Bitcoin Forum

Hi everyone,

I'd like to start offering some escrow services but would like to know what would people look into to trust someone to be their escrow. As a background I'm a 38yrs old family man, work as a civil servant for the British government and can provide ID. I'm also an ACCA member so have to obey to some ethics rules which I believe in. What else would people like to see and where would be best to advertise my services?

i think people look for these things

1- trust score

2- activity

No, activity means nothing. It just determines a few things, like your rank. Your trust score is also redundant because it's easily abused. Your trust, however, is what's looked at and your score doesn't determine it.

then whats your opinion man ?

What would make you trust me to become an escrow if you needed it?

Some people have done numerous deals and have not received trust, but just a trust score.

Trust, to me, is when a large part of the community is able to trust you, or, another person trusted is able to trust you.

A ID means nothing.

Being a family-man means nothing.

ACCA, and ethical values mean absolutely nothing when you're on a screen and want to become a escrower. I'm sure that Devthedev, Monbux, escrowms, and other big escrowers did not come across that way.

and when there are so many guys as escrow why would someone use u as escrow ?

Ok, so in your case you think trust is when a large community trusts you as a community member. My question is how do you start an escrow business then? It is a bit Catch-22 situation.

I would advise you to start advertising your escrow service on thread where people are doing business.

Because you are starting, focus on the small deals and slowly build your trust over time.
Don't charge a fee, but mention that you accept tips.

Yes, i was thinking of not charging any fee at all until I get more experience. Thanks for the tip!

Aside from being an escrow, doing regular business here will make you seem more trustworthy. Participate in the forums and let your reputation come naturally.

There is no easy way to get into escrowing.

I wish I could escrow, along with hundreds of others, but I don't think that it would be possible.

The only method is to get a lot of trust. (You will mostly also need to be Sr. or Hero member for this)

At Sr. Member/Hero. Member, people may trust you with some trades without escrow, helping you get some small trust.
As you move onto bigger trades, you *might* be able to get some trust.
Then, you can get onto the circle where even a few points on defaulttrust will give you continuous returns, sooner or later getting you enough trust to be an escrow.

Alternatively, start a service.
It should involve transactions with hundreds of people, and should need each person to trust you with only small amounts.
For example, a gambling site. Each user needs to trust you with only cents worth of BTC to gamble, but as it runs, you will get more and more "cumulative trust"
You won't get a green number as quickly, but you will get generally trusted.

Whichever method you take, it won't be really worth it if you are looking for profit.
Monbux has free escrow services, and I doubt you will ever cross his repute.
I'd say that there is already a saturation of escrows, with hundreds looking for a chance, and at this rate, it looks like escrows are going to start paying you to use them.

" You don't need trust score to be trusted but you have to be honest "

Hope some day I can use your service.

Good Luck.

Thanks everyone for your advice. I shall try some of the ideas you have given me. Cheers

The escrows ship has sailed there is to many people doing it and its becoming difficult as hell to keep up with who is trust worthy or not.

I still only use the official bitcointalk trusted escrow list escrows. In my opinion, if you can get on then you'll be a successful escrower :)

The list hasn't been updated for a while.

Yeah I know. I've personally only used you, Maidak, and escrow.ms for escrow purposes in the past. I am sure there are a few other high profile members here like OGNasty who are also great escrows but have not tried using them yet.

This is not relevant to anything. The fact that you don't know the implied qualifications to start an escrow service means you probably shouldn't be one.

Consider this. If I needed escrow service, would I run to you first before trusting myself?

You start an escrow service AFTER you already have a large amount of trust feedback.