As a marketplace, you process online payments on behalf of your users. Customers recognize that they are doing business directly with your platform.
For example, you have a company called Online Marketplace and one user. Here is one of the simplest account structures you can have:
- A company account that represents your business entity: OnlineMarketplaceLLC.
- Three merchant accounts, organized by country, to manage regionally available payment methods:
- OnlineMarketplace_NL
- OnlineMarketplace_DE
- OnlineMarketplace_BE
- A balance platform called OnlineMarketplace_BalancePlatform, which has:
- A liable account holder for your marketplace, and a liable balance account to hold your marketplace's funds.
- For your user:
- An account holder defining your user's payment processing capabilities.
- Multiple balance accounts to hold your user's funds based on currency.
- Two legal entities, containing the information about your marketplace and your user's business.
The following diagram shows how these resources are connected.
When a customer in the Netherlands pays for goods or services offered by your user:
- The payment is processed in the OnlineMarketplace_NL merchant account.
- The funds are settled in the balance accounts in your balance platform.
For this example, you specify to split the funds between your liable balance account and the account holder's balance accounts. - The funds are kept in the account holder's balance accounts until they are paid out.
- You pay out to the account holder's verified transfer instrument (bank account).