information Safe payment options

I consider most of the options safe most of the time, but true if was handling high value transactions it becomes more important.

I actually regard registrar run transactions as the safest for both sides. If I have a domain at the registrar, then the buyer knows that indeed I am the person who owns the domain name. The registrar takes the buyer's money, moves the domain name, then gives me the money minus a commission. They know the domain name was indeed transferred. If it has been with them for a while, they know that it was not subject to other problems. It seems to me everyone is protected, or as close to protected as possible.

Bob

You want to use a payment gateway that makes they own fraud control over payments and then in case of some chargeback or whatever kind of fraud stands on the merchant side. Unlike Paypal, who is on the buyer side by default.

Stripe is very reputable gateway; but the problem with them is that they don't accept Paypal, and if your buyer can't pay with Paypal you miss maybe a half or even more of potential business, i can't tell the exact numbers but especially if you sell domains you don't want to miss them.

I use 2checkout for this for many years, and i'm happy with them. Another good option may be Braintree, however i heard it might be not so easy to get accepted.

With Stripe, an evil buyer 1) can dispute the charge after getting the domain or 2) use a stolen credit card.

In case of #1 there will be a long dispute process that may or may not side with me. I could be out the funds and the domain in this case.

In case of #2 I think I'd be out of both domain and funds for sure.

Please correct me if I'm wrong? I've actually used Stripe for years and processed half a million dollars through it on my main business .. but those are for ~$10 charges. I'd be scared to use that on a big item.

Thoughts?

Brian Klug said:

With Stripe, an evil buyer 1) can dispute the charge after getting the domain or 2) use a stolen credit card.

In case of #1 there will be a long dispute process that may or may not side with me. I could be out the funds and the domain in this case.

In case of #2 I think I'd be out of both domain and funds for sure.

Please correct me if I'm wrong? I've actually used Stripe for years and processed half a million dollars through it on my main business .. but those are for ~$10 charges. I'd be scared to use that on a big item.

Thoughts?

Click to expand...

Stripe does offer chargeback protection now for an additional fraction of a percent fee, but it only covers up to 25k per year and only covers chargeback's for fraud, so someone can still file a chargeback saying for example they didn't get the domain then you are out that money at least until you convince their bank they did get the domain. This is undoubtedly one of the reasons why the big players HugeDomains and BuyDomains for example have their own ICANN accredited registrar and they make you accept delivery of the domain there, so if there is a problem with your payment thaty have the ability to clawback the domain.

For those of us without the resources to create or buy our own ICANN accredited registrar, it's not so simple. I have toyed with the idea of doing this though a reseller registrar where both the customer and I could both have access to manage the domain, so I could in theory take the domain back if there is a payment issue but idk if its worth the effort.

If you do accept credit cards and/or PayPal consider only doing it for transactions below a specific amount. For example Escrow.com I belive requires payment by Wire Transfer for transactions greater than $5000, you could do the same. I think Stripe even have a wire payment product where they will receive the wire in their bank account and reconcile the transaction for a few bucks then transfers you the rest, saves you from having to give our your account number. And AFAIK there is no reversal process for wire transfers.

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I used Google Pay for my last sale because I understand they do NOT provide buyer protection.

"When it comes to regulations that protect you from fraud and theft, Google Pay is the conduit through which you use a bank account, debit card, credit card or PayPal account. So, whatever protections are in place for those financial instruments still apply if you access them through Google Pay."

I think that's a nice way of saying they don't have any.

The original question I asked was if there was a LIST of payment processors with maximum protection for the seller. Maybe I'll start it now. Maybe it should be in order of "least risk to seller" to "most risk to seller".

PAYMENT PROCESSORS LIST

(least risk to seller at top)
- Mailed cashiers check
- Bitcoin / other crypto
- Registrar run transaction
- Bank wire
- Google Pay
- Stripe
- Venmo
- PayPal
(most risk to seller at bottom)


Feel free to disagree with my ranking, tell me what I'm missing, etc, and I'll keep updating the list! :D

Happy Monday everyone, best of luck in your sales!!

I'm not sure if I'd put mailed cashiers check at the very top. One because they are faked, you can guard against this however by calling the bank to verify legitimacy. However the second problem is someone could send you a xashiers check, you can call to verify it, then they goto the bank that issued it and have a stop payment done saying they lost the cashiers check. Again ypu can get around this by cashing it at the bank that issued it because they will know right then and there if its legit and hasn't been stopped. But it requires so work and if its issued by a smaller regional bank you don't have in your area it can get difficult.

Imo I think itd be more like this:

- Bit coin or Wire (no way to reverse AFAIK)
- Registrar marketplace, Escrow, or Cashier's Check (safe with some due diligence on your part)
- ACH, Stripe, or Google Pay (subject to dispute from bank)
- PayPal (subject to dispute from bank and/or from PayPal)

Honestly don't know anything about Venmo and where it fits on this list, but if I had to guess I'd say on either the same level as stripe or as paypal.

Thanks Ryan, that's great info. I'll update my list as soon as others have a chance to chime in.

Almost all types of payment can be clawed back for various reasons, you list Wire, ACH etc all of which can be undone.

So it becomes an issue less about the "gateway" being safe and more about the buyer being safe IMHO.