How disputes are decided

Either party can dispute a funded deal before release. The balance is locked immediately, any auto-release timer is cancelled, and neither side can move funds. The deal state and the timestamp of the dispute are written to the event log.

In order of weight: the deal description agreed at creation, on-chain transaction data, platform event timestamps, delivery receipts and tracking from third parties, file hashes and upload logs, then screen recordings. Chat screenshots carry the least weight because they are trivially faked and rarely complete.

Evidence that appears only after the dispute is opened, and that could have been produced earlier, is treated with suspicion by reviewers.

Both parties are asked to submit their account and evidence. Reviewers work through the record and the deal's event log, and may come back with specific questions. Straightforward cases close quickly; contested high-value cases take longer because the payout ceiling requires manual sign-off either way.

A reviewer can release the escrow to the seller, refund the buyer, or — where delivery was partial and both sides accept it — record a split settlement agreed by both parties. There is no appeal to an outside body: escrow is a private arrangement between the two of you with the platform as operator.

Almost every dispute traces back to a vague deal description. Specify quantity, quality, format, delivery method, deadline and replacement policy before the deal is created. Two extra minutes at creation removes most of the ambiguity a reviewer would otherwise have to guess at.

Disputes filed to stall a legitimate payout are visible in the record and are decided against the party filing them. Repeated abuse leads to account restriction.