We require to understand the pay in and pay out process for a freelance service marketplace. we have read that the funds must not be transferred to our marketplace bank account and if we do so it requires a money transmitter licence. We need help to understand if this is true and the options we might have to pay our global freelancers.
Legislation varies across different countries. When you hold other people's money you become a custodian, in the early days of a startup you can do it without a license, but at some point you would probably have to become compliant. That's why for early stage startups I recommend using payment gateway providers like:
- PayPal Commerce Platform for platforms and marketplaces: https://www.paypal.com/en/business/platforms-and-marketplaces
- Stripe for marketplaces: https://stripe.com/en-es/use-cases/marketplaces
- MANGOPAY (only in Europe): https://www.mangopay.com/pricing/
All these providers count with licenses and compliance teams to ease you the task of having to deal with it on your own.
I'll be happy to share with you some examples of what I've done with my startups and with the companies I consult.
