Escrow.com is going down the drain | Unprofessional behaviour

[NetworkPearl]

Hi,

Please read this in detail:

I've been using escrow for many years and it had always been my only escrow service. But, now I'm having severe issues with them and it seems they are run by a team of idiots, and have the worst, and the stupidest support system I've ever experienced.

What happened:


In the beginning of August 2020 I bought a 5-fig domain let's call it Domain1. I paid through wire transfer and also the $25 payment processing i.e the usual procedure. Some days later, escrow received payment and then they say they are $32.79 short. I didn't hesitate to pay the short amount since I didn't want any delays and I thought it was just an exception. I paid them through PayPal. Transaction closed. Rest everything went on smoothly.

I bought another domain in mid August for 5 figs let's call it Domain2. I paid through wire transfer and also the $25 payment processing i.e the usual procedure. Everything went on smoothly. No payment shortage whatsoever.

I also bought domain3 in around mid August for 4 figs and also domain4 for 4 figs. I sent wire transfer for both and also the $25 payment processing fee. Then I got notified few days later that funds for both are short. domain3 was $32.04 USD short and domain4 $32.34 short. This was very odd and after 3 lengthy discussions with my bank they told me that issue is on escrow's side. I contacted escrow and also sent them wire transfer receipts.

Some days later I get an email that domain3 payment has been secured and seller has to transfer the domain to me (earlier they said it was short). This means that payment wasn't short and the issuers from escrow's side (they always blamed my bank) and rest everything went fine with domain3.

I also waited for domain4 payment confirmation but escrow was silent. After contacting them they told me that payment is still $32.34 short. I called them 3 times to explain them that this is not possible but their support was making stupid and irrelevant claims. I called my bank again and they once again told me that everything went somoothly from their side and issue is with escrow. Calling my bank costed my around $50 since I'm out of country.

So eventually I asked escrowto send me payment details and that I could pay the short amount through my card. Few days Silence and no response. I contact them again and next day they send me PayPal invoice of $7.34 ( previous they said $32.34 was short) even though I had told them that I cannot send PayPal anymore.

https://imgur.com/UxpXlsP

So I asked my good friend @AbdulBasit.com for a favour and he helped me pay the short PayPal amount for domain4. I provided escrow his escrow account email (his escrow account and paypal are 100% verified) and also his PayPal email address but next day I receive this email:

------------------------

Hello (my name),

After further review of this transaction, it shows that we receive the funds through a third party - 3rd party: (Abdul's PayPal account) . If this is a company transaction, you may simply add the company name to your escrow account. If not, Kindly confirm if this company's relationship to the transaction by creating their own escrow.com account and undergo our Basic and Company Verification process.

You also need to complete our Personal and Company Verification procedure. Please see this overview of our KYC/Verification procedure. Go to: www.escrow.com/verify Personal : Requires verifying as an 'Individual' - 1.) Uploading a clear, readable, and color copy of your government issued ID. 2.) A clear, readable, and color copy of a utility bill or bank statement that has your name and address on it and reflects what is stated in your Escrow.com profile. COMPANY: Verifying as a 'Company' - (ONLY required if you have a company listed in your Escrow profile) 3.) Uploading a clear, readable, and color copy of the Company's articles of Incorporation. For more information https://www.escrow.com/support/company-verification. Kindly provide us their email address once verified, we can link their account to this transaction in order to proceed.

Your wire also came into our Payments Department $25.00 short. Please reply to this email indicating how you wish to submit the difference so that we can approve the funds for this transaction. You may now have the option to send the shortage amount either Wire Transfer or Credit card (if the amount is below $1000.00)

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask away. I'd be happy to help.

Kind regards,

------------------

I told them numerous times (both on email and chat support) that the payment was sent by Abdul Basit who already is verified but then they gave me the copy paste stupid response. Then few days later they email me saying that the PayPal payment has been verified but transaction is still short even though I paid the full invoice of $7.34.

Then they email me saying, that $25 is still short. If this was the case, why would they send me a final invoice of $7.34 stating that's the short amount?

Now they're saying that must be an issue and are checking this again. At the same time the seller of domain4 is really disappointed and wants to cancel the transaction. I too am highly dissatisfied and can't understand what's going on and what to do now.

