The Best Escrow for Euro Transactions

donnacha · Jul 10, 2017

Following the collapse in the standard of service provided by Escrow.com, I would like to make a list of established, reliable domain escrow services who can handle transactions in Euros and who provide the option of submitting funds via SEPA, the free European bank transfer system. I would greatly appreciate hearing about the experiences that members here have had with such companies.

Why I’m doing this:

A domain buyer in Australia recently approached me about buying a domain and we agreed a price in Euros. Now they have decided they want to use an escrow service, for which they will pay the fees. Their lawyers have suggested Escrow.com, because it is well known and they also like the fact that it is now an Australian company, having been bought by Freelancer.com back in 2015.

I used Escrow.com quite a few times in the past but, in recent years, most of my sales have been simple bank transfers. I don’t market my domains or place them on sale, any sales stem from the buyer approaching me, so, they are usually happy enough to just do a bank transfer and receive the domain, but this buyer is a startup and unfamiliar with the domain market.

It is not a big transaction, but I sympathize with their worry about sending money off into the ether, so, when they suggested getting some sort of formal legal agreement drawn up, I reluctantly suggested using escrow instead, and it turned out that their lawyer suggested the same thing.

What I did not know when I suggested Escrow.com is that their service has collapsed into chaos in the two years since their sale to Freelancer.com. I did not realize that until I googled them last night, trying to figure out what was wrong with their website, and found all the forum complaints, here and elsewhere.

The most immediate problem is that it no longer seems possible to create an Escrow.com transaction in Euros, despite mentions of Euro and USD transactions being sprinkled all over their website, and specifically described in their support documents:

escrow.com/support/faqs/what-currencies-does-escrowcom-support

(I suspect what has happened is that their new management has been unable to set up the systems necessary to continue offering a Euro-denominated service, and have been too disorganized to update their website to reflect that. This would gel with the high number of bad customer experiences reported over the past two years, and the poor reputation that their parent company, Freelancer.com, has long had).

So, if our Australian dollar to Euro transaction must now become an Australian dollar to USD to Euro transaction, it will substantially increase the buyer’s cost. From the amount in an initial Escrow.com transaction they created but then canceled, I suspect the buyer doesn’t realize the extent of the difference between the interbank rates you see when you do a currency conversion on Google, and the far worse retail rates applied by the banks. A 3-currency trip, along with ridiculous American banking charges, is undoubtedly going to take quite a bite out of their wallet and make it almost impossible for them to accurately hit the EUR amount we have agreed.

We need an escrow service that allows transactions in Euros and provides European bank details (SEPA). That would allow the buyer to submit exactly the right amount of Australian dollars to the Australian bank of a currency exchange service such as Transferwise, who would then output Euros from their German bank to the Escrow service who would then, once they had confirmed the domain transfer, pay my European bank account.

So, a good escrow service that can handle Euro-denominated transactions would be very handy, not just for this transaction but any future ones I might do. Like most people who occasionally buy and sell domains, I am not against the idea of escrow in principle, I am just wary of getting tangled up with systems that are badly managed, and that seems to be a problem even when these guys are getting paid hundreds or thousands in fees for what should be relatively straightforward transactions, really just a few minutes work.

Please help me to build up this list, so that we can all find better escrow options for Euro domain sales, I will get the ball rolling with two I have not yet used but which have a good reputation:

Transpact.com

[Sorry, as a new member I am not allowed to post a screenshot of the Transpact website]

- UK company, regulated, operating since 2010

- Europe's biggest escrow service

- Sale agreement specifically ties into EU consumer protection laws, giving the buyer additional safety.

- Allows transactions in Euros, US dollars and British pounds

- No percentage and a very low flat fee, €6.98 for a transaction of up to €15,000

- They accept EUR funds via the free SEPA transfer system, so, ideal for submitting funds from outside Europe via onllne currency exchange services such as Transferwise

- Clever system: That low upfront fee is all you pay if transfer goes as planned but, if there is a dispute, the buyer and seller pay an refundable £20 for an arbitration decision. That happens very rarely, because there is zero incentive for bogus sellers or buyers to enter into the agreement in the first place.

- Website not as glossy as some escrow services, so, inexperienced buyers may be put off

- Searching online, Transpact have good reviews, suggesting competence and a helpful attitude.

Conclusion: I have not yet used Transpact but they appear to offer precisely the sort of simple, straightforward experience that any escrow company should, and at a very reasonable cost. I will suggest this service to any future buyers with whom I have good communication.

