What is Amazon Reserve? Review of Amazon Reserve

Origin

Amazon has introduced relevant policies in response to the surge in new Chinese sellers and their bad behaviors such as cheating and making a quick buck.

New accounts opened after 2016, which mostly ship goods by themselves, have a surge in orders, or have poor store performance, will be reserved. The reservation ratio varies in different situations.

Cause Analysis

1. Amazon will reserve the amount of your order until it is delivered and signed for and there are no problems, and then release the money.

2. In the event of a credit card chargeback or claim, your funds will be reserved until the process is completed.

3. If the seller's performance does not meet the requirements or the product return rate is high, the proportion of your reserve fund will also increase.

4. If there is a problem with your account, or if your account is under review or the estimated delivery time exceeds the settlement cycle, your funds will also be reserved for new sellers.

Reservation Policy

New Sellers: For new sellers registered within the past 14 days, if their first shipping date is within 14 days, the reserved amount is the entire balance in the account.

Experienced Sellers: Experienced sellers who have been selling on Amazon for more than 14 days are eligible for the following methods (Amazon will charge the higher amount of the reserve):

a. All sales in the past 7 days will be retained in the Amazon account. In this case, Amazon will settle the account every 14 days, and the settlement will include the amount of orders shipped 7-21 days ago.

b. Amazon will keep 5% of your total sales in the past 28 days. In this case, Amazon will settle your account every 14 days, and the settlement will include 95% of your total sales in the past 28 days. The other 5% will be kept in your Amazon account.

Release

After processing the relevant matters, if Amazon determines that it is no longer necessary to reserve funds, the balance of the reserved amount will be paid to the seller.

For security purposes, Amazon may also reserve a portion of your balance if it observes unusual changes in your sales or account behavior and reviews your account.

What should sellers do?

1. Sending FBA and good account performance are good ways to reduce the reserved amount;

2. If the reserved amount is too much, you can also apply to shorten the transfer cycle.

References

• 1. What is Amazon's reserve fund? Do only new accounts have reserve funds? : Cross-border Knowledge [Reference Date 2019-08-21T16:00:00.000Z]