Escrow System Complete Guide

Understand Nexus Market's escrow protection for safe transactions

📊 Intermediate ⏱️ 12 min read

What is Escrow?

Escrow is a third-party protection system where Nexus Market holds your payment until you confirm receipt of goods. This prevents vendors from taking your money without shipping.

✅ How Escrow Protects You

  • Vendor can't access funds until you finalize or auto-finalize triggers
  • Dispute resolution if product doesn't arrive or is incorrect
  • Refund possibility if vendor fails to ship
  • Scam prevention - vendors must deliver to get paid

How Escrow Works

Step 1: You place order → Funds locked in escrow
Step 2: Vendor ships → Order marked "Shipped"
Step 3: You receive & finalize → Vendor gets paid

🚨 NEVER Finalize Early (FE)

"Finalize Early" (FE) means releasing funds BEFORE receiving your product. This removes all escrow protection. Only FE for vendors with:

  • 500+ successful orders
  • 95%+ positive feedback
  • Established reputation over months/years
  • NEVER FE for new vendors regardless of promises

Auto-Finalize System

If you don't manually finalize, orders auto-finalize after a set period (usually 14 days for physical items, 2-3 days for digital).

Auto-Finalize Timeline:

  • Physical items (domestic): 7-14 days
  • Physical items (international): 14-21 days
  • Digital goods: 2-3 days
  • Services: Varies by listing

Opening a Dispute

If your order doesn't arrive or is incorrect, you can open a dispute BEFORE auto-finalize occurs.

Valid Dispute Reasons:

Package never arrived (after expected delivery window)
Wrong item received (different product than ordered)
Significantly lower quality than advertised
Vendor not responding to messages for 5+ days

Dispute Process:

  1. Go to Order page → Click "Open Dispute"
  2. Provide detailed explanation with evidence (photos, messages)
  3. Nexus support reviews (usually 2-7 days)
  4. Outcome: Full refund, partial refund, or release to vendor

Escrow Protects You

Always use escrow and only finalize after receiving your order.

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