Rolling Reserve Cash Flow Calculator for Med Spas
If your processor holds back part of every injectable, laser package, or membership charge, this calculator shows how much of your med spa's cash is tied up, the month it peaks, and when it starts coming back. Enter your own volume and reserve terms; you see the core results with no signup.
Your reserve cash flow
See the monthly values behind the chart
Note: Reserve terms are set by each provider's underwriting and vary by provider. This tool models the terms you entered and does not predict what any provider will offer.
Estimates are based on published industry averages and are not a quote. Actual rates depend on card mix, ticket size, industry, and underwriting.
A payments specialist can walk through your agreement and these numbers with you. Reserve terms are always set by underwriting; nothing here is an offer or a promise of different terms.
Why med spas end up with rolling reserves
Underwriters tend to look at med spas differently from a typical dental or chiropractic office. Tickets are high: one filler appointment or a laser series can run into four figures. A lot of revenue is collected before the service is delivered, through prepaid packages, memberships billed to a card on file, and booking deposits. From an underwriter's view, every prepaid package is a refund the processor could be on the hook for if the business closed before delivering it.
Disputes are another factor. Aesthetic results are subjective, so a client who is unhappy with a treatment may dispute the charge as 'not as described' weeks later. Membership cancellations that did not stop billing are another common dispute source. A rolling reserve is the processor's cushion against both.
Your card mix matters too. Most treatments are paid in person at the front desk, but deposits taken over the phone or through an online booking page, and recurring membership charges, are card-not-present. If a growing share of your volume is card-not-present, expect underwriters to ask about it.
Worked example: a single-location med spa (hypothetical numbers)
Assume a hypothetical med spa with $80,000 in monthly card volume, a 10% reserve, a 180-day hold, a 2-day funding delay, one chargeback a month averaging $650, the default $25 dispute fee, and a $40,000 operating buffer. Business type is Healthcare and no effective rate is entered, so the tool uses its 2.65% estimate.
The 180-day hold works out to 6 months. The processor withholds $8,000 a month, and nothing is released until month 7. By month 6 the reserve balance is $48,000, and it stays there as releases start matching withholdings. Add about $4,800 of sales still in transit from the funding delay, and peak cash held is $52,800, first reached in month 6. That is more than the $40,000 buffer, so the tool flags it as High.
Net deposits come out to about $64,405 in month 1, which includes the one-time float. Months 2 to 6 come out to about $69,205, and months 7 to 12 to about $77,205 once releases begin. Chargebacks cost about $675 a month, which is 0.81% of volume by dollars, or 0.25% by count if you run 400 card transactions a month.
Estimates are based on published industry averages and are not a quote. Actual rates depend on card mix, ticket size, industry, and underwriting.
How a med spa's busy season changes the reserve
Many med spas fill their calendars before summer and again before the holidays. Check 'My volume changes a lot month to month' and enter your real 12 months, because the reserve follows your volume with a delay.
Take the same hypothetical spa, starting in January, but with March through May at $110,000 and every other month at $80,000. The extra spring withholdings stay locked for six months. The reserve peaks at $57,000, and total cash held reaches $61,800 in month 6 (June). The spring money does not come back until September through November, which is when you may be ordering product and staffing up for holiday demand. By month 12 the balance settles back to $48,000. The tool's steady-state figure, based on average volume, is $52,500.
Estimates are based on published industry averages and are not a quote. Actual rates depend on card mix, ticket size, industry, and underwriting.
What a good result looks like for a med spa, and what to check
A comfortable result is peak cash held under half of your operating buffer, which the tool labels 'Within buffer.' The 50% and 100% cutoffs are this tool's flagging rules, not an industry standard. If you land in Caution or High, plan around it. For example, schedule large inventory buys after your release start month, or ask about lower reserve terms once you have a clean processing history.
Check your statement for costs that raise your effective rate beyond the base rate. Common ones include 'non-qualified' surcharges on rewards and premium cards under tiered pricing, PCI non-compliance fees, separate gateway fees for online booking, monthly minimums, and per-dispute fees. If you know your true effective rate, enter it instead of relying on the estimate.
The gated full report adds a month-by-month table, the wind-down schedule showing when your last reserve dollar comes back if you stop processing, and a comparison of your terms against six illustrative reserve and hold combinations. If the numbers concern you, talk to a payments specialist about how your package and membership model is presented to underwriting.
Frequently asked questions
Our processor added a reserve after we started selling prepaid treatment packages. Can this show when that money comes back?
Yes. Enter the reserve percentage and hold days from your notice, and treat month 1 as the month the reserve started. The release start month tells you when the first withheld amount returns. Each month's holdback comes back as a single lump one hold period later. If your notice describes the release schedule differently, confirm the details with your processor.
Should I include tips in my monthly card volume?
If tips are run on the card and settle through your merchant account, include them. Most processors apply the reserve to the full settled amount, not just the service price. If you pay tips out to injectors or aestheticians, remember that the cash leaves your account in full even though part of it is held. That makes your buffer tighter than the volume alone suggests.
We get the occasional chargeback from a client who says the filler or laser didn't work. How do I enter that?
Enter your typical number of disputes per month and the average disputed amount. Add your processor's dispute fee if you know it; otherwise the tool assumes $25. The calculator treats every dispute as lost and repeating every month, so it is a conservative view. Your signed consent forms, before-and-after photos, and package terms help you fight disputes in practice. They do not change this forecast.
If we move to a new processor, do we get our reserve back right away?
Usually not all at once. The gated wind-down view assumes you stop processing after month 12, and your remaining balance then releases in monthly tranches over the following hold period. With a 180-day hold, the last reserve dollar arrives in month 18. Plan for that overlap before you switch, and read your current agreement's termination terms.
Which business type should a med spa choose, and is the default rate accurate for us?
Choose Healthcare and type 'med spa' in the optional Industry field. Without your own rate, the tool uses an assumed 2.65% effective rate for healthcare. Because med spas often see high tickets paid on premium and rewards cards, your actual rate may differ, so enter your real effective rate from a recent statement if you can. Estimates are based on published industry averages and are not a quote. Actual rates depend on card mix, ticket size, industry, and underwriting.