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Amazon Pay reserve policy

Note: The following policy applies to merchants using Amazon Pay. For merchants using Selling on Amazon, see Payments FAQ.

Merchants using Amazon Pay might be required to have a reserve to manage financial liability created from transaction disputes from your customers, including chargebacks and Amazon Pay A-to-z Guarantee claims.

Amazon Pay uses a tiered model to determine the reserve rate that applies to you and calculates your reserve amount based on the Reserve Tier you qualify for.

Watch this detailed video to help you understand Amazon Pay's Reserve Policy


Amazon Pay- Understanding Amazon Pay's Reserve Policy- length: 2:43


Reserve Tier I

After you complete registration and start transacting, you’re placed in Reserve Tier I. For Reserve Tier I, 100% of the funds received for processed transactions are held in reserve for seven days after the transaction processing date, before being automatically disbursed to your bank account. In addition, we hold the amount of all unresolved transaction disputes (chargebacks and Amazon Pay A-to-z Guarantee claims).

Reserve Tier II

After a year of using Amazon Pay and if you have a minimum of 100 completed orders with us, you are upgraded to Reserve Tier II. The Reserve Tier II amount is 3% of your daily processed payments averaged over the past 28 days or the total amount of any unresolved transaction disputes (chargebacks and Amazon Pay A-to-z Guarantee claims), whichever is greater.

Requesting upgrade to Reserve Tier II before a year with Amazon Pay

Your Amazon Pay account may be eligible for an upgrade to Reserve Tier II if you have been an Amazon Pay merchant for at least 6 months, have a minimum of 100 completed orders, and have maintained an Order Defect Rate (ODR) below 1.0%. You can review your ODR information on Seller Central.

To request consideration for an upgrade to Reserve Tier II, contact us.

In your email, be sure to include the following information:

  • Your Merchant ID
  • Your Merchant website URL
  • Your reason for requesting the upgrade to Reserve Tier II

We will review an account for Reserve Tier II upgrade consideration no more than once every six months.

Reserve Tier II-Plus

If you are in Reserve Tier II, you’re automatically placed in Reserve Tier II-Plus if you have maintained an ODR below 1.0% averaged over the preceding 60 days. You can review your ODR information on Seller Central.

If you’re placed in Reserve Tier II-Plus, Amazon Pay only holds the amount of unresolved transaction disputes (chargebacks and A-to-z Guarantee claims). If at any time your ODR reaches the 1.0% threshold, you’ll be reverted to Reserve Tier II without notice until you again meet the criteria for Reserve Tier II-Plus.

Summary of Tier definitions

 

Reserve amount

Eligibility

Tier I

100% of the payments processed over the past 7 days

and

The value of all unresolved transaction disputes

You are a new Amazon Pay merchant

Tier II

Higher of:

3% of your payments processed daily averaged over the past 28 days

or

The value of all unresolved transaction disputes

You have been an Amazon Pay merchant for a year and have a minimum of 100 completed orders.

or

You have been an Amazon Pay merchant for at least 6 months, have a minimum of 100 completed orders, have maintained an ODR below 1.0%, and request and receive an upgrade.

Tier II-Plus

The value of all unresolved transaction disputes

You are in Reserve Tier II and you have maintained an average ODR of less than 1.0% over the past 60 days

REMINDER: You will be reverted to Tier II if your ODR is 1% or above.

Special notes and considerations

  • Amazon monitors all merchants for order quality. Notwithstanding your current Reserve Tier status or your ODR, Amazon may review your account, and your reserve requirements may be raised, lowered or removed from time to time.
  • Whenever you change your bank account information, we apply a one-time, 3-day hold on disbursements starting the day on which the change takes effect.
  • You must have associated a bank account with your Seller Central account for Amazon Pay to disburse funds to you.