Hey all - just published a long-form guide on marketplace payouts and figured some of you building or running two-sided platforms might find it useful.
TL;DR: Collecting a payment and paying a seller out are two completely different problems, and most teams don't realize how different until they're already at scale. The guide covers:
How split payments work when one cart has multiple sellers in it (worked example with real numbers, including what happens when a refund hits)
The three common commission models (percentage, fixed, hybrid), plus a real take-rate benchmark (19.4% average across 319 companies, per a William Blair study)
The four payout models that exist (split-at-settlement, balance-and-withdraw, escrow, manual batch) and which one fits which kind of marketplace, with real examples: Uber, eBay, Airbnb, Upwork, Faire
Payout rails compared head to head: ACH, push-to-card, digital wallets, virtual cards, stablecoins — speed, typical cost, who eats the fee
The compliance side of payouts: KYC/KYB, 1099-K thresholds, money transmitter licensing, and why account takeover (not new-account fraud) is the bigger threat post-onboarding
Why "where's my money" support tickets are usually a visibility problem, not an actual payout problem, and what fixes it
A decision framework for build vs. partner, and coupled vs. decoupled infrastructure
If you're building payout infrastructure (or trying to decide whether to), this should help.
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