Idea 452 of 500. Cluster 24: Proof and trust, as a business
Escrow services for transactions between strangers, so that the money moves when the goods do
The mechanism, from the book
The one thing. A country where people do not expect the rules to hold cannot build anything else, and proof can be manufactured by private people, one published record at a time.
Every idea in cluster 24 uses this mechanism.
A first step
Find two strangers about to trade: a Sri Lankan buyer abroad ordering furniture from a workshop at home, or a farmer selling to a trader in another district. Offer to hold the payment in a separate account under a written agreement both sign, and release it when the buyer confirms delivery, for a small fee. The proof is one completed deal where both sides say they would use it again.
- Who pays first
- A Sri Lankan buyer abroad paying a workshop at home for goods they cannot inspect, who pays a fee so the money moves only when the goods do.
- What leaves today
- Trade between strangers does not happen when nobody trusts the payment; escrow manufactures that trust and lets the sale go ahead on the island.
The idea and the mechanism are from the book. The first step was written for this site as a suggestion; if you know a better one, say so.
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
The only test any idea on this site has to pass. The four rules that go with it are here.
In the book
- Ch. SixThe Fridge by the Road
The fridge by the road: proof that the rules hold - Ch. FifteenThe Odds
13 of 101 countries made it, and what Singapore's prosecution cost
More from cluster 24
- 451A verified-review platform for Sri Lankan businesses where the reviewer is real and the review cannot be bought
- 453Published price lists at the tourist sites and in the taxis, with a complaints line that answers
- 454A landlord and tenant rating service, since neither can currently check the other
- 455Contractor registries with completed jobs photographed and clients named
- 456Independent building inspection, so that a buyer abroad knows what was actually built
- 457Court-record and land-registry search services for the buyer abroad
Idea 452 of the 500 in the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? Every one can be started by one person, one family or one small firm.