#kat-connect
buoyant wave
hello @wise cloud, i'll try to help, can you explain more about your use case and what are you questions?
wise cloud
Right, so I have a multiparty platform that connects digital goods producers with clients. The idea is that clients can connect with these goods providers through our platform, and pay incrementally into an escrow-ish situation, and then when the work is "complete", the final product is uploaded and both parties agree to disburse the final funds and product in one fell swoop, even if payments have been getting made into the escrow "account" over time.
right now, what I've gathered is:
- I want to use Express for this
- I want the providers to be the settlement merchants, since 99% of the interaction is happening between them, and my platform is just acting as an escrow(ish) for them. (this is one point I'm unsure about)
- The providers need to be under the recipient service agreement
- I need to be using destination payments.
Does that all sound right? I also want the ability for disputes to get managed by my platform, so clients can complain to us and we can mediate any disputes, to take some of that load off our providers.
buoyant wave
how long will it take to disburse the funds (max length of time)?
wise cloud
I can deal just fine with the 90 day limit
but yeah this entails using manual payouts (although the payouts are technically triggered by the code when the parties "agree" to complete the overall transaction)
buoyant wave
hmmm, when you say you want the providers to be the settlement merchants, it sounds like you want the providers to be the Merchant Of Record?
wise cloud
I don't know what that means.
(sorry, part of the issue I'm having is there's a lot of Terminology)
(thank you, btw, for being so helpful!)
buoyant wave
no worries, payments can be complicated
In simple terms, the Merchant of Record is the merchant whose details the cardholder perceives as having received their charge.
wise cloud
It would be ideal for the cardholder to see the provider as the one who received the charge, yes
well, actually, I'm not sure. The point is, after all, to make them feel like their money is secure with a third party 🙂
but I also want to respect that client/provider relationship, because my platform will do relatively little mediation in those conversations. It's not an on-demand platform.
it's closer to a storefront with escrow mechanics
I think
buoyant wave
if you want the cardholder to see the provider as the one who received the charge. Then you would use on_behalf_of : https://stripe.com/docs/connect/destination-charges#settlement-merchant
wise cloud
what are the implications of the provider vs the platform being the settlement merchant? Just who's responsible for resolving disputes?
(and who shows up in the bill)
buoyant wave
if you use destination charges with on_behalf_of, your platform is still responsible for resolving disputes.
wise cloud
aha gotcha. That wasn't clear 🙂
buoyant wave
the provider's statement descriptor will show up on the credit card statement instead : https://stripe.com/docs/connect/statement-descriptors
wise cloud
this is starting to make more sense, thank you!
buoyant wave
in addition, can i check if all your Express accounts will be based in the same country as your platform account?
wise cloud
not necessarily, no. I would like Express accounts to be available to international Providers
it's an online business with digital goods
buoyant wave
okay, if you're going to have international providers, then you must use destination charges with obo
wise cloud
though maybe that's overly ambitious for a small operation 🙂
oh, I have to use obo + recipient agreements, then?
wise cloud
yes
(I gather that I need recipient agreements purely because of those international payouts, though)
buoyant wave
to summarize :
- if you're using destination charges, you would need to use a recipient agreement so that it will work with international Express accounts
- if you're using destination charges with OBO, you're going to need to have a full service agreement, with both card and transfers capabilities on the connected account. You wouldn't be able to do adhoc transfers.
honestly, option 1, seems to give you more flexibility
wise cloud
it sounds like #1 is what I need, yes
and the only "price" is that it's my platform showing up in bills? And tbh that's probably for the best, even from a business model perspective
buoyant wave
that's the only "price" that comes to mind right now
wise cloud
I have one more question: As far as payouts go, since I'm being sort-of "escrow", can I tie payouts to particular customer interactions? Like, if 2-3 client/provider interactions span the course of those 90 days, does that mean that all the money needs to be paid out before the first interaction expires? (does that question make sense?)
or is the 90 day limit for payouts tied to transactions? That is, if they pay $30 into the connected account, the 90 days is for those $30, not for subsequent payments?
buoyant wave
it's tied to transactions
wise cloud
ah great 🙂
I think that's all I need! Thank you so much for your help! That clarified all my questions and I think I know what to build now. The docs are excellent so I can just go... do the thing 🙂
buoyant wave
yay, glad to have helped! feel free to reach out again if you run into any issues 🙂
wise cloud
oh I have one more question. Is there any way to get notified when a transaction is reaching the payout time limit?
I don't see this anywhere in the webhook docs.
buoyant wave
unfortunately, it's not a feature that we have right now
wise cloud
ah, so I have to track it myself and it's gonna be a Compliance thing.
buoyant wave
yep. I would think using the transaction created date would make sense