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Cancellation of a transaction after a payment secured by Escrow.com

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BigTree

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Most of my transactions I always done through diffrent auction platforms.

But recently I have been using Escrow.com more often and because of that i took a closer look at their policy.
One thing which little bothers me is a statement regarding cancelations.

"After funds are secured, the cancellation of a transaction can only be done by Escrow.com after notifying both parties."

It seems to me that even after funds are secured by Escrow.com a transaction still can be cancelled (a buyer needs to just come up with a right reason why he wants to do that, or maybe he just simply doesn't accept a domain push....)

From other auction platforms I know thing like this is not possible. A domain buyer automatically enters into a legally binding contract to purchase the domain from the seller if his bid is accepted by the seller or he bought the domain in BIN form - none of them can be cancelled.


Can anyone share his experience with Escrow.com related to this matter, please?
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
To date I had 1 transaction where the funds were secured by Escrow.com and buyer wanted the domain at his preferred registrar and domain was under 60 days lock due to which I was unable to transfer and buyer asked for refund which he got by escrow minus escrow fee.

After the lock was removed, I contacted buyer again but they were not interested in buying again. I offered to lower the price but had no success.
 
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It can be cancelled by both the buyer/seller BUT the fees have to paid regardless so if you have 100% fees by buyer even if the buyer has to cancel the transaction they'll have to pay the escrow fees. I don't think it is a legally binding contract at all.
 
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To date I had 1 transaction where the funds were secured by Escrow.com and buyer wanted the domain at his preferred registrar and domain was under 60 days lock due to which I was unable to transfer and buyer asked for refund which he got by escrow minus escrow fee.
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This is something that concerns me. My preferred method of selling or buying is by an instant push immediately following payment. This is really the only method within the 60 day lock period, and it provides the buyer with an easier life if he has bought the name to resell. Obviously there will be many times when a name needs to be transferred to another registrar, and, because of this, I believe that it is important to disclose and research the lock period before purchasing a name. Shouldn't the transfer restrictions ( if any ) be something that any escrow company should check before accepting payment?
 
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This is something that concerns me. My preferred method of selling or buying is by an instant push immediately following payment. This is really the only method within the 60 day lock period, and it provides the buyer with an easier life if he has bought the name to resell. Obviously there will be many times when a name needs to be transferred to another registrar, and, because of this, I believe that it is important to disclose and research the lock period before purchasing a name. Shouldn't the transfer restrictions ( if any ) be something that any escrow company should check before accepting payment?

I don't think it is or should be the responsibility of any escrow company to check the transfer lock/restriction before accepting payments as that's something what actually is the responsibility of seller to check and I admit it was my mistake for not confirming it before proceeding to next step.

It was several years back but lesson learned.
 
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I have had it happen before where both of us agreed to the sale, the buyer paid, Escrow.com secured the funds, and then the buyer changed his mind and wanted to back out. At this point Escrow.com only cancels it with approval of both parties. If that doesn't happen, it goes to arbitration.
 
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I have had it happen before where both of us agreed to the sale, the buyer paid, Escrow.com secured the funds, and then the buyer changed his mind and wanted to back out. At this point Escrow.com only cancels it with approval of both parties. If that doesn't happen, it goes to arbitration.

When my buyer had it canceled the transaction, so at that time with the approval of buyer, the transaction was canceled. Interesting to know now it requires approval of both parties.

Arbitration - exactly where?
 
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I have contacted Escrow.com today and one thing even more worry me after talking with them.

A person from Escrow.com told me that once the domain, I sold, is in the buyer`s registrar account he has the right not to accept it.

"If he rejected it, he would have to return the domain to the Seller in the same condition it was sent to them within 10 calendar days. "

I told her that if they allow to reject domains after they were delivered to buyers, many people can use this as a way to cancel transactions.

In my opinion is not different between people who buy our domains and later do not pay for them.
With Escrow.com those people need to just send money and later once the domains are in their account reject them. Later Escrow.com will return their money, probably minus their fee ( I do not think it will matter to domain sellers that Escrow will deduct fee from those "buyers")

I told Escrow.com representative that domain auction platforms do not allow to do that.
Her reply was following.

