Trading steel, polymers, and chemicals online looks simple until a truck sits at the gate while finance chases a wire. In B2B marketplaces the cash risk is concentrated, margins are thin, and a single default can erase a month of P&L. The remedy is mechanical: escrow that mirrors trade milestones and automated splits that pay the right party at the right event.
The old way that failed under load
Buyers wired USD/EUR cross-border; proceeds arrived short after correspondent fees; suppliers refused to release without proof; forwarders demanded advance freight. Refunds for quality claims stalled in email labyrinths. With 100+ sellers and dozens of lanes, the marketplace became a helpdesk with a landing page.
Escrow that matches physical trade
We defined three standard playbooks and made them selectable at checkout:
- Deposit on order acceptance; release at “goods loaded” against e-CMR or warehouse exit scan; tail at delivery or day-count.
- Full prepay into escrow; staged release to supplier, then to forwarder once the truck or container clears a geofenced checkpoint.
- Letter-of-credit substitute for high-ticket chemicals: deposit + documentary release (invoice, COA, SDS, packing list), with a small holdback for latent quality claims.
Each release posts automatically when evidence hits the ledger. No screenshots, no “please confirm.” The money moves itself when the world says it should.
Split settlement without spreadsheets
Every order generates a rules object: supplier price, marketplace fee, logistics budget, taxes, and holdback. When escrow releases, the engine pays each beneficiary on domestic rails—SEPA/FPS/ACH for EU/UK/US, local rails for CIS/LatAm where partners exist. Forwarders love it because they see a predictable value date tagged to a GPS or scan event; suppliers love it because the platform fee no longer delays their net.
Quality and claims that don’t nuke the deal
Quality disputes used to turn into binary wars. We standardized evidence: COA at shipment, sealed-sample protocol, and arrival photos with lot numbers. The tail holdback pauses automatically for a claim while the main release proceeds. If the claim is upheld, the tail funds a partial refund; if not, it auto-releases at the day-count. Everyone knows which pot pays what—and when.
FX policy buyers don’t need to care about
Buyers see native pricing (EUR/PLN/GBP, etc.). The marketplace collects locally where possible and converts by thresholds to its reporting currency. Execution is benchmarked; spreads are transparent to finance, invisible to the counterparty. The marketplace may offer buyer-side FX locks for 48 hours on quotes; acceptance binds price while funding flows to escrow.
Onboarding and counterparty safety
KYB with beneficial ownership, sanctions screening on both parties, and product-category risk flags (dual-use hints, controlled chemicals) live in the background. For new sellers, first orders cap at conservative limits; performance unlocks higher tiers. Beneficiary account changes require cooling-off and out-of-band checks. These controls are unglamorous and essential.
What changed once this shipped
Cycle time from “order accepted” to “supplier sees funds” shrank to hours, not days. Defaults dropped because cash gates matched logistics gates. Support tickets fell as sellers and forwarders watched the same event-driven ledger. Refunds stopped being existential; they became arithmetic on the tail holdback.
What to build first
Start with the escrow object and release events wired to e-CMR or warehouse scans. Add split payouts to supplier and forwarder. Only then introduce FX locks and optional invoice financing; the foundation is events-driven money, not credit.