As a marketplace, you process online payments on behalf of your users. Customers recognize that they are doing business directly with your marketplace.
Account structure
To comply with payment scheme regulations, you must have a balance platform and merchant account in each region that you are registered and wish to acquire payments.
If you are a global marketplace with multiregional sellers who can transfer funds to each other:
- You must have a single balance platform for all your acquiring regions.
- You cannot offer additional financial products to your users.
In the following example, you have a company called Online Marketplace. You process online payments for your users, who operate in two acquiring regions (EU and US) and three different countries/areas (NL, DE, and US).
You can classify resources based on whether they belong to your marketplace or to your user(s).
Resources belonging to your marketplace
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A company account that represents your business entity: OnlineMarketplaceLLC.
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Three merchant accounts, organized by country/region:
- OnlineMarketplace_NL
- OnlineMarketplace_DE
- OnlineMarketplace_US
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Two balance platforms, one for each region in which you acquire payments (EU and US):
- OnlineMarketplace_EU
- OnlineMarketplace_US
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A liable account holder, and a liable balance account to hold your marketplace's funds.
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A legal entity in each acquiring region, containing information about your marketplace. This information is needed for required Know Your Customer (KYC) verification checks.
Resources belonging to each user
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At least one account holder for each country your user operates in, defining their payment processing capabilities.
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For each account holder, at least one balance account with a defined base currency, to hold your user's funds.
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For each balance account, a transfer instrument (verified bank account) to pay out that account's funds.
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A legal entity in each country your user operates in, containing information about their business. This information is needed for required Know Your Customer (KYC) verification checks.
Diagram
The following diagram shows how these resources are connected.
Flow of funds
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 of your OnlineMarketplace_EU balance platform.
- The funds are kept in your user's balance accounts until they are paid out.
- You pay out to the account holder's transfer instrument (verified bank account).