question Escrow or service for trading domain names?

Free escrow domain swap:

http://escrow.epik.com/

Just make sure both domains are at Epik and we'll do it gratis.

@Arfy can tell you about it if you need a reference.

Rob Monster said:

Free escrow domain swap:

http://escrow.epik.com/

Just make sure both domains are at Epik and we'll do it gratis.

@Arfy can tell you about it if you need a reference.

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Have you done many of those?

very interesting @Rob Monster , can you elaborate on how this works

equity78 said:

Have you done many of those?

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Yes, many. We do it for free because it usually means that 2 nice domains end up on Epik, and often down the road those names becomes sales or leases.

Also, as no money changed hands, we don't assign a value to the transaction but simply let the parties agree that equivalent value was exchanged.

.X. said:

very interesting @Rob Monster , can you elaborate on how this works

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It is a modified escrow transaction.

1. Both parties make sure they have their domains at Epik registrar.

2. One party initiates the swap request with cc to the other party.

3. We verify with the registered counter-party that they indeed desire to complete the swap.

4. We do a simultaneous swap of the domains between the 2 accounts with registrants notified.

If the domain swap becomes really popular, we'll create a dedicated workflow for it, similar to what we did for domain escrow:

https://escrow.epik.com/

These processes are being increasingly automated through each stage of the workflow so I expect that as it grows in popularity, it can still be free.

If folks would like it we could add a dedicated marketplace that invites domain swapping, as opposed to domain liquidating as folks do now on NameLiquidate.com.

Open to suggestions on how to productize it, but yes, we are happy to provide the service as trusted intermediary for free domains swaps.

The problem with all of these “free” epik escrow deals, such as the “free epik escrow for NP members” offer, is that to qualify, in trying to get the domain(s) to be sold and the buyer over to epik, you might end up losing the deal.

There are different analogies one could think of, but they’re all along the lines of throwing hurdles in front of your buyer in order to close the “free” deal.

I did discuss the Epik free escrow for NP members here at length, there are a series of buyer unfriendly hurdles to overcome, but if you may get past these, yes, it is free:
https://www.namepros.com/threads/if...-wasting-time-and-money.1119508/#post-7076570

In any case for this domain swap scenario, I believe the minimum escrow fee at escrow.com is $10. so you could just create I’d think a one dollar escrow and transfer the domain that way which at two people paying $8.50 to register the domain at epik (which, granted, would seem to extend the domain by two years), comes to about the same cost.

But, if both buyer and NP seller are willing to jump through the hurdles and land the domain(s) at epik and both create accounts at epik, the transaction costs are removed at epik.

xynames said:

The problem with all of these “free” epik escrow deals, such as the “free epik escrow for NP members” offer, is that to qualify, in trying to get the domain(s) to be sold and the buyer over to epik, you might end up losing the deal.

There are different analogies one could think of, but they’re all along the lines of throwing hurdles in front of your buyer in order to close the “free” deal.

I did discuss the Epik free escrow for NP members here at length, there are a series of buyer unfriendly hurdles to overcome, but if you may get past these, yes, it is free:
https://www.namepros.com/threads/if...-wasting-time-and-money.1119508/#post-7076570

In any case for this domain swap scenario, I believe the minimum escrow fee at escrow.com is $10. so you could just create I’d think a one dollar escrow and transfer the domain that way which at two people paying $8.50 to register the domain at epik (which, granted, would seem to extend the domain by two years), comes to about the same cost.

But, if both buyer and NP seller are willing to jump through the hurdles and land the domain(s) at epik and both create accounts at epik, the transaction costs are removed at epik.

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It is really not that much work.

Also, there is no 5-day wait to get your domain out of Epik as the dinosaur registrars are adopting. We also don't enforce 60-day transfer locks for domains that are more than 60 days old.

I really think the pro move is to Taste domains anywhere but hold at Epik. If our renewal-transfer cost for NP members is not the lowest in the industry, let @Sufyan Alani know.

For each his/her own, but the $7.99 .com transfer promo is there for a reason. It is our main promo and is continuous.

I see this as a very viable option to complete an escrow sale, In this day and time secure domain name transactions are very important IMO.

So i have g8c.com for sale here, or i am taking offers, @Rob Monster , so if i were to accept an offer on the domain and want to complete the transaction at Epik, would i simply transfer the domain to Epik , I would expect the transfer could take place quite fast as i would simply do the auth and Epik would accept the auth?

so such a transaction could take how long??

.X. said:

I see this as a very viable option to complete an escrow sale, In this day and time secure domain name transactions are very important IMO.

So i have g8c.com for sale here, or i am taking offers, @Rob Monster , so if i were to accept an offer on the domain and want to complete the transaction at Epik, would i simply transfer the domain to Epik , I would expect the transfer could take place quite fast as i would simply do the auth and Epik would accept the auth?

so such a transaction could take how long??

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We can do external sales too, and all accounts are approved for that by default.

The domain payout happens when the domain arrives.

We are looking at clearing transactions at other registrars and can do that for a rush case.

For larger transactions ($1000+), best for the domain to arrive at Epik.

What we seek to avoid is to get caught in dispute resolution where we don't control the domain itself.

Rob Monster said:

We can do external sales too, and all accounts are approved for that by default.

The domain payout happens when the domain arrives.

We are looking at clearing transactions at other registrars and can do that for a rush case.

For larger transactions ($1000+), best for the domain to arrive at Epik.

What we seek to avoid is to get caught in dispute resolution where we don't control the domain itself.

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Thank you very much @Rob Monster , you are a gentleman and scholar