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If you are not using Epik.com for escrow, you are wasting time and money!

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Rob Monster

Founder of EpikTop Member
Epik Founder
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Special Program for NamePros members only: Process your escrow transaction via Epik.com using bank transfer or major crypto, with a domain name registered at Epik.com and we'll waive the escrow fee completely! No escrow fee. No cashout fee. No kidding.

NamePros members are switching to Epik.com for Domain Name Escrow. Here's why:

- Lowest Fees: NamePros members pay no minimum fees. For domains registered at Epik.com, escrow is FREE when your buyer pays via bank transfer or major crypto. Otherwise, escrow is as low as 1.5%!

- Fast closing: Escrow transactions with domains registered at Epik, paid with major crypto or bank deposit can typically be closed within hours. We are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

- Secure Transactions: Epik.com is the only full-service escrow agent that is also a full-service accredited registrar. Transfer in and out within minutes. If a transaction is cancelled, your domain is not in limbo-land!

- Flexible payment solutions: Pay or get paid via wire transfer, ACH, major crypto, credit card, PayPal, Transferwise or Western Union. We support all major currencies, domain swaps and scheduled payments.

There has never been a better time to move your domains to Epik.com and to choose our integrated solutions for domain marketplace and escrow services.

To get started on your escrow transaction, simply go here:

https://www.epik.com/services/escrow/

To discuss your portfolio or escrow transaction, contact us at [email protected], visit us Epik.com or phone us at +1.425-366-8810 or US toll-free at +1.888-894-9026.

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This is a sponsored post.
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
isnt there some law that makes it illegal for escrow.com to embark on such a unfounded harassment campaign against epik?
 
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isnt there some law that makes it illegal for escrow.com to embark on such a unfounded harassment campaign against epik?

I won't speculate there, but some might call it tortious interference or racketeering. I won't speculate on any specific areas of legal trespass but from the exit interviews I have done with former employees, they have a lot of enemies who know a lot and could be subpoenaed at will in the event of litigation. We are cooperating with the discovery process and have capable legal counsel in place should it need to go there.
 
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This is all courtesy of some self-serving correspondence from Mr. Elsegood at Escrow.com whose full correspondence we have.
This one is an enough reason to not make any business with escrow.com ever again.
 
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Anyone who did not try Epik, just give them a try and what you will see is an uncomparable full-service registrar. Other than being my main registrar, I have no connection with Epik. They became my main registrar after giving them a try following the recommendation of an investor I know well. Here are the other registrars I work with to give you an idea about my level of experience with various registrars: Ederhost, GoDaddy, NameBright, NameCheap, NameSilo, Uniregistry.
 
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Escrow.com lost my respect over the CQD dot com scandal. And all those peeps had to take selfies with their DL's or passports(n)
Epik has much better customer service.
Rob didn't run and hide when the heat got turned up like you did jackson. #SlimeBallWeaselTacticsBackfiredEh
 
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I read this thread days ago so I don't remember if this was already stated but...

I see little difference between what Epik and other domain marketplaces do and what Amazon and Ebay do. You are a marketplace like any other marketplace, except you deal strictly in domain names.
  • Seller posts product,
  • buyer buys product and pays the marketplace.
  • Seller delivers product
  • marketplace pays seller.
However, domain marketplaces require the product to be delivered to buyer before any money is dispersed from that sale to the seller. This is where it differs from the Amazon/Ebay model. As such, it would be wise for any domain marketplace to never use the word "escrow". By not using that word, you are not claiming to be an escrow service but merely a marketplace offering "safe buying/selling" solutions for domain buyers and sellers, just like Amazon/Ebay.

I don't know about ebay, but on Amazon, for a seller to get paid for a transaction, Amazon requires the seller to mark the transaction as shipped with tracking #. Whether or not the item is actually delivered, the seller can still get paid for the transaction. Amazon pays monthly, biweekly, weekly (depending on your status and volume as a seller). they do not pay immediately. BUT if the item is not delivered, customer will complain, Amazon then takes the money from the seller's account. And if you do not have funds in your account, Amazon requires you to have a cred/debit card on file and they will take the money from that card account in the case where sellers has no funds in their account. And if for some reason the credit/debit card does not work or has insufficient funds, then your seller account is suspended until you can provide a payment method that works.

So is Amazon operating as an escrow service? No, and they never claimed to be.

In the end, as long as a domain marketplace does not explicitly claim they are an escrow service, only a marketplace with "safe" transactions, there really is no way one can claim you are operating an escrow service outside the bounds of the laws because marketplace of all types operate the same way. You are merely a marketplace who offers certain features to make the buying and selling process easy and safe.

Escrow.com chooses to offer it's "escrow service" to domain buyers/sellers, but that does not mean that any marketplace who oversees the buying/selling of domains is operating as an escrow service...UNLESS they explicit call it an "escrow service".
 