Are they scamming or what?

 

[AbdulBasit.com]

Thanks for sharing your experience with others so everyone can beware of them. I rarely use them and only in cases where buyer wants to use only escrow.com else I've no interest in chosing them for any escrow transaction.

It's very cheap and unprofessional behavior coming from such company which is losing it's reputation.

I totally agree with their unprofessional behavior which is totally unacceptable and their customer support team has a bunch of useless people who knows like nothing.

Even the verification process have been made very complicated and for a one time buyer or seller, it's just ridiculous to provide so much information which seems unnecessary to me.

I strongly suggest you and others to avoid using them and try out other escrow services like Sedo and Epik. Although both these have some negative points which I might discuss sometime at a later stage but that comes under my personal choice and not linked to such unethical, cheap and unprofessional behavior.

 

[Samer]

Escrow.com;
Living off the domain name (still)

Zero innovation; just higher fees

 

[johnn]

I am not sure why people like to post "shocking story" in the title:
- Godaddy stole my name
- Escrow is a fraud
- Dynadot is scamming me....etc...

I am sure there is an explanation for everything. I am not defending Escrow or anyone. Just wait to see an explanation from them.

 

[OnlineDomainShop]

https://www.namepros.com/threads/escrow-com-is-now-a-waste-of-time-for-domainers.1171606/

This was my post from my another Gold namepros account which is now closed , Escrow guys are very dumb , they insisted me to open USD account in other country than Pakistan , I worked hard for 2 months to open an USD business account in Australia , You will be surprised after 2 months of troubles for me they issued funds accidently in my Pak account and told me that they issued funds in Pakistan bank account by mistake. They are trouble makers with copy paste forms and questions.

 

[johnn]

The solution would be just buy names from me. I take cash too and no fees!

 

[xeroox]

Yea worst verification process ever and their support are not always helpful

 

[NetworkPearl]

I am not sure why people like to post "shocking story" in the title:
- Godaddy stole my name
- Escrow is a fraud
- Dynadot is scamming me....etc...

I am sure there is an explanation for everything. I am not defending Escrow or anyone. Just wait to see an explanation from them.

Taking away my extra money when issue is on their side seems like a fraud to me.

 

[Kuffy]

I'm coming to the conclusion that escrow is an unsafe waste of money. If you want one of my domain names, then you pay me and I'll transfer to to you. If you want to use escrow, then find another name. You can do all the research you like into me, and contact me through a number of forums if you feel uncomfortable.

I'm also getting close to only accepting Bitcoin for payments. Maybe I'm being stupid,and losing sales, but if my names are decent, then I still own them as investments.

 

[tonyk2000]

I have always been paying the $25 payment processing fee. I’m well aware of that.

You wired extra $25 as they asked? If so, there should be no reasons for this provider to tell you about short payments and/or to ask for extra $$$. They are requesting +$25 each time from all buyers, sometimes they receive more in the end, sometimes less, but an average $25 in their invoices covers all the extra intermediate fees, which may vary for different senders and also for different wires from the same sender (different routes may be used to deliver the funds)

 

[bmugford]

I have no idea what happened in this specific case, but it could have been any number of things.

From my own personal experience I have done hundreds of transactions with Escrow.com and have not seen or heard of anything like this. Escrow.com KYC regulations can be a rather undue burden when it comes to closing sales, but I have a hard time believing Escrow.com is really going to risk their reputation over such tiny amounts of money.

Accusing them of fraud, especially for such a low amount, is rather serious. I am guessing that there is some misunderstanding.

Brad

 

[johnn]

Agreed. If they charged you they should provide a line item with description of the charge along with the amount.

 

[xynames]

Are you in the US sending a wire or overseas sending a wire to the US? Overseas wires often have an intermediary who clips his own fee along the way such that what arrives isn’t all of what you sent.

 

[Kingslayer]

I’ve never had a problem with Escrow.com, I'm a creature of habit, if I'm happy with something and never had a problem, i don't change even if there is a competitor who may do the same thing at a lower price. Once there is a problem though, I'm out.

