Why is there a reserve on my Stripe account?
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Stripe (our payment processor) may hold a percentage of funds in a reserve for new accounts to cover any potential chargebacks or disputes. For more information on how payout plans (also referred to as rolling reserves or reserves) work at Stripe, please refer to their related support pages.
Why Does Stripe Apply Reserves?
Stripe continuously monitors each business account by assessing a range of factors including industry conditions, payment activity, dispute rate and refund rate. In some cases this monitoring indicates that a business faces elevated risk of customers requesting refunds or disputing charges. Refunds to customers can be delayed if a business does not have enough funds in its Stripe balance. Stripes establishes a reserve to help ensure funds are on hand to cover future refunds or disputes if a business doesn’t have enough funds in its Stripe balance. This type of reserve is routine, and does not impact your ability to continue accepting payments with Stripe.
How a Reserve Works
When a reserve is applied to your Stripe account, you will receive a notice from Stripe's support team that lays out the terms of the reserve. Reserves are usually applied for 45-180 days and can be for any amount, from 5-100% of processing volume.
Removing a Reserve
Stripe knows access to your funds is important, and Stripe will continue to monitor your account in case they can remove or decrease the reserve. To make this determination, Stripe will look at a range of factors including industry conditions, payment activity, dispute rate and refund rate. If Stripe can determine that your business is no longer facing an elevated risk of refunds and disputes Stripe will reduce or remove the reserve.
What You Can Do
If you have a well-established processing history with another payments provider, Stripe would be happy to re-evaluate the need to reserve any funds. Contact Stripe for more details.