Bitcointalk Escrows - Trade Safely!

[Blazed]

devthedev is closing his escrow service after almost 2 years.

Below here is the quoted message from his escrow service thread:

Hey everyone, after almost 2 years of service to the community I will be closing Devscrow.
It was a pleasure working with everyone in the past, and I hope to see everyone around the forum.

You guys are all awesome, keep pushing for further adoption!

Now we have the Big 3 rather than the Big 5   

[1713590569]

1713590569

[redsn0w]

devthedev is closing his escrow service after almost 2 years.

Below here is the quoted message from his escrow service thread:

Hey everyone, after almost 2 years of service to the community I will be closing Devscrow.
It was a pleasure working with everyone in the past, and I hope to see everyone around the forum.

You guys are all awesome, keep pushing for further adoption!

Now we have the Big 3 rather than the Big 5   

Yeah, it will remain only one !

[Blazed]

OgNasty is the only really active one of the remaining 3. To me it feels like trading on this forum has slowed down a lot anyways. Most of the people trading physical coins here have been around so long they all rarely need escrows anymore. I think the neediest are account traders and no one wants to deal with those...

[steveds]

OgNasty is the only really active one of the remaining 3. To me it feels like trading on this forum has slowed down a lot anyways. Most of the people trading physical coins here have been around so long they all rarely need escrows anymore. I think the neediest are account traders and no one wants to deal with those...

There is a need for signature campaigns ,many other deals in the currency exchange section requires escrow if none of the buyer/seller is untrusted or is new,even people trade altcoins now and then which might require an escrow.Your point is valid only to the older/trusted ones dealing but the typical trades still need one much active and trusted escrow IMO.

[Blazed]

OgNasty is the only really active one of the remaining 3. To me it feels like trading on this forum has slowed down a lot anyways. Most of the people trading physical coins here have been around so long they all rarely need escrows anymore. I think the neediest are account traders and no one wants to deal with those...

There is a need for signature campaigns ,many other deals in the currency exchange section requires escrow if none of the buyer/seller is untrusted or is new,even people trade altcoins now and then which might require an escrow.Your point is valid only to the older/trusted ones dealing but the typical trades still need one much active and trusted escrow IMO.

I agree as it does not really effect me at all. I am sure someone will step up and offer their services. I do not mind escrowing signature campaigns so long as they make the payments and I just hold emergency funds.

[mirana12345]

OgNasty is the only really active one of the remaining 3. To me it feels like trading on this forum has slowed down a lot anyways. Most of the people trading physical coins here have been around so long they all rarely need escrows anymore. I think the neediest are account traders and no one wants to deal with those...

There is a need for signature campaigns ,many other deals in the currency exchange section requires escrow if none of the buyer/seller is untrusted or is new,even people trade altcoins now and then which might require an escrow.Your point is valid only to the older/trusted ones dealing but the typical trades still need one much active and trusted escrow IMO.

I agree as it does not really effect me at all. I am sure someone will step up and offer their services. I do not mind escrowing signature campaigns so long as they make the payments and I just hold emergency funds.

The problem with signature campaign escrows is often that escrow doesn't want to be the one making payments (like in your case), but when people want
to start their own escrow services, and don't have the problem in doing the work around payments - they get blasted out until they retreat from the idea.

[Dabs]

I still see 12 people on this list (removing devscrow, as it's not yet updated as of this post.)

If I'm still getting 1 or 2 contracts a week, then I'm pretty sure the others are probably getting a little bit more.

[Blazed]

OgNasty is the only really active one of the remaining 3. To me it feels like trading on this forum has slowed down a lot anyways. Most of the people trading physical coins here have been around so long they all rarely need escrows anymore. I think the neediest are account traders and no one wants to deal with those...

There is a need for signature campaigns ,many other deals in the currency exchange section requires escrow if none of the buyer/seller is untrusted or is new,even people trade altcoins now and then which might require an escrow.Your point is valid only to the older/trusted ones dealing but the typical trades still need one much active and trusted escrow IMO.

I agree as it does not really effect me at all. I am sure someone will step up and offer their services. I do not mind escrowing signature campaigns so long as they make the payments and I just hold emergency funds.

The problem with signature campaign escrows is often that escrow doesn't want to be the one making payments (like in your case), but when people want
to start their own escrow services, and don't have the problem in doing the work around payments - they get blasted out until they retreat from the idea.

