Re:One More Sign World Is Shrinking – eBay Is for Suckers
by rjbwork on Wednesday December 14, 2016 @09:52PM
(#13181981)
This is actually how some Bitcoin transactions take place, on the white, grey, and black markets. People build a reputation for honesty as an escrow, take a small fee, and facilitate transactions. They arbitrate disputes, and decide who to release the funds back to.
Re:One More Sign World Is Shrinking – eBay Is for Suckers
by fapjacks on Thursday December 15, 2016 @01:39AM
(#13182886)
How hilarious, ironic, and fitting that dark markets operate more on a working platform of trust than friggin Ebay.
Re:One More Sign World Is Shrinking – eBay Is for Suckers
by hellweaver666 on Thursday December 15, 2016 @09:01AM
(#13184575)
Isn't escrow basically the opposite of trust? If you trust someone you don't need a middle man to make sure everything goes well.
Re:One More Sign World Is Shrinking – eBay Is for Suckers
by soylentcola on Thursday December 15, 2016 @09:43AM
(#13184846)
I guess it's more the acceptance that buyer/seller is an adversarial relationship so you need to at least be able to trust the system or framework to be impartial and enforce honesty.
Re:One More Sign World Is Shrinking – eBay Is for Suckers
by dragonwriter on Thursday December 15, 2016 @10:56AM
(#13185413)
> Isn't escrow basically the opposite of trust?
No, escrow is trust-as-a-service. That is, it's a means of removing the need for trust between the transaction principals by hiring a mutually-trusted third party.
If you have high hopes for anything, it should be for https://openbazaar.org
They attempt to solve the problem with "moderated payments" where the buyer pays into an escrow account which is jointly controlled by the buyer, the vendor, and a third party called a moderator. In order for the funds to leave the escrow, any two of these parties need to agree how to release the funds.