Are there any BTC escrow companies?

[Elwar]

It would be great if we could get a few competing Bitcoin escrow companies that retailers could offer as an option for the delivery of goods.

It would be great to go to a retail website, pay in BTC and be able to click on the escrow company of your choice and pay a small bit toward the service.

It should not be that difficult to set up. Just create an API to hold funds along with criteria that needs to be met for the funds to be released. A simple verification of the criteria when everything goes through is the main work to be done. If the two parties do not agree, then it would be up to the escrow service to most fairly handle it. The most fair escrow services would get the most traffic.

Are there any currently out there yet?

[BitPay Business Solutions]

we have a 24-hour escrow inherently built-in to Bit-Pay.  We could extend this period very easily if the buyer and seller both agree.

[imsaguy]

There's also a #bitcoin-escrow channel on Freenode IRC with well established users providing escrow for anyone requiring said services.