Governance Beyond the Transaction.

Every New Market Is a Compliance Surface You Have to Hold

Expanding internationally multiplies the disciplines your organisation must manage. Trade compliance requirements shift by market. Financial settlement fragments across currencies and payment flows. Product data must satisfy regulatory standards in every jurisdiction. 

Then come the second-order problems: fraud exposure, regulated product handling, duty recovery, inventory positioning. Each one introduces risk that compounds as market coverage grows. 

Most commerce organisations are not set up to manage these disciplines internally at scale. The result is fragmented oversight, hidden cost and regulatory exposure that increases with every new market.

What Are Merchant of Record Services?

Merchant of Record Services sit on top of ESW’s technology platform and extend accountability into the operational disciplines that most vendors leave to internal teams. 

That means managed oversight across trade compliance, financial settlement, catalogue readiness, fraud and risk management, regulated product handling, duty recovery and supply chain coordination. 

These are not advisory services. They are ongoing programmes operated by specialists, aligned with the platform and supported by systems designed for cross-border commerce at enterprise scale. As your footprint grows, the model scales with it.

Trusted by Global Retailers Managing Cross-Border Operations

ESW supports global brands running commerce programmes across 200+ international markets. Merchant of Record Services provide the operational layer that keeps those programmes compliant, financially predictable and operationally consistent. 

• Compliance oversight across customs regimes, product regulations and trade requirements 

• Centralised financial settlement and reconciliation across currencies 

• Managed risk, fraud prevention and regulated product disciplines 

• Supply chain coordination supporting global fulfilment operations 

What Gets Governed, and How

Trade Compliance

Managed oversight across product classification, customs readiness and regulatory obligations. As assortments expand into new markets, classification and regulatory processes adapt to keep shipments moving and exposure low.

Global Financial Settlement and FX

Centralised settlement, reporting and reconciliation across international markets. Finance teams gain clear visibility into cross-border performance and financial flows without reconciling across fragmented systems.

Catalogue Management

Product data managed for accuracy, compliance and operational readiness. Proper classification and data completeness prevent the customs delays and fulfilment friction caused by inconsistent product information. 

Fraud and Risk Management

Dedicated processes, tooling and risk disciplines that protect realised revenue while reducing chargeback exposure and operational burden on internal teams.

Dangerous Goods Management

Controlled handling and shipment of regulated products across international markets, ensuring regulated assortments remain eligible for global sale without increasing compliance risk.

Drawback Assistance

Identification and recovery of eligible duties and taxes from international returns and re-exports. Managed eligibility assessment, claims submission and recovery processes turn lost margin into recovered revenue. 

Supply Chain Services

Inventory positioning and fulfilment planning coordinated across global operations, improving delivery performance while maintaining cost control across markets. 

 

The Gap Between Owning the Transaction and Controlling the Operation

Cross-border commerce providers typically enable checkout, payments and compliance at the point of sale. Everything behind the transaction, the operational accountability that determines whether programmes actually hold up at scale, is left fragmented across internal teams and external partners.

Centralised Governance, Not Distributed Responsibility

Instead of spreading compliance, settlement and risk across multiple teams and vendors, Merchant of Record Services centralise governance across all critical operational disciplines. 

Operational Consistency That Scales With Market Coverage

Compliance, settlement and risk management become harder to coordinate as you enter more markets. ESW’s oversight remains consistent as volume and complexity increase.

Accountability beyond the legal entity 

Acting as Merchant of Record is a legal commitment. Supporting it with accountable operations is a commercial one. These services ensure the disciplines behind the model are as rigorous as the model itself.

What Accountable Cross-Border Operations Deliver

When compliance, settlement and risk are governed centrally rather than distributed across teams, four things change.

Lower Compliance Exposure 

Customs delays, regulatory disruptions and shipment holds decrease because compliance is managed proactively across markets rather than reactively when something breaks. 

Stronger Financial Visibility 

Your finance team sees cross-border performance through centralised settlement and reporting rather than reconciling fragmented data from multiple providers, currencies and payment flows. 

Reduced Operational Burden 

The compliance, settlement and risk disciplines that currently consume internal resource are managed by ESW. Your teams focus on strategic priorities rather than operational firefighting. 

More Predictable Expansion 

New markets do not introduce new governance gaps. The operational disciplines that hold your programme together in existing markets extend automatically to every new one.