"Unfortunately, we are not a domain marketplace nor auctioneers. "



I really believe I have to think through if I should use Escrow.com again.
Probably I should take a look around and find a cheap, reliable escrow service.
Anyone knows if Sedo escrow service has the same ridiculous rules as Escrow.com?
 
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I have contacted Escrow.com today and one thing even more worry me after talking with them.

A person from Escrow.com told me that once the domain, I sold, is in the buyer`s registrar account he has the right not to accept it.

"If he rejected it, he would have to return the domain to the Seller in the same condition it was sent to them within 10 calendar days. "

I told her that if they allow to reject domains after they were delivered to buyers, many people can use this as a way to cancel transactions.

In my opinion is not different between people who buy our domains and later do not pay for them.
With Escrow.com those people need to just send money and later once the domains are in their account reject them. Later Escrow.com will return their money, probably minus their fee ( I do not think it will matter to domain sellers that Escrow will deduct fee from those "buyers")

I told Escrow.com representative that domain auction platforms do not allow to do that.
Her reply was following.

"Unfortunately, we are not a domain marketplace nor auctioneers. "



I really believe I have to think through if I should use Escrow.com again.
Probably I should take a look around and find a cheap, reliable escrow service.
Anyone knows if Sedo escrow service has the same ridiculous rules as Escrow.com?

You are getting paranoid for no reason. Before blaming the company, please read the FAQs.

"The Buyer's refund is processed only after the Seller confirms receipt and acceptance of the returned items in the same condition it was sent."

https://www.escrow.com/support/faqs/how-does-the-buyer-decline-or-reject-items-sent-by-the-seller
 
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It looks as if Escrow.com doesn't understand the domain name market. How can the name be returned in the same condition? Presumably it will have an extra 2 years added to the registration - who pays for that. Now lets be charitable and assume that the buyer just tasted the traffic for 5 days ( 5 days for transfer + 5 days of tasting), who knows what he put on the site for 5 days - will Escrow check this to verify that the name is undamaged?
 
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It looks as if Escrow.com doesn't understand the domain name market. How can the name be returned in the same condition? Presumably it will have an extra 2 years added to the registration - who pays for that. Now lets be charitable and assume that the buyer just tasted the traffic for 5 days ( 5 days for transfer + 5 days of tasting), who knows what he put on the site for 5 days - will Escrow check this to verify that the name is undamaged?

If a domain was misused during the inspection period the Seller would be entitled to dispute the return. In reality for a domain name transaction with no content the inspection period would normally be set at 1 day rather than 10 and misuse is rare.

Jackson
 
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In reality for a domain name transaction with no content the inspection period would normally be set at 1 day rather than 10 and misuse is rare.

Jackson

Maybe it would be set to 1 day but it is possible to set to 10 days.
It is more important what is possible rather than "would normally be".

If I buy a domain through Escrow.com and once it was transferred to my account can I reject it and later get the money back I paid (minus small Escrow.com fee)?

"If a domain was misused during the inspection period the Seller would be entitled to dispute the return"

There are many ways to misuse a domain during the inspection which will not be discover for a quite long time, at least until Escrow.com returns money to "the buyer"

With Escrow.com policy I see two main problems:
1 Domain can be misused
2 Buyers even if do not misuse domains, they can easily go away without paying for the domains (they just pay for them temporary and later reject them).
 
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The Chinese loved to screw with the inspection period in 2015 to try, and flip for higher, if not they would just deny the domain, and the transaction would be over.
 
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Maybe it would be set to 1 day but it is possible to set to 10 days.
It is more important what is possible rather than "would normally be".

If I buy a domain through Escrow.com and once it was transferred to my account can I reject it and later get the money back I paid (minus small Escrow.com fee)?

"If a domain was misused during the inspection period the Seller would be entitled to dispute the return"

There are many ways to misuse a domain during the inspection which will not be discover for a quite long time, at least until Escrow.com returns money to "the buyer"

With Escrow.com policy I see two main problems:
1 Domain can be misused
2 Buyers even if do not misuse domains, they can easily go away without paying for the domains (they just pay for them temporary and later reject them).

An inspection period is agreed between the buyer and seller so one simple way to deal with this is to insist on a short inspection period. The other would be to use the Domain Concierge service where Escrow.com handles the transfer of the domain to the buyer and you are paid out immediately.

Jackson
 
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