On every HOLO order
How escrow works
Buying a card from a stranger means someone has to go first. Escrow means neither of you has to: we hold the money until the card is in your hands and you are happy with it.
You pay
HOLO holds it
Card arrives
You check it
You confirm
Seller is paid
What happens to your money
Four steps from checkout to payout. Notice where your money sits for most of it.
Step 1
You pay
Check out and pay for the card like any other online order. The money leaves your account, but it does not go to the seller.
Your money: Held by HOLO
Step 2
The seller ships
The seller packs your card and adds a tracking number, which appears on your order. They still have not been paid.
Your money: Held by HOLO
Step 3
You check the card
Your card arrives. Open it and compare it to the listing — the grade, the condition, the photos.
Your money: Held by HOLO
Step 4
The seller gets paid
Happy with it? Tap Confirm received on your order, and we send the money straight to the seller's bank.
Your money: Released to the seller
You are not on a deadline
Once the seller ships, you have 14 days to check the card and say something. Confirming early just gets the seller paid sooner — it never shortens your window to raise a problem.
Confirm any time. The seller is paid within minutes of you tapping the button.
Or do nothing. If you never confirm, the payment releases on its own after 14 days.
If something goes wrong
This is the part escrow exists for. Because the money never reached the seller, putting it right is a decision — not a recovery mission.
Report a problem instead
Wrong card, worse condition than the listing, or nothing arrived at all? Open a dispute from your order before you confirm receipt. That freezes the money — the countdown stops and no payout can happen while we look into it.
You get refunded
If the card is not what was listed, we refund your payment to the card you paid with.
The seller gets paid
If the order turns out to be exactly as described, we release the money to the seller.
What it looks like as a seller
Escrow protects you too. It is the reason buyers are willing to pay upfront for a card they have only seen in photos.
The money is already collected
Before you post anything, the buyer has paid in full and we are holding it. You are never chasing someone for payment.
Ship, then add tracking
Marking the order shipped with a tracking number is what starts the release clock on the buyer's side.
Paid to your bank
When the buyer confirms — or 14 days after shipping — we transfer the sale to your bank account, minus your platform fee.
Common questions
- Does escrow cost me anything as a buyer?
- No. Escrow is how every HOLO order works, and it is included in the price you see. There are no buyer fees on top.
- What if I bought from two sellers at once?
- Each seller's share is held separately. Confirming or disputing applies to that seller's items, so one slow seller never holds up another.
- Can the seller take the money early?
- No. Sellers cannot release their own payment. It moves only when you confirm, when the auto-release window closes, or when support resolves a dispute.
- What if the card never arrives?
- Open a dispute on the order rather than confirming receipt. As long as you have not confirmed, the money is still with us and can be refunded to you.
- How long do refunds take?
- Once a dispute is resolved in your favour, the refund goes back to the card you paid with. Your bank usually shows it within a few working days.
Every order on HOLO works this way
There is nothing to switch on and nothing extra to pay. Find a card you want and it is already covered.