Stripe, Inc.

The email is[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. Sincerely, [redacted]

Stripe operates within the constraints imposed by our banking partners, credit card networks, and applicable laws. Therefore, 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 
Because Stripe bears financial responsibility for all accounts using Stripe to accept payments, Stripe has to have a high degree of confidence about their legitimacy, and their likelihood of delivering promised goods and services. Stripe also 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 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.  On June 13, we reached to the complainant to let them know about our concerns and to get more information about the payments in question. The complainant submitted additional information the next day, which was used to complete an additional verification. After a thorough investigation, Stripe closed the complainant's 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#termination
While 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.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/08/17) */
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 that appear to be unauthorized by the owner of the charged card. On 25th February 2015, 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#termination
While 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.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/08/28) */
Hello, In answer to Stripes response, I do not understand how a payment processing center is basically accusing there client of accepting bad charge cards. They are the company that we trusted to process all of the credit card transactions when purchasing our merchandise. We have no idea if the payment transaction is legitimate or not that is why we partnered with Stripe, whose job it is to verify the credit card transaction.
Also they cancelled our account as of February 25, 2015, (which they confirmed in there response), that would make it over 6 months since the account was closed. I believe that is enough time to know if all transactions are final.
Thank You,
[redacted]/ [redacted]
Final Business Response /* (4000, 11, 2015/09/25) */
Hey [redacted],
In response to our position:
In reviewing the claim below, we've elected to enable transfers to the account the money should reach their bank account within the next 5-7 business days. As outlined in our terms of service, we withhold the right to suspend payouts to a user's bank account if we anticipate an excessive number of chargebacks, as outlined in the link below:
https://stripe.com/us/terms#payout-schedule
As mentioned earlier, the complainant can still log into their Stripe account, and should be able to confirm the transfer of funds for themselves.
Best Regards,
Stripe

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2016/01/07) */
While Stripe never wants to turn away businesses, we did find that there was an elevated risk in processing payments for this business. To clarify, since Stripe bears financial responsibility for all accounts using Stripe to accept payments,...

Stripe needs to have a high degree of confidence about their likelihood of delivering promised goods and services. The complainant was asked to provide additional information so that we could verify their business through a working URL. This is because, to continue transferring funds and provide support to a business, we need to be able to verify what is being sold, and how customers can get in touch in case of issues.
As we didn't receive these details, we closed this account 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#termination
That said, we do completely understand the frustration and confusion caused by the lack of response to your emails. Unfortunately, based on our ToS, we're unable to change the decision that has been made in closing this account. If you have any follow up questions about this, please feel free to contact [redacted]@stripe.com to discuss this in more detail.

Below is Stripe's Response to the complaint submitted by [redacted](herein referred to as the "Complainant") on June 8, [redacted].
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 https://stripe.com/us/legal.
[1] https://stripe.com/us/payments
Stripe's Relationship to the Complainant
To clarify, Stripe is not the merchant. As Stripe is not the merchant, it is not held responsible for the customer service administrated by it's users. This is outlined in the Terms of Service:
"You know your Customers better than we do, and you are responsible for your relationship with them. Stripe is not responsible for the products or services you publicize or sell, or that your Customers purchase using the Services; or if you accept donations, for your communication to your Customers of the intended use of such donations. You affirm that you are solely responsible for the nature and quality of the products or services you provide, and for delivery, support, refunds, returns, and for any other ancillary services you provide to your Customers."
https://stripe.com/us/legal#your-relationship-with-your-customers
In order for the Complainant to get a refund or update on their purchase, they will need to contact the merchant. The Complainant stated that they made a purchase from [redacted], so they should contact this merchant at https://[redacted].com/pages/contact-us-1.
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.

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/us/legalDuring a routine review, Stripe determined that the complainant's business was at a high risk for disputes. On September 19, [redacted], we contacted the complainant, informing them that we would no longer be able to support their business as their dispute rate was at 9.68%; we are unable to accept payments for businesses we determine to be at high risk for a dispute rate of over 1%, as mentioned here: https://stripe.com/us/legal#specific-payment-methodsThe closing of this account was 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/legal#terminationIn order to mitigate future losses to Stripe as a result of chargebacks on the complainant's account, a reserve was set in place that will last for 90 days. Funds will be transferred to the complainant's bank account on December 19, [redacted]. This is in accordance to our terms "We may impose a Reserve on you for any reason if we determine that the risk of loss to Stripe, Customers, or others associated with your Stripe Account is higher than normal. For example, we may hold a Reserve if: (i) your or your Customers’ activities increase the risk of loss to us or to your Customers, (ii) you have violated or are likely to violate this Agreement, and (iii) your Stripe Account has an elevated or abnormally high number of Disputes."https://stripe.com/us/legalWhile there is a reserve in place, the complainant is able to log into their Stripe dashboard, process refunds to the customer's whose funds are held and reprocess these funds with a different processor.

