What is the Storex Arbitration Panel?
The Storex Arbitration Panel is the body which resolves disputes and claims between buyers and sellers on the marketplace. A dispute can be escalated to the Panel in one of two ways:
- The buyer is not satisfied with their purchase and cannot come to a resolve with the seller
- The seller is not satisfied with the return of an item and cannot come to a resolve with the buyer
The Arbitration Panel does not have a maximum capacity, allowing anyone who meets the prerequisites to join. In the event of an escalated dispute, 21 arbitrators will be randomly selected to review the transaction and dispute details.
Features of the Arbitration Panel are subject to change depending on decisions made by the Storex Governance Council — which serves as the Decentralised Autonomous Organisation (DAO) for the Storex ecosystem. For more information on how the Governance Council works, you may view our previous Deep Dive here.
Why does Storex need an Arbitration Panel?
Several reasons combine to make the Arbitration Panel an attractive and well-needed addition to the Storex ecosystem. In the spirit of what makes blockchain technology so appealing, the Storex team felt community consensus should replace normally-centralised positions of governance. One single entity having too much power and authority over the platform will dissuade users seeking an effective blockchain based e-commerce solution.
The Arbitration Panel in itself will project a stronger case for victory in a decision, holding more weight due to the community involvement. If a centralised party has control over the arbitration process, biases and agendas could easily influence decisions and disenfranchise a specific type of user, as is commonly seen on other e-commerce marketplaces.
The community collectively bears the burden of resolving disputes, which mitigates the waning of efficiency over time. If a single entity was tasked with resolving disputes, bad habits and biases are far more likely to enter the decision making process. Arbitrators are also held accountable by the Governance Council, which serves to encourage good behaviour and positive contributions to the ecosystem. On the other side, for users themselves, an equal playing field is provided for evidence submission, with neither party holding an advantage outside of information placed in the case.
How does the Arbitration Panel work?
The Arbitration Panel works by utilising community consensus to resolve irreconcilable disputes between buyers and sellers on the platform. In essence, this means centralised sources have been removed from the decision-making process in an attempt to remove biases and distrust for the arbitration process. The arbitrators voting on each dispute will be composed of buyers, sellers, and interested parties on the platform, which adds legitimacy to any decision made during a dispute. The prerequisites for joining the Panel are as follows:
- Account must be KYC verified on the Proton blockchain
- Account must lock 100,000 STRX as collateral
- Account must not have left the Arbitration Panel within 14 days
- Account must not be blacklisted from the Arbitration Panel
- Account must not hold an elected Governance Council seat
The tokens locked as collateral for entry into the Arbitration Panel will be refunded after 24 hours of leaving the Panel. Users will be able to enter and exit the Panel on the marketplace website when it is released. There is a 14 day cooldown period when arbitrators leave the Panel, which prevents them from rejoining for the duration of the cooldown. Any accumulated rewards from participating in the arbitration process can be redeemed at least once every 24 hours.
All transactions protected by the escrow smart contract can make use of the Arbitration Panel in the event of an irreconcilable dispute. The buyer and seller have 14 days from the start of a transaction to initiate a dispute. This length of time can be extended by either party in the event of shipping delays or extenuating circumstances. When a dispute arises, the Arbitration Panel will have the power to decide the resolution. Arbitrators are effectively blind; the identity of both the buyer and the seller are anonymous. Outside information, including the status of any tracking numbers provided, will be submitted in redacted form by the Storex team.
There are 3 stages to every dispute put before the Arbitration Panel:
- The Evidence Stage — both the buyer and seller are given 7 days to submit any evidence regarding the transaction and an explanation of the events. The Storex team will also provide any redacted information relevant to the dispute.
- The Voting Stage — the 21 randomly selected arbitrators will have 7 days to vote for the fairest outcome. Arbitrators can also propose custom resolutions if they believe fault does not lie with one single party.
- The Review Stage — the Governance Council will have 7 days to veto the outcome of the dispute if they find evidence of malintent or negligence. In the event of a veto, the voting stage will be re-initiated with a new panel of randomly selected arbitrators.
To incentivise activity, the processing fee concerned for the transaction will be distributed evenly between the randomly selected arbitrators. This processing fee would normally be claimed by the Storex team; in these instances the company forfeits the fee to facilitate the arbitration process. Every dispute will also be subsidised with STRX tokens to reward arbitrators for their efforts. This will be in addition to the processing fee.
What can I do before launch?
A mock version of the Arbitration Panel will be available during beta testing. The requirements aforementioned will not be applicable to this mock version, and will allow prospective arbitrators to gain experience and knowledge of the process before committing to the live version. The team is also readily available to answer your questions which may not have been covered in this article.
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For updates, you can follow our linked social media, and join our Telegram channel to speak directly to the team, and share and discuss with the community your ideas and opinions on the Arbitration Panel.
Website: https://storex.io
Main Telegram: https://t.me/storexio
Governance Telegram: https://t.me/storexgovernance
Twitter: https://twitter.com/storex_
