Quote from: Anthony_Hodge on January 16, 2020, 11:04:03 AM

Agree with you absolutely. BCShop supports 3rd party arbiters. Respected bitcointalk members are very welcomed as arbiters. They can earn % of commission for every deal they moderate no matter if there were dispute between parties on not.

Separate post about arbiters is coming next week.

Thank you, Ruso21.
Translators found.
Looking to reach new clients for your translations? Put your offer on BCShop: https://onboarding.bcshop.io/how/seller

Since you already have your translators (which was the initial setup for this thread), i wondered if we might discuss the escrow and arbiter situation in respect to this request a bit more, cause the answers already given by two representatives of bcshop didn't reassure me.

As far as i see things, there are 3 options:

1) There are plenty of KYC'able (or highly trusted) arbiters on your site and the escrowed funds are helt in THEIR wallets
2) There are plenty of KYC'able (or highly trusted) arbiters on your site and the escrowed funds are helt in a wallet that belongs to your shop
3) There are no KYC'able (or highly trusted) arbiters on your site, only you, the OP and people you personally know (in this case it doesn't even matter if the funds are helt in a wallet belonging to the escrow or to the "friend" of the owner.

Let me be perfectly clear: only if it's option 1 (trusted or KYC'able thirth party escrows that hold the buyer's funds in their own, private, not-known-to-bcshop, wallet) it is borderline acceptable for a shop owner to suggest using his own escrow service for services he wants to buy.

Let's translate this business transaction into a real-world, physical fiat to goods transaction.
The initial setup: you are somebody who has 90.000 in his bank account and you're searching for an investment opportunity. One day, you read the classifieds and somebody you don't know is offering 2.2 Kg's of 24 carat gold bars @90.000. Since this is under spot price you decide to setup a deal with this guy, however, since you don't know a single thing about gold, you'll need to get your hands on the gold to get is verified by a gold specialist. You decide to use cash.

The translation of this initial case to the 3 options i gave above

1) The both of you meet up with a verified official notary. This guy has been around for ages and holds several millions of euro's in escrow for home buyers at any point in time. No negative reports about him have been filed (ever). Altough his office is located in a building that's owned by the seller, he uses a bankvault that's not controlled by the seller. You give your money to the notary, the seller gives the gold to you, and once you get the gold verified the notary releases your 90.000 to the seller. If something goes wrong, neither you nor the seller can run with the money, it's a trusted, unbiased thirth party that examines the case and decides wether to return the money to the buyer, or give it to the seller
2) The both of you meet up with a verified official notary. This guy has been around for ages and holds several millions of euro's in escrow for home buyers at any point in time. No negative reports about him have been filed (ever). However, instead of giving the money to the notary, you give the money to the seller who pinky promises that if you get the gold checked out and it turns out to be fake, he'll follow the notary's recommandation wether or not to return the funds he now has in his own pocket... You see the difference with option 1? How will the notary enforce this? Sure, if a courtcase follows, you'll have a good witness, but there is no way (as a buyer) to get your funds back...
3) You don't meet up with a notary, but instead the SELLER brings one of his friends to "escrow" the deal. You have to hand over your hard-earned cash to the seller (or to his friend) and they put it in their pocket before handing over the unverified gold bars. If you get the gold checkout and it turns out to be false, the FRIEND of the SELLER pinky promises he'll be unbiased when he tries to convince his buddy to give you your money back

Can you see why this is highly questionable?