Why escrow at all
In the traditional broker model, the shipper pays the broker, the broker pays the carrier, and the broker holds the cash for 30–60 days in between. This is where most broker-side fraud lives — the broker takes the shipper's money, books the carrier, and then either delays payment beyond agreed terms, or in the extreme case, never pays.
FreightWaves estimates carriers wrote off $260M+ in unpaid broker invoices in 2023. The BMC-84 surety bond ($75K per broker) covers a fraction of total exposure across the industry.
Escrow eliminates this gap. The funds are held by a neutral third party (Stripe) from the moment the load is accepted. The broker never holds the cash; it goes from shipper → escrow → carrier directly.
How Stripe Connect works in practice
When a shipper accepts a load offer on GetHaulDirect:
1. Stripe charges the shipper for the full load value plus the 5% platform fee. This creates a charge held in escrow.
2. The carrier sees the load as "Funded" — meaning the cash is good before they roll a wheel.
3. On POD (Proof of Delivery) upload by the carrier, the funds are released:
- 95% to the carrier's Stripe Connect account (theirs)
- 5% to the GetHaulDirect platform account (the application_fee_amount)
4. ACH from carrier's Stripe Connect to their bank typically settles in 2 business days.
If the load is cancelled before pickup, the charge is reversed in full. If there's a dispute (cargo damage, missed window), the funds stay in escrow until both parties agree to release or the platform mediates.
What this protects against
**Broker non-payment**: structurally impossible. The platform never holds the cash; Stripe does. The 5% application fee comes off the same payment, not as a separate billing.
**Carrier no-show after acceptance**: shipper's funds aren't released. Only POD upload triggers payout. A carrier who accepts but never picks up costs the platform a return-charge (small) but doesn't cost the shipper money.
**Double-brokering**: Stripe Connect is tied to the carrier's verified bank account, which is tied to their KYC'd identity. A double-broker would have to KYC twice with different identities — not a clean fraud path.
**Cargo fraud (false POD)**: this is the residual risk. The platform's POD review queue and the carrier's identity-KYC are the controls; a determined fraudster who's already passed Sumsub identity verification has a much higher cost of doing the fraud than the typical broker-side schemes.
Comparison vs other payment models
| Model | Who holds funds | Carrier risk | Days to pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional broker | Broker | High (broker default) | 30–60 |
| Quick-pay broker | Broker | Medium (extra fee) | 1–3 |
| Factoring | Factor | Low (factor pays carrier) | 1 |
| Stripe Connect escrow | Stripe | Very low | 2 |
Factoring solves carrier cash-flow but adds a 1.5–3% fee on every invoice. Quick-pay solves it with a fee. Escrow solves it without an additional fee — Stripe's 2.9% is the only processing line.