DN.com

[Sorry, as a new member I am not allowed to post a screenshot of the DN.com website]

- Owned by 4.cn, China's largest domain trading platform

- Relatively new, but that is a highly credible owner

- Allows transactions in Euros, US dollars and Chinese Renminbi

- 2% up to €4000 (minimum €20), + 0.5% for anything between €4,000 and €20,000

- … so, €15,000 would be €80 (for the first €4,000) + €55 for the next €11,000, TOTAL FEE €135

- 0.8% for €20,000 and up … so, €20,000 would be €160

- Glossy website, clear product offering. Some Western buyers might still be put off by the China connection, but the rest of the world is more aware of Chinese giants such as Alibaba.

- Searching online, they have good reviews, seem to be doing a good job

Conclusion: US escrow companies, through a mixture of managerial incompetence, red tape and an archaic banking system, are unable to effectively serve the rest of world. China is the most active domain market right now, and DN.com are clearly leveraging that scale to offer a highly competitive service. This is certainly the service I would suggest to Asian buyers and even any Western Buyers who feel they need something glossier than Transpact.

comati · Jul 10, 2017

donnacha said:
as a new member ...
Joined: Aug 18, 2003
Posts: 7

donnacha · Jul 10, 2017

Yeah, I know, 14 years as a new member

I've written to the mods, asking for that restriction to be lifted, because I really wanted to include some screenshots, if only to break up the post a bit, make it more visually engaging, but they might well say that I simply haven't been active enough, regardless of how many years I've been lurking around.

P.S. Nice photo. I miss that guy.

donnacha · Jul 11, 2017

Just a quick update.

I now have it on good authority that Escrow.com will be re-introducing Euro transactions very soon, and that the current hiatus was part of an overall restructuring of their banking backend, which positions them to have a better service. This is already paying off in the form of cutting the cost of wire disbursements in half, making ACH payments for US customers free and, they say, faster than ever payment processing.

I warmly welcome this news. Clearly, as many threads on this forum and elsewhere attest, the service has real problems, and that is to be expected when any organization undergoes such a major transition, but if they can balance the ship, and then move forward with new improvements, a better Escrow.com will once again be a significant tool for anyone selling domains. For cautious customers, unfamiliar with the domain industry, the mere existence of Escrow.com, with that perfect domain name, is a reassurance that will make sales happen that might otherwise not.

For me, an unexpected benefit of having had to go elsewhere for my current transaction, is that I am now also familiar with some alternatives, and I am finding Transpact good so far. Going forward, there will be some situations in which they will be the best option but other situations, in particular with American buyers, in which Escrow.com will be option that seals the deal.

donnacha · Jul 11, 2017

In fact, looking at Escrow.com again now, it appears that Euro transactions have been reintroduced to general availability, great news!

One Escrow.com feature I particularly like is the ability to create buttons. I would like to see them leverage their credibility advantage, discussed above, by creating an attractive set of Escrow.com buttons and other marketing assets that I could integrate into each domain's landing page. I envisage a situation in which Escrow.com would be an option which the buyer can select if they are happy to pay the associated cost. I believe any seller would be happy to provide that option if the assets look good on the page.

Argentum · Jul 11, 2017

Escrow.com sucks nowadays, especially after they started to ask additional personal docs.

ulasbbtr · Jul 11, 2017

Use escrow service of Sedo. They take %3 of the sale price.
https://sedo.com/us/services/domain-transfer-service/

Argentum · Jul 11, 2017

ulasbbtr said:
Use escrow service of Sedo. They take %3 of the sale price.
https://sedo.com/us/services/domain-transfer-service/

Thats what im doing now after more than 10 years of using Escrow.com

donnacha · Jul 11, 2017

@ulasbbtr and @Domain-Reseller, what do you consider to be the advantages of SEDO, as opposed to Transpact or DV.com?

Do you feel that the extra cost of SEDO is justified because buyers react well to it, in the same way that they seem to react well to the suggestion of Escrow.com.

I have used SEDO for a few external escrow transactions in the past, I found the service okay, a little hard to contact them sometimes, but fine.

donnacha · Jul 11, 2017

Domain-Reseller said:
Escrow.com sucks nowadays, especially after they started to ask additional personal docs.

It would be useful to build up another listing, outlining the documents that each escrow company now requires, and how long they take to process them.

As far as I can tell, even if based in different jurisdictions, they are all subject to more-or-less the same type of laws, but some do seem to make it more difficult for their customers.

I reckon any serious domainer should plan ahead and establish his account with several services, in case a buyer has a strong preference for a particular one. Just gather your documents and do them all at once.

ulasbbtr · Jul 11, 2017

donnacha said:
@ulasbbtr and @Domain-Reseller, what do you consider to be the advantages of SEDO, as opposed to Transpact or DV.com?

Do you feel that the extra cost of SEDO is justified because buyers react well to it, in the same way that they seem to react well to the suggestion of Escrow.com.

