As an e-commerce merchant processing payments with Instabill, your number one question for us may have to do with your payout schedule. We understand how important it is for you to get paid in a timely manner, but from time to time, there are situations that may prevent a 100% settlement for a particular payout period, such as:
- Your weekly volume decreased more than 50% from one week to the next
- You processed less than $2,500 in one week
- Your chargebacks exceeded 2%
- You processed too many refunds
When you run into one of these situations, your acquiring bank may flag your merchant account, assess a fine, or penalize you for excessive chargebacks. However, we design our payout schedule policies to help you anticipate and prevent this from happening.
Expect Peaks and Valleys
When your weekly processing is inconsistent, your merchant account specialist tries to find out why so they can help you address the issue. Maybe you’re experiencing technical difficulties that prevent you from processing, or maybe you’re having a predictable sales decline during a certain part of the year. We want to know what’s going on so that we can help your business and keep you processing.
There may be a time when your chargebacks are more than 2% in one week, and your acquiring bank will take an additional reserve amount from your funds. The bank does this to make sure you always have enough money in your reserve account to cover additional chargebacks and refunds. Remember that these withheld funds are STILL YOURS. After the six-month reserve period ends, you’ll get these funds without further delay. We know this can be frustrating, but the policy is in place to protect your business as well as the acquiring bank’s business.
Keep Instabill Informed
My best advice to you is to keep us informed of any potential problems you might anticipate with your processing. We certainly understand that running a business is never easy and that unexpected setbacks sometimes arise. If you know in advance of a potential issue, call your merchant account specialist to discuss the difficulty. We are happy to work with you to prevent or minimize any inconvenience related to your payout schedule.
