claim for damages is baseless.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2014/10/27) */
Hi there,
Thanks for sharing your concern about this unknown charge.
Stripe is a payment processor that helps merchants accept credit card payments online and in mobile apps. We process millions of credit card authorizations each...

year for thousands of companies of all sizes.
Sometimes, when a merchant using Stripe attempts to authorize a customer's card for later use, we send over a request to the customer's bank for either a $0 or a $1 authorization (different banks require different amounts). This is not an actual charge, and it will disappear from your statement; depending on the bank, it will be removed from your statement in anywhere from a few minutes to a few weeks.
When we perform this authorization, we send along statement descriptor text that includes the actual merchant's URL, phone number, and business address to your customer's bank.
However, sometimes card networks (especially American Express) take a day or two to display the merchant's information in its statement descriptor, and instead show "Stripe" and our address while a charge is pending. "Stripe" is replaced by the merchant's statement descriptor within 48 hours of the authorization attempt.
Stripe has been working with card networks to resolve this issue, so that the appropriate merchant's information appears at the time of the authorization attempt.
In this, the $1 authorization would have shown as pending for up to a month before dropping off of your account. Stripe's information would have been replaced with information about the actual merchant within 48 hours of the authorization attempt.
Thanks again for your feedback!
Kind regards,
Stripe
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2014/11/03) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
It is my understanding and it appears that "Stripe" agrees that American Express should show the merchant's name and contact information that I did direct business with, not "Stripe". It needs to be a descriptor that is recognizable to the cardholder. This is apparantly a known issue and Stripe needs to put more pressure on AmEx to update their process to be compliant. They have not. This leads to confusion and a waste of time of all parties involved.
Stripe is non-compliant as a result of their third party's (namely, American Express) inability to comply with well known card processing standards.
I still don't know which merchant I initiated contact with that uses Stripe on the back end.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2014/11/07) */
Stripe helps thousands of merchants accept payments online. We don't charge customers' cards directly, and it's an unfortunate bug that sometimes our information shows up on cardholders' bank statements instead of the business's. At the moment, American Express will show "Stripe" and our address while a charge is pending. The payment in question would have been a charge authorization made with one of the many online businesses using Stripe to accept payments, and would not have come from Stripe directly. When [redacted] either attempted to store his card with one of these businesses or when he submitted a payment to one of these businesses, we sent over a request to his issuing bank for a $1 authorization to verify that the card was issued and the bank would allow it to be authorized. Regardless of whether or not the authorization is declined, we reverse our authorization request immediately. However, even if the bank declines the authorization, some people may still see an authorization for $1 on their credit card statement. The important thing to remember is that this is not a charge, and it will disappear from [redacted]'s statement; depending on the bank, it will be removed from his statement in anywhere from a few minutes to a few weeks.
If [redacted] would like to write into us directly at [redacted]@stripe.com (for privacy and security reasons) with information about his charge authorization, we'd be happy to look up the charge authorization information and let him know which of our merchants created that charge authorization. Specifically, the following information would be useful:
- last four digits of the card
- expiration date
- card type

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/12/01) */
Disputes can be a frustrating part of accepting credit card payments, and Stripe does everything possible to make sure our users have an advantage during the disputes process. That said, Stripe does not have the ability to resolve disputes for...

our users, or make decisions about who wins or loses. Stripe provides tools to our users for submitting evidence to their customers' card-issuer, but that the issuer is the entity who arbitrates the process, not Stripe.
The complainant ultimately bears the responsibility for preventing fraud and disputes on their account. This procedure is in accordance with the following sections of our Terms of Service, which can also be found at https://stripe.com/us/terms and more specifically https://stripe.com/us/terms#receiving-your-funds-from-card-transactions "You are responsible for refunds, returns, and liable for customer disputes (chargebacks)."
Additional relevant terms agreed to by the complainant:
https://stripe.com/us/terms#payment-methods
https://stripe.com/us/terms#chargebacks
Section C.6 of Stripes Terms of Service states:
"When a Chargeback is issued, you are immediately liable to Stripe for the full amount of the transaction related to the Chargeback plus any associated Fees, fines, expenses or penalties (including those assessed by the Card Networks or our payment processors). You agree that Stripe may recover these amounts by debiting your Bank Account, debiting the Reserve Account, or setting off any amounts owed to you by us. If we are unable to recover funds related to a Chargeback for which you are liable, you will pay us the full amount of the Chargeback immediately upon demand. Where such amounts are not immediately paid to us, you agree to pay all costs and expenses, including without limitation attorneys' fees and other legal expenses, incurred by or on behalf of us in connection with the collection of any unpaid Chargebacks unpaid by you."
We also pride ourselves on having as much documentation for our users as we possibly can. One area of focus is fraud and dispute prevention, and we clearly mention steps for our users to take in order to prevent this exact type of situation:
https://support.stripe.com/questions/avoiding-fraud-and-disputes#identifying-pot...⇄ /> While we understand the stress this situation has caused the complainant, our Terms of Service and documentation are very clear that the ultimate responsibility for preventing fraud falls on our users.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2014/06/12) */
The complainant wrote in to us on May 30 to inquire about a notification from Shopify that his balance was on hold due to his having been identified on a credit card network blacklist. We responded 4 hours later to provide additional...

