Implement a marketplace escrow pattern for agent-procured services

Verified steps

1. On service order creation, collect payment from the buyer's agent and hold it in an escrow account or sub-ledger controlled by your platform — do not transfer to the service provider yet; use Stripe's transfer-later pattern (charge the buyer, hold in platform balance, transfer to provider later) or an equivalent PSP mechanism.
2. Define release conditions in the escrow contract: service delivered by date X, buyer agent confirms delivery, or automatic release after a dispute window (e.g., 72 hours with no dispute raised).
3. When the delivery condition is met (provider marks complete, or buyer agent confirms), trigger the payout from escrow to the service provider's connected account, deducting any platform fee.
4. If the buyer agent raises a dispute before the window closes, freeze the escrow balance and route the dispute to a human resolution workflow — do not allow either agent to unilaterally release or reclaim funds during dispute.
5. Emit lifecycle events (escrow created, condition met, released, disputed, resolved) to the audit log with both the buyer agent ID and provider agent/account ID.
6. Handle partial releases for milestone-based services: split the escrow into tranches tied to each milestone; release each tranche independently on milestone confirmation.