Disputes dashboard

A dispute — also called a chargeback — occurs when an angler contacts their card issuer and formally challenges a charge. Stripe notifies FishTourney automatically when a dispute is opened, and the dispute appears in your tournament admin page within minutes. Most organizers will never encounter a dispute, but when one does arrive it carries a response deadline and requires action on your part.

Where to find disputes

Each tournament admin page has a Disputes tab. The tab is only visible to organizers and co-organizers with management permissions. If no disputes have been filed for a tournament, the tab shows a confirmation message to that effect.

Dispute fields

Each row in the disputes table contains:

• Date — when Stripe received the dispute from the card network.
• Amount — the dollar value being disputed, which is typically equal to the entry fee paid.
• Reason— the reason code the angler gave their bank, such as “service not provided”, “credit not processed”, or “unrecognized”.
• Status — the current stage of the dispute:
  • needs_response or warning_needs_response— Stripe requires you to submit evidence by the deadline or the dispute will be decided in the angler's favor automatically.
  • under_review or warning_under_review — evidence has been submitted and the card network is evaluating it.
  • won — the dispute was decided in your favor.
  • lost or warning_closed— the dispute was decided in the angler's favor.
• Evidence deadline — the date by which you must submit evidence via Stripe if you want to contest the dispute. This field is blank for disputes that have already been resolved.
• View in Stripe — a direct link to the dispute record in the Stripe dashboard where you upload evidence and see the full dispute timeline.

Submitting evidence

FishTourney does not handle evidence submission directly — all evidence is uploaded through the Stripe dashboard. Click View in Stripeon the relevant dispute row to open the Stripe dispute page. From there, follow Stripe's guided evidence form. Stripe accepts PDFs, images, and text explanations.

Evidence must be submitted before the deadline shown in the disputes table. Stripe does not accept late submissions, and a missed deadline results in an automatic loss.

Outcomes and money

When a dispute is opened, Stripe immediately debits the disputed amount plus a dispute fee (currently $15 per dispute) from your Stripe balance. This happens regardless of the eventual outcome.

• If you win — Stripe reinstates the disputed amount and the dispute fee to your Stripe balance. The dispute status updates to won in FishTourney automatically via webhook.
• If you lose — the funds remain with the angler and the dispute fee is not returned. The dispute status updates to lost.

In both cases, the payout panel totals for the tournament are not retroactively changed — they reflect the accounting at the time of settlement. Any dispute-related debits or reinstatements appear directly in your Stripe balance history.