information and context on the blacklist database he referred to, and clearly explained that, his account being with Shopify, there wasn't any additional customer support that we're able to provide. No further communication from this customer was received from any email address associated with his Shopify account.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/08/20) */
Stripe operates within a variety of constraints imposed by our banking partners, credit card networks and applicable law. As a result, Stripe must fully understand its users to ensure their businesses are consistent with Stripe's Terms of...

Service. All users agree to these terms when activating Stripe accounts, and the terms are posted here: https://stripe.com/terms
Since Stripe bears financial responsibility for all accounts using Stripe to accept payments, Stripe needs to have a high degree of confidence about their legitimacy, and their likelihood of delivering promised goods and services. Stripe periodically reviews accounts to verify that they meet these standards, and reaches out to merchants should any issues arise.
On August 12, 2015, Stripe reached out to the complainant requesting information to complete their business verification. The website that the complainant originally provided for their website was insufficient to establish verification , and we needed additional information to complete the process. We allow users to start processing before verification is complete, but will ask for more data or clarification in some cases. While this is ongoing, Stripe will disable transfers until the verification process has been completed.
In this case, the complainant also realized that their website was insufficient, and reached back out to Stripe to say as much, as well as provide a phone number and explanation of the nature of his business. On August 17, Stripe support responded to let the complainant know that we would require an invoice or other written record of the transactions processed through Stripe in order to continue transferring funds. Complainant responded to let us know that his business does not use invoices.
Since Stripe processes online payments, we do require that businesses using Stripe have an online presence that gives clear information on their products and services, pricing, return and refund policies, and contact information. Specifically, our Terms of Service state:
" We may also ask for additional information to help verify your identity and assess your business risk including business invoices, a driver's license or other government issued identification, or a business license. We may ask you for financial statements. We may request for your permission to do a physical inspection at your place of business and to examine books and records that pertain to your compliance with this Agreement. Your failure to comply with any of these requests within five (5) days may result in suspension or termination of your Stripe Account."
(Via https://stripe.com/us/terms#verification-and-underwriting)
We are generally flexible about how this requirement is fulfilled, as long as the site has a description of the product or service provided. For instance, a well filled out LinkedIn or Facebook business page can often suffice. If this isn't possible, we do request copies of invoices for payments processed. This is a standard procedure throughout the payments industry. Unfortunately, without either invoices or a clearly identifiable online presence, we will not be able to further support this user on Stripe.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/08/21) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
The issue is not the required verification we need to provide to Stripe. The issue is that it take days, sometimes longer, to get a response back from them. They have horrible customer service and their phone number on Revdex.com is inactive. They only respond via email and refuse to give us a call so we can take care of this as soon as possible. Every time we receive information from stripe requiring us to add additional information we immediately take care of it and respond back within the day. We have used them without issue for many weeks and at the moment they are withholding over seventeen thousand dollars. We have employees and over head to pay with these funds. These funds are owed to us and at the moment we are fulfilling our customers without anything going into our bank account.
This needs to be resolved today.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 12, 2015/10/09) */
There appears to have been some short lapse in communication between August 14th and August 17th where the complainant claims to not have received some responses sent from [redacted]@stripe.com. There was also a slight delay between August 17th and August 23rd, while we explored the details of the complainant's business. After this, the complainant was able to discuss the issue with a member of the Stripe team, verify the information we needed, and we were able to resume transfers as a result.
We don't offer phone support at this time, but we're happy to answer questions and chat with our users via email. To get the fastest answers, they can just reply by email; there are multiple people watching this inbox, and we work very hard to provide fast and personal responses. You can also find answers to common questions on our site at https://support.stripe.com/.
Stripe operates within a variety of constraints imposed by our banking partners, credit card networks and applicable law. In this case, after reviewing the complainant's information and website, we believe the business presents a level of risk for customer disputes that we will be unable to support. Specifically, the chargeback rate of 14.0% is much higher than the industry threshold of 1%. We contacted the complainant about this on October 9th 2015.
We understand that there may be some work involved with moving the business away from Stripe, and we're happy to help out with this process by giving you 5 days to switch to a new provider. After that, you won't be able to accept additional charges on your account, but we will continue making transfers to your bank account until you receive all of your funds.
Because the 1% chargeback rate threshold is determined by the credit card networks, I'm afraid that our hands are tied in this situation, and we will be unable to reopen your account. I'm sorry we won't be able to help with the business, and we wish the complainant the best of luck during the switch to a different payment provider.