How Would you Handle online Payment/Service Agreement without Escrow

[Ucy]

How would you handle online payment/service contract if escrow is unavailable or if you don't want your trade partner to feel untrustworthy or embarrassed by asking that fund be escrowed


In Bitcoin space, the trust maxim is "don't trust but verify", or "have your fund locked first in escrow and then release when you recieve your product/service from seller, and the seller is also sure he gets paid after delivering the product/service to buyer".
So, Escrow is some kind of trustless tool that helps minimize contract breach between trade partners, but what if it's unavailable or you don't want your partner to feel untrustworthy?  
To be honest, it will be kind of weird to ask certain trade partners to escrow first before you deliver a product/service. That could be easy to do if you are using a Trading Platform that requires all funds to pass through escrow before exchanges happen.
But without escrow it will mean sending payment to buyer and hope that your product/service gets delivered, and without Issues... Or as seller you get paid after the buyer recieves the product/service.  Also consider the risk of receiving dirty coins or money (you may find hard to spend) as a seller, after product/service delivery.

So, how would you handle this to minimize risk of trading without Escrow?

* Personally, I will trade without escrow with someone I understand really well and I'm sure is unlikely to cheat
* Will trade without escrow with partner with little to zero legitimate negative review on payments or product/service delivery
* Will only trade without escrow when dealing with funds, goods or services I can afford to risk
* May trade with partner I can easily visit physically incase of issues
Etc


Can you trade without escrow, or how/why would you trade without escrow?

[Coyster]

It depends on the platform facilitating the trade. Every trading platform already has their own established method of facilitating trades between buyers and sellers, and if you are trading in any of those platforms, you'd have to follow their process. For example, Bisq uses a 2-of-2 multisignature wallet to process trades, and to ensure it is safe and entirely p2p.

So what kind of trade are you talking about, do you mean trades outside of an established platform? If that is the case, then escrow is necessary, and then the escrow must be trusted. I know people who have a trading community on social media, say, Telegram, and they trade with one another, even without escrow, i consider it to be risky, but people do it.

[Ruttoshi]

If It's not in a platform. I wouldn't trade without escrow. If I want to trade without escrow, it must be someone that I already trusted and can easily reach him incase, the trade didn't go as planned.

Anyone trading outside a platform without an escrow is on his own risk because people can trample on their trust for little amount of money.

[Rruchi man]

* Personally, I will trade without escrow with someone I understand really well and I'm sure is unlikely to cheat

Can you ever be that sure? The only basis to trade with someone like that is when the person has something to lose. Don't trade without an escrow with people who have nothing to lose.

* May trade with partner I can easily visit physically incase of issues

Many uncertainties: What if the partner already has a plan to change physical location and go ghost before making the trade?

Don't take a risk you can't afford; always use an escrow, except for an amount of money you can lose.

[Nwada001]

So, how would you handle this to minimize risk of trading without Escrow?

* Personally, I will trade without escrow with someone I understand really well and I'm sure is unlikely to cheat 

If I know someone and before the trade I can easily send my product to the person without thinking twice, even if we are in cities far from each other, I won’t mind; I can take the risk, but it’s a different case for someone I meet online trying to patronize me for the first time. I would rather make the person feel untrustworthy by asking for escrow than for me to lose my product without getting paid.

* Will trade without escrow with partner with little to zero legitimate negative review on payments or product/service delivery
* Will only trade without escrow when dealing with funds, goods or services I can afford to risk
* May trade with partner I can easily visit physically incase of issues
Etc

Can you trade without escrow, or how/why would you trade without escrow?

If I’m running a standard online business, I should have my own rules of payment, and the buyer or my clients need to follow those rules. If it’s a physical product that I’m selling to the customer, which needs to be delivered, I can use a logistics company where payment is to be made before the goods are picked up after the customer has checked them.

As for dirty or tinted coins, that should be least of a sellers worry.

