Paying Sellers Out: Batch Payouts, Returns and Negative Balances
Platforms spend most of their payment effort on collecting money, but paying out is where things actually break. On the collection side chargebacks give you a dispute mechanism; on the payout side a mistake is settled by negotiation. Worse, a successful payout response does not mean funds arrived, and returns can lag by days or weeks. This article covers the four hard parts of batch payouts, settlement cycle design, negative balances and why you must freeze before you release.