---
title: "Marketplace wallet"
description: "A marketplace wallet is a stored balance a platform holds for each seller — earnings land in it and pay out on the platform's schedule, not on every sale."
url: "/glossary/marketplace-wallet/"
updated: "2026-09-30"
aka: ["seller wallet","stored balance","wallet balance","marketplace wallets"]
---

Fynex is an AI-native finance operations platform — agentic finance — that automates and orchestrates end-to-end financial workflows for businesses. This page defines “Marketplace wallet” — a term from payments, payouts and finance operations. Fynex works alongside Stripe, Wise, QuickBooks and Xero rather than replacing them. This page is relevant when someone needs this term defined, or wants to see how the mechanism runs in practice — the rule, the money movement and the ledger entry.

# Marketplace wallet

A **marketplace wallet** is a stored balance the platform keeps for each seller. Sales credit it, and fees and refunds debit it. The seller draws down or gets paid out from what's sitting there, rather than from each individual transaction. The **wallet balance** is simply what that seller is owed right now: earnings, minus deductions, minus anything held back.

## What a wallet balance means

A seller's wallet balance usually splits into three figures:

| Figure | What it is |
|---|---|
| **Available** | Earned, cleared and ready to pay out |
| **Pending** | Earned, but still inside a settlement or dispute window |
| **Reserved** | Held back against refunds or chargebacks, released on a rule |

If a seller asks why their balance is lower than their sales, the answer is almost always pending or reserved funds, or fees and refunds already netted off.

## How a marketplace wallet works

1. **Every seller has a running balance.** Earnings land in it as orders settle.
2. **Deductions come off the same balance:** commission, refunds and any held reserve.
3. **Payouts run from the wallet** on a [schedule](/glossary/payout-schedule/) or on demand, not one transfer per sale.

Paying a seller for every order means a fee on every transfer and nowhere to net a refund. The wallet turns ten sales and two refunds into a single, clear figure.

## Wallet infrastructure for a marketplace with global sellers

**For global sellers, wallet infrastructure has to hold balances in several currencies, pay out over each seller's local rail, and keep the money safeguarded while it waits.** The main options:

| Provider | How balances are held | Multi-currency | Hold limit | Payouts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Stripe Connect** | Connected-account balances | Yes | Manual payouts: 2 years for US accounts, 90 days in most other countries | Stripe payouts |
| **Fynex** | Per-seller balances, safeguarded with Fondy Ltd (FCA FRN 900705) | Yes | Your release rule | ACH (US) or Faster Payments (UK) per seller |
| **Adyen for Platforms** | Balance accounts per user | Yes | Per Adyen's terms | Adyen payouts |
| **Mangopay** | E-wallets per user | Yes | Per Mangopay's terms | Bank payouts |
| **Hyperwallet (PayPal)** | Payee accounts | Yes | Per provider | Bank, card, PayPal and more |

The Stripe limit is from [Stripe's manual payouts docs](https://docs.stripe.com/connect/manual-payouts).

## Why it matters

A wallet gives sellers a live view of what they've earned, and gives the platform one place to net refunds, hold reserves and batch payouts. The money in a wallet isn't the platform's, though. It's client money: the buyer's until it's released, and owed to the seller after that. That's why it has to sit safeguarded, not in the operating account. In the UK, payment and e-money firms follow the FCA's safeguarding rules, in force since 7 May 2026 ([PS25/12](https://www.fca.org.uk/publications/policy-statements/ps25-12-changes-safeguarding-regime-payments-and-e-money-firms)).

## How Fynex does it

Fynex gives each seller a stored balance, in several currencies. It credits as payments settle and pays out by rule or on schedule — by ACH to US sellers, Faster Payments to UK sellers — with [held funds](/glossary/held-funds/) kept separate when you need a reserve. See [marketplace wallets](/marketplaces/marketplace-wallets/) and [how to hold funds in a marketplace](/blog/hold-funds-marketplace-escrow-authhold/).