What a negative balance is
Your Kustom balance goes negative when refunds, disputes and fees add up to more than the sales in your balance. This most often happens when:
Refunds exceed sales. A quiet period combined with refunds from earlier orders can push the balance below zero.
Sales have stopped. If you are not taking new orders, there is no incoming volume to offset refunds or fees against.
A large dispute or refund lands at once. A single case can exceed the sales sitting in your balance.
When we debit your bank account
A debit is triggered by the state of your balance, not by how long it has been negative. There is no grace period of a set number of days.
Incoming sales are used first. New sales are netted against the negative amount before anything else happens. If the sales that arrive are enough to bring the balance back to zero, no debit takes place. For example: if your balance is 100 EUR negative and you capture 100 EUR in new sales before the debit is initiated, the balance is back at zero and no debit takes place. If you capture 40 EUR, the remaining 60 EUR is debited.
If they are not enough, a debit is initiated. The outstanding amount is pulled from the bank account registered for payouts.
Any amount can be debited. There is no minimum. A small negative balance is handled the same way as a large one.
Your payout schedule does not change this. A debit can be initiated regardless of the payout schedule on your account.
Because most accounts hold a payout delay, sales captured during that period usually cover a negative balance before a debit is ever needed. In practice, most merchants will never see one.
How quickly a debit happens
The timing depends on where your bank account is held.
Bank account | Debit initiated |
EUR account in a SEPA country | Within 2 business days |
EUR or GBP account in the UK | Within 3 business days |
USD account in the US | Next business day |
Only bank accounts can be debited. A card on file cannot be used to cover a negative balance.
Which accounts this applies to
Debits are supported for the following payout accounts:
EUR accounts in SEPA countries
EUR and GBP accounts in the UK
USD accounts in the US
For payout accounts in other currencies, including SEK, NOK and DKK, a negative balance is handled through invoicing instead.
What happens if a debit does not go through
If there are not enough funds in the account, or the debit is rejected for another reason, Kustom will try again.
How this relates to invoices for negative balances
A bank debit and an invoice are two routes to the same outcome, and they do not run in parallel.
A debit comes first where the payout account allows it, initiated within a few business days of the balance going negative.
An invoice is issued after 30 consecutive days of a negative balance. This is the route used where a debit is not possible, or where debit attempts have not succeeded.
A successful debit resets that count. If your balance goes negative and a debit brings it back to zero on day three, no invoice is issued. If the balance later goes below zero again, a new 30-day period starts from that point.
How to avoid a debit
Keep an eye on your balance in the Kustom portal under Settlements, particularly during quiet periods or after a large refund.
Cover a negative balance yourself by contacting support if you would rather settle it directly than have it debited.
Make sure your registered bank account is current, so a debit does not fail and generate fees on your side.
Questions about a debit
If you see a debit you do not recognize, you can trace it yourself in the Kustom portal under Settlements, where the refunds, disputes and fees behind the negative balance appear on the settlement for that period.
If it still does not add up, contact support with the date and amount and we will walk through it with you.
Summary
A negative balance is debited from your registered bank account when incoming sales are not enough to cover it. The trigger is the balance itself rather than a fixed number of days, there is no minimum amount, and in SEPA the debit is initiated within two business days. Most merchants will never encounter one, because sales arriving during the payout delay usually clear the balance first. Where a debit is not possible, an invoice is issued after 30 consecutive days of a negative balance.
Contact Kustom support if you have questions about a debit on your account.