Payment gateway settlements for D2C brands: what you actually pay and how to check it

What a settlement is

When a customer pays online, the gateway collects the money and later sends it to your bank in a settlement. A settlement usually covers many payments, minus gateway fees, GST on those fees, refunds and any chargebacks or adjustments. The amount in your bank is therefore never the same as the total of your orders.

What gets deducted

• Transaction fee. A percentage of each payment, which can differ by method (UPI, cards, netbanking, wallets, EMI). Check your own pricing agreement.
• GST on the fee. Charged on the fee, not on the payment.
• Refunds. Money returned to customers, taken from future settlements.
• Chargebacks and disputes. Amounts held or reversed when a customer disputes a payment.
• Reserves or holds, if your account has them.

The checks that matter

Every paid order is in a settlement

Match each prepaid order in your store to a payment in the gateway report, and each payment to a settlement. An order paid but never settled is the most important gap to find. See Razorpay settlement reconciliation for Shopify and, for WordPress stores, Razorpay settlement not matching WooCommerce.

Fees match your agreement

Pick a sample of payments for each method and compare the fee charged with your agreed rate. A wrong rate on one method applies to every payment on that method.

Refunds match refunded orders

Every refund in the settlement should match an order you actually refunded, for the right amount. A refund processed twice, or for the full amount on a partial refund, is easy to miss.

Settlements reach your bank

Each settlement has a reference number. Find it in your bank statement with the same amount.

Common reasons totals don't match

• Orders paid near midnight settle in a different batch than you expect
• Partial refunds and order edits change what was captured
• Payments captured on the gateway for orders that were later cancelled in the store
• Test or duplicate payments
• Fees and GST shown in a separate report rather than per payment

A monthly habit for prepaid

Once a month, download the gateway's settlement report and payments report, your store's orders and your bank statement. Match orders to payments, payments to settlements, settlements to bank. It sounds heavy, but once the matching is automatic, the only thing you look at is the short list of exceptions.

Veritally for Shopify and Veritally for WooCommerce do this matching for Razorpay, Cashfree and PayU, alongside your courier's COD remittance, so prepaid and COD are checked in one place.