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Using Escrow Services

For items in excess of AU$20,000 we recommend the use of www.escrowaustralia.com.au.

An escrow service is a licensed and regulated company that collects, holds, and sends a buyer's money to a seller according to instructions agreed on by both the buyer and seller. Typically, once the buyer receives and approves the item from the seller within an agreed time frame, the escrow service then sends the payment to the seller.

Use caution when considering an escrow service

  • If you are a buyer or a seller and choose to pay or be paid through an escrow service, we recommend you use escrowaustralia.com (www.escrowaustralia.com.au)

  • There are fraudulent escrow services, so use caution if a seller suggests using a service other than www.escrowaustralia.com.au
    If your trading partner insists that you use a specific escrow service and will not accept www.escrowaustralia.com.au (or an eBay approved international escrow service for international transactions) as an alternative, please decline the transaction and report the seller or buyer to eBay:

    Report a seller
    Report a buyer

  • To avoid being deceived by fraudulent emails, you should sign in to www.escrowaustralia.com.au to verify information you have received via email. Make sure you type the entire address (www.escrowaustralia.com.au). Do not let the browser auto-type the site address for you. It could auto-type a fraudulent address.

  • If you're a seller, be cautious about buyers claiming to have paid for an item through an escrow service other than www.escrowaustralia.com.au.

  • Look at the item listing to see the seller's policy about escrow. If it's not clear, ask the seller a question.

  • There are fees to use escrow. Buyers and sellers should agree before the close of a transaction which party will pay those fees. Escrowaustralia.com.au (www.escrowaustralia.com.au), eBay's only approved escrow service, publishes their fee schedule, along with their accepted methods of payment on their Web site (www.escrowaustralia.com.au).

For more information about protecting yourself from fraudulent escrow providers and spoof Web sites, visit the eBay Security Centre and take the Spoof Protection Tour.

The escrow process

If you have decided to use escrow, here's how it works:

  • Both parties (buyer and seller) agree to use/transact payment through www.escrowaustralia.com.au

  • The buyer sends payment to www.escrowaustralia.com.au rather than directly to the seller.

  • www.escrowaustralia.com.au tracks the delivery of the item.

  • Once the buyer confirms receipt of the item, www.escrowaustralia.com.au will send payment to the seller to complete the transaction.

Read Escrow Frequently Asked Questions.
Ready to begin the escrow process? Sign in now.

Details of the escrow process:

  1. Agree to use escrow. For sellers: Choose to accept escrow when you fill out the Sell Your Item form.

    Or: Either the seller or the buyer can contact the other to propose using escrow. Both must agree to use escrow before the escrow process begins.

  2. Sign in to eBay's Escrow page. After the listing ends, sign in to the escrow page and enter your item number. (If the seller chose to accept escrow when listing the item, a link to escrow will appear on the End of Item notice and on the item page.)

  3. Review your information. eBay will show your current contact information for you to verify before it is forwarded to the escrow company. Sellers in Multiple Item Listings will need to indicate which buyer this escrow process applies to.

  4. Sign in to the escrow site or create a new account.

  5. Set and agree on terms. Both the buyer and the seller need to agree to the terms of the escrow process, including:

    • Who pays postage

    • How much postage will cost

    • Length of the inspection period

    • Who pays escrow fees

    • Are postage fees refundable

    • Conditions for accepting the item

  6. Buyer pays into escrow. The buyer now uses a credit card, bank cheque, postal order, personal cheque to pay the agreed-upon amount into escrow.

  7. Seller posts the item. The seller posts the item directly to the buyer using a traceable postal method (Registered Post, or courier services such as FedEx, UPS). The seller is required to provide the escrow company with the tracking number.

  8. Buyer inspects the item. The buyer now gets to look over the item and notify the escrow company whether they accept it or not.

  9. If the item is accepted (or the inspection period runs out) the funds are paid to the seller by cheque within five business days if the seller is in the same country.


    If the item is not accepted, the buyer must return the item to the seller. In this case, the buyer is required to pay the return postage fee and the escrow fee. This rule minimises casual returns. Payment, minus the escrow fees, is then returned to the buyer.

International escrow services approved by eBay

www.eBay.com users:
www.escrow.com

www.eBay.it and www.eBay.es users:
Escrow Europa

www.eBay.de users:
iloxx Safe Trade

www,ebay.fr, www.ebay.nl and www.ebay.be users:
Triple Deal


Contact Customer Support

If you have an additional question about this subject, email us at Customer Support.
If you would like to ask a question on another subject, please use the Contact Us page.


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