A reserve release is the moment when an acquirer, payment facilitator or other payment provider pays a merchant money it had previously withheld as a merchant reserve. Providers hold reserves to cover chargebacks, refunds, fines and other losses that may arrive after a sale has settled, especially for high-risk or new merchants and those that take payment long before delivery.
How releases work depends on the type of reserve. Under a rolling reserve, a percentage of each day's sales is held for a fixed period, such as several months, and each day's holdback is released when its period ends, so releases arrive continuously. A fixed reserve is a set amount kept for the life of the agreement and released only when the provider agrees to reduce it or after the account closes and the dispute window has passed. Providers can delay or offset releases if chargebacks rise, so release terms are a key point in merchant contract negotiations.