Epik Escrow Review & Questions

[Domains - Wanted]

Sold a domain using Epik Escrow. I'd transferred-in the domain to Epik prior to the transaction, so the sale went through and funds were credited to my Masterbucks account immediately. So far so good.

Next, I initiated withdrawal to PayPal on Sunday, May 28th and received email confirmation and funds were debited from my Masterbucks account instantly. I expected to receive equally instant deposit into my PayPal account or next day at the outside. No joy! It has been 4 days and no money credited to my PayPal.

Don't know if this is an isolated case or maybe I missed some small print somewhere and this is par for the course - a standard delay with payouts by Epik? Has anybody here had any experience selling through Epik and withdrawing funds to PayPal? How long did you wait for the money?

@robepik

 

[Domains - Wanted]

Anybody...?

5 working days and no money credited to PayPal

 

[alcy]

Rob approves all withdrawls himself. final frontier step against fraud protection.

maybe he is away.

 

[Domains - Wanted]

Interesting to know, thanks! Heard very good things about Rob and his business from friends here at NP. All the more disappointing his Escrow / Masterbucks service has turned out to be. Especially since we've already started moving our portfolio to Epik. They seemed like the best, most innovative registrar around. Obviously failure to pay out in a reasonably timely manner (read: 24-48 hours) - whatever the reason - makes all their other innovations pretty much moot!

 

[Rob Monster]

First time sellers can wait up to 5 days for their payment to process. It is a safeguard against fraud as sadly the escrow industry is rife with fraud. In the case of this particular domain, we believe the buyer might have overpaid for a domain that was about 6 months old. The seller's account is whitelisted now and was paid out. From the moment of the sale, the funds were available funds in the seller's Masterbucks account for use on Epik and now paid out via PayPal. I think all set here. @ DomainsWanted - congratulations on your sale and getting a nice price for a young domain.

 

[Kuffy]

we believe the buyer might have overpaid for a domain that was about 6 months old.

I'm surprised by this comment, and I hope I have misunderstood it. Does this mean that you will step in and arbitrate if one of your clients sells a name at a better price than your valuation?

 

[Rob Monster]

I'm surprised by this comment, and I hope I have misunderstood it. Does this mean that you will step in and arbitrate if one of your clients sells a name at a better price than your valuation?

In general, we don't render a fairness opinion unless asked. However, my comment here, among us domainer friends, was that a first time seller sold a young domain for more than FMV. As a result, the transaction was being monitored for chargeback. We were able to verify that the buyer is legitimate and processed the withdrawal request. In the meantime, funds were available in the seller's account from the moment the purchase was completed. As for speed of payout, Epik is still among the fastest, particularly for known sellers and/or folks with portfolios at Epik.

 

[Domains - Wanted]

I confirm that the funds were paid out to Paypal after a week's delay.

Thanks for explaining your policy, @robepik. Better late than not at all. Too bad there is no information about this to be found on your site, nor any notice given about any security concerns with this particular transaction. I would have saved you and myself the time and inconvenience and gone with an established intermediary like Escrow.com or Sedo, who pay out within 24 hours.

While I appreciate your reply here on NP and your security concerns, I must say I am disappointed with:

(1) your lack of understanding of what an escrow service entails. Escrow is securing funds and item being paid for and releasing both to respective parties immediately upon transaction conditions being met. Complimentary evaluation of pricing is NOT part of escrow. You need to decide what service you want to offer - whether escrow or domain appraisal - and stick to it!

(2) your fairly limited domain valuation know-how. The transaction price was US$ 1350 for a 4-character .COM (LNLN.com with repeating number). From mine and my partners' "first time seller" 18-year domain sales experience, this is a very satisfactory price, but calling this "above FMV" shows that your domain valuation skills need some more work. I'd stick to your day job for now

Last but not least, we do have a portfolio with Epik, even if it's only a fraction of our entire inventory, including many 10 year+ and even 20 year+ domains. Something you could have easily checked upon, given your valuation concerns, instead of blocking the withdrawal to Paypal - without any notice whatsoever.

Summing up: looks like Epik's escrow service is in early Beta and still needs work. Pricing is very attractive, but you get what you pay for. Speaking of which: it seems there is a minimum withdrawal fee to Paypal of $5 or 5% for smaller amounts. I ordered another $100 withdrawal yesterday and promptly received $95 in Paypal (expected $97).

 

[Rob Monster]

I confirm that the funds were paid out to Paypal after a week's delay.

Thanks for explaining your policy, @robepik. Better late than not at all. Too bad there is no information about this to be found on your site, nor have you given us any notice about any security concerns with this particular transaction. I would have saved you and myself the time and inconvenience and gone with an established intermediary like Escrow.com or Sedo, who pay out within 24 hours.

