Project Name
How Ksolves Built a Compliant, Escrow-Like Multi-Service Marketplace for the GCC on Salesforce
A Middle East–based tech entrepreneur envisioned a trusted, all-in-one marketplace for the GCC where users can discover, book, and pay for services like home maintenance, consulting, freelancing, and goods. Unlike platforms such as Urban Company or Fiverr, payments are held in escrow and released only after customer approval.
They partnered with Ksolves to build the platform end-to-end, supporting customers, vendors, and admins with automated transactions, GCC-wide payment methods, BNPL options, and full regulatory compliance across UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Oman.
Ksolves implemented a three-layer architecture: Salesforce Experience Cloud (vendor portal), StoreConnect (customer storefront), and Stripe Connect with PayTabs (payments), all unified by Salesforce CRM.
The client came to Ksolves with a complex set of platform requirements that standard tools and global gateways could not address out of the box:
- No Native Escrow-like Capability: Standard payment processors lacked the ability to hold funds pending service delivery, creating real risk of vendor default or buyer non-payment.
- Dual-Portal Architecture: The platform required two distinct experiences, a CRM-driven vendor portal and a consumer storefront, each with separate workflows and user expectations.
- GCC Payment Fragmentation: Local payment rails such as Mada, STC Pay, Knet, and Benefit are unsupported by global processors, requiring a dedicated regional gateway integration.
- Regulatory Constraints: Escrow-like fund flows triggered multi-country compliance obligations under UAE SVF, Saudi SAMA, and AML/KYC frameworks, directly shaping the system design.
- BNPL Abstraction: Buyer financing is integrated in a way that keeps vendors insulated from lending logic, ensuring clear separation between financing and payment flows.
- Category-Agnostic Scalability: The architecture had to support services and goods uniformly without vertical-specific customization for each new category.
Ksolves delivered a unified, Salesforce-powered marketplace platform purpose-built for the GCC. It helped connect customers, vendors, and administrators within a single, automated ecosystem.
- Three-Layer Architecture: A vendor portal on Experience Cloud, a customer storefront on StoreConnect, and an escrow-like payment layer via Stripe Connect and PayTabs, all centralized in Salesforce Core as the single source of truth.
- Vendor Portal (Experience Cloud): Built on Customer Community Plus to enable KYC onboarding, service listing, real-time transaction status visibility, proof-of-completion uploads, earnings dashboards, and Case-driven dispute workflows with strict data isolation.
- Customer Storefront (StoreConnect): A native Salesforce eCommerce solution with no middleware. Customers can browse, book, pay, confirm delivery, and raise disputes that map directly to Salesforce Cases.
- Escrow-like Payment Orchestration: Stripe Connect captures funds into the platform balance and releases them to vendors only after customer confirmation. PayTabs extends coverage to GCC-specific methods including Mada, STC Pay, Knet, and Benefit with multi-currency support.
- BNPL Abstraction Layer: Tabby and Tamara are used for BNPL, financing the transaction upfront while EMI repayments remain separate from the service flow. Vendors receive the full payment without any visibility into the underlying financing mechanics..
- Native Salesforce-Stripe Integration: Native Salesforce–Stripe integration built using Apex REST callouts and Named Credentials, with no middleware. Stripe webhooks update booking records in real time, and Salesforce Flows trigger payment release with full auditability.
- Automation and Orchestration: Record-Triggered Flows, Invocable Apex, and Platform Events manage the entire booking lifecycle, including payment triggers, KYC steps, status updates, and email notifications, with zero manual intervention.
- Security and Compliance: Role hierarchy, profiles, permission sets, and sharing sets enforce vendor data isolation. KYC is embedded in onboarding, and the architecture covers UAE SVF, SAMA, AML/KYC, and per-country VAT from day one.
The platform Ksolves delivered achieved measurable outcomes across trust, scale, coverage, and compliance:
- 12+ User Journeys Implemented: Fully mapped and delivered end-to-end, covering all platform roles from vendor onboarding and KYC through BNPL financing and dispute resolution.
- 6 GCC Markets Supported: The platform operates across UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman with local currency payouts and region-specific payment methods.
- Zero Middleware: StoreConnect's native Salesforce architecture eliminated all integration middleware between the storefront and CRM backend.
- Dual Payment Gateway Coverage: Stripe Connect and PayTabs together deliver 100% payment method coverage across all GCC markets, including local and international rails.
- Fully Automated Escrow-like Lifecycle: End-to-end escrow like hold-and-release is orchestrated via Salesforce Flows and Apex with no manual intervention for standard transactions.
- Regulatory-Ready from Day One: UAE SVF, Saudi SAMA, GCC VAT, and AML/KYC requirements were addressed as foundational design decisions, not post-launch retrofits.
By adopting a three-layer, Salesforce-first architecture combining a vendor portal, customer storefront, and integrated payment layer with regional gateway support and pluggable BNPL financing, Ksolves delivered a fully automated, scalable, and compliance-ready marketplace for the GCC.
The solution addresses core marketplace trust gaps through an escrow-like transaction lifecycle covering secure payment capture, controlled fund holding, service delivery validation, and conditional payout, alongside structured dispute and refund handling. A native, unified data model ensures transactions flow in real time across all user interfaces without middleware or synchronization delays.
The platform is category-agnostic and extensible, ready to support multi-country expansion, additional service verticals, and new payment or financing providers without architectural rework.
If you are looking to build a similar marketplace solution, connect with a Ksolves Salesforce expert and explore what is possible for your business.
Build a Trusted, Scalable Marketplace for Your Market!
