- Are you a console player salivating at the prices and accessibility of the PC market, continuously trying to bump your useless junks?

- Are you a PC player who's accidentally clicked on a console page and been stunned at what you could get for your prized possessions?

If you answered either as yes, or are just bored and want to read something new, this post is for you.

I write this as a console player where our sub-forum on xbox is diminishing. This is likely a combination of D4 release and the novelty of console D2R wearing off. Below I have suggested a method for d2jsp to stay ahead of the decline by opening up markets between platforms, and re-ignite some players on console (what's not to love about a humming 2013 Xbox One?). This would be done by what I've dubbed as an "Escrow Trade".

Overview

The Escrow Trade would be an evolution of the Mediator program. It would require a roster of trusted D2R players who have access to certain platforms (i.e., two or more, but typically we would see PC <-> console instead of console <-> console). Let's call these people just "Escrows" for ease of use. Due to the time and incentives required to facilitate the trade, there would need to be a tax or fee for performing such a function. My suggestion would be a known commodity such as a Jah per trade inventory screen of Escrow trade (or double/triple this, whatever is decided by the group as worthwhile). We would want a high enough of a fee, and/or likely set a high enough minimum trade FG value, so that people aren't using this service for routine uniques/runewords that we can find on any consoles (or maybe they will and just pay for their poor decisions).

Function

Buyers will bid on items and include the term "escrow" such as "150 bin escrow" or "300 escrow"
This then infers to the Seller that more logistics are involved, but it could help sell an item quicker if its been sitting on the market (Seller can always deny an escrow trade)
Seller/Buyer agree on escrow trade, and submit a "Request an Escrow Trade"
Once submitted, Escrows pick up the items from Seller and simultaneously receives FG from Buyer
Escrows deliver to Buyer via a trade window on the desired platform
Buyer sends tax/fee (either FG or jah in the trade window)
Escrow releases items
Escrow sends FG to seller

Options/Considerations

There are a few points that would need to be flushed out first:
- Trades for things larger than an inventory (possibly ban this due to logistics or force trades to be divided into 1 inventory size, or multiple fees per multiple trade screens)
- Logistics of sending/receiving FG (I separated out the fee/tax so that there's an incentive for all parties to do it quickly when organized, otherwise we don't want the escrow sitting around with items, hence why you collect FG up front).
- Logistics or timelines for facilitating the trade must be established (are there norms from the Mediator program? i.e., must drop off items/fg within 30 minutes of Escrow trade being submitted to d2jsp)
- Recruiting Escrows could be tricky (no idea how to find who is trustworthy, but the existing Mediator program is likely a great start)
- Could earn some serious FG/runes for those who want to grind it out being an Escrow
- Setting up platform on d2jsp to request Escrow trade. I have never used a mediator myself so I'm unsure of the backend logistics/coding required by the mods, but it would be significant enough.

That's the thought. Let the poll be the guide for demand of this idea. Add your thoughts below. Yes, I'll buy a PC soon enough.

Thank you for the wrist slap to kick start this idea.

I took the no, reasons below:

- Mediators do not handle user's items with the exception of legacy D2 due to the complications that may arise, the cross-platform/cross-game trading rules under illegal trades is there to protect users against such complications as well,
doing what you've described will require the mediator to own copies of the game on PC and the respective consoles, arrange time to pick up the item, arrange time to deliver the item and it's just not worth it in general just to enable a very small minority of the game's player base to trade cross-platform.

- It's literally this one game that may require your suggested service.

- The ratio of PC players vs console (all) players for this game based on activity is about 100:1.

- The amount of effort it'll take to code/rework the entire site & create a new mediation system.

I'm sure there're many more reasons why I don't see this being viable.

This isn’t going to be implemented