Settlement
Moving funds from captured transactions through the networks to the merchant’s account, usually in daily batches.
Settlement is the movement of money from the card networks into your bank account after transactions are authorized and captured. Authorization confirms the funds exist and reserves them; settlement is when they actually arrive.
The delay between the two is the settlement period, commonly one to three business days, and it is longer in high-risk categories. A longer hold gives the acquirer time to see early disputes before releasing money, so settlement timing is a risk decision rather than a technical limitation.
What lands is net, not gross. Processing fees, refunds issued, chargebacks debited and any reserve withheld are all deducted before payout, which is why the deposit rarely matches the day's sales total. Reconciling against the batch report rather than the bank balance is the only way to see what was actually taken.
Settlement timing drives working capital more than the rate does. A business paying a slightly higher rate but settling next day is often in a materially stronger cash position than one on a cheaper rate settling weekly, and that difference is worth pricing explicitly when comparing offers.