How to become an escrow?

[Clint]

I realized a lot of escrows for campaigns have high trust. I'm currently a full member, and I think becoming an escrow is a lot of work, but it's interesting and I've never done it before. How do we become an escrow for a campaign? Do we need to exceed to a certain level of trust? I hope I can gain a high trust in this forum and become an escrow for people, that is my goal right now. Please give me some advice how I do that. 

[ajareselde]

Whole point of escrow service is to be the trusted middle man, a third party to make sure trade happens by agreed rules or the funds are returned to buyer.
You can't possibly act as an escrow, simply because you have low membership, and no trade history, but that is something that happens with time if you want to go that way.
Given the fact that there are already multiple persons who i deem trusted who are even prepared to escrow @ 0 fee, i think there isn't much space left in this business for a new provider.

cheers

[OgNasty]

You can do what I did.  Participate in >17,000 BTC in trades over a span of 4+ years without anyone having a complaint.

[monbux]

I realized a lot of escrows for campaigns have high trust. I'm currently a full member, and I think becoming an escrow is a lot of work, but it's interesting and I've never done it before. How do we become an escrow for a campaign? Do we need to exceed to a certain level of trust? I hope I can gain a high trust in this forum and become an escrow for people, that is my goal right now. Please give me some advice how I do that. 
[/quote

Why do you want to be an escrow?  If its for profit, then you're out of luck.  There are no official requirements in order to offer escrow services, but you'll need to have a group of people that actually TRUST you first (or else, why would they use your middleman services?

[Habeler876]

You can do what I did.  Participate in >17,000 BTC in trades over a span of 4+ years without anyone having a complaint.

Pretty much this.

With any real amount of BTC, I only deal with longstanding (several years) escrows that have been tried and true. There's not much money in it, so I'm not sure why you'd be interested, OP. It's really just a community service for the most part. I've escrowed a couple trades for regulars in the digital goods forum, but I wouldn't want to make a real service of it.

[Astargath]

Escrowing is not too peofitable unless you are extremely trusted and even then its still hardly profitable, you could start giving loans to people on the lending section to build trust and to also get a good profit but always use escrow and ask for collateral

[bitbaby]

I realized a lot of escrows for campaigns have high trust. I'm currently a full member, and I think becoming an escrow is a lot of work, but it's interesting and I've never done it before. How do we become an escrow for a campaign? Do we need to exceed to a certain level of trust? I hope I can gain a high trust in this forum and become an escrow for people, that is my goal right now. Please give me some advice how I do that. 

Why are you so keen on becoming an escrow? There are already enough trusted escrows on this forum who have done hundreds of successful trades with huge amount of BTCs involved and frankly there isn't any need for more.

I don't know why you're setting this goal for yourself, if you think that it is profitable, let me assure you it's not, most of the trusted escrows offer their free services on this forum and others charge only 1%. And it's a job which involves lots of responsibility, I think it's best if you forget about it and leave it for already well established and trusted members.

[hilariousandco]

I realized a lot of escrows for campaigns have high trust. I'm currently a full member, and I think becoming an escrow is a lot of work, but it's interesting and I've never done it before. How do we become an escrow for a campaign? Do we need to exceed to a certain level of trust? I hope I can gain a high trust in this forum and become an escrow for people, that is my goal right now. Please give me some advice how I do that.  

Why are you so keen on becoming an escrow? There are already enough trusted escrows on this forum who have done hundreds of successful trades with huge amount of BTCs involved and frankly there isn't any need for more.

I don't know why you're setting this goal for yourself, if you think that it is profitable, let me assure you it's not, most of the trusted escrows offer their free services on this forum and others charge only 1%. And it's a job which involves lots of responsibility, I think it's best if you forget about it and leave it for already well established and trusted members.