[knuckey]

Of course, the partner's trust comes first, looking at their background, if all of these are met, it is unlikely that we will be cheated, but if you are still in doubt, there is no harm in asking for a photo of their identity card, this will help us if we have been cheated, we can make an online complaint with the evidence we have in hand, one thing "Never trust anyone on the internet"

[Cryptomultiplier]

How would you handle online payment/service contract if escrow is unavailable or if you don't want your trade partner to feel untrustworthy or embarrassed by asking that fund be escrowed


In Bitcoin space, the trust maxim is "don't trust but verify", or "have your fund locked first in escrow and then release when you recieve your product/service from seller, and the seller is also sure he gets paid after delivering the product/service to buyer".
So, Escrow is some kind of trustless tool that helps minimize contract breach between trade partners, but what if it's unavailable or you don't want your partner to feel untrustworthy?  
To be honest, it will be kind of weird to ask certain trade partners to escrow first before you deliver a product/service. That could be easy to do if you are using a Trading Platform that requires all funds to pass through escrow before exchanges happen.
But without escrow it will mean sending payment to buyer and hope that your product/service gets delivered, and without Issues... Or as seller you get paid after the buyer recieves the product/service.  Also consider the risk of receiving dirty coins or money (you may find hard to spend) as a seller, after product/service delivery.

So, how would you handle this to minimize risk of trading without Escrow?

* Personally, I will trade without escrow with someone I understand really well and I'm sure is unlikely to cheat
* Will trade without escrow with partner with little to zero legitimate negative review on payments or product/service delivery
* Will only trade without escrow when dealing with funds, goods or services I can afford to risk
* May trade with partner I can easily visit physically incase of issues
Etc


Can you trade without escrow, or how/why would you trade without escrow?

No matter how much I trust the person am doing business with, when it comes to money, I believe anything or any funny story can come up and that's why if i so much trust the person or know them personally not to fail, I might try adopting a method of fractional payment until the deal is completed and then I receive the balance of my payment.
That is, half payment before delivery and the balance upon completion of delivery. At least, this should guarantee that at any point the other party falters, I get a hold on some part payment until they are ready to pay up and get the balance of the delivery they are paying for.

I mean, this is business and there's no saying how a loss can happen, so no matter how much I trust the person, even if we decide not to use a standard escrow service, part payment must be made to okay the start of delivery until the final payment is made to ensure they receive the balance delivery.

[Fortify]

How would you handle online payment/service contract if escrow is unavailable or if you don't want your trade partner to feel untrustworthy or embarrassed by asking that fund be escrowed


So, how would you handle this to minimize risk of trading without Escrow?

* Personally, I will trade without escrow with someone I understand really well and I'm sure is unlikely to cheat
* Will trade without escrow with partner with little to zero legitimate negative review on payments or product/service delivery
* Will only trade without escrow when dealing with funds, goods or services I can afford to risk
* May trade with partner I can easily visit physically incase of issues

Can you trade without escrow, or how/why would you trade without escrow?

Someone else feeling untrusted or embarassed (don't know how this is possible) when it comes to protecting your money is a completely irrelevant thought. In fact it's the default behavior of a scammer and the sort of emotional crutches that they try to lean on when they want to take advantage of people. Escrow is a very effective method of protecting two parties by introducing a impartial middleman and it has worked for centuries, it can only be improved on by making sure the middleman cannot run off with the money. Unless you have a solid reputation in a place, like some of the oldest members on this forum have, then the equation is always going to be simple - is the deal you're involved in worth the risk of losing future business by not running off with the money. That calculation is too variable to risk without using a third party for any high value trades. I've done lots of trades in the hundreds of dollars without involving anyone else, provided the other person had a longstanding account with a decent reputation here, but once you get into the thousands it is probably not worth the risk. You're trying to solve a problem which already has a simple and obvious answer.

