John Patrick thinks the time is ripe for local fulfillment, the combination of online e-commerce and local fulfillment. And yes that would be nice, but what I really want is local escrow. There are plenty of services that help you package your goods for sale on eBay. I think that someone should turn it around and act as a buyer’s agent and provide local escrow.

We’ve all heard horror stories about auction fraud. And while I’m confident that buyers save enough on their good purchases to offset the bad over the long haul, I’m not sure that I’ll be in it long enough to see the long haul. I’d like to have a local business act as an escrow agent. They hold the money, sellers ship to them and buyers pickup from them.

I’d pay a modest premium to have that extra peace of mind.