How Safe is ESCROW.com for sellers

[heavend]

Hey guys,

I wanted to ask your opinion about escrow.com and what are they charging this big money for.... For a long time now, I have a reservations when it comes to selling domains and using escrow.com as a method of transferring the funds and domains securely. On the other hand as a buyer you dont' have this issue.
Other things, purchasing cars, etc via escrow.com is completely different animal, but domain names, due to their nature is not ideal.

So simple scenario:
1. Buyer is somewhere in China. (The ONLY reason I am using China - is it's less traceable spot, where a lot of domainers including myself do business these days)
2. You set up escrow.com transaction for your domain sale.
3. Buyer transfers the funds.
4. You as a seller, push the domain name to the buyer.
5. Buyer then immediately pushes somewhere else and set's up the privacy whois.

The rest is very simple. Basically you can have a problem and the details can be different...

Back about 7-8 years ago when I first came across an idea for this kind of scam, I was surprised how easy it is to setup and execute. I was selling a domain name for over $100,000 + my buyer wanted to use escrow.com ONLY, I talked to escrow.com representative to try to figure out is there any protection from this. At this time, the representative was surprised at my idea (they never thought of it), and told me while it potentially can happen - they never heard of it.... Needless to say - in this case, I was worried for no reason and my transaction ran without a glitch.

Now, for years I was trying to use moniker escrow.com because of this specific potential issue. Yes, it takes a little longer, but moniker takes a possession of the domain and the funds, before releasing domain and the funds. This is a true escrow services. What escrow does is pretty interface without real services. Why do people love it so much and why there aren't other alternatives like moniker escrow is odd. Sedo escrow is similar, of course, but they charge you and arm and a leg.

I never used DN escrow, heard about it recently.
Was wondering if people who are using it come across similar issue or if it's a true escrow services just like moniker or sedo?

What other true escrow services people can recommend which they used with success and without this potential risk?

All best,
Alex

 

[21x20]

I used DN once for a few $k transaction before they started requiring copies of your photo identification… Since then I refuse to use them.

They are definitely Chinese friendly and I believe they are in someway related to either ename or 4.CN. Either way at this point, I would not trust them for a transaction with a Chinese party.

As for your examples with transfers to ename… I would be wary of any buyer who refuses to just do it as an account push… That to me would be a sign that they are maybe up to monkey business and I don't go into a transaction where I have that much worry about being screwed. I have sold to plenty of Chinese buyers who have accepted account pushes and then, on their own time, after the transaction has closed, have moved their name to ename.

 

[premkumar]

SEDO minimum charge is $60 for escrowservice

 

[heavend]

It seems like escrow.com is still preferred method by most, specially now that escrow.com representative promised us a long awaited solution. It's very easy to use, they dont' charge as much compared to others. Somebody should probably comprise a list of all the escrow resources for the domainers, with updated fees, etc. Would be useful tool to share.

 

[Brandon Abbey]

Jackson,

My emails to freelancer have not been responded to. Please check the whois for escrow.com and have my name removed. Thank you

Brandon

WHOIS search results for:
ESCROW.COM
(Registered)
Is this your domain?
Add hosting, email and more.

Want to buy this domain?
Get it with our Domain Buy service.


Domain Name: ESCROW.COM
Registry Domain ID: 1295665_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.godaddy.com
Registrar URL: http://www.godaddy.com
Update Date: 2011-12-27T17:39:59Z
Creation Date: 1994-08-23T04:00:00Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2021-03-16T03:59:59Z
Registrar: GoDaddy.com, LLC
Registrar IANA ID: 146
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: [email protected]
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.4806242505
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
Domain Status: clientUpdateProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientUpdateProhibited
Domain Status: clientRenewProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientRenewProhibited
Domain Status: clientDeleteProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientDeleteProhibited
Registry Registrant ID:
Registrant Name: Brandon Abbey
Registrant Organization: Escrow.com Inc.
Registrant Street: 30318 Esperanza
Registrant City: Rancho Santa Margarita
Registrant State/Province: California
Registrant Postal Code: 92688

 

[21x20]

^^ ok, this thread just got weird.

 

[heavend]

@Brandon Abbey
yeah, I have no idea where this last message came from or what it supposed to mean? How is it related to the subject?
My guess is - wrong place for this post?

 

[Dombuyer]

$20M plus transactions with escrow.com over many years, never had a domain stolen from me, BUT, and this is the key, Escrow.com until the recent buyout, was a small shop very hands on with Brandon, Mickie and Sandra. So if you pushed a domain you could put pressure, immediate responsible pressure on Escrow.com to confirm receipt and if no reply, bang, funds released. I would just contact Mickie and she would make it right without much delay, so you wouldn't freak out.

Now who knows, but it is encouraging that they are finally taking control of the domain, as indicated in the thread by escrow.com's new team. The key is until they make it a full feature, don't allow outbound registrar transfer and you can just confirm from your registrar that the push is complete to show escrow.com.

 

[Jackson Elsegood]

Sorry can you expand on this please.

Are you saying we can now transfer the domain to an Escrow account and then receive the sellers payment straight after that and you guys then handle relaying the domain over to the buyer?

Hi LucidDomains,
That's right. We've always offered secure domain holding as part of our Domain Name Holding transactions, where Escrow.com holds the domain on behalf of the seller while a buyer makes regular payments, and we are now extending that service to single payment transactions.

