Stripe put a reserve on your account. Here's what it means and what to do this week.
The notice doesn't say much, but the numbers behind it do. In 15 minutes we'll tell you why it most likely happened, whether it's likely to get worse, and how to keep cash moving in the meantime.
What the notice means
A reserve is Stripe holding back part of your money to cover refunds and disputes it expects. There are two kinds. A rolling reserve holds back a percentage of each day's sales and releases each day's amount once a set number of days has passed. A fixed reserve holds a set amount until the term ends. Your notice states the percentage and the term. Stripe says it sizes reserves by risk and reviews them a few days before they expire, when it can remove, reduce, raise or extend them. In some cases a reserve stays indefinitely.
You can still accept payments. The problem is cash flow: a 25% reserve on $400K a month means $100K of each month's sales arrives late, and on a 90 day hold that can be $300K tied up at once.
Why it happened
Stripe names four triggers: long delivery windows for your industry, a higher chance of unfulfilled orders, elevated disputes, and an unexplained sharp rise in volume. In our experience the most common cause is a spike in disputes or refunds, followed by a jump in volume, then the category itself. If your disputes are under 0.5% and refunds under 8%, the reserve is most likely about growth or category, and that's the easier case to make.
What to do in the next seven days
- Pull your dispute and refund rates by month for the last six months. Know your own numbers before anyone asks.
- Reply to the reserve notice with fulfillment proof: tracking rates, delivery times, your refund policy, customer service response times. Stripe does reduce or lift reserves when the evidence supports it.
- Don't open a second Stripe account or use a friend's. It's the fastest way to turn a reserve into a closure.
- Open a second processor now, while you still have a working account and clean history to show. Underwriters treat an application from a business in good standing very differently from one that was just shut down.
- Route a share of new volume through the second account so it builds its own history. If Stripe later extends the reserve or closes the account, you're already processing elsewhere.
What we do. A 15 minute risk read: where you stand on the numbers Stripe is watching, what to put in your reply, and which banks underwrite your category. Free, no pitch. If a second account makes sense, we'll say so and explain what it takes.
Source for Stripe's reserve policy: Stripe reserves FAQ.
If one of these is you
Book a 15 minute risk read
Tell us where you process and what you sell, then pick a time on Eli's calendar. You get the written summary whether or not you work with us.
- No pricing or quotes on the call
- We won't contact your customers or your current processor
- If we're not the right fit, we'll tell you who is