Merco

How it works

An order is a
state machine.

It has nine states, and at any moment you can see which one it is in — and who it is waiting on. The interesting part is that most of the time it is not waiting on Merco. Funds lock in escrow, the supplier makes the goods, the vessel leaves, customs clears, and the balance releases when you say the goods are accepted.

Inquiry
Quoted
Pmt due
Paid
Production
Shipped
Customs
Delivered
Completed

Nine states

Most of the machine
is not waiting on us.

Only one stage in nine — funds captured into escrow — is Merco’s to move. The rest wait on the buyer, the supplier, logistics or customs. The gates between them are real: escrow and an approved lab test before production, the vessel’s departure before shipped, customs release before delivered.

01Inquiry
waits on Buyer

You open an inquiry against a verified supplier — category, quantity, destination market, and target price.

02Quoted
waits on Supplier

The supplier returns a structured quote: unit price, freight, duty and VAT estimates, platform and compliance fees, incoterms, and lead time.

03Pmt due
waits on Buyer

You accept the quote. The order moves to payment and an escrow contract is prepared.

04Paid
◆ Merco

Funds are captured into Stripe-backed escrow and locked. Nothing reaches the supplier yet.

05Production
waits on Supplier

Production starts — gated on locked escrow and an approved lab test (e.g. OEKO-TEX). Compliance documents are assembled in parallel.

06Shipped
waits on Logistics

Freight is booked and the consolidated shipment departs. The order flips to shipped once the vessel has left origin.

07Customs
waits on Customs

Goods reach the destination port with the full document pack — DDS reference, EUR.1 / Rules of Origin, and the UFLPA evidentiary package where US-bound.

08Delivered
waits on Buyer

Customs releases the goods and they are delivered. You inspect against the order.

09Completed
waits on Buyer

You confirm delivery. Escrow releases to the supplier and the order closes with a full audit trail on the ledger.

Source · Order state machine — lib/order/transitions.ts; stages, actors and gates mirrored in lib/marketing/mechanics.ts

merco·escrow · contract
ORD-AB12CD
SHIPPED · Cottonline do Brasil
$34,200
$22,572 released
66% · 2/3PARTIAL RELEASE
✓Raw materials securedMill invoice · BCI cotton declaration$11,28633%
✓Lab test passedOEKO-TEX Std 100 report$11,28633%
○Delivered & acceptedSigned delivery note$11,62834%
Still held in escrow$11,628

Money

Where the
money sits.

Your payment is captured into Stripe-backed escrow and locked at PAID. Against it sits a release schedule: every milestone names the proof that unlocks it and the share of the order it frees, so you can see exactly how much of your money is still yours. The balance rides on your delivery confirmation — no wire ever reaches a factory you have not signed off on.

Above · ORD-AB12CD further into its life than the desk below shows it: two proofs in, the balance riding on delivery. Escrow is held by Stripe under the Merco operating agreement; every figure comes out of the platform's own escrow ledger.

Fleet

You watch the cargo move.

Freight is booked inside the platform, with the carriers themselves. Every active shipment draws its own lane on the map, sitting at the position the carrier last reported — not a progress bar standing in for one. Held at customs turns the lane red before anyone emails you about it.

▲ transit▲ held＋ port1 on map
SHP-AB12CDIn transit
BRSSZ46% · DAY 23/49NLRTM
Voyage
Order booked
BRSSZ · departed02 JUN
At sea46%
NLRTM · arrival21 JUL
Carrier
MSC
Vessel
MSC LEILA
B/L ref
MSCUAB12CD34
Freight
$2,976
ETD
02 JUN
ETA
21 JUL
Position fix
From schedule
Cargo
10000 units
Recent events
08.2N 28.4W · carrier feed6h ago
Santos · BRSSZ14d ago
MSC · LCL16d ago

The map and the shipment card are the logistics desk’s own. Ports are their real coordinates; SHP-AB12CD is a worked example, and on a live account the vessel sits where carrier tracking last put it.

The desk

One order, start to end.

The real order surface at full resolution: the register, the nine-state rail, and then the workbench — one panel naming who the order is waiting on, what your money is doing while you wait, and where the cargo is. No side rails: inside an order the desk is the whole width, because there is nothing else you should be looking at.

ORD-AB12CD is a worked example, not a live order — the tariff line (HS 6109.10, 10.8% MFN) is the real EU rate.

  • The orderlane, HS line, value
  • The railnine states, gated
  • The movewho holds it now
  • Your moneyheld, not sent

Open the route.

Tell us what you buy and where it lands. We come back with factories that can make it and the paperwork position for each one. No fee to join.