4.cn respectable or not?

[kev]

4.cn - Safe for domain transactions?

Hi guys,

Looking for a little bit of advice. I am about to buy domains from someone in China and they can't use Escrow.com. They suggested 4.cn. Is it safe to use this website for escrow? I'm spending quite a lot of money so don't want to enter into anything without knowing what I'm going to expect

How does 4.cn differ from Escrow.com?

Any help would be excellent :tu:

Kev

 

[gt88hel]

4.cn is quite safe and it is best domainname auction agency in china.
Just like another "SEDO.COM" in china.

ps: the alexa of 4.cn is 5570,GG PR IS 7

 

[kev]

anymore reviews?

 

[promo]

My first and as of yet only escrow experience with 4.cn was a 9xx$ purchase I made this summer. I sent bulk of the money as a secure deposit before bidding on the domain and the rest after securing it. They had responsive support and it felt safe although it involved me sending a paypal payment to a named individual on their sister site (goldenname.com).

 

[Name Trader]

I read somewhere that it's full of scammers. Sorry I can't provide a link. So they seem to have a cross-section of experiences, imho. So I'd be extremely careful. You won't get your money back out of china, if it goes, whooof!

 

[kev]

Is there another escrow company out there who support Chinese sellers?

I'm extremely uncomfortable with this as I need to send the funds via wire transfer to:

Bank Account Number: 4563511300116916478
Account Owner: XU CAIJUN
Bank Name: BANK OF CHINA HANGZHOU ECONOMIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT ZONE SUB-BRANCH
City: HANGZHOU
Address: NO 3 ROAD, HANGZHOU ECONOMIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT ZONE
SWIFT Code: BKCHCNBJ910

Looks like I'm sending it to a person rather than 4.cn? Should I stay clear?

 

[SlimPickins]

so.... anyone here on NP connected with 4.cn? I attempted to sign up months ago but can't access my account, because it isn't "verified".... I never received a "verification" email with a link and my several attempts to get help via [email protected] received NO reply. so basically I have an account I can't use and would rather NOT sign up again with completely different details.... hoping someone here is either affiliated with 4.cn or knows someone that is that can help here........

 

[Angelicus]

I never received a "verification" email with a link and my several attempts to get help via [email protected] received NO reply

I have just sign up with 4.cn. I received verification email, and managed to get into my account with my login info w/o problems.

If you want to put your names for sale you have to check "I hereby confirm that I have read and accept the 4.CN's User Agreement."
Problem is... there is NO User Agreement available on the site only <h2> title, thats about it.

Few more things:

- Help center page is coming soon...

- Privacy policy page is copy-paste effort from buydomains.com privacy page except from contact info
you can check the pages yourself
4.cn/policies/privacy - 4.cn privacy page
buydomains.com/info/privacy.jsp - BuyDomains page
I doubt buydomains has anything to do with it, but who knows...

There is a chance they are in tweaking process atm tho its a bit unprofessional if that is the case.

I am not saying they are scamming ppl, but so far I dont trust them personally.

 

[Angelicus]

edited * kinda double post *

I want to hear your thoughts or experience with them, if any.

 

[Keith]

I signed up with 4.cn last week with no problems. Email verification was sent to me and I also listed my domain for sale. I had to look up the exchange rate but that was not a big deal.

 

[SlimPickins]

thanks! angelicus.... i think THAT was the problem.... i noticed there was not an agreement to agree to so didnt check the box. so, my registration must me lost in limbo. When i reattempted to sign up using the same email it said it was already being used, but any attempt to get a password reminder received nothing and my emails to the support email have never been answered. can't really "agree" to terms that I can't read (talk about FINE print!) so maybe is for the better that I can't use the site. oh well.

 

[Angelicus]

I signed up with 4.cn last week with no problems. Email verification was sent to me and I also listed my domain for sale. I had to look up the exchange rate but that was not a big deal.

Did you "agree" to terms that you couldn't read, or you didn't bother to read at all ?

 

[Keith]

Did you "agree" to terms that you couldn't read, or you didn't bother to read at all ?

As usual I just clicked "agree" and moved on. I'm not going to sell in auction there so for me it's just extra exposure. I also left my domain parked at Sedo.

Please don't tell me you read user agreements. I wouldn't believe you anyhow :bah: As if I have hours to read pages of policy...

 

[italiandragon]

interested...any other had experience with 4.cn ?

 

[Michael Ehrhardt]

Hi there

i have an account at 4.cn
i have listed some domains 4 sale
they have a good support on Skype
talking every day
i sold first domain ( 8sd.net )
some month ago goldenname.com was listed for sale ( they change it - after i asked )
all the support stuff have an goldenname.com email
i also had telephone contact
even that i don't understand their system fully - my advice :
TNT = trust nobody total
it is your money - so check double check
the owner of 4.cn is John Xu ( just sold daikuan.com ) but also his twitter account isn't used since years
hope this helps a bit

 

[iatalay]

I sold many domains at 4 cn without any problem. Their support is the best one I have ever seen.

