Escrow
A neutral third party holds a payment on trust until the agreed conditions of a deal are met, then releases it.
Escrow is a financial arrangement where a neutral third party holds a payment on behalf of a buyer and a seller. Rather than the buyer paying the seller directly, the money is placed into a protected account and only released once both sides have met the agreed conditions of the deal.
It removes the awkward question of who goes first. The seller can see the money is genuinely committed before they start work, and the buyer knows the payment will not be released until the job is actually done. If something goes wrong, the funds are paused rather than lost.
With CASHBOX, escrow payments are funded directly from the buyer's bank via open banking, held on trust in New Zealand dollars, and released to the seller when the buyer approves the work — for a flat 2% fee.