advice I'm going to buy my first domain

[Spike0]

First post here so I hope I'm in the right section.

I'm familiar with owning domains. I've been buying domains for myself directly through domain registrars in the past. Now I'm looking to buy a 4 letter .com domain from someone. We agreed on a price. It's around 4k, but I don't know how to safely make the purchase. The owner seems to be a domain investor with several domains, but I still want to protect myself. I looked at Escrow and the seller said I would need to cover the fees.

I'm looking to understand what the usual process is. Is it the buyer who usually covers Escrow's fees? Is there a cheaper alternative to Escrow? How can I verify the legitimacy of the seller? I'm the one who reached out through their parking page, but I still want to be as safe as possible.

I don't know if it changes anything, I've been running a personal blog on another TLD with the same name now for 7 years, so I'm not buying to resell.

Thank you,

 

[biggie]

On namepros the seller always pays fees. Although you and I differ on this I just feel if you are making thousands, and you have a strong buyer you should try and find cheapest escrow and pay the fees. What's 2% on a $10,000+ sale how does that hurt seller?

Hi

even on NP, i'll ask buyers to pay the fee. you can see this in my sales threads.
if sale is via Escrow.com then buyer will agree to pay fee
if via paypal, when F&F was an option, i would ask them to send payment via that method
without F&F, then i will take the hit on lower priced sales.

i also get sales via incoming email, and even unknown or first-time buyers all know about or have heard of Escrow.com
as part of negotiation, when i agree to a price, i ask buyer to pay that fee.
since those (buyers) feel confident using Escrow.com, then they don't have issue with it and i get full asking price that was agreed to.

imo...

 

[Igor Mironyuk]

Except Escrow.com, is Sedo Escrow. Try them.

 

[enterscope]

Tell us the name after you buy it

We'll see if you got a good deal or not. Either way, welcome to the forum!

 

[MKA]

https://www.escrow.com/fee-calculator

Should be just over $100 + VAT.