Etsy’s reserve thaws with tracking.

How the reserve works

• A percentage of each new sale is held. The percentage and the default holding time are shown in your Payment account and vary from account to account.¹
• Tracking releases it early. Once valid tracking shows an order in transit, its reserved funds are released. Etsy notes it cannot always confirm tracking for some carriers.¹
• Released funds become available at 6pm ET on the release day.¹
• Digital items are not reserved.¹
• Costs come out of what you can use first. Refunds, fees, postage labels and Etsy Ads are taken from your current balance; your card on file is charged only if your current and pending balances cannot cover them.¹

Why Etsy places one

Etsy’s reserve help article lists what it looks at: a first sale, a sudden rise in orders or refunds, missing tracking, late shipping, and intellectual-property or counterfeit notices. Star Sellers will not get a reserve. Support cannot remove a reserve or give you the specific reason, so the fixes are in your shop, not in a support ticket.

Find your dates

1. Now

   Open the Payment account

   In Shop Manager, go to Finances, then Payment account. You will see the reserve percentage and holding time, and three balances: current, pending (which includes reserved funds) and total.¹

2. Per sale

   Read the release date of each order

   Recent activities and your monthly statement show the date the reserve lifts from each sale. In Orders, reserved orders carry an “Order in reserve” badge.¹ The monthly statement CSV has a Status column and an Availability Date column with Etsy’s estimated release date. Download it: it is your ledger, and it feeds the evidence pack.

3. Today

   Add tracking to every reserved order

   Without tracking an order waits out the full default holding time. With tracking that shows it in transit, it is released early. Ship on time, and choose a carrier Etsy can confirm.¹

4. Day 90

   Check against Etsy’s own figure

   Etsy says most sellers’ reserves are removed within 90 days.¹ If yours is still on, ask Etsy in writing what is keeping it there, and log the answer. The hold calculator puts this checkpoint in your calendar.

What the Etsy Payments Policy allows

The help centre gives no ceiling. The Etsy Payments Policy² (last updated 31 Jul 2026) does. A variable reserve is a percentage of your payment account balance, set by Etsy’s risk team and reviewed periodically, that is either:

• delayed for up to 180 days before it becomes part of your Available Funds, or
• deducted as a reserve for up to 90 days.

The policy’s own example of a fixed reserve, 30% of funds held on a 45-day rolling basis, is marked as illustrative only.² Etsy says the email telling you about a reserve gives the reserve percentage, the clearing window for individual payments, and the basis and timing of its review: keep it. Separately, the policy allows a hold on funds for the shorter of 180 days after an order’s estimated delivery date or the end of an investigation, and a deposit delay of between 0 and 180 days. If your account is terminated, Etsy may set aside enough to cover chargebacks, refunds and other buyer payments over the next 180 days, then pay out whatever was not used.²

Etsy’s site refused our automated requests on 24 Oct 2026, so we read the full policy text in the Internet Archive’s copy of 11 Oct 2026. Check the live page for changes.

If the reserve becomes a review

Etsy’s payment account article³ separates a reserve from a risk-based account review, both made under its Terms of Use and Etsy Payments Policy. If your account is under review or deposits stop entirely, reply to what Etsy asks for, keep your answers factual, and keep copies. If money stays held with no explanation, the route letters and the escalation timeline help you ask for it in writing and track the replies. Check which Etsy company your terms name before you take it to an ombudsman.