Is it safe to use an escrow service for an online auction purchase?

Is it safe to use an escrow service for an online auction purchase?

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Escrow services have appeared in the last few years as online auctions and online sales have become more popular. The jury is relatively still out with these escrow services. There are some escrow services that appear to be legitimate, and really do provide the service that they say, which is they will hold the money until the merchandise is accepted, and they will hold the merchandise until the money is in place, so both parties get what they paid for. What happens is a lot of these companies are actually not legitimate escrow services, certainly not escrow as we understand it in this country, and for a small fee they will set up this escrow front, where you're going to either send your money or this item, and it's the other person that's going to benefit from these proceeds. Again, on a case by case basis, they have to be evaluated, but the jury really is still out. And a lot of negative publicity has come down on a lot of these escrow services that are not what they appear to be.