You expect finalising early to be a courtesy

Why the request is normal

A vendor with capital tied up in dozens of open orders has a cash flow problem. Early release solves it. Most vendors who ask are not planning anything, they are running a business with money stuck in the middle of it. The request being reasonable is exactly what makes it effective.

It arrives wrapped in the right tone. A good rapport, a message thanking you, a suggestion that trusted regulars do this. All of that can be entirely sincere and it does not change what the click does.

What the click does

1. Escrow closes and funds move to the vendor.
2. The order is no longer open, so the dispute path attached to it is gone.
3. Any later problem is a request rather than a claim.
4. The record still exists, and it is now a record of an order you closed yourself.

Point three is the whole entry. Before the click you have a process. After it you have a relationship, and relationships are not enforceable.

Where the pressure comes from

• A direct request framed as trust between two people who have dealt well.
• A vendor who only offers early release terms in the first place, so it is a condition rather than a favour.
• Impatience with the escrow clock when a parcel is late and you want the thing settled.
• A hijacked account using an established profile's good standing to collect quick releases before anyone notices.

The last one is the reason politeness is not a good guide. The account that has been excellent for two years is the most valuable account to take over, and the first thing a takeover does is ask nicely for early releases.

The reasonable position

Finalise when the goods are in your hands and you are satisfied, promptly, without being asked twice. That is genuinely helpful to a vendor and costs you nothing at all. Before arrival, decline politely and without an argument. A vendor worth dealing with understands the answer and will not push it.

There is a middle position people try and it does not work well. Releasing a part of the order, or promising to release on a date, has no mechanism behind it. Escrow is open or it is closed. Anything that sounds like a compromise is really a way of talking yourself into closing it early, in stages, while feeling careful about it.

If a vendor will not sell on any other terms, that is a business decision on their side and a risk decision on yours. Take it knowing that you have moved yourself into the position described in a balance is safe on the platform, which is to say protected by nothing.