Open the dispute
Either party can open a dispute on an active or completed contract by giving a reason and a short description of what went wrong.
Dispute policy
When a deal goes wrong
Most projects run smoothly. When they don’t, here’s exactly how a dispute works on StandMatch — when to open one, how it’s reviewed, and what can come of it.
When to open a dispute
What disputes are for
Reach for the messaging thread first — most issues are a misunderstanding. Open a dispute when something material has actually gone wrong.
- The finished stand doesn't match the agreed scope, materials or quality.
- The booth wasn't delivered or installed on time for the show.
- Work agreed in the contract was left incomplete or never started.
- A party stopped responding, or acted in bad faith, after the contract was active.
How it works
From opening to outcome
Evidence window
You then have about five business days to add evidence. We automatically attach the on-platform paper trail — your messages, the agreed scope, milestones, photos and timestamps — the record that off-platform deals simply don't have.
Review against the agreed scope
Our trust-and-safety team reviews the case against the scope that was locked in when the contract was signed, then documents a decision. Every step is recorded on an append-only trail.
Outcome and effects
We publish a documented outcome, and concrete consequences follow on the profiles involved (see below).
Disputes are reviewed by a member of our trust-and-safety team. We aim to respond as quickly as we can and track our turnaround internally, but we don’t publish a fixed deadline we can’t promise to hit on every case — we’d rather be honest than set an expectation we can’t guarantee.
Outcomes
What a decision means
Resolved in the exhibitor's favour
Where a builder is found at fault, the outcome is noted on their public profile, logged as a risk signal, and — for serious or repeat cases — can mean a verification badge is revoked or the account is suspended. The exhibitor's review still stands.
Resolved in the builder's favour
Where the claim isn't substantiated, the outcome is recorded with no fault to the builder. Filing in bad faith is itself logged as a risk signal against the party who raised it.
Partial fault
Where both sides share responsibility, the outcome records split fault and is annotated on both profiles.
How outcomes stay fair
The process is built so it can’t be gamed by either side.
- Both the dispute and its resolution become a permanent fault annotation on the public profile and a permanent audit record. That reputational record is the strongest lever we have, and it sticks.
- If a dispute is opened just to dodge a bad review, the review window pauses until the dispute is resolved — you can't bury feedback by filing a complaint.
- If one party goes quiet, the case defaults toward the responsive side after a reminder. Serial or bad-faith filers are flagged.
Pre-escrow vs escrow phase
What a decision can do today — and later
Today, StandMatch isn’t holding the project’s funds, so a dispute decision is reputational: documented fault on the profile, a permanent audit record, and — in serious cases — badge revocation or suspension. We’re upfront that this is a strong deterrent rather than a refund button. When secure escrow payments arrive in a later phase, these same outcomes will also direct the real money held for the project — the point at which a dispute decision can move funds, not just reputation.