Question about finalizing on Middle Earth

If a FE-approved vendor has a listing that says to FE, does that mean to mark the order as complete before it arrives? Or does Middle Earth finalize the payments automatically? This complete vs. finalize thing is confusing me.


Comments


[1 Points] Jay-__:

No idea about Middle Earth, but I guess it's like on Agora, huh?

An order is completed after finalizing (= paying) for it. If you FE, the order is 'f'inalized 'e'arly.


[1 Points] KimJongUntouchable:

Yes, it means mark the order complete before it arrives.
https://www.reddit.com/r/DarkNetMarketsNoobs


[1 Points] hksupport:

"Finalizing" is paying the vendor, i.e. completing the order. You're supposed to finalize only after you get your product, so that the vendor can't just get your money and not send you anything. Finalizing early (FE) is doing just that - paying the vendor before you get anything. So when FE is required, that means the vendor is telling you that you just have to pay him first and trust that he'll follow through. The reason legitimate vendors do this is so they can get paid and withdraw from the site right away and keep their money at risk for as little a time as possible. (The site might go down or exist scam while they wait, so they want to get paid and withdraw it.) However, scammers also require FE and then just don't send anything. That's why some sites make vendors have to get "approved" before allowing them to require FE.

This is also why I help run a multisig-only market. You never actually deposit into my site, so your money is never at risk. It sits in an address that can only have the money spent if 2-of-3 people agree (the three people being the buyer, the seller, and the market). So the vendor knows the site can't just run off with the money, and he therefore has no reason to require FE. And you the buyer are protected because now that you're not FE-ing you know the vendor can't scam you and has incentive to finish the order so he can get paid.

And for you the buyer, it's extremely easy to use and doesn't require any effort. You just pay the bitcoins to the purchase address directly when you order something rather than having a deposit on the site.