We are sorry to hear that the complainant has had a negative experience with this business. To clarify, Stripe is not [redacted].com. Stripe is a payment processor, which means we process payments. It sounds like the complainant made a purchase with one of our users. We're unable to...

disclose any information about our users. However, if the complainant has concerns about the integrity about this business, they are welcome to write into [email protected] to articulate their concerns.

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because:
 
We have also escalated this complaint to the Attorney Generals office for California. There are just too many instances of your company doing this to other SMEs for you to continue un-curtailed. You CANNOT remain in business. Stripe IS A SCAM! By any means necessary including a full scale social media campaign WE WILL WARN people away from your "business"
You MUST release to our bank account the [redacted].** balance in my that you are holding hostage. You have provided no evidence to support your claims apart from referring to your nebulous terms and conditions. This matter will not rest until our funds are released immediately! Simple. You have done this to 100's of innocent businesses. You WILL NOT do it to us!Sincerely,[redacted]

Stripe has taken this opportunity to further review the state of this user's account. We found that the account was indeed closed due to a false positive by Stripe's fraud tooling.In light of our findings, in part due to this complaint, we have reinstated this account; the user is welcome to...

continue using Stripe and should find that their account will function normally. False positives like this are rare, and Stripe takes them very seriously. Stripe is reviewing this case to determine what led to the first decision and how situations like this can be prevented moving forward. In the meantime, we offer our apologies.

We understand the complainant's frustration. However, due to the high risk of disputes on their account, we must place a reserve on the complainant's account. If these transactions are indeed legitimate, the complainant is welcome to log into their Stripe account and refund the customer so they can reprocess the funds through a different processor.

Below is Stripe's Response to the complaint submitted by [redacted] (herein referred to as the "Complainant") on June 7, [redacted].
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 https://stripe.com/us/legal.
[1] https://stripe.com/us/payments
Merchant Account Overview 
The Complainant submitted an account with Stripe on February 26, [redacted] under the name [redacted]. Stripe processed payments for the account owner until March 4, [redacted]. During a routine review, Stripe determined that the complainant's business had a high level of disputes and was at risk for incurring more disputes. On March 4, [redacted], Stripe contacted the Complainant, informing them that their dispute rate was over industry standard, at 66.67%; we are unable to accept payments for businesses we determine to be at high risk for a dispute rate of over 1%, as mentioned here: 
"High chargeback rates (typically those exceeding 1%) may result in your inability to use the Payment Services. Failure to timely and effectively manage Disputes with your Customers may ultimately result in your inability to accept payment cards for your business."
https://stripe.com/us/legal#specific-payment-methods
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 $** for each chargeback that we processed.
Reserve Terms
In order to mitigate future losses to Stripe as a result of chargebacks on the Complainant's account, a reserve was set in place that will last for 90 days. Funds will be transferred to the complainant's bank account on May 28, [redacted]. This is in accordance to Stripe's Terms of Service:
"We may impose a Reserve on you for any reason if we determine that the risk of loss to Stripe, Customers, or others associated with your Stripe Account is higher than normal. For example, we may hold a Reserve if: (i) your or your Customers’ activities increase the risk of loss to us or to your Customers, (ii) you have violated or are likely to violate this Agreement, and (iii) your Stripe Account has an elevated or abnormally high number of Disputes."
https://stripe.com/us/legal#clearing-funds-and-reserves
Due to a bug, the funds were not immediately released at the end of the reserve. These funds have now been transferred to the Complainant's account.
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.

While we understand that the complainant is frustrated by Stripe taking a reserve on their account, we clearly identified events as a type of business that we will hold reserves on. The Services Agreement that was accepted by the complainant when opening their Stripe account states the following:"Stripe is not a bank and we do not provide loans or extend credit. If you accept payment for products or services (including events such as concerts or other performances) not immediately deliverable to the Customer (a “Preorder”), we may, in our sole discretion, initiate Reversals or hold Reserves for all or a portion of the Charges processed by us for a Preorder. If you would like to receive payment for a Preorder, please contact us before doing so."(See https://stripe.com/us/legal#section_c, Section C.2.)"Funds will be returned to you on the timeline provided, which is based on the potential risk of loss to Stripe. You can review our Services Agreement for more details." (See https://stripe.com/us/legal#section_c, Section C.8.)It is Stripe's strong preference to resolve this amicably as we believe this to be a waste of our and the complainant's time, energy, and money to pursue litigation. However, if they choose to file suit, please know that Stripe will vigorously defend its interests and reserves all rights available to it, including recovery of costs from the complainant for such lawsuit. Please also note that the complainant has agreed to arbitrate any dispute in San Francisco (See https://stripe.com/us/legal#section_e, Section E.11). Again, we sincerely hope that they elect not to go down this route, but if they elect to they may submit legal process tohttps://stripe.com/notices.