[Agathamay]

How would you handle online payment/service contract if escrow is unavailable or if you don't want your trade partner to feel untrustworthy or embarrassed by asking that fund be escrowed

So, how would you handle this to minimize risk of trading without Escrow?

* Personally, I will trade without escrow with someone I understand really well and I'm sure is unlikely to cheat
* Will trade without escrow with partner with little to zero legitimate negative review on payments or product/service delivery
* Will only trade without escrow when dealing with funds, goods or services I can afford to risk
* May trade with partner I can easily visit physically incase of issues
Etc


Can you trade without escrow, or how/why would you trade without escrow?

you have raised a valid points above but the bolder point is the first thing to consider when dealing with a partner without an escrow especially if the deal is a first time deal and secondly, you should also consider the possibilities of getting this person to answer in times when he or she might be needed and also try to trade with someone that is sane and mature and not just any random person.

i will never go into a trade with a random person without an escrow because the world is already very evil and it is becoming very difficult to trust anyone on the internet and that is why except you're a scammer or you have an ulterior motive then, i see no reason to avoid an escrow that is suppose to protect us both in a trade

[Woodie]

If no escrow is built into the platform it's either you use the platforms reputation system to  weigh in if the user is trustworthy that you take the risk and send the funds first... then you receive your product/service.. btw on some other platform like Mpgh this is what it's built on, reputation and it works!!!

Just to put it out there, reputation is a currency and in the absence of escrow this steps up.

[Mpamaegbu]

To be honest, it will be kind of weird to ask certain trade partners to escrow first before you deliver a product/service.

There's nothing weird or embarrassing asking someone to escrow funds before dealing with them. Nobody should leave the other in anxiety because they didn't want the other to think they're petty. I like anyone I'm dealing with to check and crosscheck whatever I'm offering them. It's the same way I look for red flag whenever I'm dealing with anyone. I don't want anybody to trust on face value.

* Personally, I will trade without escrow with someone I understand really well and I'm sure is unlikely to cheat

How are you sure they're not likely to cheat? Is there any art of finding that assurance by merely looking at someone's face or profile? Nah.

Can you trade without escrow, or how/why would you trade without escrow?

The only way I can trade without escrow with anyone would've to be someone here whose moniker (account) I can judge to be of immense value to them. They wouldn't want to be red tagged and destroy their account over pittance.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

Can you trade without escrow, or how/why would you trade without escrow?

I can trade without an escrows for limited funds that aren't much for me if I lose them but when it comes to larger funds, an escrow service will be needed because it's better there's an embarrassment or uncomfortable situation between us but we have a successful transaction that can lead to us doing more business together then for their to be a scam of funds too big for me to handled the losses. Escrows are vital for both centralized or decentralized transaction because of the need to trust that the deal will go smoothly and the level of scam report's currently and surely I won't be one of those victims irrespective of who I'm doing the transaction with. You might not even know if the other party is compromised or not so it's better precautions are taken to avoid *had I know realization*.

[IjawMan]

I can do trade with any set of persons without an escrow getting involved in the process. What can really determine if I will agree to do the trade with you is how much the asset am trading with you is worth in currency value.

Another one is if we have been doing smooth trades for long then I will not have any case for fear that will warrant the suggestion if an escrow.

I will need an escrow when it is the first trading with the person and the money in asset is big.

[ZAINmalik75]

* Personally, I will trade without escrow with someone I understand really well and I'm sure is unlikely to cheat
* Will trade without escrow with partner with little to zero legitimate negative review on payments or product/service delivery

Based on these two points, it indicates that you are talking about using a centralized system or platform, and I wonder why one would need to use a platform which is centralized but has no escrow service for P2P trades. Even if it's a decentralized platform or system, escrow can also be performed in a decentralized manner using smart contracts, so there is basically no need for it. And, just because someone never cheated it doesn't mean they would never do it.

* Will only trade without escrow when dealing with funds, goods or services I can afford to risk

But what if you have a requirement of trading a large amount? What will you do then?
 

