Rolling reserve
A portion of a merchant's settlement held back for a defined period and released on a rolling basis, used where a provider is exposed to future disputes — typically businesses that take payment well before delivery. It is a risk instrument rather than a fee: the money is the merchant's and is released, but it is not available when they expected it, which makes it a cash-flow question.
Why it matters to a merchant
If a provider raises this during a conversation, it is telling you how it reads your risk — usually because you take money well before you deliver. That is worth discussing openly rather than treating as an insult: the terms, the period and what releases it are all specific, and a business that understands them can plan around them. A business that discovers them from a settlement report cannot.
Related terms
In this section: What it costs, and what gets measured