You pay first. The money waits until you have read what you bought.

The 402 quote points at an escrow account instead of the seller's, so paying does not hand the money over. You get the answer straight away and the payment stays put until you decide.

you
the seller
escrow
per request. Nothing is waiting on you yet.

Where to look

/ask Buy an answer for 0.05 HBAR and watch the payment sit in escrow with a clock on it. the product /proof The escrow account and the consensus topic, read live from Hedera's mirror node in your browser. verify it yourself /build The real 402 challenge this server returns, with payTo pointing at escrow rather than the seller. integrate /invariants Thirteen properties the money depends on, how each is enforced, and the two that broke. what can go wrong