Payments · Skincare4 min readUpdated October 26, 2026

Skincare Processing Fees and Reserves

What skincare brands pay to process cards: published rates, reserves beauty merchants report, how a rolling reserve ties up cash, and what to ask first.

Nick Bonnassies, CMO at Tagada · checked against 10 sources

Article summary

TL;DR

Skincare brands pay standard to high-risk rates depending on their offers, and may face a rolling reserve once claims, trials or disputes raise flags. Few processors publish numbers: PaymentCloud quotes 2.95% to 3.95% for continuity merchants, and none of the pages we read publishes a reserve percentage for skincare. Beauty merchants report reserves such as 20% held for 120 days. Get every term in writing.

PaymentCloud says continuity rates "typically range between 2.95% and 3.95%".
A beauty merchant reports Shopify reserving "20% of our funds for 120 days".
Stripe uses fixed and rolling reserves; "in some rare cases" a reserve may be indefinite.
Mastercard's negative option registration costs $500 a year in its February 2025 rules.
Shopify charges 0.2% to 2% per order on third-party processors.

Want to go further? Ask

On this page

This guide is part of our hub on skincare payment processing. The general guides, for any business: high-risk processing fees and rolling reserves.

What you pay

Cost	What it is	Who sets it
Processing rate	Percentage plus fixed fee	Your processor
Rolling reserve	A share of each sale held for a period	Your processor
Dispute fees	Per chargeback, per alert	Processor, alert providers
Network programs	Fees above Visa or Mastercard thresholds	Visa, Mastercard8
Registration	Negative option billing merchants	Mastercard7
Retry fees	Excess reattempts on Visa	Visa9
Platform fee	Third-party processor on Shopify	Shopify10

What processors and merchants publish

Term	Published figure	Source
Continuity rate	"Typically range between 2.95% and 3.95%"	PaymentCloud1
Skincare reserve percentage	Not published by any page we read	Our reading, October 2026
Shopify reserve reported by a beauty store	"20% of our funds for 120 days"	Merchant report2
PayPal reserve example	"10% and held for a 90-day rolling period"	PayPal6

2.95% to 3.95%

Continuity rates quoted by PaymentCloud

20% · 120 days

Shopify reserve reported by a beauty store

10% · 90 days

PayPal's own rolling reserve example

None

Skincare reserve percentage published by the pages we read

How a rolling reserve works

Example

You sell $40,000 a month with a 20% reserve held 120 days. Each month $8,000 is held. After four months, about $32,000 sits in reserve, and month 1's $8,000 comes back in month 5.

Monthly sales	Reserve	Period	Cash held at steady state
$40,000	10%	90 days	About $12,000
$40,000	20%	120 days	About $32,000
$100,000	10%	90 days	About $30,000

Simple arithmetic; real releases follow your contract.

Fig. 1$32,000 held, then paid back month by month

Held in reserve after four months at $40,000 a month

$32,000

Still held by the processor Paid back to you

$8,000Held until month 5Paid back month 5
$8,000Held until month 6Paid back month 6
$8,000Held until month 7Paid back month 7
$8,000Held until month 8Paid back month 8

Each month's 20% comes back once its 120 days have passed.

Illustrative example. Simple arithmetic from the example above, if sales stopped after month 4; real releases follow your contract.

Stripe, PayPal and Shopify

Provider	How funds are held	Source
Stripe	Fixed or rolling reserves; on unacceptable risk, payouts typically paused 120 days	3 4
PayPal	Rolling, minimum and jumpstart reserves; minimum reviewed within every 180 days	5
Shopify Payments	Reserves reported by beauty merchants	2

When payouts arrive, and why they're delayed: payout timing for skincare brands.

Network and platform costs

Cost	Amount	Source
Mastercard negative option registration	$500 a year (February 2025 rules)	Mastercard7
Visa VAMP, "Excessive" level	$8 per fraud report or dispute, as reported	Chargeback Gurus8
Visa excess reattempts	$0.10 domestic, plus $0.05 cross-border	Payway9
Shopify third-party processor	2% Basic, 1% Grow, 0.6% Advanced, 0.2% Plus	Shopify10

Fig. 2Shopify fee per order on a third-party processor, by plan

Basic2%
Grow1%
Advanced0.6%
Plus0.2%

Source: Shopify pricing, third-party payment provider fees, read October 26, 2026

The smaller the plan, the more you pay to leave Shopify Payments.

Tagada follows Visa and Mastercard rules and the laws that apply to payments.

What to ask before you sign

[ ] Rate for cards, wallets and international cards
[ ] Reserve: percentage, period, review date
[ ] Payout delay and frequency
[ ] Fees per chargeback and per alert
[ ] Monthly volume cap and approved products (SPF and acne products included?)
[ ] Notice period and how long funds are held after you leave

How Tagada helps

Underwritten terms, and more than one place to process

TagadaPay underwrites each file, with enhanced review on regulated verticals
Routing across Stripe, Adyen and TagadaPay, cascade on decline
Subscriptions with retries and automatic recovery
Native 3DS2, device intelligence and a rules engine

Plans and rates are on the pricing page.

Apply for processing

Underwritten terms, and more than one place to process

Updated on October 26, 2026

Nick Bonnassies

CMO at Tagada

CMO at Tagada. Before Tagada, Nick built direct-to-consumer brands that generated over $115M in sales, raised over $25M in crowdfunding and sold two of them. He also works as a fractional CMO on marketing operations and AI systems.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a skincare merchant account cost?

It depends on offers and history. PaymentCloud quotes 2.95% to 3.95% for continuity merchants. Add reserves, dispute fees and network costs such as Mastercard's registration for negative option billing.

Why is Shopify holding 20% of my beauty store's sales?

A beauty merchant reports exactly that, held 120 days. Shopify lists product eligibility among hold reasons; drug-like claims and before-and-after visuals are common triggers. Fix them and ask for a review.

What is a normal reserve for a skincare brand?

No processor page we read publishes one for skincare. Merchants report 20% for 120 days on Shopify; PayPal's own example is 10% for 90 days. Negotiate once you have history.

Can I avoid a reserve?

Not always. Clear cosmetic claims, no unclear trials, low disputes and steady volume make one less likely and shorter. PayPal notes a reserve may never be fully removed.

Sources

Checked October 26, 2026

TagadaPay

Know every fee and reserve before you sign

Tell us what you sell and how you sell it. Each application is underwritten, and approval is not guaranteed.

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01Tell us what you sell and how
02Underwriting reviews your business
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