ChargebackDesk · Guides · Product not received
Responding to a Stripe "product_not_received" dispute
The customer says they paid and never got the product (Visa 13.1; Mastercard 4855, which Stripe lists as "Transaction Did Not Complete"; Amex C08). For digital goods there is no shipping record — and every shipping_* field is irrelevant. "Delivery" means three provable things: access was granted, credentials were delivered, and the buyer walked in.
Deadline rules
- The authoritative deadline is the evidence due-by date on the dispute in Stripe. If you don't respond by then, you automatically lose the dispute. Submit at least 72 hours early.
- Treat the response as a single submission — complete the first time.
- Amex/Discover may open with an inquiry (
warning_needs_response); unanswered Discover inquiries can become unchallengeable disputes.
What evidence wins
- Access log. First login, downloads, license activations after purchase. The buyer accessed it — therefore it was received. This is the strongest exhibit in the category.
- Delivery emails with mail-provider proof. The welcome/license/credentials email with its delivery record from SendGrid, Postmark, Mailgun, or your platform — recipient, time, and delivered/opened status. "Our system sent it" without the provider record is much weaker.
- Fulfillment record. Account creation, license issuance, or download log, timestamped at or after purchase.
- Receipt + product description. What was delivered and how — "license key emailed at checkout; account created at [URL]" stated plainly, with the service date: the date/time access was granted.
The minimum checklist
- ME-P1 — timestamped fulfillment exists: delivery email with provider delivery/open log, OR account/license created at/after purchase.
- ME-P2 — at least one of: a post-delivery access event, or mail-provider confirmation of delivery (delivered/opened — not merely sent).
- ME-P3 — the delivery target matches the charge identity (email/account = the buyer on the charge).
Common mistakes that lose winnable cases
- Filling in shipping fields anyway. Don't write "N/A" in tracking fields or upload a shipping policy. State in the narrative that the product is digital and delivered by account access, then prove the access.
- Pointing at marketing copy. "Instant delivery!" on your sales page is a claim, not a record. Include the log instead.
- Uploading the product itself. Sending the course files or the software proves you have a product, not that this buyer received it.
- Ignoring a bounce. If the delivery email hard-bounced and nothing was done about it, the customer may be telling the truth. Check the bounce record before you fight. If the customer never got it, don't fight: accept the dispute in Stripe (the customer already has the money back) and deliver the product.
- Wrong-address delivery. Credentials sent to an email that doesn't match the charge, with no buyer request for that address on file, usually ends the case. Look for the mismatch early.
Answering an inquiry? Amex and Discover can open a case as an inquiry (warning_needs_response) before any chargeback. Answer it with your narrative plus the single strongest exhibit — here, the access log excerpt; if no access event exists but the provider delivery record is solid, lead with that instead. Don't leave it unanswered: an unanswered Discover inquiry can escalate into a dispute you can't challenge. If the customer is right, a full refund resolves an inquiry with no Stripe dispute fee; accepting an inquiry doesn't resolve it.