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Escrow.com lost my respect over the CQD dot com scandal. And all those peeps had to take selfies with their DL's or passports(n)
Epik has much better customer service.
Rob didn't run and hide when the heat got turned up like you did jackson. #SlimeBallWeaselTacticsBackfiredEh
Agreed...On that CQD scandal, it's amazing that the victim can't get a response from Escrow.com, yet there was hours of correspondence on this thread accusing EpiK of not being licensed. Compound that time with complaint letters to government agencies and that would equate to alot of wasted resources. Resources that should be used for customers and innovation. Again, the victim of the CQD scandal is still waiting for a response.

This is an example of one company (Escrow.com) ignoring innovation and customers, while the other (EpiK) is focused on customers and innovation.

Competition in business can be healthy, unfortunately when a company tirelessly tries to hurt the competition, it hurts innovation. Innovation is good. Fortunately Epik is sound and can overcome these obstacles with ease. Although, the attempt to hurt remains very unfortunate for all.
 
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I hate seeing this, trying to impede compeition is never good for anybody. I think Epik being a registrar is well within it's rights of how they are transacting domains within their registry. If Escrow wants to use the same method, they should buy, or create their own registrar. Everyone should take notice here, as it affects everyone here. It is hard enough getting a buyer to hand over their entire life ID to do a single one off transaction to a company they have never heard of, I can't see how much further they want to push this.
 
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As such, it would be wise for any domain marketplace to never use the word "escrow". By not using that word, you are not claiming to be an escrow service but merely a marketplace offering "safe buying/selling" solutions for domain buyers and sellers, just like Amazon/Ebay.

That's a good idea. Like these online "Auctions" should change their name to "digital sale" or some other name because on a few domain platforms as I have pointed out are NOT AUCTIONS. They even state that in their TOS. Not Absolute English Auctions, not licensed locally, etc. They allow the asset to be renewed at last minute- so violate industry standard rules.
 
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Agreed...On that CQD scandal, it's amazing that the victim can't get a response from Escrow.com, yet there was hours of correspondence on this thread accusing EpiK of not being licensed. Compound that time with complaint letters to government agencies and that would equate to alot of wasted resources. Resources that should be used for customers and innovation. Again, the victim of the CQD scandal is still waiting for a response.

This is an example of one company (Escrow.com) ignoring innovation and customers, while the other (EpiK) is focused on customers and innovation.

Competition in business can be healthy, unfortunately when a company tirelessly tries to hurt the competition, it hurts innovation. Innovation is good. Fortunately Epik is sound and can overcome these obstacles with ease. Although, the attempt to hurt remains very unfortunate for all.

Some secular (and seasonal) wisdom might apply here:

“Don’t complain about the snow on your neighbor’s roof when your own doorstep is unclean.”

― confucius

As for CQD, we got involved with cleaning up the Gab.com escrow transaction. That was actually a success story and I had no problem working with Brian Tharp at Escrow.com on that one. If we can help on CQD, happy to do so and without fee. The industry does not need messy doorsteps, nor pissing matches.
 
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This one is an enough reason to not make any business with escrow.com ever again.

I am at least a second one who has not and will not either....
 
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I think we ALL should stop using escrow.com after this. A company that uses such competition methods cannot be trusted.
 
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Very good point about other registrars doing the exact same thing acting as an intermediary between buyer and seller and holding money. Somehow Escrow only thought it worth their time to go after one registrar. Very telling.

They are just pissed people will go just about anywhere else to conduct a transaction rather than deal with them.

They took all the joy out of my very first four figure sale back in 2017 by not paying me for 13 days. I only got paid because I complained here and Jackson personally handled it when I made it public.

I am a US citizen , I preverified to the max and I promptly pushed the domain. There is something very off with the whole payout process there and unnecessary and unexplained delays. They don’t seem to have great communication with the bank they use.

I am sure the big guys transactions get handled better but my experiences have been awful.
 
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Escrow


Thanks Haris.

In the last 30 days, we have been responding to interrogatories from 4 state agencies. This is all courtesy of some self-serving correspondence from Mr. Elsegood at Escrow.com whose full correspondence we have.

Hopefully they won't try to try you for war crimes next. Industry does not need this.

But what's most important here? Does this service solves a problem and makes atleast one aspect of domaining easier? Yes, it does. Helping a domain buyer and seller transact with minimum risk.
 
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Seems to me what Escrow.com took issue with was Epik recently starting advertising their service expressis verbis as escrow. That's what broke the proverbial camel's back, prompting them to take action to defend their turf. Far from condoning Escrow.com's tactics, I understand where they are coming from. They are licenced as an Escrow Agent, said license terms making them vet clients like banks do, driving up costs and even long time clients abandoning them in droves in favor of far more user friendly competition like Epik. Looks like they finally saw the writing on the wall and have no options left, but to fight this tooth and nail.
 
