That's not how the mechanism works. The buyer sends the money to a special address which is like a staging area. The money cannot leave that staging area in any direction (including back to the buyer) until two of the buyer, seller, and arbiter agree on its destination.
Right. . . but once it leaves that staging area, no backsies. So in order to replicate the kind of consumer protection that credit cards offer, probably you'd do something where the buyer doesn't do anything, and instead has 180 days to vote to cancel the transaction. At the end of that 180 day period, the 3rd party automatically votes to release the funds from the merchant.
From the buyer's perspective that kind of arrangement might feel like they paid for the product right away. But from the seller's perspective, it's a terrible deal because they never get paid until half a year later.
i.e. not reversible. Once the buyer says they received the merchandise and signs off, the money goes to the merchant. If after two days the merchandise goes bad because it was fraudulent, the buyer is screwed. No 180 day waiting period.
