But what I'm asking is - are you talking about buying bitcoins from him with an MP? If so, then what you've described is not the escrow system. The escrow system is: you purchase a listing your bitcoins for that order are sent to escrow the vendor has no access to payment for the order you receive the order you release the bitcoin payment from escrow to the vendor the vendor receives the bitcoin payment In that situation, if you don't receive the order, then you don't release the payment to the vendor. The payment remains safe because it is being held in escrow (where neither you nor the vendor can access it). When you are buying bitcoins with a Moneypak, you "purchase" the listing, yes, but you have no bitcoins to send to the escrow system - you only have a Moneypak code. SR uses bitcoins exclusively for trading -- they do not use USD or Moneypak code or any other currency. Only bitcoins. So when you're trying to use some other currency to buy those bitcoins, you're not able to use SR's escrow system because it isn't set up to work with any other currency. SR has control over the funds when they are held in escrow, so SR is able to serve as a middleman for the transaction to provide protection for both parties. When you use a currency OTHER than bitcoin, SR has no control over it and can't offer protection for either party.