It's hard to build trust in here because there's many scammer, you have to compete with escrow who have better reputation.
Also, i see few escrow who offer their services for free. Usually it's only to build their trust though.
So, i think it's still profitable, but you must build trust and promote your services. If you're looking for profit, you better do something else.
I think you misunderstood my meaning. I was talking about trading on a dedicated escrow market (as opposed to a regular exchange like Bitstamp, or CEX.io), not becoming an escrow myself.
I have read the article and also a little bit about waterhole but I don't see how it is different from localbitcoins. maybe they have more steps for verifying users on the site (which many may even find intrusive) also a better interface to find local sellers on your phone but I don't really see how it is different also don't understand the part about escrow.