This is exactly what I'd like to know. What exactly do you think is interesting about it? When people are so keen to hold on to others money it always makes me suspicious. Escrow is a lot of work for little reward. Most escrows charge zero fees and rely on tips but people are skingy and either won't tip at all or a tiny amount. I find it bizarre that people set out to want to be escrows, and this is the wrong way to do it. You should fall into it naturally and if you're trusted and an active member of the community people will ask you to escrow deals for them. I don't currently really offer an escrow service but a few people have asked me in the past and I obliged and a few people have suggested I start offering a full service but I'm in no rush. If that ever happens to you then that would be a good indication that people trust you or that your services would be valuable but not before. 

[Amph]

You can do what I did.  Participate in >17,000 BTC in trades over a span of 4+ years without anyone having a complaint.

i think he want to be a trusted escrow as fast as possible, to start earning some on his escrow service

but it's true that there aren't many way, just do your normal trading activity in the marketplace

[Deadmau5]

I guess everything has already been said, but you need lots and lots of experience in doing trades on here and preferably lots of feedback to back that up. Once you are a respected member of the community then you can try do escrow,

[jdebunt]

I guess everything has already been said, but you need lots and lots of experience in doing trades on here and preferably lots of feedback to back that up. Once you are a respected member of the community then you can try do escrow,

Don't forget he'll need lots & lots of patience too, as people won't come to you that easily, especially in the beginning

[Quickseller]

You can do what I did.  Participate in >17,000 BTC in trades over a span of 4+ years without anyone having a complaint.

Out of curiosity, what is the current BTC equivalent of trades you have done over that 4+ year span? For example, in the beginning of 2013, 1 BTC was worth roughly $10, so a ~25 BTC trade then would be worth 1 BTC now.

[Bizmark13]

Actually there have been cases of people acting as successful escrows who had little to no trading history. But even in those cases, they were usually already hero or legendary members (or a senior member at the very least) and/or had been involved within the community in some other way. For instance, Carra23 managed the Cryptomine.io signature campaign earlier this year and escrowed 7 BTC of funds and did the job very well. redsn0w had virtually no trading history when he began offering his escrow services but he was already well known as a moderator in two other forums. CrackedLogic also ran a relatively successful escrow service despite having little trading history at the time.

As others have said, however, there are very highly trusted users out there who have done many trades over many years who offer their services for free (although usually with tips). To the OP; even if your service had zero fees, it would be difficult to find people interested in using it since you are a full member with almost no trading history. With a fee, it would be damn near impossible.

Escrowing is not too peofitable unless you are extremely trusted and even then its still hardly profitable, you could start giving loans to people on the lending section to build trust and to also get a good profit but always use escrow and ask for collateral

Just a word of warning, though; some people frown upon taking out loans just to build one's reputation.

[dHe_zHiq]

Actually there have been cases of people acting as successful escrows who had little to no trading history. But even in those cases, they were usually already hero or legendary members (or a senior member at the very least) and/or had been involved within the community in some other way. For instance, Carra23 managed the Cryptomine.io signature campaign earlier this year and escrowed 7 BTC of funds and did the job very well. redsn0w had virtually no trading history when he began offering his escrow services but he was already well known as a moderator in two other forums. CrackedLogic also ran a relatively successful escrow service despite having little trading history at the time.

As others have said, however, there are very highly trusted users out there who have done many trades over many years who offer their services for free (although usually with tips). To the OP; even if your service had zero fees, it would be difficult to find people interested in using it since you are a full member with almost no trading history. With a fee, it would be damn near impossible.

Escrowing is not too peofitable unless you are extremely trusted and even then its still hardly profitable, you could start giving loans to people on the lending section to build trust and to also get a good profit but always use escrow and ask for collateral

Just a word of warning, though; some people frown upon taking out loans just to build one's reputation.

This can be done if you have begun to be trusted by someone and transaction .. but it is very difficult to find the first to believe in us, even though we have been trying to convince him.
and from my experience, the trust that can be obtained from the writings that we make, whether qualified or constructive, then we act to a problem, and much more,.
so when we had to get kepercayaaan it, we should be able to keep it and never betrayed or you'll never be trusted again

[Coinbanker]

because of time difference, you need to be online 24h in a day.  for measly escrow fees?