 

[fico]

I sold many domains trough 4 cn without any problem and the support is great.

 

[eurorealtor]

My experiences with 4.cn escrow as a seller....

Sales price: $1,900
Escrow fee: $76 (split fee with buyer 50/50)
Remaining balance: $1,824
4.cn International bank wire fee: $18
I should receive to my bank: $1,806
Received: $1,704 only
My bank fee: $17
Total received: $1,687
Missing $102.

Funds send as USD, funds received as USD. Receiving bank UniCreditBank of Czech Republic.
I called my bank and they have no idea where is the missing $102. I sent a ticket to 4.cn, waiting for respond. I refused Paypal for two reasons, 1. high fees 2. PayPal refuse to send you USD even you own an USD account, if your bank is not located in the USA.... but in this case paypal would cost me $100 less in fees than the bank wire. Europeans be aware DO NOT use 4.cn escrow if you chose bank wire withdraw. I normally use escrow.com but the buyer asked me to use 4.cn because he/she had funds on 4.cn so I agreed, my bad.

 

[Name Trader]

I refused Paypal for two reasons, 1. high fees 2. PayPal refuse to send you USD even you own an USD account, if your bank is not located in the USA

I don't understand where you get this information from. But it's not true. Assuming it's an inter-PayPal transaction. I live in a 2nd World country and my bank account is in the local currency. When people send money via paypal, they are always received in US Dollars. The sender has a long list of currencies they can choose from. USD is one of them. As long as they choose USD, the money is received in USD. It's basically the laziness of the sender not selecting USD from the list of currencies.

On the receiving side. The default currency is usually my local currency. I only have 2 currencies my local currency and USD. I don't know how that came about. Whether it's the currencies in my account, or I had to specify that somewhere. I'm sure if somebody send me GBP, I'd have a third currency listed.

I'm not sure how PayPal works if the receiver is a USD Bank Account (not another PayPal A/C) But I'm sure that would add aditional costs. Actually I didn't realize they could even do that without going thru your local PayPal A/C first. Of course. PayPal will rip you off in the exchange rate, if there was an exchange of currencies anywhere along the way.
-------------------
And pertinent to your question....

You could maybe ask 4.cn how many USD did they send and what (if any) charges were offset against that sum. There may also be some intermediary bank charges unaccounted for. But $100 seems like a lot.

 

[eurorealtor]

I don't understand where you get this information from. But it's not true. Assuming it's an inter-PayPal transaction. I live in a 2nd World country and my bank account is in the local currency. When people send money via paypal, they are always received in US Dollars. The sender has a long list of currencies they can choose from. USD is one of them. As long as they choose USD, the money is received in USD. It's basically the laziness of the sender not selecting USD from the list of currencies.

On the receiving side. The default currency is usually my local currency. I only have 2 currencies my local currency and USD. I don't know how that came about. Whether it's the currencies in my account, or I had to specify that somewhere. I'm sure if somebody send me GBP, I'd have a third currency listed.

I'm not sure how PayPal works if the receiver is a USD Bank Account (not another PayPal A/C) But I'm sure that would add aditional costs. Actually I didn't realize they could even do that without going thru your local PayPal A/C first. Of course. PayPal will rip you off in the exchange rate, if there was an exchange of currencies anywhere along the way.
-------------------
And pertinent to your question....

You could maybe ask 4.cn how many USD did they send and what (if any) charges were offset against that sum. There may also be some intermediary bank charges unaccounted for. But $100 seems like a lot.

Sorry, I misinterpreted. What I meant is that if I receive funds in USD to my Paypal account, I can NOT withdraw as USD to my bank account.
So when I withdraw to my bank account in Czech Republic which is USD currency account, Paypal exchange USD in $hitty rate into CZK currency and when it hit my bank, it will exchange bank to USD in $hitty rate. Bottom line Paypal refused to send me USD when I withdraw, they always change USD or whatever currency you have in your paypal account, into the currency of given country (at least in my case).

And this is the message I received form @4.cn "Hi，It will take 18 USD when we remit out the fund. but the fee of the intermediary bank is uncertain.The fee was charged by the intermediary bank."

So the transaction cost me $76 escrow fee + $102 unknown + $17 my bank fee.

 

[Name Trader]

Sorry, I misinterpreted. What I meant is that if I receive funds in USD to my Paypal account, I can NOT withdraw as USD to my bank account.
So when I withdraw to my bank account in Czech Republic which is USD currency account, Paypal exchange USD in $hitty rate into CZK currency and when it hit my bank, it will exchange bank to USD in $hitty rate. Bottom line Paypal refused to send me USD when I withdraw, they always change USD or whatever currency you have in your paypal account, into the currency of given country (at least in my case).

