The order
Escrow does one specific thing well. Knowing exactly what it does not do prevents most of the disappointment.
Two of three, plainly
The funding key is split across buyer, vendor and platform. Funds move when two of the three sign. In normal completion the buyer and vendor sign and the platform key never appears, which means an ordinary order does not depend on the platform being available or honest. In a dispute the panel arbitrates and signs alongside whichever side it rules for, so the third key is a tiebreaker rather than a veto and cannot move funds alone.
What it protects against
Exit scam, structurally rather than by promise. A platform trying to disappear with escrowed funds needs a majority of vendors to actively sign away their own money, which would be visible on chain within minutes. The honest way to state the benefit is narrow: it moves the platform from trust required to trust minimised. It does not remove the platform and it does not make anything else about the transaction safe.
What it does not cover
| Not covered | Why |
|---|---|
| A vendor who does not ship | That is a dispute, decided on evidence, not by the escrow mechanism |
| Your own compromised account | An attacker signs as you. Escrow assumes your key is yours. |
| Anything sent outside escrow | No mechanism exists. This is the one genuinely unrecoverable case. |
| A parked balance | Escrow governs committed orders. Funds sitting on the platform are not committed. |
| What you receive | Escrow decides when money moves and has no opinion on goods. |
How a dispute is actually decided
On the record, not on the argument. The panel is matching claims against dates, messages and whatever delivery evidence exists. The submissions that lose are usually narratives, and the ones that win are usually short and specific.
- Order reference and dates first. Not background.
- The message thread unedited. Selective quoting reads as selective quoting.
- One named outcome. Full refund, partial, reship. A complaint without a remedy invites someone else to choose.
- Nothing else. A tight submission gets read properly, a long one gets skimmed.
Timing
First response in hours, most cases closed inside a working week, longer when one side answers slowly. The lever you control is answering promptly rather than filing forcefully. The full situation by situation version is on an order went wrong.