I've been contacted by someone in another country (B) who wants a product from the country where I live (A). He would pay me in BTC to buy the product and ship it to him.
I want to make an estimation of the price of the product + price of shipping, add a deposit %, and divide by an estimation of Bitcoin price in A's currency, to know how much Bitcoin he should send to an escrow at first. Then I'd buy the product, ship it, and I'd take Bitcoin's price at the time of both events, to know how much it really costed. Then the escrow could send me the real price in BTC, and the difference back to the buyer in country B.
But the buyer insists there is no need for a deposit, that using an escrow is enough. The problem is I don't know the exact price of the shipping until I'm at the post office with the product already purchased ready to be sent, and we don't know what the price of Bitcoin in A's currency will be at the time of purchase. There could be a day or two between the time he sends Bitcoin to the escrow, and the time the product is bought.
If you are used to do this, what's the usual, safe way?
You have to mutually agree on the price of bitcoin at time of escrow and not at the time of purchase. If the purchase is 2 -3 days later, who knows the bitcoin might dump/ pump to 500$ or more. These days bitcoin is not very stable and you cannot be sure what will be the price of bitcoins even after 24 hrs.