When money moves in a store sale — the order of a GMC Marketplace deal
Sale agreed, both parties sign the Asset Purchase Agreement, payment is collected, assets transfer, the buyer confirms, then the seller is paid. Payment cannot be requested before signing.
Most bad store purchases are not sophisticated frauds. They are ordinary sequencing failures: money moved before there was a contract, or assets moved before there was money. The order below exists to remove both.
The eight steps
- Sale agreed — buyer and seller settle the price with the admin team on the deal.
- Agreement signed — the Asset Purchase Agreement is issued automatically and both parties sign it in the deal chat.
- Payment requested — this step is blocked until both counterparts are signed.
- Payment received — settlement funds are collected and held.
- Transfer in progress — the seller hands over assets with admin guidance.
- Transfer completed — the buyer confirms what has actually arrived.
- Seller paid — funds are released, less the platform commission.
- Deal completed.
Why the signature comes first
The agreement is what makes the asset list enforceable, so it has to exist before money changes hands. It is issued per deal, at the agreed price, and it is not the same document as the Platform Transaction Terms you accepted when you enquired or listed. If a price is renegotiated after the fact, the old contract is voided and a fresh one is issued rather than quietly reused.
Why signing is anonymous
One contract is executed as two single-signer counterparts. Each side signs their own and sees only the other side’s anonymous reference. Both executed counterparts and the identity schedule that links references to real parties are held by Tagan Labs LLC as Records Custodian. You can download your own counterpart from the deal chat at any time.
Anonymity here is about legal identity on the contract. You will still talk to a real counterparty in the deal chat, and you should still ask them direct questions about the asset list before you sign.
What this does not protect you from
The order protects the handover. It does not make the seller’s revenue figures true, and it does not bind Google, Meta, Shopify or a payments provider to anything. Diligence on the numbers is still yours to do, before the sale-agreed step rather than after it.
Questions
Do I pay before or after signing?
After. Payment cannot even be requested until both parties have signed the Asset Purchase Agreement for that deal — the platform blocks that step until the signing milestone is complete. If anyone asks you to send money before there is a signed agreement, that is not how a deal runs here.
Do I see the seller’s legal name on the contract?
No. Each party signs their own counterpart of the same agreement and appears to the other only as an anonymous reference such as B-3F9A21 for the buyer or S-8C2D14 for the seller. You enter your own legal name in your own signature block. Tagan Labs LLC holds both executed counterparts and the identity records as Records Custodian.
Who holds the money in between?
GMC Marketplace collects the settlement funds after signing and holds them pending your confirmation that the agreed assets have transferred. We describe that honestly as a facilitated settlement — we are not a licensed escrow company, and we do not claim to be.
What triggers the seller getting paid?
Your confirmation. The seller is paid after the buyer confirms the agreed assets have been transferred, minus the platform commission. Payouts to non-USA bank accounts carry a $25 international wire fee from the banking provider, deducted from the seller’s payout.
Related guides
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