So who actually holds the funds while the shipment and inspection occur? Does Stripe receive the funds from the buyer and maintain custody until they're released, or is Stripe Connect just your disbursement rail?

Also, in another comment, you indicated you could "intervene" in a transaction if needed.

If you are the party holding the funds and have the authority to decide whether and when to release them, you're almost certainly legally acting as an escrow agent even if you don't want to call it that.

Your business looks interesting but you should definitely talk to counsel about this because of the amounts involved. If you're taking custody of the funds but aren't licensed and bonded, it's not just a legal problem: basically becoming an unsecured creditor of a startup holding 6-7 figures of cash for however long it takes for a hardware shipment to be inspected is not a good position to be in as a buyer.