--- title: "Marketplace Escrow & Held Funds | Fynex" description: "Hold a buyer's payment in escrow until the order or job is delivered and approved, then release it to the seller — with no 90-day cap. Escrow-style held funds for marketplaces and platforms, on an FCA-authorised EMI licence." url: "/uk/marketplaces/escrow" --- # Hold the buyer's money *until the work is done* Take payment at checkout, hold it while the order ships or the job gets approved, then release it to the seller. Escrow-style protection for both sides — without the 90-day limits that break on Stripe Connect. *Marketplace building blocks.* ## Holding funds until delivery shouldn't mean gluing three tools together A service or goods marketplace needs to hold a buyer's money until the work is approved — but Escrow.com forces an offsite checkout, Stripe Connect can't hold funds past 90 days, and card authorizations expire in a week. So you either take the fraud risk of paying sellers early, or you build a reserve ledger by hand. ## How held funds run on Fynex Take the money now, move it only when the conditions are met. 1. **Take payment, hold the funds** — The buyer pays at checkout and the money is held safely on our licence — not on your balance sheet, not stuck in a card authorization that expires. 2. **Release on your condition** — Release when the order ships, the job is approved, or a milestone is hit — in full or in part — by rule or with one call. No arbitrary 90-day ceiling. 3. **Refund cleanly if it falls through** — If the work isn't delivered, refund the buyer from the held balance — no clawback from a seller who's already been paid. ## The same job, with the leaks closed Point tools solve part of it. Fynex runs the whole thing on one platform. | The problem | Other platforms (Stripe Connect / Escrow.com) | Fynex | |---|---|---| | Hold funds until the work is approved | Connect caps holds at ~90 days; card auths expire in ~7. | Hold on your condition, with no fixed time cap. | | Keep the buyer on your site | Escrow.com bounces them to an offsite checkout. | Escrow-style hold inside your own flow. | | Who carries the funds while held | Sits on your balance sheet or the processor's. | Safeguarded on our FCA-authorised EMI licence. | | Refund if it falls through | Claw back money from a seller already paid. | Refund straight from the held balance. | ## Questions, answered ### Does Fynex offer escrow for marketplaces? Yes. Fynex holds a buyer's payment after checkout and releases it to the seller only when your condition is met — the order ships, the job is approved, or a milestone is reached. Funds are safeguarded on our FCA-authorised EMI licence while held, so neither side carries the risk, and there's no arbitrary time cap on how long you can hold. ### How is this different from holding funds with Stripe Connect? Stripe Connect can't hold funds beyond roughly 90 days, and a card authorization hold expires in about a week — both too short for delivery-based or milestone work. Because Fynex holds the money on its own e-money licence rather than as a card authorization, you can hold until your release condition is met, then pay out. ### When are the funds released to the seller? On your trigger. Release when the order is delivered, the buyer approves the work, or a milestone completes — in full or in part, by rule or with a single API call. You define what 'done' means for your marketplace. ### What happens if the buyer wants a refund? Because the money is still held rather than already paid out, you refund the buyer directly from the held balance — no chasing a seller who's already been paid, and no negative-balance clawback on your platform. ## The rest of the marketplace money layer Every building block below runs on the same platform. Start with one, or run the whole stack. - **Split payments** — Divide one payment across sellers, your fee and partners — by rule, in real time. - **Delayed capture** — Authorize a card at checkout and capture the payment later, when you're ready. - **Platform commission** — Take your cut automatically at settlement — set your take rate once and keep it. - **Seller onboarding & KYC** — Verify sellers with built-in KYC and KYB, inside your own signup — without the drop-off. - **Payout scheduling** — Pay sellers on schedule or by rule — mass, instant or timed, in any currency and rail. - **Marketplace wallets** — Give each seller a stored balance to hold, top up and withdraw — per currency, one ledger. - **Balance management** — One ledger for every balance, split, hold and payout — reconciled to the transaction. ## Find what you're leaking, for free Send us your setup. We run a free diagnostic and show you what your payment stack costs you today. > One recent diagnostic found €2M in hidden fees across 10 processors for a proptech client. ## The trust layer most software can't offer We can be your Merchant of Record and hold the funds. Most tools can't, because they don't hold the licence. - **FCA-authorised EMI** — An e-money institution via Fondy. We can hold and move your funds. - **PCI DSS Level 1** — The highest card-data security standard, on by default. - **Audit logs** — Every movement traceable and ready for review. - **Built-in KYC / KYB** — The switch that turns the business on. ## Protect both sides. *Hold the money until the work is done* --- The AI finance layer for platforms and operators. It runs the money chain and keeps more of it in your business. One platform instead of a dozen. © 2026 Fynex