# Dispute withdrawals Learn what to do when a cardholder withdraws their dispute. The most effective dispute strategy is to [reduce the number of disputes](https://docs.stripe.com/disputes/prevention.md) you receive in the first place. For the best results, work directly with your customer to resolve the issue if you do receive a dispute. Every *card network* (A network that processes the transactions of a particular card brand. It might be an intermediary in front of an issuing bank as with Visa or Mastercard, or a standalone entity as with American Express) has some provision in its dispute system for the cardholder to retract a dispute after filing it. Settling the dispute amicably with your customer and convincing them to withdraw it’s the best way to win it. ## Withdrawn disputes A withdrawn dispute is one that your customer has asked their *card issuer* (The entity that issued a payment card to a cardholder. This could be a bank, such as with the Visa or Mastercard network, or it could be the card network itself, such as with American Express) to cancel. It isn’t *necessarily* a won dispute, because the dispute might still resolve as a loss if you haven’t submitted evidence. A withdrawn dispute is otherwise no different from any other dispute: - It doesn’t resolve as a win or loss more quickly than other disputes. - It doesn’t show up differently from any other dispute in the Dashboard or API. - It still counts against your [dispute rate](https://docs.stripe.com/disputes/measuring.md) with the card network. Cardholders can only fully withdraw financial disputes—that is, a chargeback, where your account balance has been debited. They can’t withdraw an [early fraud warning](https://docs.stripe.com/disputes/how-disputes-work.md#early-fraud-warnings) or an [inquiry](https://docs.stripe.com/disputes/how-disputes-work.md#inquiries), which don’t have any financial impact. The cardholder might decline to escalate these, but can’t undo them. ## Pursue a dispute withdrawal Although a dispute withdrawal is a good way to turn a dispute into a win and resolve a negative experience for your customer, it also requires some effort. You need to weigh the amount of effort against how much it helps your dispute win rate. For disputes with a [high likelihood of winning](https://docs.stripe.com/disputes/best-practices.md#likelihood-of-winning-disputes), you can generally submit evidence to fight it, without reaching out to your customer. For low value disputes, you can go ahead and [accept the dispute](https://docs.stripe.com/disputes/responding.md#decide) if you don’t want to invest time and resources to fight it. ## Talk to your customer Contact your customer to try to work through the problem with them. If you can reach a resolution, ask them to contact their card issuer and withdraw the dispute. The process for this varies by issuer. If your customer agrees to withdraw the dispute, you can ask them to provide confirmation of the withdrawal, such as a confirmation email from their bank or a screenshot of their mobile banking statement that shows they were re-billed for the charge. This evidence isn’t required for your response to the issuer, but provide it if you can. > If resolving the issue with your customer involves agreeing to issue a refund, be aware that it might take weeks or even months before you can do so. Your customer withdrawing the dispute doesn’t necessarily accelerate their issuer’s dispute timeline. You [can’t issue a refund](https://docs.stripe.com/disputes/how-disputes-work.md#receive-dispute) on a disputed charge until your customer’s card issuer decides in your favor. ## Submit evidence Regardless of what happens between you and your customer, you still need to [submit evidence](https://docs.stripe.com/disputes/responding.md#respond) if you want to win the dispute. Always provide evidence for every dispute you hope to have resolved in your favor, even if your customer told you they’re withdrawing the dispute. Many card issuers treat failure to submit evidence as an acceptance of liability on your part. This means you can still lose the dispute if you don’t submit evidence, even if the customer withdrew the dispute with their issuer. You can submit evidence for a dispute just one time, so you want to wait long enough for your conversation with the customer to play out, but not so long that you miss the deadline. The *card network* (A network that processes the transactions of a particular card brand. It might be an intermediary in front of an issuing bank as with Visa or Mastercard, or a standalone entity as with American Express) rules don’t allow you to submit evidence after the deadline. If you can’t convince the customer to withdraw the dispute before the evidence deadline, that’s okay. You still need to file [appropriate evidence](https://docs.stripe.com/disputes/categories.md) to challenge the dispute reason. > If you counter a dispute, a [dispute countered fee](https://support.stripe.com/questions/june-2025-pricing-updates-for-disputes#fee-details) applies, in addition to the dispute received fee. The cardholder’s bank reviews it and decides the dispute outcome. This can take up to 3 months. When Stripe receives the decision, you receive an email from us. > > Stripe returns the dispute countered fee if you win the dispute. Unless otherwise stated in your Stripe contract, we never return the dispute received fee. > > > The dispute countered fee doesn’t apply to businesses in Mexico and Japan. ## Dispute resolution Generally, a withdrawn dispute doesn’t resolve any faster than other types of disputes. After your customer withdraws it and you submit evidence, expect the dispute to follow the [normal dispute timeline](https://docs.stripe.com/disputes/how-disputes-work.md#timing). ## Late dispute withdrawal Every card network allows cardholders to withdraw a dispute after the response deadline, even long after a dispute is lost. However, some card issuers within the network might not support late withdrawal in every case. As with any dispute, the cardholder must contact their issuer to request a late withdrawal and determine if it’s allowed. Late withdrawals often occur outside the networks’ dispute systems. Unlike the regular dispute lifecycle, they aren’t governed by network rules or regulations. As a result, when a customer withdraws an old, lost dispute, it’s difficult to set a realistic expectation for when you’ll see it reflected in your Stripe account. The cardholder’s issuer might take weeks or months to process this type of adjustment.