* May trade with partner I can easily visit physically incase of issues

What's the need of doing it online if you can do a face to face deal with the person since you can easily visit them physically?

[lombok]

Can you trade without escrow, or how/why would you trade without escrow?

I can trade without an escrows for limited funds that aren't much for me if I lose them but when it comes to larger funds, an escrow service will be needed because it's better there's an embarrassment or uncomfortable situation between us but we have a successful transaction that can lead to us doing more business together then for their to be a scam of funds too big for me to handled the losses. Escrows are vital for both centralized or decentralized transaction because of the need to trust that the deal will go smoothly and the level of scam report's currently and surely I won't be one of those victims irrespective of who I'm doing the transaction with. You might not even know if the other party is compromised or not so it's better precautions are taken to avoid *had I know realization*.

Indeed, prudent care to secure a large sum of money under a neutral guarantor is an imperative of professionalism. The disadvantage of encountering inflexible business communications has been significantly cheaper than incurring losses as a result of being cheated on by counterparty.

The certainty of execution in the centralized and decentralized networks, which are susceptible to the hacker attack, is offered by the intermediate mechanisms. To ensure secure trading relations which are mutually beneficial in the long run strict vigilance is important.

[RGBTC]

I usually determine the amount of the agreed-upon fee that I am willing to lose, essentially the portion that would constitute the final payment. When a new client contacts me, I assume they trust me to some extent. I propose an upfront payment; if they refuse, I simply won't do business with them.

"Dirty coins" are beyond anyone's control in this scenario, so I don't even factor them into the equation. What is clear is that I primarily use self-custody wallets to receive payments from clients.

[EluguHcman]

In a transaction system that does not require or supports an escrow, the section is usually trust less that the only way you all can execute the deal is for one to trust the other by having to release the funds first before the purchased product(s) can be delivered.

Better still, product(s) can be delivered before payment service. Trust issues will always be there when there is no escrow to stand as middleman or guarantor for a smooth contract. But a way to carry on transactions like that smoothly is when both parties are physically dealing instead of online.

However, in this scenario of trust issues, a party must have to sacrifice by standing at the risk margin if they must carry on the deal else, no escrow, no trust and so on no deal.

[YOSHIE]

Can you trade without escrow, or how/why would you trade without escrow?

When someone wants to start making payment agreements or online crypto services, of course there are several things that need to be done without escrow, Maybe in general many people do this by saving all chat history, proof of delivery of blockchain transactions, and other agreement documents, but even though all of this has been done, it is highly recommended that escrow is really needed.

My advice is to prevent unwanted things, especially if we are dealing online, of course using an escrow service is more optimal.

[Darker45]

First off, I don't think escrow is a "trustless tool". Although it depends on the setup, it requires a lot of trust more often than not. If it's a system operated by a centralized platform, your money could be stolen, frozen, seized. If it's an individual, he/she could run away with it. In which case, you're trusting them with your funds and their commitment to stick with any agreement or rules.

Anyway, (1) I'm sure there must be a way to suggest to the other party of a trade that you prefer to use an escrow without sounding distrustful or offensive, and (2) for somebody who's into business dealing with Bitcoin, he/she must be aware that escrow is more or less a must.

In my trades here, there were times I sent first, there were also times I asked that an escrow be used. But if it involves a huge amount, I guess escrow should be compulsory.

[Outhue]

Simple, don't trade without escrow if it's not a platform, unless you know the person in real life and you can find them if the need comes, maybe you know their place or someone who knows their home.is close to you, I've done some trading without escrow years ago but life was good then, I had to meet them and complete the trade,  today I can't do the same because there is massive hunger, I can easily become a victim, the reason why I would love to use a platform is for protection sake, you don't want to end up with assets that's been stolen from somewhere else, forget P2P one thing can lead to another that can still bring problem to your doorstep.