The short answer

Online and digital escrow holds the buyer's payment while the seller delivers a website, domain, app, code, digital service or physical item bought online. After an agreed inspection period, the money is released — or returned if the item isn't as described. It's worth using for anything you'd be upset to lose, from a premium domain to an online business. Choose the escrow provider yourself and verify it: fake escrow and "holding account" sites are a common scam. Vita Capital, our FX and escrow partner, offers online and digital escrow — "secure payments for digital services, intellectual property, or online sales" — with the currency handled alongside.

What online escrow is used for

The kinds of online and digital deal where escrow makes most sense.

General examples. The escrow agreement sets the actual conditions for your deal.

How online escrow works

1. Agree the deal — price, what's included, the inspection period and who pays the fee.
2. Open the escrow with a provider you've chosen and verified yourself.
3. The buyer pays into escrow. The seller is told the funds are secured.
4. The seller delivers — transfers the domain, hands over files, ships the item.
5. The buyer inspects within the agreed period and accepts, or raises a problem.
6. The money is released to the seller, or returned if the deal fails.

Our recommended tools for online deals

Our number one for online and digital escrow, a secure way to hand over logins, and a cheap payment option for small deals.

The inspection period

The inspection period is the buyer's window to check what they've received before the money is released. It's the most important number in an online escrow, and it's easy to set too short.

• For a domain — a few days to confirm it's in your account and resolving.
• For a website or online business — long enough to check traffic, revenue and every account.
• For code or software — long enough to build it and test the key functions.
• For a car or boat — long enough for an inspection and the paperwork to transfer.

Handing over digital assets

Digital assets don't change hands like a car. Each part has to be transferred, and the buyer needs to confirm each one before release.

Never accept logins by email or chat message. Share them through a password manager, then change every password and turn on two-factor sign-in as soon as the accounts are yours.

A worked example: buying a £30,000 website

You're in Chiang Mai, buying a content website from a seller in the UK for £30,000. How the deal might run through escrow:

Illustration. If the site isn't as described, you raise it within the inspection period and the escrow agreement decides what happens.

Escrow for freelance and digital services

Many expats in Thailand either hire freelancers abroad or work for clients back home. Escrow helps both sides of a services deal when the people involved have never met.

Selling online from Thailand

Escrow isn't only for buyers. If you're selling a website, a domain, a vehicle or your services from Thailand to someone abroad, escrow protects you from the classic seller frauds: fake payment screenshots, cheques that bounce, card payments reversed weeks later.

• Don't hand anything over until escrow confirms the buyer's money is secured.
• Agree the inspection period so a buyer can't keep the asset and stall forever.
• Keep records of every handover step — they're your evidence if there's a dispute.
• Agree the currency you'll be paid in, and how it reaches your Thai or UK account.

What escrow can't fix

Escrow makes sure money and goods change hands fairly. It doesn't check the quality of a business or the honesty of its figures. Before you buy a website or online business, verify the traffic and revenue yourself, ask for access to the analytics and payment accounts during due diligence, and take advice on any contracts, licences or tax that come with it. Escrow then makes sure you only pay once you've received what you checked.

Buying a car, bike or boat online in Thailand

Expats often buy vehicles from listings and expat groups. For a cheap scooter from someone you meet in person, cash on collection is fine. For a car, a big bike or a boat bought from someone you haven't met, the risk is higher.

• See it before you pay — in person, or through someone you trust.
• Check the registration book matches the seller and the vehicle.
• Use escrow for a larger, remote purchase, released on inspection and transfer of the paperwork.
• Get insurance arranged before you drive it away.

We arrange car and motorbike insurance quotes for expats — ask our team before you collect.

Fake escrow and "holding account" scams

Fraudsters know buyers trust escrow, so they fake it. Action Fraud, the UK's national fraud reporting centre, has warned of emails that appear to come from "Amazon Payments", describing a "holding account" that keeps the buyer's money for a week before paying the seller. It's designed to make you pay before you've seen the vehicle. Amazon doesn't offer escrow accounts for payments.

1. The seller insists on their own escrow service — choose your own instead.
2. The "escrow" uses a big brand's name that doesn't offer escrow.
3. You're asked to pay before seeing the item.
4. The price is far below market value — the bait.
5. The emails have odd spelling, grammar or sender addresses.
6. Payment goes to a personal account, gift cards or cryptocurrency.

Search the seller's phone number and email for warnings, and if you're targeted in the UK, report it to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040.

Online escrow across currencies

Online deals are often international: a buyer in Thailand paying a seller in the UK, the US or Europe. That means the money changes currency as well as hands. Agree up front which currency the price is in, who bears the exchange rate, and when the money is converted — at deposit or at release. A specialist that handles both the escrow and the currency, such as Vita Capital, keeps it in one place and avoids a second set of fees.

Fees and disputes in brief

Fees. Online escrow is usually priced as a percentage of the deal, sometimes with a minimum, and the buyer and seller agree who pays — often half each. Ask for the fee in writing before you start, and check whether currency conversion is charged separately. On a £30,000 website, even a fee of a few hundred pounds is small next to the risk of paying a stranger directly.

Disputes. If the buyer says the asset isn't as described, the money stays in escrow while the two sides try to agree. If they can't, the escrow agreement sets out what happens next — often a set process or independent decision. That's why defining "as described" and keeping records of every handover step matters so much: they're the evidence any decision will rest on.

Is escrow worth it for your deal?

A quick guide to when escrow is worth the fee.

General guidance.

Questions to ask before an online deal

• Is the escrow provider regulated, and did I choose it myself?
• What exactly is being delivered, and how will I confirm each part?
• How long is the inspection period?
• What happens if it's not as described?
• Who pays the escrow fee?
• Which currency is the price in, and when is it converted?
• How will logins and accounts be handed over securely?
• How are disputes resolved?

Mistakes to avoid

1. Using the seller's escrow service without checking it.
2. Setting an inspection period too short to check properly.
3. Not defining "as described" before paying.
4. Accepting logins by email or chat.
5. Releasing all the money upfront on a multi-stage project.
6. Paying before seeing a vehicle because of a "holding account".

Staying safe online

• Type escrow and bank addresses yourself — never follow links from the other party.
• Use a password manager for every account you buy, sell or hand over.
• Use a private, protected connection for deals done on hotel, café or co-working Wi-Fi.
• Turn on two-factor sign-in on every account as soon as it's yours.

How we researched this guide

We used Vita Capital's own published information on its escrow solutions, including online and digital escrow (October 2026), Action Fraud's warning about fake holding accounts targeting online car buyers, and ThaiLawOnline's 2026 guides to escrow under Thailand's Escrow Act. Amounts are illustrations. Vita Capital is JLIT's FX and escrow partner, and NordPass and NordVPN are affiliate partners; we may receive a fee, which never changes what you pay. Checked 13 October 2026. This guide is general information, not legal advice.