And this is the message I received form @4.cn "Hi，It will take 18 USD when we remit out the fund. but the fee of the intermediary bank is uncertain.The fee was charged by the intermediary bank."

So the transaction cost me $76 escrow fee + $102 unknown + $17 my bank fee.

Ok. It's a good job I found that out now. I have been trying to link my USD Account with my PayPal Account, and run into some kind of problems. Probably not related to this double currency exchange issue. But it's good I found this out before seriously looking to resolve the issue. I would have been well cheesed off.

But did they say how much they actually sent, and in which currency? Did they absorb their banks charges, or did they tell the bank to deduct their charges from their remittance. Maybe also ask either them or your bank who the intermediary banks, and what their charges were. You probably will get a better answer to that question from your own bank. Which bank sent them the money, and can they please ask them how much they deducted for the intermediary bank charges.

But on the face of it, 4.cn have asked their bank to deduct their charges from the remittance, and you would like 4.cn to ask their bank how much the bank charges they deducted from the remittance. Plus their is probably an intermediary bank sending the funds to your bank. so you should ask you bank a set of similar questions.

Banks can charge anything they like, against a remittance sent with all charges to be paid by the recipient. It's kinda open season because they've already the authority to make these charges without the consent of the recipient. $100 isn't looking so bad against a backdrop of 2 or even 3 sets of bank charges. Although still quite high.

But the sad thing is that you now know that you have to add approx $200 to the purchase price of a domain sold via 4.cn for $2k, to pay for the Escrow and Bank Fees.

 

[eurorealtor]

Ok. It's a good job I found that out now. I have been trying to link my USD Account with my PayPal Account, and run into some kind of problems. Probably not related to this double currency exchange issue. But it's good I found this out before seriously looking to resolve the issue. I would have been well cheesed off.

But did they say how much they actually sent, and in which currency? Did they absorb their banks charges, or did they tell the bank to deduct their charges from their remittance. Maybe also ask either them or your bank who the intermediary banks, and what their charges were. You probably will get a better answer to that question from your own bank. Which bank sent them the money, and can they please ask them how much the deducted for theit imtermediary bank charges.

But on the face of it, 4.cn have asked their bank to deduct their charges from the remittance, and you would like 4.cn to ask their bank how much the bank charges they deducted from the remittance. Plus their is probably an intermediary bank sending the funds to your bank. so you should ask you bank a set of similar questions.

Banks can charge anything they like, against a remittance sent with all charges to be paid by the recipient. It's kinda open season because they've already the authority to make these charges without the consent of the recipient. $100 isn't looking so bad against a backdrop of 2 or even 3 sets of bank charges. Although still quite high.

But the sad thing is that you now know that you have to add approx $200 to the purchase price of a domain sold via 4.cn for $2k, to pay for the Escrow and Bank Fees.

My bank has zero information who is the "middleman" 4.cn did not revealed who is the "middleman".
When I used to send money from US, using Bank of America to the very same account in Czech Republic, Bank of America charged me $35 international wire fee if exchanged into CZK or $45 if send by USD (my case) and that's it, no other fees were ever charged during it's way to my bank.

I wouldn't agree to use 4.cn escrow, but I have opened a support ticket and asked them about the international wire fee into Czech Republic, the answer was $18.

 

[Name Trader]

My bank has zero information who is the "middleman" 4.cn did not revealed who is the "middleman".
When I used to send money from US, using Bank of America to the very same account in Czech Republic, Bank of America charged me $35 international wire fee if exchanged into CZK or $45 if send by USD (my case) and that's it, no other fees were ever charged during it's way to my bank.

I wouldn't agree to use 4.cn escrow, but I have opened a support ticket and asked them about the international wire fee into Czech Republic, the askew was $18.

I don't think your bank has zero clue at all. The money didn't come out of thin air. Some bank sent it to them. That's just BS from them. I don't know if it's possible to do. but I'd ask them to trace this payment direct from it's sending source to you. With times, dates, any bank charges deducted along the way.

 

[eurorealtor]

I don't think your bank has zero clue at all. The money didn't come out of thin air. Some bank sent it to them. That's just BS from them. I don't know if it's possible to do. but I'd ask them to trace this payment direct from it's sending source to you. With times, dates, any bank charges deducted along the way.

Banks in Czech Republic are full of $hit, I won't argue. They will charge for deposit your won money, withdraw your own money, ATM withdraw in their own ATM machine, etc. Banks has fees for anything you can think of. I tried to make few phone calls, but they always say "We don't know" But the fact is they have deducted $17 fee of this income wire.

 

[Name Trader]

Banks in Czech Republic are full of $hit, I won't argue. They will charge for deposit your won money, withdraw your own money, ATM withdraw in their own ATM machine, etc. Banks has fees for anything you can think of. I tried to make few phone calls, but they always say "We don't know" But the fact is they have deducted $17 fee of this income wire.

Just one of the trials and tribulations we all have to live with in these kinds of places. You have my sympathy. I know what it can be like.