Escrow.com handles a much larger volume of transactions than the other smaller payment providers.
Some issues are going to happen.
It is similar to why GoDaddy seems like they have a lot of issues. With more market share, you will see more issues.
I understand what you're saying there .. and to some degree you need to take some of the complaints with a grain of slat for that reason. But at the same time you expect silly little oversights and loopholes like this one to have been closed YEARS ago.
That being said, although I've done a few transactions with Escrow.com, I'm not an expert, and being in Canada, I haven't really had any issues. BUT .. I am an expert when it comes to GoDaddy, and their bugs/glitches and loopholes are just off the scale ridiculously bad.
In the end though, "reputation" and going with a "recognisable registrar" (essentially GoDaddy) is pretty much the only reason to go with Escrow.com these days for instant sales. With
@Rob Monster's Epik offering NamePros members the possibility of virtually free escrow services it's not about promoting them, they (or any other registrar that offers the same deal) are simply the better choice because they are a registrar and have the ability to exchange the money and domain at the same time and thus actually nullify the need for traditional escrow.
In fact, it's the loophole where if you don't use Escrow.com concierge service and a buyer goes dark after receiving their domain that makes using a registrar instant money<>domain transfer actually MORE secure then a non-registrar escrow like Escrow.com.
That's not to say Escrow doesn't try to go the extra mile to fix such issues (in my few instances needing help at Escrow.com I've always had great service) .. but if they held the domain as a registrar, then it couldn't be a problem to begin with.
In the end it's great that we have more and more options and tools available to us. In most cases if you've had a few interactions with your buyer, you probably already have a feel what route to push to close the sale. I generally give my buyers a few options depending on where the domain is hosted. If they seem price conscious then I'll suggest Epik .. or if they seem they they are rigid and likely have an existing protocol, then I'll still mention Epik, but communicate as if the assumption is they will choose Escrow.com.
That being said, at this point because of the need for the buyer to manually confirm the receipt of the domain transfer, I'll only use Escrow.com if the buyer also pays the concierge service .. which is exactly double their usual fees and can add up quickly for the buyer.
Here's a fun bit of information, one of my higher 4-figure sales this year was a domain at Epik. I offered the buyer to go through Epik, but they wanted to go through Escrow.com. I agreed but only with concierge service so my side would be guaranteed after payment. After that I simply transfered the domain to Escrow's concierge account at Epik .. lol. The buyer paid all those fees for pretty much nothing and got the domain later and more expensive than they otherwise would have if they would have gone through Epik. On top of that, it was probably the most amazing sale of 2019, not because of the amount, but because of the specific domain and buyer and the negotiations!