Steam Trade Escrow
Steam Trade Escrow is an older name for Steam's trade-hold system. If the account sending items has not been protected by Steam Guard Mobile Authenticator for at least 7 days, delivery may be delayed for up to 15 days. SteamVaults tracks the offer as pending and credits nothing until Steam reports it accepted and the bot confirms receipt.
What escrow means
Steam documentation now describes this as a trade hold: a period after acceptance when outgoing items are held before delivery. The hold can last up to 15 days when the sending account has not been protected by Steam Guard Mobile Authenticator for at least 7 days.
During the hold
The offer stays pending while Steam controls the item. SteamVaults records the expected escrow end when Steam provides it and keeps checking the offer state. This differs from an item-level trade lock, which prevents the item from being included in an offer at all.
Settlement
There is no site-balance credit merely because the estimated hold date arrives. Settlement occurs only after Steam reports the offer as Accepted and the bot confirms receipt of the supported Sack of Gems.