Bitcoin Forum

Hello all. I'm a noob to the forums but I have read the majority of stickied threads. Despite all this reading, I have not found an explanation of how to use escrow properly. What escrow is used when trading over the forums? How can we trust the service? If anyone could explain how escrow operates or link me to a thread I overlooked explaining the process it would be highly appreciated. Thanks!

John k.'s escrow service
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=141672.0

He's most trusted here.

and for escrow process you can see below..

http://www.ebaymotorssucks.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/about-escrow.jpg

*Merchandise can be anything.

Agreed, JohnK is the best escrow, but there are also a lot of other possible escrow providers with various ups and downs. Also, keep in mind escrow with paypal is kind of pointless (paypal can be charged back unless the escrow is 45 days)

I hope to be using johnk's escrow when I sell my avalon in a few days.

Chargebacks can happen even later than that with PayPal... There's some real horror stories out there.

I'm fairly sure chargebacks can be back as far as 6 months.

If it were me, I would just try to avoid paypal in general

Can 'gifts' be chargebacked as well? I somewhat recall that they can't but I may be wrong.

If someone said he didn't done transfer or like his account got hacked etc yes gift payments can get reversed.

Does anybody here know what johnk charges for his escrow service and what the average price is for a typical escrow service? Thanks

I think he just accepts tips and provides free escrow if transaction is not big.

Are you supposed to just message the escrow in a PM with details about a transaction?

To initiate the process, but there's more to it than that. In the example of John K he will provide a signed contract with an escrow address to send the BTC to while he is escrowing. Once you have the contract you are responsible for verifying the signatures are valid and his. You are also responsible for checking that the contract came directly from him.

Different escrow providers will use different variations on the process, but one of the most important parts is making sure that you are actually working with a trusted escrow provider and not just some Alt of your trading provider pretending to serve as escrow.

Does John K. escrow alts/alts?

Thanks a lot for this post, helped me out a bunch :)

Think so. It was discussed in the thread I was in earlier.

Found this thread while browsing the Marketplace and thought it could help some people in here, myself included :P: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=261273.0
'Tis a simple explanation that provides a nice overview of the topic.

John K. only escrows alts if one side is BTC. He doesn't have a cold wallet system setup for alts so he can only hold the BTC part of the escrow here.

Ah, and he charges a 1.5% fee in total for escrows > 1BTC, and generally does escrow for free below 1BTC. PM him for anything!

;)

He seems a cool guy. I've only overheard that though. If you ever see him, let him know he's valued!

I think he appreciates the kind words! ;)