Rolling Reserve
A rolling reserve is a slice of your payouts, commonly 5% to 15%, that a payment processor or marketplace holds back for a fixed window, typically 90 to 180 days, as protection against future refunds and chargebacks. As each holding period expires, that tranche releases while new sales feed the next one, so a steady balance of your money sits permanently with the processor. New accounts, high-risk categories and sudden volume spikes attract them most.
The bookkeeping error is treating reserve withholding as an expense or, worse, never recording it because it "isn't in the bank." Reserve balances are your asset, a receivable from the processor, and they belong on the balance sheet. A seller processing $150,000 a month against a 10% six-month rolling reserve has roughly $90,000 of their own cash parked off-balance-sheet if the books only track deposits. That's revenue understated, assets understated, and a nasty surprise for anyone forecasting cash.
Reserves also compound the cash strain that inventory already creates: money you've earned but can't spend on the next purchase order. Getting them visible is a settlement report exercise, since every hold and release appears there, and it's part of standard reconciliation in our monthly bookkeeping. High-chargeback categories should also read our note on chargebacks, since the ratio drives the reserve terms.
Where this shows up in our work
This isn’t textbook material for us; it’s the day-to-day of keeping seller books right. See how we handle it in practice:
Monthly Ecommerce Bookkeeping→Related terms