While I appreciate your reply here on NP and your security concerns, I must say I am disappointed with:

(1) your lack of understanding of what an escrow service entails. Escrow is securing funds and item being paid for and releasing both to respective parties immediately upon transaction conditions being met. Complimentary evaluation of pricing is NOT part of escrow. You need to decide what service you want to offer - whether escrow or domain appraisal - and stick to it!

(2) your fairly limited domain valuation know-how. The transaction price was US$ 1350 for a 4-character .COM (LNLN.com with repeating number). From mine and my partners' "first time seller" 18-year domain sales experience, this is a very satisfactory price, but calling this "above FMV" shows that your domain valuation skills need some more work. I'd stick to your day job for now

Last but not least, we do have a portfolio with Epik, even if it's only a fraction of our entire inventory, including many 10 year+ and even 20 year+ domains. Something you could have easily checked upon, given your valuation concerns, instead of blocking the withdrawal to Paypal - without any notice whatsoever.

Summing up: looks like Epik's escrow service is in early Beta and still needs work. Pricing is very attractive, but you get what you pay for. Speaking of which: it seems there is a minimum withdrawal fee to Paypal of $5 or 5% for smaller amounts. I ordered another $100 withdrawal and promptly received $95 in Paypal.

Will respectfully disagree. Your funds were immediately available. Due to extensive experience with payment fraud, first time payouts can be delayed for folks with little or no other domains with us.

Epik Escrow is not a beta. It is a low margin service to customers. Most folks simply sell through our marketplace, which is self-service and instant, but for folks who want escrow, we do it.

And when we do disburse an escrow transaction, and there is a subsequent fraud problem on the payee side, we eat that loss. Been burned enough time to be vigilant to first-timers.

As for your track record as a domainer, I do wish I knew everyone personally. If they reach out, I get to know them. Those who don't say hello, once they have 100+ domains with us, I tend to notice them.

I do see that your 2nd payment request was disbursed within hours. So, clearly the whitelisting is working as advertised.

Have a good week.

 

[Domains - Wanted]

Will respectfully disagree. Your funds were immediately available. Due to extensive experience with payment fraud, first time payouts can be delayed for folks with little or no other domains with us.

I respectfully disagree with you. By your own admission, due to your security concerns, funds were NOT immediately available. Displaying funds in Masterbucks.com with no possibility of withdrawal is funds unavailable in my book. What's more, you led me to believe they have been paid out without a hitch. The amount has been debited from our Masterbucks account and email received, confirming the withdrawal, text as follows:

Masterbucks withdrawal request

Method: paypal
Username: ****
Amount: $****
Paypal Email: ****

Epik Escrow is not a beta. It is a low margin service to customers. Most folks simply sell through our marketplace, which is self-service and instant, but for folks who want escrow, we do it.

Actually, given the domain had been already transferred to Epik before the escrow transaction was ordered, you simply listed it for sale and sent the buyer a link to it in your marketplace. Once they paid, you credited the amount to our Masterbucks account instantly. Nice and smooth going as far as it goes. My beef here is lack of notice the funds would be blocked for one week while you conducted your fraud check.

And when we do disburse an escrow transaction, and there is a subsequent fraud problem on the payee side, we eat that loss. Been burned enough time to be vigilant to first-timers.

This is entirely understandable. What I take issue with is misinformation! How the heck could I have foreseen you would find the domain sales price questionable??? How could I imagine the withdrawal was blocked and a fraud check ongoing ???

So what's the big deal, you might ask? Following your confirmation of payout to Paypal, I promised a $60 payment from Paypal to a friend in a day or two. That's but a fraction of the amount supposedly paid out from Masterbucks and a silly amount to you or me, but not to my collegue. Were I informed of any issue, I would have made other arrangements and would not have to explain myself and repeatedly apologize as the week went on why I am delaying payment of a few $$
My mistake in trusting "The Swiss Bank of Domains", based on Epik's very satisfactory service to date as a registrar
While your registrar service is first rate, however, your ancillary services obviously still need a little work to match this - with special attention to your information policies!

 

[Domains - Wanted]

...I do see that your 2nd payment request was disbursed within hours. So, clearly the whitelisting is working as advertised.

Yes it was, within a few hours, as I had initially expected. Thank you

But I'd suggest you be more circumspect with statements like "...whitelisting is working as advertised". The problem here is that it is NOT advertised, unless you call your comments in this thread as "advertising". I have never come across any mention anywhere of the need to have an account with Epik whitelisted before any withdrawals of domain sale proceeds can be allowed. I hope you will make some changes following this unfortunate case study. To be clear, I refer here to your information policies and practices and not fraud checks, which are a neccessary part of this business.