The service will provide an additional layer of comfort for those who want additional protection and more peace of mind for first time buyers who might need some additional assistance transferring the domain to their registrar.

Cheers,
Jackson

 

[Argentum]

Hi LucidDomains,
That's right. We've always offered secure domain holding as part of our Domain Name Holding transactions, where Escrow.com holds the domain on behalf of the seller while a buyer makes regular payments, and we are now extending that service to single payment transactions.

The service will provide an additional layer of comfort for those who want additional protection and more peace of mind for first time buyers who might need some additional assistance transferring the domain to their registrar.

Cheers,
Jackson

Hi Jackson. Is that service already offered on your website (escrow.com)? I mean full domain escrow service when seller push domain to escrow.com accounts and then only escrow realese domain to buyer? Or for that service you need contact customer support? If so, is there any extra charges for that?

 

[coconut]

Customers of Escrow.com have long been wanting the option of having us securely hold the domain during transfer and I'm happy to say that today we can offer that. We're currently trialling the service for international domain name transfers and expect to update the public site with the option today.

We've always offered secure domain holding as part of our Domain Name Holding transactions, where Escrow.com holds the domain on behalf of the seller while a buyer makes regular payments, and we are now extending that service to single payment transactions.

The service will provide an additional layer of comfort for those who want additional protection and more peace of mind for first time buyers who might need some additional assistance transferring the domain to their registrar.

That's excellent news Jackson.

 

[heavend]

@Jackson Elsegood - Hi Jackson, I just finished a $2K transaction and I didn't see that option. I was not worried this time as I knew the other party better, but please specify how to setup (initiate) this option, and if you a have to pay extra?

 

[OnlineBusiness.com]

Agreed that NOTHING is ever completely safe and secure. However, from my experience of doing hundreds of deals using escrow.com I've never had an issue.

But with my only one transaction using DN.com I had issues. Same with 4.cn. So just be careful with other services than escrow.com. Escrow.com is the gold standard when doing transactions so if you use them and get screwed, then I doubt anything else would have been better.

 

[Argentum]

Just checked and noticed that escrow.com added on site option to use full escrow service but unfortunately without any fees mentioned, only mentioned that you will be charged extra fees in case of choosing that option. How i can choose this option even not knowing fees? Little bit unprofessional imho.

 

[thebutler]

Hi @Jackson Elsegood

Interested in this service because buyer says they will pay fees and they want to use your company. Details?

Thanks
Dave

Hi LucidDomains,
That's right. We've always offered secure domain holding as part of our Domain Name Holding transactions, where Escrow.com holds the domain on behalf of the seller while a buyer makes regular payments, and we are now extending that service to single payment transactions.

The service will provide an additional layer of comfort for those who want additional protection and more peace of mind for first time buyers who might need some additional assistance transferring the domain to their registrar.

Cheers,
Jackson

 

[bytedo]

Good you came to the forum Jackson. I was going through my spam folder today and saw a familiar name - yours. So i clicked to read and said yeah `He`s alright, I don`t mind mails from him`. You got upgraded bro

 

[mycontrepipol]

great

 

[kawalsukhi]

Escrow is always a great method to continue with domain selling and buying both. So its always awesome experience with escrow.

 

[heavend]

Escrow is always a great method to continue with domain selling and buying both. So its always awesome experience with escrow.

Not always great - and this is the reason for this post...

 

[Argentum]

What is their fees for full escrow service? On their website it is still not mentioned.

 

[heavend]

They should add this service (description) to their fees page, otherwise it's hard to figure out how to go about using it.
Here is the page: https://www.escrow.com/support/fee-calculator
Is it possible, it's included in the regular fees? It would be much appreciated and useful?
Is it maybe part of the premier services? if so how it works for larger transactions?

Just for info, escrow.com is offering two options at this time:

1. Premier services are 6.3%? and it says, at least on their page that it's available only for transactions under $5,000.

2. Standard services @ 3.2 % are available for over $5,000 as well.

No idea where this new, true escrow service is being offered?

 

[Dombuyer]

I've noticed that now the site logs me out after a very unreasonable two or three minutes. It's a small thing, but very irritating when you are carefully pricing a transaction. Also I've noticed that my long held discount after $40M in transactions has disappeared.

 

[heavend]

hrmmm

 

[Jackson Elsegood]

I'm happy to say that we are now at full release
Full info: https://www.escrow.com/services/domain-concierge
Fee calculator: https://www.escrow.com/support/fee-calculator

 

[aegisinfoways]

Hello

Those percentages have been the same for quite awhile. The commissions are MUCH higher if you make a sale via having your domain listed in their marketplace or parked with them - anywhere from 10 to 20%.They seemed to sorta hint you could just delete the listing shortly before opening an escrow transaction and you'd get normal fees.Maybe they adjusted them recently to accommodate the poor economy.

 

[heavend]

I'm happy to say that we are now at full release
Full info: https://www.escrow.com/services/domain-concierge
Fee calculator: https://www.escrow.com/support/fee-calculator

Thank you for the info. It's a nice spread in price however, and now all we got to do is convince the buyers to pay this as well, even through it ONLY protects the sellers. Buyers are protected by the first service - 100 %