Bitcoin Forum

OK, I've had it with the scammers on here. People who tell you to send coins first and then you never hear from them again. In fact, I just got scammed out of 10 LTC last night by arobinson. So, I've decided I am going to do something about it and start an escrow service.

Since I am just starting out and have not built up any trust, the first thought that will come to your mind is why trust me? The next thought is what are the fees? So, here is what I am thinking of doing:

1. I am going to limit trades to small amounts. That way, I can build reputation and you won't be risking much trying me out.
2. I am not going to charge commission at the beginning. If you think that I did a good job when the trade is complete, you can tip me. But that is totally up to you.
3. I am going to use an instant messaging system for communication and expect both traders to be on it the entire time of the transaction. That way we can all communicate in real time and the people trading currencies can know in real time what is happening. This will be offered through Skype (username: reliable escrow) which I will keep active and available on Skype at all times. If you and the person you would like to trade with wish to initiate a trade, please contact me via this Skype user name.
4. I will in return for quality service ask that people please leave me reviews on this thread to help me build reputation.
5. Initially, I will only support FTC/LTC/BTC/BTB trades, but more coin types will be added going forward. The trade ratios will be worked out by the traders, I will only facilitate escrowing the trade by having both parties send coins to me first and upon receipt from both parties and the needed confirms for validation, I will disseminate the corresponding coins in return to the counterparties.
6. Before any transactions take place, I will repeat the terms to which both parties have agreed and ask for confirmation to make sure that there are no misunderstandings. Once both parties agree, I will consider the deal as sealed and will await coins from both parties.
7. Any transfer fees imposed by the respective coin networks will be the responsibility of the parties trading the coins. I will notify the sending party if such a fee has been imposed by the network as part of sending to the final destination and subtract it from the amount being sent. Since this aspect is completely outside of my control, it will be the trading parties' responsibility.
8. In return for my services, I am going to ask both parties to please leave me a review on this thread to help me facilitate future trades. I also encourage both parties, if they are satisfied to stay linked to me via Skype for any future trades they may need.
9. When sending coins, make sure that you are sending to only the addresses at the bottom of this post, in case anyone tries to impersonate me. If anyone pretending to be me asks you to send to an address not in this post, do not trust them because they are clearly an imposter/scammer.
10. Any additional rules will be added here and all rules are subject to change in order to facilitate a fair and equitable escrow environment.

Escrow addresses (please do not send coins before contacting me first via Skype or PM):

FTC: 6xLa2uszqkWEkAMTWuhm93fMYiWLcTX313
LTC: LVrYfPV7boapeMiBdj4ZJWFACHbxSfR1Re
BTC: 1Jwqp3yPwN1xuHARtWNr2JDKZw58Q55hn7
BTB: B7kNP5gBG4V527ax6v4vBQBG5Zn5tciaim

Skype contact name: reliable escrow

Frankly?

It sounds so much like what a scammer would say that I admit I didn't even bother to read all the bullet-points.

-MarkM-

The key point is that I am limiting it to small amount to build reputation. For example, 1 LTC for a corresponding number of BTC. It wouldn't be worth it to scam for such small amounts, but it will build me reputation.

This is what scammers do. Build reputation to scam for larger amounts. We do need a good escrow service but this isn't how to provide it imo.

Hivemind. (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=194586.0) Though our approaches are somewhat different.

I certainly see your point. However, my goal is not so much to grow large and profitable as to help make ciphercoin trades reliable. This is the thing that bothers me most about them - the amount of scammers. I am hoping that providing a simple low budget escrow service such as what I am offering can at least help alleviate some of these problems for small trades.

I am not doing this to try to get rich off of it, I am doing this because something like this is sorely needed and I decided to invest the time to make it happen.

hopefully we can do this using Open Transactions smart-contracts soon.

Though people to act as gateways would probably help too. It is starting to look like an open question whether it will become possible to slap up a gateway using Ripple any sooner than one could slap up a gateway for Open Transactions.

-MarkM-

I see you have similar thoughts. After getting scammed myself I came to the realization that such a service would be of much value, especially for small trades between two people who have never met and do not trust each other. I am willing to be that trusted third party, but first I have to build up trust which is why I decided to start small - really small. Small enough, in fact, that there won't even be concern for being scammed, but the transactions will definitely show my reliability and hopefully my attitude through the process will show my professionalism.

In any event, if you are about to trade with someone (small trades only, please!) and you do not trust them and are willing to trust me, contact me via my Skype handle (reliableescrow) and I will try to make the trade happen fairly and professionally with real time communication all along the way.

Alright. Here's what I'll do then: I'll throw together a Google Doc with NAME in one column, REPUTATION in one, and CURRENCIES SUPPORTED in another. Then throw your name first on the list.


This way we have one master-list of escrow'ers that can easily be updated and referred to.

Barnacle, that's mighty nice of you and I am very thankful for your support! I really want to see this escrow idea take off. In the mean time, if anyone is interest in trading with someone else, feel free to connect with me via Skype (user: reliableescrow).

Are you in the "OTC Web of Trust" ( http://bitcoin-otc.com/ ) ?

If so then maybe you can also get people to "rate" you there to build reputation.

You might also find this thread interesting: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=124441.0

I think that is the one that recommends using the Web of Trust? Or does she have a separate thread dedicated to that?

EDIT: Yeah that thread is the one. You aren't in bitcoin business if you aren't in the Web of Trust! Haha. Controversial maybe?

-MarkM-

I'll take a look at that, thanks...

it was a nice thought.

Ray

Please post a link to the doc in this thread when you are done.

Check. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AibiuqEWnCPZdEN2NlBsUm9PQUoyelk2REVhd0hzSUE#gid=0

It's view-only for everyone but me currently. What altcoins would you like to support with escrow?

You mean like DividendRippler.com (https://www.dividendrippler.com/) which is an automatic Ripple gateway for BTC/LTC/TRC? (And thus effectively supports a kind of escrow for BTC/LTC/TRC/any-Ripple-currency trades.)