I have used SEDO for a few external escrow transactions in the past, I found the service okay, a little hard to contact them sometimes, but fine.

Some escrow services can't understand the process of domain transfers or other intangible goods. So check Transpact about that issue. DV has close commission to Sedo. Sedo is a German company, good in domain transactions and their currency exchange (at least for USD to EUR) is fair.

donnacha · Jul 12, 2017

ulasbbtr said:
Sedo is a German company, good in domain transactions and their currency exchange (at least for USD to EUR) is fair.

That's an interesting point about currency exchange. If I'm not mistaken, all escrow services that offer transactions in multiple currencies have a banking gateway in the native region of each of those currencies, so, buyers from anywhere, even with minor currencies, can use whichever online currency exchange service offers the best rate from their currency to the transaction currency, and have that exchange service output the converted money directly to the escrow company.

In my experience, the online exchange services give a far better rate than the banks, it would be interesting to find out if Sedo are using something like that, and if they openly publish their rates.

ulasbbtr said:
DV has close commission to Sedo.

They are not so close but, of course, a few extra dollars does not matter so much, escrow is all about making the sale happen, I don't mind paying more if it makes the buyer feel more comfortable. Just for information, however, here is the difference between DN and Sedo prices:

Both Sedo and DN have a minimum charge of $25, but Sedo also has a payment processing fee of $5 if you pay from a US bank account, $20 if you pay by wire (this is a payment for sending money TO Sedo, not the disbursement fee for getting your money out).

Up to $5,000, DN is 2%, Sedo is 3.25% + payment fee.

For a $1200 transaction, DN costs $25, Sedo costs $39 + payment fee

For a $5000 transaction, DN is $100, Sedo is $162.50 + payment fee

Between $5000 an $25,000, DN is 0.5%, Sedo is 0.26%, so, DN start to lose their advantage but remain ahead all the way to $25,000:

For a $25,000 transaction, DN is $200, Sedo is $214.50 + payment fee

Anything over $25,000, DN is 0.8%, Sedo is 0.89% + payment fee

ulasbbtr said:
Some escrow services can't understand the process of domain transfers or other intangible goods. So check Transpact about that issue.

Actually, domains are among the simplest subjects for escrow, in the sense that checking the WHOIS register is simpler than searching vehicle ownership records or tracking deliveries. Yes, there can be complications, but the range is limited, mainly relating to registrar holds, and that would be fairly rare. The main problems would relate to understanding the transfer process and, generally, at least one side, usually the seller, will have a good grasp of that.

Transpact works a little differently from most escrow companies, but I think it actually makes more sense for domains. The money is released as soon as the seller indicates that he is happy. In one of my most recent Escrow.com transactions, the Chinese buyer confirmed to them that she was happy as soon as she got the domain but, for some unknown reason, Escrow.com did nothing for over a week.

By the time they got around to looking at the transaction, the buyer, presuming that everyone was happy, had switched the domain to WHOIS privacy and Escrow.com were now unable to confirm who had ownership of the domain. Given that she had already indicated, more than a week before, that she was happy, and given that they had dragged their feet about checking, you would imagine they would just accept that the transfer had occurred.

I mean, I had been staring at her name on the WHOIS listing all week, and repeatedly messaging Escrow.com, asking what the hold up was, they could have looked at the WHOIS at any time that week but, no, they would accept no responsibility for their tardiness and insisted that I contact her, get her to remove the WHOIS privacy.

By this time, it was the Chinese new year and, like most Chinese working in the cities, she had disappeared for several weeks to spend time with her family in rural China, with no Internet access, so, the whole thing was delayed even more. It was frustrating, and she was quite upset, upon returning from her vacation, to find all my emails. It wasn't her fault, but she felt bad about it, and angry with Escrow.com.

I knew that I would get my money eventually, but what annoyed me that it was all so unnecessary, so sloppy: if you are going to insist upon ridiculous rules such as checking the WHOIS, when the buyer has already indicated that the transfer went through and that they consider the transaction a success, you at least have an obligation to perform that 10-second WHOS check promptly, as soon as both the buyer and the seller are messaging, telling you that the transfer has completed.

When you see things like that, staff unnecessarily delaying the completion of a transaction, making the anxious seller wait more than an extra week because they cannot be bothered to spend the minute it would take to wrap it up and release the money, you know that the culture is broken, you know that they don't give a damn about repeat customers.

