A deposit that does not match, and the six reasons why.
Most short deposits are fees netted out, a refund, or a batch that did not close. Work through the causes in order and you will find it quickly — and in the process discover what you actually pay, which most merchants have never calculated.
What this page settles.
Three questions, in the order most people ask them.
Start with the batch total
One comparison settles which half of the problem you are in.
Find the batch total for the day — on your terminal report or your processing statement — and compare it to what you believe you took, then to the deposit that arrived.
Batch total matches your takings, deposit is smaller. Normal territory. Something was deducted, and the list below tells you what.
Batch total does not match your takings. Different and more urgent. Sales were authorized and not captured, or a batch did not close at all. Go to cause four.
That single check saves most of the time people spend on this.
The six causes, in order
1. Fees netted out. By far the most common. Under daily discount billing your processor deducts its fees from each deposit before sending it, so the deposit is net by design and will never match. There is no fee debit to find because the money was taken before it arrived. The full explanation.
If this is you, the gap should be a small, consistent percentage of the batch every single day. Check two or three days — if the proportion is steady, this is your answer.
2. A refund. A refund issued today reduces today’s deposit, and it may relate to a sale from weeks ago, which is why it looks unconnected. Your statement lists refunds separately.
3. A chargeback. A disputed transaction is debited when it is filed, not when it is resolved. It appears as a reduction with no corresponding sale that day. What happens next.
4. A batch that did not close. The serious one. A terminal that was unplugged, lost connection, or whose auto-batch failed leaves the day’s sales authorized but not captured — so they never settle and you are never paid. Authorizations do not wait indefinitely; left long enough they expire and the money is gone for good.
The symptom is a batch total well below the till, or no batch at all for that day. If you find this, close the batch now and then work out why it did not happen.
5. A reserve. If your account carries one, a percentage of each settlement is held by arrangement. It should be in your agreement and it should not be a surprise. What reserves are and when they are reasonable.
6. Timing. Not a short deposit at all — a deposit you have not received yet. Weekends and holidays shift everything. The funding timetable.
Making this easier permanently
Four habits, and together they take about a minute a day.
Check the batch total against the till at close. Five seconds, and it is how you find a failed batch on the day rather than at month end.
Know which billing arrangement you are on. If it is daily, stop expecting deposits to match and reconcile against the statement instead.
Reconcile weekly rather than monthly. A week of entries is tractable; a month is a project and gets postponed.
Tell your bookkeeper how you are billed. Under daily billing, recording the deposit as revenue understates both your revenue and your expenses, and that matters for your accounts.
When it is actually a problem
The batch did not close. Act today.
The gap is not a consistent percentage and you cannot find a refund or chargeback to explain it. Ask your processor for the transaction detail behind the deposit. They can produce it.
Deposits stopped entirely. That is a hold or a review, not a reconciliation question, and it needs a phone call now.
The gap is a consistent percentage and it is larger than you expected. Nothing is wrong — but you have just discovered what you actually pay. Multiply it out, and then go and calculate your effective rate properly, because this is the moment most merchants find out the headline rate was describing something else.
What we charge
Interchange + 0.50% + 10¢ in person, interchange + 0.75% + 25¢ keyed, with no contract and no monthly fee. We will tell you plainly which billing arrangement your account is on and why.
Send us a statement and the matching bank entries and we will reconcile the period for you, including telling you if the answer is simply that the fees are larger than you thought.
While we are on the subject
Should my deposit ever match my sales exactly?
Only under monthly billing, with no refunds and no chargebacks in that period. Under daily discount billing the deposit is net of fees by design and will never match.
How do I tell fees from a refund?
Fees are a small percentage of the batch and appear every day. A refund is a specific amount matching a specific transaction. Your statement shows refunds separately.
What if the batch total is wrong too?
Then the problem is at the terminal — a sale that was authorized and never captured, or a batch that did not close. That is the one worth acting on today.
Why does it only happen some days?
Refunds and chargebacks are occasional, so a gap that appears intermittently usually points at one of those rather than at fees, which are constant.