[hilariousandco]

Actually there have been cases of people acting as successful escrows who had little to no trading history. But even in those cases, they were usually already hero or legendary members (or a senior member at the very least) and/or had been involved within the community in some other way. For instance, Carra23 managed the Cryptomine.io signature campaign earlier this year and escrowed 7 BTC of funds and did the job very well. redsn0w had virtually no trading history when he began offering his escrow services but he was already well known as a moderator in two other forums. CrackedLogic also ran a relatively successful escrow service despite having little trading history at the time.

People like redsnow probably shouldn't have offered escrow services without more trades or experience and at the time when he started offering it I thought it was too early for him to be doing so. I think he was not experienced enough for it and it did cost him in the end after he messed up a deal and he now no longer provides escrow services and received negative feedback for quite some time due to it. Just because users have a few successful transactions also doesn't mean they wont run off with a big amount in the future (not saying any of those users would but it's something to keep in mind) and that's why I'm always suspicious when users, especially ones with little to no rep, want to provide such services when there's little reward for them and it's an easy way to get people to trust you with a lot of money.

[Astargath]

Actually there have been cases of people acting as successful escrows who had little to no trading history. But even in those cases, they were usually already hero or legendary members (or a senior member at the very least) and/or had been involved within the community in some other way. For instance, Carra23 managed the Cryptomine.io signature campaign earlier this year and escrowed 7 BTC of funds and did the job very well. redsn0w had virtually no trading history when he began offering his escrow services but he was already well known as a moderator in two other forums. CrackedLogic also ran a relatively successful escrow service despite having little trading history at the time.

People like redsnow probably shouldn't have offered escrow services without more trades or experience and at the time when he started offering it I thought it was too early for him to be doing so. I think he was not experienced enough for it and it did cost him in the end after he messed up a deal and he now no longer provides escrow services and received negative feedback for quite some time due to it. Just because users have a few successful transactions also doesn't mean they wont run off with a big amount in the future (not saying any of those users would but it's something to keep in mind) and that's why I'm always suspicious when users, especially ones with little to no rep, want to provide such services when there's little reward for them and it's an easy way to get people to trust you with a lot of money.

After all theres people on default trust with little or no transactions done and well they are on default trust, i dont see that much of a problem for someone to start doing escrowing services with not too many transactions, anyways people is free to pick which escrow they want to use so theres no harm done.

[hilariousandco]

After all theres people on default trust with little or no transactions done and well they are on default trust, i dont see that much of a problem for someone to start doing escrowing services with not too many transactions, anyways people is free to pick which escrow they want to use so theres no harm done.

People on defaulttrust aren't offering to handle other people's money but most people on there have been here quite some time and have left plenty of feedback and are on there for good reason (and most do actually have lots of trade history but being on default trust and escrow are two different things). And there will be harm done if/when they screw up or if an escrow ever ran off with someone's money. Luckily a major escrow theft hasn't happened as far as I'm aware but if the forum gets over run with no-name Full Member accounts suddenly offering to do escrow and it becomes common practice or they're even accepted how long do you think it is before someone does steal someone else's money? It really shouldn't be ok for low-level users with no rep or trades to just suddenly offer to hold on to others money because it puts people at risk. If one does end up scamming then people will lose faith in escrows as it defeats the purpose of them.

[d0om]

I would middleman for anyone interested. No fee since my account is kind of new, though I made a trade thread and have done a few trades without a hitch. I'm well off enough that I'm not pressured to steal, I just think crypto is neat so I poke around here every now and then.

[ausbit]

This smells very fishy to me.
OP is asking how to become an escrow provider because he thinks it would be very interesting, what exactly would be interesting in being the escrow holder for a signature campaign?
Sounds like nothing but a massive stress holding campaign funds and keeping them safe.

Also OP is inquirering how much bitcointalk accounts are here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1088658.0

Just out of curiousity, do you guys know how much an account on this forum would cost? In it's lowest rates? For example, a senior member, or hero, or legendary? Thanks guys