Guaranteed Payment

Comparison of escrow services: a 'demo' version of our e-book resources.

Escrow Services

So you've won your auction bid. But you don't want to pay until there's sight of the goods. And of course the seller is equally cautious, and won't ship until he gets your money. Hence the need for an escrow service, which acts as guarantor or honest broker between the parties. The service generally works like this:

• buyer and seller agree to the terms of the transaction, including goods description, price, period of inspection, shipment charges and time.
• buyer sends funds to escrow service, which verifies payment.
• escrow service authorizes seller to ship goods.
• Buyer receives goods and has agreed number of days to accept or reject the shipment.
• Escrow service pays the seller (or returns funds to buyer if goods are sent back.)

Escrow services are not limited to auctions, but form an essential part of business life, especially in larger and/or overseas transactions. Some services now focus on the Internet, but many companies handle all aspects of escrow and are specially licensed (and indeed bonded) to do so.

The Internet auctions often provide their own escrow service. Services located in a certain state or country, or that handle specialized aspects like real-estate, jewelry, vintage cars, etc., can be found in your local trade directory, or with the Internet search engines.

Non-escrow services that provide guarantees, checks on credit-worthiness and general business safeguards are listed separately here.

	service	setup	monthly	transaction fee (from)		transaction fee (to)		extra fees	area	notes
	website	US $	US $	US $	%	US $	%
1	site	35	5 +	0	0	inquire	inquire	see site	G I	-
2	site	0	0	inquire	inquire	inquire	inquire	-	G L	-
3	site	0	0	-	0.85	15.0	or 3.0 a	WT1	A I	C W MO X
4	site	0	0	2.0	-	-	1.9	-	A	C MO X
5	site	0	0	5.0	-	100.0 +	-	-	A I	-
6	site	0	0	1.95		1.95
7	site			inquire	inquire	inquire	inquire
	key
	transaction fees	a=higher of 3% or $15: sliding scale thereafter, b=cash minimum charge $2 rising to $250 for >$12,500; credit cards 5.0% to limit of $5,000,
	extra fees	WT1=wire transfers $10 extra; other fees on site
	area	A=online auctions, I=international transactions,
	notes	C=credit cards accepted, W=wire transfers accepted, MO=money orders accepted, X=checks accepted, I=India

Please note that this is a 'demo' page only: you'll need our e-book to get proper links for the sites listed.

 

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