How Bastion actually works

Escrow is a neutral third party that holds a buyer's money securely until both sides agree the trade went as promised — then releases it to the seller. Neither the buyer nor the seller ever controls the money directly during the trade. It's the same basic idea used in real estate closings, just applied to peer-to-peer trading.

Not Bastion. Your payment is held by Escrow.com, a licensed, regulated money transmitter that's operated for over two decades. Bastion is the marketplace and the interface — Escrow.com is the one legally licensed to hold and move real money. This keeps your funds separate from Bastion entirely.

That verification happens with Escrow.com, not Bastion — it's a legal requirement for any licensed money transmitter (the same reason banks ask for ID). It protects everyone: it makes it much harder for someone to scam another user and disappear, since every account sending or receiving real money has a verified identity behind it.

Bastion only marks something "funded" once Escrow.com actually confirms your money has arrived in their secure account — not the moment you send it. This protects sellers from someone falsely claiming they paid. Depending on your payment method, this can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few business days:

• Wire transfer: typically same-day to a few business days
• ACH / bank transfer: a few business days
• Credit card / PayPal: often faster, subject to standard holds

The release itself is instant — the moment a buyer confirms receipt (or both parties confirm an in-person handoff), Bastion tells Escrow.com to release the funds immediately, no manual steps or waiting on our end. From there, how fast it lands in the seller's bank follows normal banking speed for whichever payout method they chose (similar to the timing above) — that part isn't something any marketplace can make instant, since it's real interbank transfer time.

Your money never reaches the seller until you personally confirm you received the item and it matches the listing. If they never ship or hand it off, you simply never release the funds — they stay safely in escrow the entire time.

Don't release the funds. Use the "Report a problem with this trade" option on the transaction page — this flags it for review and freezes the funds in escrow until it's resolved. Never let anyone pressure you into releasing funds before you're satisfied.

Both are supported and both are protected the same way. For in-person trades, Bastion generates a private release code only the seller sees — the buyer enters it once they've inspected the item in person, releasing funds on the spot. For shipped items, funds can't be released until the carrier itself confirms delivery, and the buyer then gets an inspection window to check the item before confirming. See Shipping for the full walkthrough.

Your payment goes into escrow first. Bastion then generates a prepaid, tracked shipping label bound to that specific order — the seller never types in their own tracking number. The carrier's own scans move the order forward, someone has to sign for it on delivery, and you get an inspection window to check the item before you confirm and the seller gets paid. The full step-by-step is on the Shipping page.

A seller-supplied tracking number carries no evidentiary weight. It can reference any parcel to any destination, including an empty envelope addressed to the correct ZIP code. A label issued by Bastion is bound to the specific order, destination and declared weight, which is what gives the carrier's scans meaning in a dispute.

The buyer pays shipping, priced at the standard carrier retail rate for the service selected — the same rate that service would cost at a post office or carrier counter. The exact figure is quoted against the buyer's real delivery address and the seller's declared package dimensions, and is shown in full at checkout before any commitment. Nothing is added after purchase.

Yes, always. Signature on delivery is mandatory on every Bastion shipment, so nothing gets left on a doorstep. On orders over $1,000 it's adult signature, which means the carrier has to hand it to a person rather than release it unattended.

Continuous, unedited footage is the most effective evidence available in a shipping dispute. A single unbroken recording of an item being sealed into a box, or of a sealed box being opened, resolves the majority of "arrived empty" and "wrong item" claims. Sellers are required to record packing on orders above $1,000; buyers are strongly advised to record unboxing on all orders. Footage must be a single take and unedited to carry weight.

No. Your address is copied onto the order and locked at purchase. That's on purpose — it means nobody who gets into your account later can quietly redirect a parcel the seller has already packed. If you need a different address, cancel the order and buy again.

No, at any value. PO boxes, general delivery and freight-forwarding addresses cannot produce a signature from an identifiable recipient. Deliveries must go to a street address, or to a carrier pickup location on Protected and Vault orders.

Report the issue on your order page rather than confirming receipt. Your payment stays frozen in escrow — it does not release on a delivery scan alone. Bastion assembles the full record automatically: every carrier scan, the signature, the packing video, the unboxing video and the messages between you, and a real person reviews it.

No. Bastion does not sell or provide an insurance policy. The carrier records a declared value matching the item price, which is a record of worth rather than a policy. Protection on Bastion is provided by escrow: funds remain held until the buyer has the item in hand and confirms receipt.

48 hours on Protected and Vault orders, 72 hours on Standard, measured from when escrow confirms funding. The clock stops at the carrier's first physical scan, not when the label is printed. If a seller misses it, you can cancel for a full refund and it counts against their shipping record.

No. Bastion provides the marketplace, identity verification, escrow, logistics and the evidence record; it does not assess whether an item is genuine. Where authenticity is material, buyers should arrange independent third-party authentication and inspect the item before confirming receipt. Bastion enforces everything surrounding that: verified parties, held funds, tracked and signed-for delivery, and a documented record for both sides.

Yes. In-person handoffs remain fully supported, using the private seller release code. Sellers specify per listing whether an item is available for in-person handoff, shipping, or both.