we had a couple retro products that we decided to sell 3 in all in hopes to start a business so we posted and people wanted a safe check out so we chose stripe. we make a sale for $325 we received $271 so we get a chargeback no big cuz we got evidence but wait stripe takes the money already sends it back then say dispute wait sixty days what for one that card close too you already admit guilt when the money sent back on top of that they said we owed $389 plus who ever has our product they say they don't monitor so we had our bank stay on it and they found it was fraudulent to take the money after while investigating right after we get hit with another which we did not dispute by this time we done read everything about this company knew we were not going to win no matter. the bank not going to get involved on another charge it put our stip count a negative $101 even though we had enuf to cover the charges because we had another order the problem was now we are going to be out all three products with no money so we still sent the order out to customer not their fault.We are now officially out of business until the bank return the first funds, what you now we get hit with another chargeback which we have to defend and lose of course even with evidence these chargeback are days if not weeks later everything passes they even sign for the packages as far customer service there none for stripe. We can understand if you get a complaint and stipe holds funds for you to dispute any complaints then decide who right or wrong not keep taking money then have you fight for it back just to get shut down.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2014/07/18) */
Stripe, Inc. ("Stripe") has reviewed the complaint, and concludes that it appropriately responded to complainant's inquiries to Stripe support. The desired resolution as stated by the complainant already has been reached as Stripe has...

provided timely responses to all inquiries made by the complainant.

Contrary to the complainant's assertion, Stripe provided a timely response on the morning of July X XXXX to complainant's several successive evening July 2 messages, and the Revdex.com forwarded Stripe's response to the complainant on July 3, 2014 as indicated in the Revdex.com's ("Revdex.com") Complaint Activity Report.
As the Stripe representative made clear to the complainant on initial contact, Stripe's Terms of Service Section B ("Registering for Stripe") prohibits the sale of credit and investment management and services. While the complainant asserted without evidence that their business was providing services tangential to this industry, the statement descriptor, email signatures, and website content suggested otherwise.
Unfortunately, given the level of risk associated with the early transactions, Stripe initially held funds for 30 days before transferring the seller's balance to his bank account. However, after receiving further confirmation of the authenticity of the charges, the funds were immediately released and sent to the seller's bank account on July 3rd.

As previously mentioned, we have identified that the complainant's Stripe account was in violation of the Stripe's Terms of Service as the charges processed showed strong signals that they were unauthorized. The closing of this account is in accordance with our Terms of Service. In particular, the significant credit or fraud risk:
https://stripe.com/us/terms#termination
Since Stripe cannot process payments that appear to be unauthorized by the legitimate cardholders, we would not be able to transfer any remaining funds to the complainant's bank account. The complainant can log in and refund these funds, then reprocess them through another processor if they wish. The complainant is welcome to reach out to Stripe at [email protected] if they would like to email with any additional questions they have.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/08/16) */
Stripe would like to investigate [redacted]'s complaint, but can find no associated account or emails to us using either her name or the email address [redacted]@comcast.net. Please write to us at [redacted]@stripe.com using this address, or reference Revdex.com...

complaint #XXXXXXXX so we can look into this matter further.

Final Consumer Response /* (2000, 6, 2014/07/17) */
Issue has been resolved

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/03/23) */
We try to respond to everyone in a timely and personable manner, but unfortunately there were delays in updating the provided information and responding to the complainant's email. This caused us to not respond to the complainant between...

March 06 and March 12. On March 13, a Stripe representative responded, notifying them their funds had been released and apologizing for the delay. The complainant replied thanking the Stripe representative, and at this time, their funds have been successfully delivered.

Stripe is required to hold onto all remaining funds for the industry standard chargeback window for very high risk accounts such as the complainant's. That hold helps protect ourselves, our banking partners, and their customers from potential fraud or disputes. We're legally prohibited from making any interest on held funds. Because these charges were identified as being unauthorized, we greatly prefer to refund these charges back to the card holders.
We also mention these policies in more detail within our Terms of Service here:
https://stripe.com/terms#termination
https://stripe.com/terms#registering-for-stripe
With regard to refunds, the complainant still has the ability to offer these from within their Stripe account. They were welcome to issue refunds to their customers and arrange for alternate means of payment with them.

Complaint:[redacted]I am rejecting this response because: all my transactions were authorized and all transactions used zip codes and acc, every transaction I have processed I have the owner of the transactions willing to testify on my behalf. Stripe still has not processed the $1843 That is in dispute. They need to either process it or give my clients a FULL refund, this is not stripes money.Sincerely,Brandon [redacted]