[Blammar]

I always thought Ebay's fundamental design error was that it did not serve as a true escrow agent.

Yes, that would have been difficult to scale, but then you'd not need a fraud department at all as both sides would be able to verify the transaction.

Seems like a business opportunity here.

[Nextgrid]

Out of curiosity, how would an escrow agent work against malicious actors (without the law serving as a deterrent, since enforcement against online fraud is near non-existent)?

Scammers are already tricking PayPal's dispute system by sending real tracking numbers and sometimes even real packages but filled with bricks or other junk.

Imagine a situation where the buyer is malicious and claims they have received a brick. If you settle in favour of the buyer, sellers lose out, but if you settle in favour of the seller, buyers would lose out from scam sellers sending bricks instead of the promised goods.

A neutral party such as the shipping courier would have to act as a witness and unpack the goods on delivery to mitigate that, and even then it's not bulletproof if the goods have a defect that isn't immediately obvious.

[Blammar]

Yeah, the neutral party needs to verify both ends of the transaction.

Good point about subtle defects. Hmm. That I do not have an answer for, especially if the seller is not aware.

Maybe it's just not possible to trust the Ferengixxx humans...

[hattmall]

They had some eBay agents type thing a while back. I think they called it eBay concierge.

But something similar to a notary, could validate items if a certain value. I think they are doing this with sneakers and certain luxury goods.

[s1artibartfast]

An escrow service that would photograph the goods before shipping either party would go a long way automated mitigating the empty packages and Bricks. Certainly makes sense for a add-on for high price items.

I wonder if there is a market for this as a third-party service outside of eBay that works on their Market. It would double shipping cost and add time but that could be worth it for a class of goods

[nicolas_t]

Stockx basically does that iirc, seller sends items to Stockx, stockx verifies the goods, puts it for sale and charge a relatively high commission once it's sold.

[s1artibartfast]

Sounds similar, but more like consignment than an escrow service.

Good to know, nonetheless