TLDR: I would be very surprised if Artconomy is operating within the law. It appears to be offering an illegal escrow service, and you're likely to lose your money. (I don't see any escrow offering on Furry Network's site: Where did you see it, Sonious?)
Escrow services are highly regulated, with very good reason: They're hotbeds for fraud and theft. Here's how it works: (1) Start an escrow service. (2) Collect money. (3) Act normally for a while to build trust. (4) Once people are sending you serious coin, disappear. It's an absurdly common con.
Even escrow companies that are acting in good faith can fail. Regulations ensure that they carry enough reserves to make their customers whole, instead of spending the escrowed money on servers and rent.
I suspect that Artconomy is in this category: Not scammers per se, just incompetent to legally run the businesses they've started. They don't know what they don't know. I went through the site and found (1) no mention of how monies are held; (2) no mentions of reserves; (3) no mentions of compliance with relevant laws (such as licenses); (5) no real-world names or addresses; and (5) no other real legal notices. (I didn't find any of these on Furry Network, either.)
This is a timely article for me, for I recently looked (pretty seriously) into starting an escrow service for furry artists. The simplest path is to use an established partner for the actual escrow. Escrow.com looked pretty good, but didn't have the kind of integration I wanted. (It's hard to find prospective escrow service providers that work with such small transaction sizes.)
I am not a lawyer, this is not legal advice. I am, however, a former processor at a title & escrow company in California. I'm also a former California real-estate broker, a position that required studying escrow law.
TLDR: I would be very surprised if Artconomy is operating within the law. It appears to be offering an illegal escrow service, and you're likely to lose your money. (I don't see any escrow offering on Furry Network's site: Where did you see it, Sonious?)
Escrow services are highly regulated, with very good reason: They're hotbeds for fraud and theft. Here's how it works: (1) Start an escrow service. (2) Collect money. (3) Act normally for a while to build trust. (4) Once people are sending you serious coin, disappear. It's an absurdly common con.
Even escrow companies that are acting in good faith can fail. Regulations ensure that they carry enough reserves to make their customers whole, instead of spending the escrowed money on servers and rent.
I suspect that Artconomy is in this category: Not scammers per se, just incompetent to legally run the businesses they've started. They don't know what they don't know. I went through the site and found (1) no mention of how monies are held; (2) no mentions of reserves; (3) no mentions of compliance with relevant laws (such as licenses); (5) no real-world names or addresses; and (5) no other real legal notices. (I didn't find any of these on Furry Network, either.)
This is a timely article for me, for I recently looked (pretty seriously) into starting an escrow service for furry artists. The simplest path is to use an established partner for the actual escrow. Escrow.com looked pretty good, but didn't have the kind of integration I wanted. (It's hard to find prospective escrow service providers that work with such small transaction sizes.)
I am not a lawyer, this is not legal advice. I am, however, a former processor at a title & escrow company in California. I'm also a former California real-estate broker, a position that required studying escrow law.