Using Stripe Connect (Recipient only) for payouts to digital product merchants in developing markets (Egypt, Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh) - Does it actually work?
Hey everyone,
I run a US-based platform exclusively for digital products and software services. We process payments globally for our builders through our own hosted checkout pages.
We are currently planning to onboard merchants and creators from developing markets—specifically Egypt, Turkey, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Our goal is to use Stripe Connect (specifically the Express dashboard) to handle merchant onboarding and automate their payouts (Transfers & Payouts).
Based on Stripe's documentation, I understand that for some of these countries (like Egypt), accounts only support "recipient service agreements." This means they can't process charges directly, but they can be onboarded under my US platform to receive their digital sales earnings directly to their local bank accounts.
Before fully committing to this infrastructure, I wanted to ask if anyone here has practical, real-world experience with this exact setup for these specific regions:
- First and foremost, do payouts actually go through successfully to local bank accounts in ALL of these specific countries via Connect, or are some practically unsupported?
- Are there any hidden compliance hurdles or high rejection rates when onboarding digital product merchants from these countries?
- Have you experienced unexpected account pauses or payout freezes for merchants in these regions once they hit certain volume thresholds?
- Is this a reliable long-term payout solution for global builders, or are there better alternatives for developing markets?
Any insights, warnings, or shared experiences would be highly appreciated. Thanks in advance!