What proof wins a digital goods chargeback?

To win a digital goods chargeback, show that the paying cardholder used what they bought: login records, IP addresses and device data tied to the payer's account carry more weight than a receipt, and they have to be stored at the time of each order.

What is the bank looking for?

The issuer, meaning the cardholder's bank, wants proof that someone using the cardholder's account used the product. Stripe's advice for digital goods is to supply an IP address or system logs proving the customer downloaded or used it. A login record answers the question a digital goods dispute turns on, and a receipt does not.

If your product keeps only the receipt, the case starts weak. Check what it records today.

What counts as evidence for a Visa fraud claim?

Visa reason code 10.4 covers fraud claims where the card was not present, and the Visa Core Rules (edition of 18 April 2026) list what is allowable for it:

• 3 or more matching data elements from an undisputed transaction, drawn from login ID, delivery address, device ID, email, IP address and phone;
• non-disputed payments for the same service;
• evidence of household or family use;
• recurring-transaction history.

Each item ties the disputed charge to an account the cardholder has used before without complaint. The more elements that match, the harder it is to describe the charge as the work of a stranger. The rules also count login IDs used with an Agentic Payment Provider as valid customer login evidence, which suggests Visa expects agent-placed orders to be argued through account records as well.

Compelling Evidence 3.0, or CE 3.0, is Visa's test for the strongest case. The merchant shows 2 earlier transactions, processed more than 120 days and not more than 365 days before the dispute, that the issuer never reported as fraud, with matching data elements. How the two rules interact is set out in Visa fraud code 10.4 and Compelling Evidence 3.0.

From 24 October 2026, Visa expands the availability and application of CE 3.0 for 10.4 and allows multi-merchant transactions as evidence. That widens the pool of history a case can draw on, though the merchant still has to match elements between the old and new transactions.

A subscription app with a login ID on every payment suits this test, because the identifier is already attached. A merchant selling downloads to guest checkouts has an email address and little else. Store the account ID, IP address and device information with every order, since none of it can be rebuilt afterwards.

What about cancelled subscriptions and long-running services?

Visa 13.2, cancelled recurring transaction, gives the issuer 120 calendar days from the Transaction Processing Date. The question there is whether the cardholder cancelled before the charge, so the cancellation flow and its timestamps matter most. A usage log after the cancellation date helps, and one from before it does not.

Keep the cancellation date in a record you can show apart from the last usage date.

For services that run over time, Visa 13.1 allows disputes within 120 days of processing or of the last expected delivery date, capped at 540 days from processing. Your logs need to outlast the service period by a wide margin.

How should logs be presented?

Logs convince an issuer when they are specific. A line saying the account logged in 14 times is weaker than one giving the dates, the IP addresses and the files accessed. Follow it with a note that the same IP appears on 2 earlier undisputed orders.

An analyst reading a stack of cases wants the matching element found for them. Place it at the top of your response.

Takeaway: what to do this week

1. Test your last disputed digital order. Check whether the account ID was stored with the payment.
2. Keep IP address and device data for at least 365 days, longer for services that run over time. 365 days covers the CE 3.0 lookback; Visa 13.1 disputes can arrive up to 540 days after processing.
3. Separate cancellation from usage. Make sure the cancellation date can be shown apart from the last usage date.
4. Close any gap before the holiday peak. A missing field points to a change in what the product records, and that change cannot be made after a dispute arrives.

Sources: Stripe Docs, "Dispute best practices" (undated); Visa Core Rules, edition 18 April 2026, Table 11-6 items 10-13, Table 11-28 with sections 10.4.2.1 and 11.7.5.6, Table 11-92, Table 11-99, and Summary of Changes. All checked 24 October 2026.