Everything you need to know about temporary holds on your Squarespace Payments funds.

What is a reserve?

A reserve is a temporary hold on a portion of your business's funds for a predetermined period of time. Reserves are intended to cover any anticipated losses that may result from a business’s processing activity.

Customer refunds and chargebacks are pulled directly from your reserve balance. These funds are held to protect you from unexpected settlement difficulties.

If a transaction gets refunded or disputed, a corresponding portion of the reserve will be released and used to cover the refund or dispute immediately. Reserve funds will be fully released at the end of the reserve period if they're not needed for disputes or refunds.

There are three different types of reserves:

• Fixed reserve: A set percentage of funds from each new transaction is held in reserve until a specified release date. On the release date, the reserved funds are released to your Squarespace Payments account balance and made available for the next payout.
• Rolling reserve: A set percentage of funds from each new transaction is held in reserve on a rolling basis. As individual transactions move beyond the time window, any reserved funds from those transactions will be released to your account balance and made available for the next payout.
• One-time reserve hold: A set amount of funds are moved from your account balance to your reserve balance with a set expiration date.

Why are reserves necessary?

A reserve may be placed on your account to help mitigate any potential risks and losses you may incur while you do business. This can include several reasons, such as:

• Longer-than-average delivery windows or billing cycles.
• A high amount of unfulfilled customer orders.
• A high amount of payment disputes or refunds issued.
• A sudden increase in payment processing volume.

Lowering your risk

Here are some ways to prevent disputes, and generally keep your business in good health:

• Monitor your overall dispute activity in the Finance panel.
• Address disputes promptly.
• Implement measures to safeguard your business from payment fraud.
• Clearly showcase your shipping terms, return policy, refund policy, and any money-back guarantees on your website for easy customer access.
• Maintain thorough records of receipts, agreements, and proof of shipment. For digital products or services, keep access logs or documentation linking usage to customers.
• Offer a simple way for customers to reach you with any product or service problems.
• Inform your customers about any delays in product or service delivery.

Reserve terms and notifications

Before a reserve is placed on your account, you'll receive an email from customercare@squarespace.com with the subject line “Squarespace Payments: Notice of Account Reserve.”

This email will provide the following information:

• Reserve terms
• Percentage of the funds that will be held
• Time period for which the reserve will be applied

You'll receive an email notification from customercare@squarespace.com with the subject line “Squarespace Payments: Notice of Account Reserve” when one of the following actions occur:

• A reserve is placed on your account.
• A reserve has expired or been removed from your account.
• A change is made to your reserve configuration (such as amount or expiration date).

Reserve expiration

A few days before a reserve is set to expire, we’ll review your account to determine if the reserve should be removed, decreased, or increased. The decision to update the reserve depends on your business’s financial health, the number of refunds and disputes on the account, and several other factors.

Reserve extension

After review, if your account still has a high level of risk, we may extend the reserve on it.

Finding information on your reserve

You can review details about the reserve in the Notice of Account Reserve email that you receive. This information includes:

• The total funds held in reserve.
• When your ‌reserve funds are set to be released.
• What percent of incoming charges are placed in reserve and what amount is reserved from a specific transaction.
• When a chargeback or refund occurs, what percent came from reserves versus your available Squarespace Payments balance.

Need more help?

If you need more help, respond to the notice of account reserve email you received from customercare@squarespace.com with any questions or concerns.