Does Stripe support escrow? What marketplaces can actually do
If you are building a marketplace on Stripe, sooner or later you want to hold a buyer’s money until the seller delivers. Stripe’s documentation answers the obvious question directly: it doesn’t provide escrow services or support escrow accounts. It does give platforms tools to delay when money moves. Here is what they are, how long each can hold funds, the risk that stays with your platform, and when a different model makes more sense.
The short answer: no escrow product
Stripe’s Connect documentation notes that escrow has a precise legal definition, and that Stripe doesn’t provide escrow services or support escrow accounts. Separately, Stripe’s restricted-businesses list includes escrow services under financial products, meaning Stripe requires additional due diligence before it will support a business offering them. What Stripe offers instead are ways to control when funds are captured, transferred and paid out.
Option 1: authorize now, capture later
You can place a hold on a card and capture it later. For online card payments the standard window is 7 days for Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover. Extended authorization can stretch that to about 30 days, but it requires IC+ pricing, costs extra on some networks, is limited to certain business categories on others, and is intended under many card rules for cases where the final amount isn’t known yet. For a delivery that takes a few days, a 7-day hold can work; for anything longer, it usually won’t.
Option 2: hold funds in Connect
With separate charges and transfers, the buyer pays your platform and you transfer the seller’s share later, for example after delivery. With manual payouts, funds can sit in a connected account’s balance before being paid out: up to 90 days in most countries, two years in the US and 10 days in Thailand.
Stripe’s guidance is to hold funds only with a clear purpose and a commitment to release them when an event happens, such as a service being completed and confirmed, and to speak with a legal advisor rather than hold funds arbitrarily. Stripe also recommends separate charges and transfers only when your platform is responsible for connected accounts’ negative balances.
The risk that stays with your platform
Holding funds is not the same as escrow, because the money is still in your platform’s Stripe balance and the card networks still apply. Stripe notes that cardholders can typically dispute a payment within 120 days, and that the whole process can take two to three months. With destination charges and separate charges and transfers, your platform balance is debited for the disputed amount and fee, and you try to recover it from the seller. So a buyer can dispute a payment after the seller has delivered and been paid, and your platform is first in line for the loss.
What about stablecoin payments on Stripe?
Stripe now accepts stablecoins, mainly USDC on several networks, through its crypto payment method. The customer pays in crypto and the merchant is settled in local currency. It is available to US merchants with other regions in preview, caps a payment at $10,000, and does not support manual capture, so you cannot place a hold on it either. It is a way to accept crypto, not a way to hold it until delivery.
A different model: escrow held by a contract
If your buyers can pay in stablecoins, on-chain escrow removes the question of who holds the money. With the Vaultion escrow API your server sends one request per order, with the price and that order’s seller wallet. The buyer funds escrow from their own wallet in USDC or USDT on one of six networks, and the payment is locked in a smart contract, not in your balance and not with Vaultion. The seller is paid when the buyer releases, or claims it once the review period ends.
A confirmed crypto payment can’t be charged back, so there is no 120-day tail. If buyer and seller disagree, either can open a dispute and a Vaultion reviewer rules on the evidence at no charge; that is not decentralized, and you are trusting Vaultion’s reviewers. A separate guardian can pause a ruling but never redirect funds. The limits are worth knowing too: the buyer pays an escrow fee of 4% below 500 USDC, 3% from 500 and 2% from 5,000, the minimum escrow is $50, there is no sandbox yet, and your server reads the status rather than receiving webhooks.
Which to use
Card payments with delivery inside a week: an authorization hold. Card payments with longer fulfilment: Connect with separate charges and transfers or manual payouts, with your own legal advice and a plan for chargebacks. Buyers who pay in crypto, cross-border deals, or high-ticket orders between strangers: escrow held by a contract. Many marketplaces will run both side by side.
See it for yourself
Vaultion runs on a published, open-source contract that holds the funds — not Vaultion. You can read it and the locked balance on the block explorer before you send anything.
Frequently asked
Does Stripe offer escrow?
No. Stripe’s documentation says it doesn’t provide escrow services or support escrow accounts, and escrow services are on Stripe’s restricted-businesses list, which means extra due diligence before Stripe will support them.
How long can Stripe hold funds?
A standard online card authorization lasts 7 days, and extended authorization up to about 30 days in eligible cases. With Connect manual payouts, funds can wait up to 90 days in most countries, two years in the US and 10 days in Thailand.
Can I use Stripe Connect as escrow?
You can delay transfers and payouts with Connect, but Stripe says it does not provide escrow, the funds stay in Stripe balances, and with most charge types your platform is debited for disputes. Stripe advises holding funds only for a clear purpose and getting legal advice.
Can a buyer charge back after the seller is paid?
Yes. Stripe notes cardholders can typically dispute within 120 days. On-chain stablecoin payments can’t be charged back; disputes in an escrow contract are decided before the money is released.
Escrow your platform never has to hold
One server-side call per order. The buyer’s stablecoins lock in a contract until delivery, then pay that order’s seller. No account, no API key, no monthly fee.
See the escrow API