4 ms·
It is a good idea to pay someone for escrow services.
by abrkn 9y ago
It is a good idea to pay someone for escrow services.
- mhluongo 9y agoIIRC OpenBazaar still has paid escrow- it's just cheaper than eBay's fees.
- 52-6F-62 9y agoThis is what sounds to me the reason smart contracts exist. But maybe that's just a different method for accomplishing the same thing? Anybody have any idea what the main distinction [if any] would be here?
- StavrosK 9y agoWell, smart contracts can't tell if the seller sent you your plushie.
- programmarchy 9y agoWhy not consult UPS tracking as an oracle for that case?
- thaumasiotes 9y agoBecause UPS tracking is limited to determining whether UPS delivered a package. It can't say who the package was sent from, who it was delivered to, or what was inside.
- tylersmith 9y agoThis is what Dr Sanchez on our team calls the "box of rocks" problem. You _could_ potentially use a lack of delivery to automatically refund the buyer or something but automatic payout to the vendor is harder.
- jypepin 9y agoyes but this is also a problem in the real world right? I could order anything, sign the package once it arrived, and then complain that the box was empty. With or without a smart contract, it is hard/impossible to prove I'm lying or not. So I assume this case is mostly taken care of by insurance, not the platform fee? Or I guess that's what the platform fee is for?
- 52-6F-62 9y agoOh yeah, I understand that limitation. But if that's those are the terms you want to use: the receiver must register that they received their item then a smart contract just automates the processing of the agreement/escrow payments? I mean, less action is required in order to respond, and less work required in generating the agreement? Otherwise a new program, or a program built on a framework (eg. how smart contracts theoretically work) utilizing bitcoin would be required each time a sale agreement is made. I'm probably confounding this, so I'll try again: a smart contract would offer a format to build upon for such a market and escrow agreements with less work than writing something from scratch? I feel like I'm missing something, but it's late. I've been thinking about this concept for a little while and can't find holes besides what you've described, or engineering errors like the Parity exploit... but it still feels like I'm blind to something.