 

[Rob Monster]

Yes it was, within a few hours, as I had initially expected. Thank you

But I'd suggest you be more circumspect with statements like "...whitelisting is working as advertised". The problem here is that it is NOT advertised, unless you call your comments in this thread as "advertising". I have never come across any mention anywhere of the need to have an account with Epik whitelisted before any withdrawals of domain sale proceeds can be allowed. I hope you will make some changes following this unfortunate case study. To be clear, I refer here to your information policies and practices and not fraud checks, which are a neccessary part of this business.

Points taken and duly noted.

 

[DNWon]

In the case of this particular domain, we believe the buyer might have overpaid for a domain that was about 6 months old.

Not "digging" this quote very much either! Anybody who has spent anytime at all, buying and selling domains knows a domains only true value is what someone is willing to pay for it? To come on here and state you feel the buyer may have paid "too much", is truly concerning and demeaning to the seller, your customer. Could you please explain what system of valuation EPIK is currently using that you feel comfortable enough to come to a public forum and publicly state that one of your customers sold a domain for "too high a price"?
Thanks!

 

[Rob Monster]

Not "digging" this quote very much either! Anybody who has spent anytime at all, buying and selling domains knows a domains only true value is what someone is willing to pay for it? To come on here and state you feel the buyer may have paid "too much", is truly concerning and demeaning to the seller, your customer. Could you please explain what system of valuation EPIK is currently using that you feel comfortable enough to come to a public forum and publicly state that one of your customers sold a domain for "too high a price"?
Thanks!

It was on the high side of fair market value which simply caused the transaction to be flagged for review prior to being paid out. Of course we want domain investors to sell for maximum price, as long as the transactions are legitimate, which in this case it was.

 

[DNWon]

simply caused the transaction to be flagged for review prior to being paid out.

Thanks @robepik, there certainly is a lot of fraud in domain sales these days, so being extra precautious only protects everyone involved in the transaction!

 

[Rob Monster]

Thanks @robepik, there certainly is a lot of fraud in domain sales these days, so being extra precautious only protects everyone involved in the transaction!

Hallelujah. You guys have no idea how bad it has gotten. Do the math. If 1 out of 20 escrow transactions is bad and you charge even 5% escrow, you are upside down on the proceeds alone. Ask anyone who is in this business of clearing transactions and you will find that the business is entirely won or lost on how you manage fraud transactions.

 

[Jv1999]

MY REVIEW OF EPIK ESCROW:

I just actualized a sale with them! They're very good! After putting in the initial request, Rob or one of the brokers will email both you and the buyer within 3 hours!

From there he'll respond within minutes to each email and it was so easy :D.

But one caveat: To speed everything up to blink level, you have to transfer your domain to Epik.

Drawbacks: You have to wait 5 days to withdraw. . . and the 5% withdrawal fee.

But that's all fine because you won't need to upload your ID or give your SSN. They also withdraw straight to PayPal or Bitcoin. It's all really awesome except for the 5 days!

 

[Rob Monster]

MY REVIEW OF EPIK ESCROW:

I just actualized a sale with them! They're very good! After putting in the initial request, Rob or one of the brokers will email both you and the buyer within 3 hours!

From there he'll respond within minutes to each email and it was so easy :D.

But one caveat: To speed everything up to blink level, you have to transfer your domain to Epik.

Drawbacks: You have to wait 5 days to withdraw. . . and the 5% withdrawal fee.

But that's all fine because you won't need to upload your ID or give your SSN. They also withdraw straight to PayPal or Bitcoin. It's all really awesome except for the 5 days!

Congrats on your sale.

To clarify:

1. If the buyer and seller are repeat customers, or known/verified, there is no 5 day delay.

2. If the domain is on Epik at the time of the transaction, proceeds are deposited commission-free and tax-free.

 

[GoWebnames.com]

Congrats on your sale.

To clarify:

1. If the buyer and seller are repeat customers, or known/verified, there is no 5 day delay.

2. If the domain is on Epik at the time of the transaction, proceeds are deposited commission-free and tax-free.

Hello Rob, how do decide the BTC/USD rate for Bitcoin payouts? What's the reference exchange?

 

[Rob Monster]

Hello Rob, how do decide the BTC/USD rate for Bitcoin payouts? What's the reference exchange?

Coinbase.

 

[Jv1999]

Update: Rob released funds this morning pre-9AM after I emailed him my wallet info! Very generous quote for btc price too! I recommend Epik's escrow! Very awesome :D

 

[CJ6]

I just need a good sale to go through Epik's Escrow.
C'mon buyers! I need ya!

 

[1008202]

How to get paid in BTC? I see only cheque or PayPal payout in the masterbucks dot com website? Or its that the wrong place to request payout?

 

[Rob Monster]

How to get paid in BTC? I see only cheque or PayPal payout in the masterbucks dot com website? Or its that the wrong place to request payout?

Request payment via check, and then email your crypto instructions to [email protected] and we'll process accordingly.

 

[1008202]

Thanks, that was swift. Since you're in the US (I think?), is it also possible to request for ACH the same way?