An account reserve is an amount of money that's put on hold in your PayPal account to help cover potential financial risk, such as payment reversals you may receive like chargebacks and claims.
PayPal uses three types of reserves: rolling reserves, minimum reserves, and jumpstart reserves
A rolling reserve is a reserve where we hold a percentage of each transaction you receive each day, and then release it later on a scheduled basis. This is the most common type of reserve.
A minimum reserve is a specific minimum amount of money we hold in your reserve balance. We either take the minimum reserve as a percentage of money held until it reaches a certain amount, or a one-time amount.
A jumpstart reserve is when we hold funds from your available balance immediately.
We may also use a combination of reserve types on your account.
You can view details of reserves on your account when you log into your PayPal Business account and view the balance ‘on hold’. You’ll be able to see how much money is in reserve, and when we plan to release your funds.
A reserve can be placed on your account for a number of reasons and is set on a case-by-case basis. PayPal considers a list of factors to determine this including:
You can access the PayPal User Agreement for a full list.
It depends on the type of reserve you have. Once a reserve is placed, you’ll receive a communication outlining the terms of your reserve, and you can also find the terms in your account.
If you have a rolling reserve, we’ll release funds after a certain period of time. For example, if you have a 90 day rolling reserve, funds from Day 1 sales will be available on Day 91. We release funds at the time of the original payment. So, if a payment was received, and held, at 9am on Day 1, it will be released at 9am on Day 91.
Minimum reserves are reviewed within every 180 days. PayPal proactively reviews reserves and based on improvements to your business performance, we may adjust or remove the reserves.
PayPal will periodically review your account within every 180 days to determine whether we need to adjust the reserve placement and amount. Reserves may be eligible for the reduction or removal with positive changes to key areas such as performance, industry, claims reduction, etc.
Reserves may be a necessity throughout your relationship with PayPal. Preventing reserves isn’t always possible, and depending on your industry and your credit history, you might never be able to fully remove a reserve from your account.
However, you can reduce the likelihood of having a reserve placed on your account by following seller best practices.
Some best practices to follow are:
A customer who receives prompt service, accurate order fulfillment, and speedy billing is a customer who will be less likely to file complaints or make returns in the future – and more likely to buy from you again.
In partnership with three expert business owners, the PayPal Bootcamp includes practical checklists and a short video loaded with tips to help take your business to the next level.
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