Hopefully, that is one of the things that Escrow.com are now fixing but, for me, it illustrates that a simpler process, such as the one offered by Transpact, could be much better for domains. When my Transpact transaction completes, I will post a report in this forum about my experience.

ezee · Jul 12, 2017

You can also try Payoneer.com @Brandon Abbey is with them and he was very helpful in assisting me setup their gateway on my efty Account ,they very organized

https://www.payoneer.com/fees/

donnacha · Jul 12, 2017

NADAMS said:
You can also try Payoneer.com @Brandon Abbey is with them and he was very helpful in assisting me setup their gateway on my efty Account ,they very organized

Payoneer is, indeed, cheaper for lower value USD transactions, and their minimum charge is only $10, but Transpact becomes cheaper for any transaction above $3,313, DN.com becomes cheaper at $10,000 and Escrow.com becomes cheaper at $16,825.

Unfortunately, all of that is irrelevant to this thread. Payoneer Escrow don't offer EUR transactions, they cannot be considered a serious player as they are limited to just one currency.

donnacha · Jul 12, 2017

donnacha said:
Payoneer is, indeed, cheaper for lower value USD transactions, and their minimum charge is only $10, but Transpact becomes cheaper for any transaction above $3,313, DN.com becomes cheaper at $10,000 and Escrow.com becomes cheaper at $16,825

My apologies, I have been asked to make the above clearer.

Of these 4 services, Payoneer is the cheapest option, for US transactions only, up to the amount of $3,313, at which point Transpact becomes and remains the cheapest option all the way up to a billion dollars.

When I said "DN.com becomes cheaper at $10,000" and "Escrow.com becomes cheaper at $16,825", I meant that those are the points at which Payoneer becomes more expensive than DN.com and Escrow.com respectively, but Transpact remains radically cheaper than all three competitors:

At $3,313
Payoneer: $49.70
DN.com: $66.26
Escrow.com: $107.67
Transpact: $49.70

At $10,000
Payoneer: $125
DN.com: $125
Escrow.com: $175.50
Transpact: $49.70

At $16,825
Payoneer: $193.25
DN.com: $159.13
Escrow.com: $193.25
Transpact: $49.70

... unlike the other services, Transpact do not demand a percentage of your sales, so, they remain at:

$49.70 all the way up to $20,000
$79.14 all the way to $49,999.99
$132.41 all the way up to $149,999.99

At $149,999.99
Payoneer: $1,275
DN.com: $1,199.99
Escrow.com: $1,335
Transpact: $132.41

The Transpact advantage then falls back quite a bit at $150,000 but they just about manage to remain the cheapest:

At $150,000
Payoneer: $1,275
DN.com: $1,200
Escrow.com: $1,335
Transpact: $1,132.41

... and they then remain at $1,132.41 all the way up to $1,000,000,000

At $1,000,000,000
Payoneer: $3,502,900
DN.com: $8,000,000
Escrow.com: $8,900,000
Transpact: $1,132.41

If you sell a domain for a billion dollars, you should probably also send Transpact a box of chocolates.

zurc.net · Jul 18, 2017

Escrow.com - definitely one of the top tier escrow companies for domainers. I've always used them over the years, but I've noticed their customer service has been poor as of late. Either never there when they say they will be or just completely lacking any information / personality.

Epik.com - fees seem attractive till you get down to the "We only pay in MagicBucks" thing and then after all the conversions/hassle... you are not really saving much...

Sedo Escrow - still one of the top tier escrows, especially if you have your names parked there, but I still find myself going back to Escrow.com

Payoneer Escrow - a bit cheaper, but still new and some hoops, but good. Their regular payment service is kind of poor and confusing.

DN.com - low fees may seem attractive till you take into account all the *hidden* fees when you are a seller/buyer from the US.

Over all, if I had to choose it would have to be Escrow.com, even with their poor customer service or Sedo Escrow, sorry, could of been more detailed, but I think this will suffice. Seeing as you are in Europe, this may differ for you.

Brandon Abbey · Jul 21, 2017

Payoneer Escrow has added support for transactions in GBP and Euro.

zeff · Jul 27, 2017

First of all thanks to @Donnatcha for opening this discussion. I was looking for escrow services and was stuck with escrow, payoneer and sedo.

I didn't know DN.com and transpact.com. These are good alternatives to the 3 ones. I also heard about escrow.domain but it is only for US transactions i think.

The one that matches the most to what i am looking for is DN.com. Firstly because fees are quite reasonable and clearly explained. Secondly because it offers a domain transfer assistance with its premium service. Thirdly because it offers the possibility that a broker takes part of the transaction process and gets its part.

Brandon Abbey · Jul 27, 2017

Hi Zeff,
As I have said for years. Make sure whoever you use for your escrows is licensed to do business in your jurisdiction. Check the fine print, there is one escrow company that is run by an Indian Tribe and their transactions are subject to their laws. Disputes are settled by the Chief. Best regards,
Brandon

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