What is a merchant reserve?

A merchant reserve is a percentage of each day's card settlement that the acquiring bank holds back as security against potential chargebacks, refunds, or account volatility. It's standard practice in high-risk verticals. For peptide merchants, Holistic Payments offers 15% for 60 days or 10% for 90 days, released to 0% after 90 days of good performance.

How are peptide reserves calculated?

Reserves are calculated as a percentage of daily settlement volume. If you run $10,000 in cards and your reserve is 10%, $1,000 is held in a reserve account and $9,000 is paid out to you. The reserve is rolling, after 90 days, each day's hold is released back to your operating account as new holds accumulate.

When does the reserve get released?

After 90 days of good performance, meaning chargeback ratio under 1%, no fraud flags, no underwriting violations, the reserve is permanently removed and set to 0%. You receive a written letter from the bank confirming this at the time of reserve release. This is the major commercial difference vs. offshore processors, who typically keep reserves rolling indefinitely.

Can I negotiate the reserve terms?

Yes. Option B's 90-day window can be negotiated down to 60 days for merchants with sufficient processing history (typically 6+ months of clean statements elsewhere). Merchants processing $1M+/mo with multi-year history can sometimes start with reduced reserves or shorter windows.

Peptide Merchant Reserves Explained

Two reserve options for peptide merchants: 15% for 60 days or 10% for 90 days. Released to 0% after 90 days of good performance, with a bank letter confirming it.

By Blake Toves, Founder at Holistic Payments · Published April 17, 2026

A merchant reserve is a percentage of each day's card settlement held back by the acquiring bank as security against potential chargebacks, refunds, or account volatility. For RUO peptide merchants, Holistic Payments offers two options: 15% for 60 days (higher hold, faster release) or 10% for 90 days (lower hold, longer term). After 90 days of good performance, the reserve is removed and set to 0%, permanently, and you receive a bank letter confirming it.

Why reserves exist

When you process a credit card transaction, the cardholder has up to 120 days to file a chargeback. If chargebacks come in after the original payout has settled to your bank account, the acquiring bank is on the hook unless they have funds held back. Reserves solve this, the bank pre-collects a percentage of volume to cover future chargeback liability.

Reserves are standard in high-risk verticals. Low-risk retail typically has no reserve; peptides, CBD, supplements, and other high-chargeback categories typically have reserves. The question isn't if but how long, what percentage, and whether the reserve is released at the end of the window or kept rolling forever.

The two options

	Option A	Option B
Reserve %	15%	10%
Hold window	60 days	90 days
Full release	After 90 days of clean processing	After 90 days of clean processing
Negotiable?	Standard terms	90 days → 60 days with sufficient history
Best for	Cash-rich merchants OK with temporary higher hold	Merchants wanting lower daily hold

The 90-day release, in writing

The commercial difference: after 90 days of good performance, the reserve is permanently removed. You receive a bank letter confirming this when you sign your merchant agreement. This is not a verbal promise, it's written into the contract.

"Good performance" means: chargeback ratio under the card brand thresholds (typically <1% of volume), no fraud flags, no underwriting violations (no MCC masking, no marketing non-compliance), and account activity consistent with what you declared at underwriting. Most merchants clear this without effort.

Compare to offshore/high-risk specialists: they typically quote a reserve and keep it rolling indefinitely, sometimes increasing it based on processing volume. Merchants can hit 18 months with a 20% rolling reserve and no path to release. That's the opposite of how U.S. bank reserves work on our program.

How daily settlement works with a reserve

Customer pays $1,000 on a card on Monday.
Card authorizes. Funds settle to the acquirer within 24 hours.
On a 10% reserve, $100 goes into a reserve account; $900 is paid out to your bank on Wednesday (48-hour settlement).
Ninety days from Monday's transaction, that $100 is released back to you (as long as no chargeback came in against it).
Once the 90-day good-performance window closes, all future settlements are paid out at 100% with no reserve hold.

Chargebacks and the reserve

If a chargeback comes in against a transaction whose reserve is still being held, the chargeback amount is debited from the reserve. If the reserve is already released (beyond the 90-day window) and a late chargeback hits, it's debited from your current settlements.

You're still on the hook for chargebacks regardless of reserve status, the reserve is just a convenient place to absorb them during the ramp-up period. After release, chargebacks come out of your daily payout or your operating account directly.

FAQ

Can my reserve go up after release?

Only if there's a material risk event, chargeback ratio crosses card brand thresholds, a compliance violation, a fraud flag. Otherwise, once at 0%, it stays at 0%. The bank doesn't arbitrarily reintroduce reserves.

What happens to my reserve if I leave?

Any unreleased portion is held for 120 days post-termination to absorb tail chargebacks, then returned to you. This is standard across all acquirers.

Can I access reserve funds in an emergency?

No. The reserve is legally held by the acquiring bank and cannot be accessed during the hold window. Plan your cash flow accordingly for the first 90 days.

Do reserves earn interest?

No, acquiring bank reserves don't earn interest for the merchant. That's the cost of the security arrangement.

What's the difference between a reserve and a rolling reserve?

A regular reserve has a defined release date (ours is 90 days). A rolling reserve is perpetual, there's no release, the bank just keeps a running percentage of your trailing X days' volume. Offshore specialists typically use rolling reserves. Ours is the defined, releasable kind.

Ready to process with a 90-day release reserve?

Apply. Pick Option A or B on the intake form. We'll guide the rest.

Start RUO Merchant Intake → Back to full guide