Bitcoin Forum

Hi, I'm new here.  I want to sell a couple of egift cards. and maybe a software activation code.  How do I arrange for escrow?  Is there an Escrow service internal to bitcointalk,org, or is it all done through outside third parties?  If the latter, any recommendations? Ratings?

Hi. Welcome.
Here (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=855778.0) is a good overview of the most popular escrows available at bitcointalk. I think is safe to say that top 3 is the place to go. Check individually, be vigilant and stay safe :) Cheers.

Thanks.  I hope that someone will update that list and put it in a sticky.  It's still good info, but 2 1/2 years old. 

To arrange escrow you have to send them a message and ask to sign their btc address to confirm its them and pay for it service

Hi there it is really nice to see newbie who is actually asking for an escrow and trying to be safe . here is an more up to date thread https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=276897.0 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=276897.0) . And what ever happen never trade  without escrow unless high rank with green trust/good reviews .  Goodluck :)

You have to contact the escrow through sending him/her a personal message on the forum. Than the escrow will setup an agreement and both parties (buyer and seller) need to agree to those terms before anyone sends funds to the escrow.

I recommend to use SebastianJu as an escrow, he is a very nice escrow and I would say that he is the most trusted escrow around here.

I'm not sure if you could find a trusted escrow to assists you here since no one can verify an egiftcard if its still unclaimed without claiming it so how could the escrow verify the giftcards? same thing with the activation codes

Well the buyer of the giftcards send the money to the escrow, when the escrow has received the funds, the escrow can give the codes to the buyer. Than the escrows waits for confirmation that the cards work of the buyer and he releases the funds to the seller. It is as easy as that.

What is the buyer says that the code isn't working and has already been redeemed? There would be a dispute then. The escrow would have to trust the buyer then and unless the seller has bought the gift card and has got proof from the website that the card wasn't redeemed before that, the dispute wouldn't be settled for long. Only few websites like Sears allows the escrow to check if the card code is still valid and the value while amazon doesn't have this option.

I suggest you using Cyrus as a escrow. He is Admin in this forum as well.

I have not thought about such a case before, this would mean that the buyer is lying to the escrow and therefor is scamming the seller with the use of an escrow. Probably escrows won't bother to deal with unverifiable giftcards than.

@OP I think you have a bit if a problem than, there is no such trustless trading platform (yet).

You can use Bitify (website) as escrow.

Thanks all.  For what it's worth, there are a lot of merchants that let you check the balance of an egift card on their website by putting in the card number and pin, including the ones that I have.  If I give the escrow service both, they can check any time before or after they send to the buyer.  If I was dishonest, I could still spend the card immediately after it was sent to the buyer, but I wouldn't have any way to know when the escrow service had sent it to the buyer if the escrow service delayed in sending it or in reporting to me.  It's not foolproof, but could minimize risk.  I will see what the escrow services have to say.

If you're selling gift cards that can buy physical things, you can ship straight to the buyer while the funds are held in escrow, it's slower but almost foolproof. Software activation codes on the other hand are not.