#Sam - Marketplace Project
ancient rapids
Hey there!
I've been reading into the documentation on Charges & Transfers and just trying to see if we're going about this the right way or not
hasty badger
Sure thing. So there are different types of accounts and charges depending on how your business is structured.
One way to think of this is, does your end-customer interface with the other business directly and you just take a cut or does the end customer interface with you and then you provide a share of the funds to the product/service providers?
ancient rapids
So we basically onboard businesses who set up their Business accounts on our platform.
They then invite Users to sign up to their individual page on our platform (so basically signed up under that business within our platform)
Businesses will use our website to view products which the Users have provided through us (the Users never directly interact with the Business, only our system for submitting products)
Businesses top up their accounts and we then store this balance somewhere (presumably under a Stripe connect account, looking at some kind of pay in and then create a Transfer to their connect account)
We will hold this money in the Businesses account on Stripe.
Businesses can then purchase User products on the dashboard, we then process the charge from their balance and pay it to the User on Stripe Connect. This is then automatically paid out to the user as fast as it can be.
There's not much access to Stripe needed for either party, presumably just a checkout page for the Business topping up, and for the User all we need is the sign up flow for Connect which we've integrated so far using an Express account
We do take a cut of Business top-ups but I think we've figured that bit out, since we can just transfer the amount minus fees into their Connect balance
hasty badger
Do you mind defining what a User and Business represent in this scenario. It isn't clear to me.
ancient rapids
Sure, so our customers are the businesses. They sign up with our company directly and we are paid by them for their use of our platform.
The users are people the businesses sign up (through their own custom sign up flow, branded for their company specifically) and will be paid out when the brand pays them money.
If that makes it any clearer
We need businesses to be able to have a balance which is then paid out to users who they have signed up to their account within our platform
We're basically just giving the Platform for a Business to sign users up and pay them out
hasty badger
So how much control and responsibility does your platform have over the Businesses you sign up?
ancient rapids
We control the sign up flow, so we'd have Businesses sign up, and then presumably sign up through the Stripe Connect flow. Then they top up using Stripe Checkout which we transfer to their Stripe Connect account.
I'm just not sure then, do we also create Stripe Connect accounts for the Users? Can the Businesses and the Users both be Stripe Connect accounts that we just transfer funds inbetween?
(not sure if that first half directly answers your question, if not let me know what you mean)
I guess realistically we could have:
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Businesses have a Stripe Connect account
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Users have a Stripe Connect account
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Business tops up their balance and we use the Transfer API to pay it in to their Connect account
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Businesses buy a User's product and we use the Transfer API to transfer between Connect accounts
Does that seem like the best way to approach it?
hasty badger
That seems to require a lot of Stripe accounts. Usually we see platforms collecting payments from customers and sharing revenue with Connect Accounts. Honestly this Discord channel is really for developers running into problems with the API so I'm not the best person to provide advice on the business structure with respect to Connect.
ancient rapids
Ah right, okay. I see what you mean. Maybe if we drop the balance thing and just allow businesses to pay to us directly and then disperse among Connect accounts it would make more sense.
Less hassle
hasty badger
We do have staff who specialize in organizing these types of businesses to ensure you create the least amount of Stripe related overhead and optimize your fee structure. I'm just not one of them. You can try writing in to Support and hopefully we can get you connected with the right people.
https://support.stripe.com/contact/email
ancient rapids
We do have staff who specialize in organizing these types of businesses to ensur...
Thanks so much for your help. I think with what you've said, we've brainstormed a solution.
Appreciate the fast support! 🙂 I hope you have a great rest of your day.
hasty badger
Thanks, you too! We try to make sure our users feel taken care of, even if that just means quickly pointing them in the right direction.