ComputerLink articles by Brian Pitre

Internet 3rd Party Escrow Services

I have two passions in life: One being the Internet and the other being fly-fishing. Through Ebay I've been able to enjoy combining both of these passions and learning something along the way.

One thing I particularly enjoy about fly-fishing is the equipment. Just a few weeks ago I was pursuing my enjoyment of the sport of fly-fishing on Ebay by reviewing the rods and reels that were for sale. Suddenly, I noticed the fly-fishing reel of my dreams… the Abel Super 8! It was brand new and still in the box. "WOW!", I thought. Abel reels are thought of by most fly-fishermen as the Rolex of fly-fishing reels and even though I own ten very good fly reels I've never owned an Abel.

There had already been 16 bids on this fly-fishing reel with still four days to go on the auction. The high bid was standing at $490 dollars and the reserve had been met. This fly-fishing reel typically lists for $610 and is never discounted by fly shops anywhere. I ended up putting in a bid for $500 just to find out that wasn't high enough. Then, at $510, I became the high bidder. My personal strategy was this: $100 off list price and only $15 for shipping charges, no sales tax of $58.80 (unlike a fly-shop), so the savings would exceed $150!

Each day following, when checking my morning email, there was a message from Ebay telling me I remained the high bidder. This continued to build my enthusiasm over the next four days. Finally, the four days came and went and the auction was slated to end at roughly 2:00 AM the next morning. I checked the bidding just before retiring to bed and I was still in the high bidder. But, when I checked my morning email there was the disappointing news… someone else had outbid me at the last moment by $10 dollars. "Oh well", I thought, "it certainly was entertaining playing on Ebay".

The following day, much to my surprise, I received an unsolicited email that read:

"I noticed your bid on Ebay of $510 for an Abel Super 8. I have one that I am considering selling. It is the high gloss " black coral " finish. It is in mint condition. I have used it in fresh water only for a total of about four hours. I have 20# backing on it. Let me know if you are interested.
Thanks, - Eric"

"Amazing", I thought. This was beginning to get very interesting and I certainly wanted the fly-fishing reel. I replied back to my new buddy Eric and asked what price he was asking and he said $495 plus $7.50 for shipping. In addition, he would guarantee satisfaction with a 3-day money back return guarantee. This sounded like a great opportunity and so I asked where to send the check.

As I started to write the check I began to think about the deal… First of all, I had never heard of this guy Eric in Seattle. Second, he had not advertised this fly-fishing reel on Ebay, but he just contacted me out of the blue. Lastly, his email address was a HotMail account, which could be possibly suspicious. What if he was preying on people over the net? After I sent the check, how would I be sure of getting the fly-fishing reel? The more I thought about it the more concerned I became. Did I want to risk a little over $500 dollars on this opportunity?

I decided to ask Eric about my concerns and this is what he wrote:

"Hi, Brian. You can check my feedback in Ebay under " 3truck". Just a note though about Ebay sales. Ebay offers no remedy to buyers that get "stiffed " other than bad feedback. I always take a long look at people's feedback section before sending a large check for anything. I look at how many transactions they made, if they have had a recent name change, etc. Let me know what you want to do. - Eric"

He sounded knowledgeable, but was loosing credibility with me by offering another alias… 3truck? Well, that was it! I started looking for other ways to make this transaction happen and the idea of an Internet 3rd party escrow service came to mind. The basic idea of these services is to introduce a trusted 3rd party into the transaction to whom I would send the money to hold until I received the fly-fishing reel from Eric, at which point the money would be released to him.

I went to a search engine and quickly found i-Escrow at www.iescrow.com. They were used by top auction firms, including Ebay and Amazon.com, along with many others. Their charge would be $20 paid by me, the purchaser, with no cost to Eric, although they offered payment options by either party. The added bonus was that they would take my credit card for payment insuring another level of satisfaction by the credit card company and making it quick and easy for both the buyer and seller.

I requested of Eric that we use this process and he readily agreed after finding out that I was willing to pay all of the $20 Charge by i-Escrow. The transaction was simple. I went to their Web site at www.iescrow.com, signed up, filled in a couple of forms about the transaction and gave them my credit card number for the payment, all in just a couple of minutes. They notified Eric by email that the money had been paid and he sent the fly-fishing reel to me that day for my inspection period of three days, also supported by i-Escrow. i-Escrow notified me of the shipment by Eric and provided tracking numbers from UPS, which allowed me to watch the fly-fishing reel travel across the country via their Web site.

I received the fly-fishing reel in a couple of days and now I've even caught a few fish on it and I absolutely love it. The transaction was simple and well orchestrated by i-Escrow.

I received a final email from Eric after receiving the fly-fishing reel:

"Hi, Brian. Glad you are happy with the reel. I will probably be using the escrow service more often as I may have just been duped on a large purchase that I didn't follow my own advice on.
Tight Lines,
- Eric"

Just goes to show you that true stories are sometimes more interesting and provide better insight. If you are getting ready to perform a similar transaction, whether personal or commercial, a trusted Internet 3rd party escrow service can be of great help.