I can only speak from personal experience, they’ve been at the heart of all my deals outside marketplaces and for a fee way lower than most marketplaces would charge and (as said) not had a problem with them.

I agree, I don’t like their verification process and can see how that as lost people many deals, I would like to see that changed some how for 1 off buyers.

Escrow.com are a big company though, have been involved in some massive deals involving some of the world's biggest companies (not just domains), I’m a big believer in there’s always 2 sides to a story, so interested to hear theirs.

 

[NickB]

People really need to think long and hard before accusing companies of fraud and putting it in the title of the thread, this is now indexed by Google......

There must of been another title you could of used until this had been resolved?

EDIT:

thread title has been changed since the above post.....

 

[NetworkPearl]

I have no idea what happened in this specific case, but it could have been any number of things.

From my own personal experience I have done hundreds of transactions with Escrow.com and have not seen or heard of anything like this. Escrow.com KYC regulations can be a rather undue burden when it comes to closing sales, but I have a hard time believing Escrow.com is really going to risk their reputation over such tiny amounts of money.

Accusing them of fraud, especially for such a low amount, is rather serious. I am guessing that there is some misunderstanding.

Brad

I have myself done 100+ transactions with them. I send and Receive around $100,000 per month on escrow. Even much more sometimes so I know where my complain is coming from.

I have asked them numerous times to send me proof of each shortage but they have been silent every time and just say their payment team will contact me but they never provide any such information.

This transaction has been delayed to weeks now and they’re not even assisting me. First they say payment is $32 short then they say it’s $7 short and send me a final paypal invoice which I have already paid days ago. Then they email me saying that $25 is short now.

plus in regards to Domain3 they also said the same and then I sent them a detailed wire transfer receipt after which they said that payment is not short anymore . What happened in this case then? I have no idea.

 

[NetworkPearl]

Hi

i totally agree

never had any issues with escrow.com, nor have any buyers.
sure verification can be a pain, but it's a part of security and i'd rather have it, than not.

also, even if you have to pay those extra amounts, they are waaaaay less than commission fees charged by other platforms.

but you're only losing time, not money....so there is no fraudulent activity.

i have respect for members who tried to assist you, but since they also are in a "position of influence" now, one should mindful of co-signing any unproven accusations against an established and reputable company.

practically every service that handles such transactions, has some issues, whether they be manual, programming or even political, but fraud....

change the title

imo...

Regarding the topic name I have requested it To be changed but my point and issue still stands.

 

[NetworkPearl]

Not to defend Escrow, but

Ever heard about Skype calls? That may help you to save a lot of money.

I already have a Skype number. I have to call them from my own registered phone numbers. They don't accept Skype calls.

 

[twiki]

Greed is not always good.

(see Wall street movie)

 

[karmaco]

I don’t know why anyone uses them. There are other options. Never heard of this shortage stuff though. I myself had 2 bad experiences there selling and never used them again. Hopefully it gets sorted out but the only way you might get competent attention is @Jackson Elsegood

 

[DN_Hunter]

The shortages might be coming from a currency exchange rate difference. The difference might be when your bank wires the money vs. the time Escrow converts the currency to the sale price in a different currency.

 

[NetworkPearl]

Could be an isolated case.
I had a transaction last week with them and the buyer insisted to use Escrow and paid all the fees. I received the full amount with no problem.
It would be interesting to see the explanation from Escrow!

Yes but 3 shortages in same month doesn’t make sense to me at all. Plus they give no proof or proper explanations. Their support is a joke.

 

[NetworkPearl]

Escrow.com;
Living off the domain name (still)

Zero innovation; just higher fees

Yes I have around $100,000 coming in and out of escrow per month. Sometimes even more.

I give them a good amount of fees.

 

[tonyk2000]

I don’t know how they can be short of $32

They may. But, in some other case, they will receive all 100% without deductions (so they'll actually gain extra $25). Which is why extra fee was introduced - to make everything simplier. Little loss in one wire, unexpected gain in another wire - all are happy., and no $$$ lost in the end of the day (week, month).

 

[johnn]

Next time if they charge you more, just post it here.
Each of the poster must send you $1 to post. Then everything will be fine.