AI software is easy to oversell, so buying it takes extra care. This is what to check before you pay.

Types of AI software for sale

AI applications, such as chatbots, image generators and writing tools
machine learning models pre-trained for language, vision or recommendations
access to AI APIs, which needs care: OpenAI's business terms, for example, forbid buying, selling or transferring API keys, and a resold API key can be shut off at any time
automation tools with AI built into the workflow
AI agents built to carry out specific tasks on their own

What to check before buying

Find out whether you get the full source code or only API access. It makes a big difference to what the software is worth over time.
For machine learning models, make sure you get the model weights, documentation of the training data and the inference code.
Check whether the license allows commercial use, changes and redistribution.
Find out whether the software depends on paid APIs, such as OpenAI's or Anthropic's, and work out what it will cost you to run.
Check there's documentation: API docs, a setup guide and usage examples.
Ask for benchmark results, accuracy figures or demo access before you buy.

Escrow suits AI software purchases:

the payment is held until you've checked that the code works
the deal chat is kept, and it's what a moderator reviews if there's a dispute
in a dispute, EPICSWP's assistant, Aegis, can summarize the case for the moderator, who makes the decision

It's sold as "AI-powered", but there's no model or AI call anywhere in the code.
There's no demo or trial.
The seller can't explain how the model works.
The price is far too low for a complex AI system.
There's no documentation or README.

Check everything before you confirm receipt.