What is escrow, in plain language?

You have found the phone you want on Facebook Marketplace. The seller wants you to pay first. You want them to ship first. Neither of you knows the other, and neither of you wants to be the one who loses 180,000 XAF. This is the exact problem escrow was invented to solve.

Escrow in one sentence

Escrow means a neutral third party holds the money until both sides have done what they promised. The buyer pays the escrow service, not the seller. The seller sees that the money is really there, so they ship or start the work. When the buyer confirms the goods arrived or the work was delivered, the escrow service releases the money to the seller. If something goes wrong, the money is still sitting safely in the middle and can be refunded or split by a mediator.

That is the whole idea. Everything else is detail.

Who holds the money?

With Bizik, the money sits in a segregated escrow account - a separate pot that is not mixed with company funds and cannot be spent by either party. The buyer cannot pull it back on a whim, and the seller cannot touch it until the deal is marked complete. Both sides can see the balance and the status of the deal at any time from the app, the web dashboard or the WhatsApp assistant.

This visibility is what changes behaviour. A seller who can see 180,000 XAF locked for them will ship. A buyer who knows the seller cannot get the money until the phone arrives will pay.

When does the money move?

A Bizik deal moves through four stages:

1. Created. One person describes the deal: what is being bought, the price, who pays, and how long the buyer has to inspect. The other person accepts.
2. Funded. The buyer pays into escrow using MTN MoMo, Orange Money, a card or a bank transfer. The seller is notified the moment the money lands.
3. Delivered. The seller ships the goods or delivers the work and marks the deal as delivered. The buyer's inspection window starts.
4. Released. The buyer approves, or the inspection window ends without a dispute, and the money goes to the seller's wallet. From there they can withdraw to MoMo, Orange Money or a bank account.

For bigger projects the deal can be split into milestones, each one funded and released on its own. That is how freelancers use Bizik for a 2,000,000 XAF website build without either side carrying the whole risk at once.

What happens if the deal falls apart?

This is the question that matters most, because it is the situation escrow exists for. If the phone never arrives, the buyer opens a dispute from inside the deal. The money stays frozen. Both sides upload their evidence - tracking numbers, photos, chat screenshots, the original listing. A Bizik mediator reviews it and makes a ruling within 48 hours: release to the seller, refund the buyer, or split the amount.

Nobody has to chase anyone. Nobody has to threaten anyone. The person who did what they promised gets the money, and the evidence decides, not who shouts loudest.

What escrow is not

• It is not a loan. The buyer pays the full amount up front; it is simply held rather than handed over.
• It is not insurance. Escrow does not pay out if a deal goes wrong; it stops the money from leaving in the first place.
• It is not a wallet you spend from. Escrowed funds belong to a specific deal and can only go to the seller or back to the buyer.

What does it cost?

Bizik charges a small percentage of the deal value, shown before anyone pays, and the two parties choose who covers it - buyer, seller or a split. There are no monthly fees and no charge for creating a deal that never gets funded. See the current rates on the pricing page.

When should you use escrow?

Any time you are dealing with someone you do not already trust and the amount would hurt to lose. Used phones and laptops, cars, furniture, freelance work, deposits on rentals, paying a builder back home from abroad. If you find yourself typing "can you send half first?" you are already asking for escrow - you just do not have a neutral party yet.

Ready to try it? See exactly how a Bizik deal works, or message Bizik on WhatsApp and create your first deal in under two minutes.