Anyone heard of "SafetyPay" for escrow type payments?

Factual Questions
1

Planning to buy a tractor offered for sale in PA to be delivered to Maine. Seller provides me with a 3 day inspection window on receipt. If as described, payment being held by SafetyPay is released. Very little description available on their web site. Waiting for correspondence from them. Anyone ever dealt with this outfit?

2

I would be highly suspicious of this. This does not appear to be an escrow service at all. From this page:

It seems you have no recourse to SafetyPay as a buyer if the seller defrauds you, quite the opposite of an escrow service, it’s worse than just paying direct with a credit card or going through Paypal.

I would insist on using an escrow service that you choose.

3

It’s a scam. There’s no tractor. Long distance transactions combined with an offer to use escrow is a classic fraud setup. In the past, scammers made up their own “escrow” outfits, complete with websites, but it’s common now to refer to existing companies and claim they offer escrow services when they do not.

4

^^^^^^^^This
Whether you actually can or not, offer to drive to PA to inspect it and pay cash. See what kind of run around you get. You can always “have a change in plans” if they accept your offer.

5

It costs a lot to ship stuff like that. Every time I’ve heard the “we will pay to ship it to you and if you don’t like it we will pay to ship it back” line I know it’s a scam. Find a real tractor shop in the area of the supposed tractor and offer to pay for a mechanic to go over the tractor prior to shipping. A) it’s a good idea anyway B) Their story will change and they won’t be able to do it for some weird reason.

6

Yup, all of the above. Rather elaborate fraud. Advertised in local used goods flyer (Uncle Henry’s if you’re familiar) and Craig’s list, with a Maine contact number. Sent text which was answered by “daughter” who supplied “Dad’s” email address. First couple of emails went into more detail about the tractor which turned out to be in PA, then the payment scheme was proposed. Until then I was hoping that the deal - which always seemed to good to be true - was true.

Thanks for confirming my suspicions.