Well, most campaigns have managers these days. I think most of the managers are trusted enough to handle the weekly payments. Take luckybtc for instance...their manager is relatively unknown and yet handles the payments. My only role is to hold 4BTC in case either the manager or casino stops paying. I see no reason why this setup does not work out well? A newer guy can earn some trust while doing the weekly payments and after a while likely not need someone like me.

[steveds]

OgNasty is the only really active one of the remaining 3. To me it feels like trading on this forum has slowed down a lot anyways. Most of the people trading physical coins here have been around so long they all rarely need escrows anymore. I think the neediest are account traders and no one wants to deal with those...

There is a need for signature campaigns ,many other deals in the currency exchange section requires escrow if none of the buyer/seller is untrusted or is new,even people trade altcoins now and then which might require an escrow.Your point is valid only to the older/trusted ones dealing but the typical trades still need one much active and trusted escrow IMO.

I agree as it does not really effect me at all. I am sure someone will step up and offer their services. I do not mind escrowing signature campaigns so long as they make the payments and I just hold emergency funds.

The problem with signature campaign escrows is often that escrow doesn't want to be the one making payments (like in your case), but when people want
to start their own escrow services, and don't have the problem in doing the work around payments - they get blasted out until they retreat from the idea.

Well, most campaigns have managers these days. I think most of the managers are trusted enough to handle the weekly payments. Take luckybtc for instance...their manager is relatively unknown and yet handles the payments. My only role is to hold 4BTC in case either the manager or casino stops paying. I see no reason why this setup does not work out well? A newer guy can earn some trust while doing the weekly payments and after a while likely not need someone like me.

Would you feel safe with that newer guy if you are one of the participant of that campaign ? Nowadays someone could easily buy a Hero or even legendary and gain a point or two then pull of some coins in a month.To avoid this you need someone old or rather with more history here.

[OgNasty]

I turn down probably 4 times as many escrow requests as I accept.  Most of the denied requests are for paypal transfers, gift cards, altcoin IPOs, signature campaigns, and account sales.  There is definitely a slowdown in legitimate trading, but I think it is because most people have been purchasing new S7s and the resale market is exhausted of supply.  I suspect once BitFury chips start finding their way into miners on the market, there will be a pickup in activity.  As for the Casascius re-seller market...  There are so many copycats like myself releasing our own versions of physical coins that we pretty much soak up most of the excess juice in that marketplace nowadays.

I think it is actually a good time to be quitting the escrow business, or at least taking a break.  I know that I have been giving it some serious thought as I watch the Core/Classic situation develop.  With some luck any potential forking will be smooth...  For now though, I'm happy to do my part to help add a little safety to this place and keep legitimate trading here as free flowing as possible.  One coin.  One love. 

[SebastianJu]

OgNasty is the only really active one of the remaining 3. To me it feels like trading on this forum has slowed down a lot anyways. Most of the people trading physical coins here have been around so long they all rarely need escrows anymore. I think the neediest are account traders and no one wants to deal with those...

There is a need for signature campaigns ,many other deals in the currency exchange section requires escrow if none of the buyer/seller is untrusted or is new,even people trade altcoins now and then which might require an escrow.Your point is valid only to the older/trusted ones dealing but the typical trades still need one much active and trusted escrow IMO.

I agree as it does not really effect me at all. I am sure someone will step up and offer their services. I do not mind escrowing signature campaigns so long as they make the payments and I just hold emergency funds.

It's the easiest way to secure a signature campaign. The advantage to the escrow is less work, disadvantage is less tips. At least the risk is not so very high mostly. I mean not many bitcoins to hold in most cases.

[SebastianJu]

OgNasty is the only really active one of the remaining 3. To me it feels like trading on this forum has slowed down a lot anyways. Most of the people trading physical coins here have been around so long they all rarely need escrows anymore. I think the neediest are account traders and no one wants to deal with those...

There is a need for signature campaigns ,many other deals in the currency exchange section requires escrow if none of the buyer/seller is untrusted or is new,even people trade altcoins now and then which might require an escrow.Your point is valid only to the older/trusted ones dealing but the typical trades still need one much active and trusted escrow IMO.

I agree as it does not really effect me at all. I am sure someone will step up and offer their services. I do not mind escrowing signature campaigns so long as they make the payments and I just hold emergency funds.

The problem with signature campaign escrows is often that escrow doesn't want to be the one making payments (like in your case), but when people want
to start their own escrow services, and don't have the problem in doing the work around payments - they get blasted out until they retreat from the idea.