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Seems to me what Escrow.com took issue with was Epik recently starting advertising their service expressis verbis as escrow. That's what broke the proverbial camel's back, prompting them to take action to defend their turf. Far from condoning Escrow.com's tactics, I understand where they are coming from. They are licenced as an Escrow Agent, said license terms making them vet clients like banks do, driving up costs and even long time clients abandoning them in droves in favor of far more user friendly competition like Epik. Looks like they finally saw the writing on the wall and have no options left, but to fight this tooth and nail.

If that is indeed their problem then they need to take it up with every other registrar that does the same. I just sold a domain via GD. They held the buyer funds until they buyer received the domain. How many others do that for us? Please. This sounds a bit more than what it looks like on the surface.

Secondly, I take issue to having to send my personal documents (PII) over the Internet to people I do not know, whom I barely trust, whom have given me (and others apparently from things I've read) very good reason to flat out not trust, all in the name of "verification"? Companies get hacked, people can be compromised. Anyone who gets a hold of that "selfie" of me standing there holding my credit card and whatever else they are asking for can impersonate me the same way I am trying to get verification. So its 100% not safe, IMHO. Bottom line, my bank did the same exact verification. They have documentation on me for EACH account that I open. I opened a new business account a few weeks ago. It did not matter how long I have been a customer there, I had to provide ALL required documentation AGAIN.. It even happens to be the same bank as the one the escrow people use to hold monies in. So if my bank is satisfied with its verification then it should be good enough for anyone depositing money into an account there. I will steer clear of having to send my PII to anyone over the Internet. It already makes me cringe that I have to show as much as I have to these days. We're losing more and more of our freedoms and rights each and every day, and yet they still cant stop crime. Criminals will always find a way around a block (like verification) but good folks - all it does is slow them down and piss them off more and more. Go figure. Again, IMHO.
 
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If that is indeed their problem then they need to take it up with every other registrar that does the same. I just sold a domain via GD. They held the buyer funds until they buyer received the domain. How many others do that for us? Please. This sounds a bit more than what it looks like on the surface.

Secondly, I take issue to having to send my personal documents (PII) over the Internet to people I do not know, whom I barely trust, whom have given me (and others apparently from things I've read) very good reason to flat out not trust, all in the name of "verification"? Companies get hacked, people can be compromised. Anyone who gets a hold of that "selfie" of me standing there holding my credit card and whatever else they are asking for can impersonate me the same way I am trying to get verification. So its 100% not safe, IMHO. Bottom line, my bank did the same exact verification. They have documentation on me for EACH account that I open. I opened a new business account a few weeks ago. It did not matter how long I have been a customer there, I had to provide ALL required documentation AGAIN.. It even happens to be the same bank as the one the escrow people use to hold monies in. So if my bank is satisfied with its verification then it should be good enough for anyone depositing money into an account there. I will steer clear of having to send my PII to anyone over the Internet. It already makes me cringe that I have to show as much as I have to these days. We're losing more and more of our freedoms and rights each and every day, and yet they still cant stop crime. Criminals will always find a way around a block (like verification) but good folks - all it does is slow them down and piss them off more and more. Go figure. Again, IMHO.
Agree wholehartedly with your sentiments. Except... you're directing them at the wrong people. Sure, Escrow.com could and should do better, customer relations wise. The verification issues you take issue with, however, stem from US government regulations, that institutions like banks and other licenced actors in the financial services industry are required to follow. To the letter. Failing that, they are subject to very steep penalties. Unsurprisingly, they prefer to err on the side of caution, covering their own asses first, their customers' interests, together with their sanity, common sense, falling prey to this.
 
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Seems to me what Escrow.com took issue with was Epik recently starting advertising their service expressis verbis as escrow. That's what broke the proverbial camel's back, prompting them to take action to defend their turf. Far from condoning Escrow.com's tactics, I understand where they are coming from. They are licenced as an Escrow Agent, said license terms making them vet clients like banks do, driving up costs and even long time clients abandoning them in droves in favor of far more user friendly competition like Epik. Looks like they finally saw the writing on the wall and have no options left, but to fight this tooth and nail.

Screw the camel. Fight what tooth and nail? One registrar? Let them take on GoDaddy and all other registrars doing the exact same thing if they are serious. Otherwise it’s just a very obvious vendetta.

Their real problem isn’t the registrars. The problem is their service sucks and the registrars and Undeveloped are getting the business because they provide a similar service much better. Maybe they should clean their own house instead of going after the competition.

