#LeighDaniels-connect
tame wyvern
Hi Karllekko, thanks for the reply. I have been working with Stripe support to see if this setup is possible. My desired outcome is to allow for my vendors to sign up on express accounts, or their current stripe standard account if they have one, but I, the marketplace, and the merchant of record on all sales. I have not been able to get a clear answer from Stripe but assume, based on the APIs and the open source of WC vendors, that this should work in theory. So my question is, is my desired outcome possible?
undone light
sure, that is what Destination charges are by default
the platform charges the end-customer and the platform is the merchant of record(in terms of e.g. statement descriptors the customer sees)
the platform just transfers some of the incoming funds to the Express connected accounts; the end-customer and the Express account don't interact. The platform has full responsibility for all refunds and chargebacks
tame wyvern
That is exactly what I thought. Stripe support mentioned that only direct charges can be applied to standard accounts. Is one able to program destination charges for those who sign up with a standard account?
undone light
you can but you shouldn't
undone light
mainly because of what I said above, the platform has full liability and the connected account has no visibility, which makes more sense for a more "managed" Express account, not someone who signed up to Stripe as a full merchant with a full Standard account
so for example the Standard account can't see any details of the payment like the customer's email/name/card brand/number, or issue refunds, or respond to disputes, all that is handled by you
you also have less control since you can't use APIs like Account Debits or create negative balances on the Standard accounts, and the Standard Account can disconnect from your platform at any time leaving with you no recourse
but overall, it's ok to use Destination on Standard if you fully understand the implications, it's not technically blocked, and platforms do do this
the recommended paths are Direct on Standard and Destination on Express/Custom
tame wyvern
I see. Thank you for explaining the why.
If I am based in Europe and set up a stripe connect account, will anyone from a country that stripe supports be able to set up a express account?
undone light
yep
there are a couple of exceptions for I think Mexico/Brazil/India where only platforms in those countries can onboard Express accounts there, but those are exceptions, everywhere else it's supposed to be that a platform can onboard an account from any supported country
tame wyvern
Alright. That is good news. I got the impression that Americans could not sign up for express accounts if the connect account was not based in the USA via something to do with cross-boarder payouts. https://stripe.com/docs/connect/cross-border-payouts
It reads like a US account can payout cross boarder express accounts but not the other way around
undone light
well they can sign up but you can't use Destination charges with them
tame wyvern
😩
undone light
so for example a FR platform can have a US Express account, but you can't do a Destination Charge and transfer funds to them
tame wyvern
So close.
undone light
only if you also set on_behalf_of to the Express account to make it the merchant of record, if you do that then the Destination charge is allowed
tame wyvern
So it is possible with the on_behalf_of function?
undone light
yep
but that makes the receipient the merchant of record as discussed in https://stripe.com/docs/connect/destination-charges#settlement-merchant
tame wyvern
So it is not possible to be the MoR via destination charges for American-based express accounts if I set up my connect account in Europe?
But, it would be possible to be the MoR via destinations charges to American and internation express accounts if I had an American based Stripe account via Stripe atlas?
Is this all correct?
undone light
I think so, not too sure
US accounts can onboard other counties as 'recipients' using a separate services agreement , which I believe allows for cross-border transfers, so I think that does what you want
tame wyvern
Okay. Then it seems Atlas is the only way for me to arrive at my desired outcome.
Tahnk you for your support.
One last question. If I have a euro account and Americans sign up with a standard account, and understanding what you wrote above, can I act as the MoR via destination charges for American vendors who use standard accounts?
undone light
nope, it's the same thing
you can't send money to the US (doesn't matter if it's an Express or Standard account), the only options are to have the charge process locally in the US(which means using either Direct on Standard, or Destination + on_behalf_of on Express)
tame wyvern
I see. Thank you again Karl!