Buyer protection
Your money stays put until the app is yours.
Buying an app is a serious transaction, so Appswap protects it at every step — escrow that holds your funds, provenance you can verify before you buy, signed contracts that transfer ownership, and a tamper-evident certificate at the end. Nothing is released to the seller until you confirm you have full control.
Seven layers of cover
How you’re protected, end to end
Each protection is a real mechanism in the transfer, not a promise. Together they cover your money, your inspection and the legal transfer of ownership.
When you pay, the funds are held in escrow by Escrow.com — not paid to the seller. The money is only released once you confirm you have full control of the app. Escrow stays HELD until you confirm, then moves to RELEASED.
Every listing carries an App Passport: GitHub-verified provenance — repo visibility, stars, forks, primary language, last-commit recency and repo age — plus live-demo status, documentation, seller identity verification and an overall trust score. Transparency over hype.
Some listings hide sensitive details behind a mutual NDA gate. Accept the NDA — recorded and hashed — to reveal them, so you can evaluate metrics, credentials and customer data with confidentiality binding both parties.
Before any payment is taken, both parties sign three documents: a Mutual NDA, an Asset Purchase Agreement defining the assets and price, and an IP Assignment that transfers all source code, copyrights, designs, trademarks and trade secrets to you — effective once the transfer completes and escrow releases.
You watch the seller complete a 6-step handoff — GitHub repository, domain, environment secrets, third-party accounts, customer data and documentation. The Appswap GitHub App moves repo ownership to you and revokes the seller's access unless the app stays open source.
When you confirm receipt, a Certificate of Ownership is issued automatically. It records the parties, price, an asset summary and SHA-256 hashes of every signed contract, sealed under a master integrity hash so any later alteration is detectable.
Raising a dispute pauses the escrow release while it is resolved, so funds are not handed to the seller while a question is open. Escrow stays held until the matter is settled.
Follow the money
Escrow that only releases on your word
Once the contracts are signed, you pay and the funds are held in escrow through Escrow.com while the assets are handed over. The money reaches the seller only after you confirm you have control — and a dispute pauses that release while it’s resolved.
Payments are handled by Escrow.com, which holds the funds in escrow and handles all card details and security checks. Appswap never sees or stores your card number, and the money is only disbursed to the seller once you confirm control.
- 1
Agreements signed
NDA, APA & IP Assignment executed up front
- 2
Escrow funded
Your payment is captured and held
- 3
In transfer
The 6-step handoff runs
- 4
Awaiting your confirmation
You verify you have control
- 5
Completed
Escrow released, certificate issued
Proof you can keep
A tamper-evident Certificate of Ownership
The moment you confirm receipt, your certificate is issued automatically — a permanent, hash-sealed record of what changed hands. Anyone can verify it publicly, so the proof outlives the transaction.
Every field is sealed so later alteration is detectable.
- Parties, price and an asset summary covering the 6 handoff steps and the GitHub transfer log
- SHA-256 hashes of each executed contract, plus a master integrity hash over the whole certificate
- A human-readable number like APX-2026-000123 and a public verification code
- Publicly verifiable at /verify-certificate/<code> — no login required
Your part
Verify the assets before you confirm
Protection is strongest when you use the window it gives you. Because confirming receipt is what releases escrow, the most important thing you do is check before you click.
Read the provenance signals and trust score, open the live demo, and accept the NDA where you need the full picture before checkout.
Watch each step — repository, domain, secrets, accounts, data and docs — and check that every asset described in the Asset Purchase Agreement is actually in your hands.
Confirming receipt is what releases escrow to the seller. Do it once — and only once — you genuinely have full control. If something is off, raise a dispute instead.
Ready to buy with cover at every step?
Browse listings, or see exactly how a transfer runs from checkout to certificate.