Actually it would be not a big deal to make the payments manually. What the escrow would have to do would be to simply receive the list of bitcoin addresses and the bitcoin amount from the signature campaign runner. Then the escrow can simply have a calc sheet that puts these details into a form that can be used to create a bulk transaction with his wallet. Maybe already adding the negotiated tip transaction to the escrow. Then sending.

No real work after all for the payment.

[lemipawa]

OgNasty is the only really active one of the remaining 3. To me it feels like trading on this forum has slowed down a lot anyways. Most of the people trading physical coins here have been around so long they all rarely need escrows anymore. I think the neediest are account traders and no one wants to deal with those...

I started collecting physical coins only recently through Auction and purchasing them directly but I never used an escrow. Most of those physical coin sellers are really trusted in this forum and their reputation higher than the amount at risk.

[SebastianJu]

OgNasty is the only really active one of the remaining 3. To me it feels like trading on this forum has slowed down a lot anyways. Most of the people trading physical coins here have been around so long they all rarely need escrows anymore. I think the neediest are account traders and no one wants to deal with those...

There is a need for signature campaigns ,many other deals in the currency exchange section requires escrow if none of the buyer/seller is untrusted or is new,even people trade altcoins now and then which might require an escrow.Your point is valid only to the older/trusted ones dealing but the typical trades still need one much active and trusted escrow IMO.

I agree as it does not really effect me at all. I am sure someone will step up and offer their services. I do not mind escrowing signature campaigns so long as they make the payments and I just hold emergency funds.

The problem with signature campaign escrows is often that escrow doesn't want to be the one making payments (like in your case), but when people want
to start their own escrow services, and don't have the problem in doing the work around payments - they get blasted out until they retreat from the idea.

Well, most campaigns have managers these days. I think most of the managers are trusted enough to handle the weekly payments. Take luckybtc for instance...their manager is relatively unknown and yet handles the payments. My only role is to hold 4BTC in case either the manager or casino stops paying. I see no reason why this setup does not work out well? A newer guy can earn some trust while doing the weekly payments and after a while likely not need someone like me.

Would you feel safe with that newer guy if you are one of the participant of that campaign ? Nowadays someone could easily buy a Hero or even legendary and gain a point or two then pull of some coins in a month.To avoid this you need someone old or rather with more history here.

Blazed means there is no need to trust the campaign runner when there is a trusted escrow who holds an amount worth at least the probably outstanding payment for the next week. If the campaign doesn't pay for a week then the escrow should get informed and he can ask for stacking up of the escrow funds to calculate in that two payments are missing now. If nothing happens the escrow can tell the manager he has to pay or he will tell the poster to stop promoting. He can pay the poster then from the escrow funds. The risk should be pretty minimal.

[Reynaldo]

why no one charges a fixed amount of money? lets say 10$ per transaction or something?

[SebastianJu]

why no one charges a fixed amount of money? lets say 10$ per transaction or something?

Because it would mean not accepting smaller trades, because you are too expensive, if you would do it for less at all of course. And when it comes to high amounts, would you take one million usd in escrow just for 10USD fee? The risk is way way too high to make sense out of this. So a fixed fee is disadvantageous in both ways.

[isvicre]

"The 'BIG 5' will be the most trustworthy, but at all times ensure you are talking to the right person and if possible, verify their PGP signature."

LOL! The big 5 is going down to 4. You should update it and write a warning that even Big 5 can scam if the amount is big enough.
I wouldn't trust anybody but OgNasty from this list. (Almost, since a lot of people find this offensive) Everybody else has a price here.

[Blazed]

"The 'BIG 5' will be the most trustworthy, but at all times ensure you are talking to the right person and if possible, verify their PGP signature."

LOL! The big 5 is going down to 4. You should update it and write a warning that even Big 5 can scam if the amount is big enough.
I wouldn't trust anybody but OgNasty from this list. Everybody else has a price here.

I left the Big 5 and so has devthedev...the big 3 now lol.

[Dabs]

Everybody else has a price here.

As a former member of the big five, I take offense to that statement. I don't have a price.

But, you could be correct, just that the price for some is too high. Or rather, the big enough amount will never be reached. Or I don't know what my price is, but it's higher than 5 million bitcoins.

[Mitchell]

Everybody else has a price here.

That is quite offensive... Not everyone is a greedy, money grabbing, piece of shit.