Why escrow helps a small online seller
Selling to strangers online is a trust problem on both sides. Buyers fear paying for something that never arrives, and sellers fear shipping and not getting paid. With escrow, the buyer’s money is locked in a contract for that one order before you ship. It isn’t sent to Waletifi or to you yet, so both of you can go ahead with confidence.
What the buyer sees before paying
The buyer reviews the whole order on one screen:
- The crypto amount and its approximate value in local currency
- A countdown while the rate is locked
- The order timeline, with the shipping and confirmation windows
- The address of the escrow contract
- The network fee
How an order moves
- The buyer pays into the order’s escrow contract.
- You mark the order shipped within the ship window for your category, which is a few days.
- The buyer confirms receipt and the money is released to you.
- If the buyer doesn’t respond, the money is released to you automatically when the confirmation window ends.
If something goes wrong
If you don’t ship in time, the buyer gets a full refund. Either side can open a dispute within the window. The funds stay locked until a ruling is made by Waletifi’s arbiter, and larger verdicts need two admins to approve. Delivery addresses and order chat are end-to-end encrypted between buyer and seller. Escrow lowers the risk, but it can’t guarantee delivery, so describe your items honestly and ship on time.
Getting listed
In the app, open Raste and tap “Become a seller”, then “Sell on Raste”. Fill in your shop details, shipping methods and windows. Any fees and any bond are shown before you create the shop. Your shop works for invoices and your store page straight away. Appearing in the Raste listing follows a review, which takes up to 2 business days. Listings are shown to buyers in your own country.
Managing orders
Shipping, disputes and order chat are handled in the app. The merchant web panel shows Raste orders in your reports, but you manage the orders themselves from your phone.