Who should be posting the earnest money on a reverse wholesale

Two operators told me two opposite things this month and I can't decide which one is right.

The first funds every deposit himself, usually small, and says it keeps the file clean. One contract, one buyer of record, one party the seller and the title company have to deal with. He says the moment the end buyer's money is in escrow you've invited a conversation about who really controls the contract, and if the end buyer walks you now have his money to argue about on top of a dead deal.

The second refuses to put a dollar in. His view is that the end buyer is the party with verified demand and a signed set of criteria, so the end buyer should carry the option cost. He asks for the deposit to be wired to escrow on the buyer's behalf before he signs anything with the seller, and he says the request is a test. A buyer who says yes to your box in writing and then won't post 2,500 wasn't a buyer.

There's a middle version where you split it, or one where the buyer reimburses you at assignment, which sounds tidy until the deal dies and there's nothing to reimburse from.

How escrow can even accept funds from someone who isn't a party to the contract varies by state and by title company, and it's a question for the escrow officer and an attorney before anyone wires anything. Setting that aside, I'm interested in which way people actually do it and what it cost them.