If anything, this kind of behavior makes domainers want to use them even less. That and other things that have chipped away at credibility like how stolen domain issues were handled.

A license doesn’t mean much if the service isn’t stellar if things go right and if things go wrong.
 
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Agree wholehartedly with your sentiments. Except... you're directing them at the wrong people. Sure, Escrow.com could and should do better, customer relations wise. The verification issues you take issue with, however, stem from US government regulations, that institutions like banks and other licenced actors in the financial services industry are required to follow. To the letter. Failing that, they are subject to very steep penalties. Unsurprisingly, they prefer to err on the side of caution, covering their own asses first, their customers' interests, together with their sanity, common sense, falling prey to this.

I totally agree with that and to that point, escrow.com should consult with the US the government as to why they've lost at least one customer. That level of stupidity ("and other licensed actors...") can only be created by a government. :) The buck stops at the bank where the funds are deposited, that is where the vetting needs to be done. They're (US Govt) just created different problems when they demand small-time folks collect PII and are not in the business of holding such information. I could go on and on but for fear of going waaay off topic I shall cease here. :)
 
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There is no doubt epik is the best escrow service in the business. Although recently we lost a $25k sale, due to a super stubborn buyer insisting on escrow.com (which I wouldn’t touch with a ten foot poll, based on the way their sense has gone down the drain). On the other hand, just closed a $50k sale and Rob closed this sale in 2 days ... now pending disbursement ACH , I have already moved a thousand of our domains to Epik.
 
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There is no doubt epik is the best escrow service in the business. Although recently we lost a $25k sale, due to a super stubborn buyer insisting on escrow.com (which I wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole, based on the way their sense has gone down the drain). On the other hand, just closed a $50k sale and Rob closed this sale in 2 days ... now pending disbursement ACH , I have already moved a thousand of our domains to Epik.

Congrats on your sale -- I see your proceeds went out via no-fee ACH earlier today. Sometimes old habits do die hard, but in the long run "faster, cheaper, better" wins almost every time.
 
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There is no doubt epik is the best escrow service in the business. Although recently we lost a $25k sale, due to a super stubborn buyer insisting on escrow.com (which I wouldn’t touch with a ten foot poll, based on the way their sense has gone down the drain). On the other hand, just closed a $50k sale and Rob closed this sale in 2 days ... now pending disbursement ACH , I have already moved a thousand of our domains to Epik.

So the deal was done and you walked away from the $25,000 over @Escrow.com ? No other way to get the deal done, lawyer and a bank?
 
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I read this thread days ago so I don't remember if this was already stated but...

I see little difference between what Epik and other domain marketplaces do and what Amazon and Ebay do. You are a marketplace like any other marketplace, except you deal strictly in domain names.
  • Seller posts product,
  • buyer buys product and pays the marketplace.
  • Seller delivers product
  • marketplace pays seller.
However, domain marketplaces require the product to be delivered to buyer before any money is dispersed from that sale to the seller. This is where it differs from the Amazon/Ebay model. As such, it would be wise for any domain marketplace to never use the word "escrow". By not using that word, you are not claiming to be an escrow service but merely a marketplace offering "safe buying/selling" solutions for domain buyers and sellers, just like Amazon/Ebay.

I don't know about ebay, but on Amazon, for a seller to get paid for a transaction, Amazon requires the seller to mark the transaction as shipped with tracking #. Whether or not the item is actually delivered, the seller can still get paid for the transaction. Amazon pays monthly, biweekly, weekly (depending on your status and volume as a seller). they do not pay immediately. BUT if the item is not delivered, customer will complain, Amazon then takes the money from the seller's account. And if you do not have funds in your account, Amazon requires you to have a cred/debit card on file and they will take the money from that card account in the case where sellers has no funds in their account. And if for some reason the credit/debit card does not work or has insufficient funds, then your seller account is suspended until you can provide a payment method that works.

So is Amazon operating as an escrow service? No, and they never claimed to be.

In the end, as long as a domain marketplace does not explicitly claim they are an escrow service, only a marketplace with "safe" transactions, there really is no way one can claim you are operating an escrow service outside the bounds of the laws because marketplace of all types operate the same way. You are merely a marketplace who offers certain features to make the buying and selling process easy and safe.

Escrow.com chooses to offer it's "escrow service" to domain buyers/sellers, but that does not mean that any marketplace who oversees the buying/selling of domains is operating as an escrow service...UNLESS they explicit call it an "escrow service".

Well I see this as an excellent representation, @Rob Monster will this be the way to promote the service going forward and avoid the word "escrow"? That way no one can detract from the service offering.

I also want to ask Rob do you think eventually registrars will have to have the same ID info retention needed like Escrow.com? I am wondering if eventually lawmakers just see all the money flowing back and forth and decide to impose the same regulations?

Thank you
 
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