WebDesignersWife

Good Morning

Yes ok, roll your eyes when I ask these questions hehehehe.

When you purchase a domain from someone personally and not using a domain broker, should the buyer pay fully upfront first and then the seller transfers it?

Is it better to deal through a broker?

My client wants a particular domain and the person who has it is not using it. I sent an email with an offer and waiting for reply. Just not sure how these things work.

Any advice is appreciated.

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Catherine

SpareDomains

buyer would generally pay upfront and then the seller would do the free push to your account after you create a free account at whatever registrar the domain is currently located at, this is the most common practice.

If dealing with a high end domain or more money then you care to lose if you do not know the buyer/seller very well use http://www.escrow.com/ which works like this...
????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/domain-newbies/204119-silly-domain-questions.html

buyer pays escrow.com
seller pushes domain to buyer
buyer confirms with escrow.com that they have received the domain
escrow then releases secured funds to seller

this eliminates any possible fraud with high end domains or domains where you don't know the buyer/seller very well, there are fees involved with using escrow.com but they are not that bad, just decide who will pay the escrow fees buyer, seller, or you can split the fees which is common as well. If a buyer/seller refuses to use escrow and you have agreed to pay all the escrow fees I would take that as a red flag and back away from the transaction. PayPal works for low end transactions or high end transactions where you trust the buyer/seller. If unsure of the buyer/seller go escrow as the fraud risk and chargeback risk are pretty much eliminated.

WebDesignersWife

Thank you soooo much for all the valuable information and for taking the time to post it. Greatly appreciated

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Catherine

makemekingcom

What prevents the buyer from denying that they have received the domain even if they did?

SpareDomains

the difference is escrow will actually look at whois for new owner information or contact the registrar for confirmation where paypal will say internet goods, no shipping receipt?, can't help ya, had a nice chat with the managing director at escrow as he called me on my cell phone to work out some new business plans and they are on the ball and have pushed million dollar + escrow transactions through their company, much safer than paypal, try getting a 30-45 minute phone call from paypal on their dime to help you with a future project, customer service and increased security is at escrow, not saying paypal is bad but if unsure of buyer/seller or doing a high dollar transaction escrow is the way to go.