To turn this into a proper escrow, would friedcat be happy with proof of the funds being in the escrow account before shipping and then the private key to the address being provided to him when proof of end-user delivery has been provided?
I believe the issue at hand here is not escrow versus ASICMINER; it's Group Buyees (us) vs. Group Buyer (arklan). I suppose we can escrow against ASICMINER as well, but I don't think that's really necessary.
My personal vote is for what is currently in OP: 2% fee to John, shipping and handling fee to arklan; 2.1013 per unit. If OP wants to do a S&H discount on "bulk" orders, great, but I don't mind either way. If John wants to reduce his fee, great, but I don't mind either way.
Regardless of what OP decides the final agreement to be, all that is important is that it is laid out clearly prior to accepting payments. A new, fresh thread would be helpful to clear the deck once that happens.
+1 They will have earned those fees several times over before this is finished lol I have no problem rewarding someone for their time and effort and the proposed fees are fair IMO.