I think something overlooked, is that people should realise that legally speaking, they can set anything they want between buyer and seller that could, would or should protect them beyond the scope of Escrow.com (bearing in mind that some clauses could be void depending on the various laws of the jurisdictions involved). Meaning that while negotiating the sale, you could include a term that stipulates the transaction final once the domain has been transferred and that regardless of what it says at Escrow.com, that there is no inspection period.
Obviously that doesn't protect you from the actual crime of someone stealing the domain, but it would give you legal recourse (although I'm not sure if Escrow could do anything about it, since the "added" term would be beyond the scope of their TOS, and more importantly, beyond your agreement with Escrow .. so it might be necessary for you to take the buyer to court)
That being said .. getting back to the discussion .. I think this is yet another thread where everyone on both sides are both right and wrong .. lol.
In a more general global sense,
@xynames is right in theory, particularly for traffic/content domains where a longer inspection period is understandable and even necessary. Although I would still like Escrow to clarify the "inspection period" .. as in the end I think he's potentially wrong (just for "1 day inspection periods"), but not based on anything he said, but more based on what I think Escrow means by an actual "1 day inspection period" (see below)
However .. I think a specific situation where a buyer accuses the seller of hacking their account is a pretty obvious case where the Escrow service needs to take immediate action to ascertain what is going on with the domain and secure it ASAP. If this isn't a case they feel they need to step up in, then in all honesty, what's the point of even using Escrow considering all the technical loopholes being discussed already in this thread?
If
@Keith already tried talking to several Escrow.com agents, then I think his frustrations are legit in this specific case.
Note that either way the buyer does not have 10 days to cancel ... they have to cancel within the "inspection period", then they have 10 days to INITIATE the return the domain otherwise the seller gets the money. So in theory that 10 days could be 15+ days without a fast manual transfer .. (possibly as long as 15+ YEARS if the domain is at Network Solutions .. lol)
Beyond this point I think there is a big question .. which is what exactly does a 1 day inspection period even mean? I know I've had that stage move faster than 24 hours in the past (when I'm pretty sure the buyer didn't have time to close things on their end).
I think the confusion is that it's more a of logic flaw within the Escrow.com platform .. as I think they count the transaction day as a day. So yes inspection period looks like "one" day .. but "1 day" is effectively "zero more days".
What I'm trying to say makes more sense when talking about more days (as I think would be more normal with physical products. For example, "2 Days" could mean 48 hours .. but could also simply mean to include the current day and the following day, so effectively about a day. Obviously with the international nature of domain sales it can't even really be set to "midnight" (BUT .. unfortunately since there is no official definition it could justifiably be interpreted multiple ways.).
Escrow needs to set an actual time and/or countdown clock to remove any and all doubt and ambiguity.
At least that was my impression as I'm pretty sure (not 100%) that one of my prior transactions, the "1 day" inspection period was closer to 0 hours than it was 24 hours (which as a seller I was very happy about). I really don't remember the exact time .. but I just remember thinking that indeed the "one day" was more of a logic flaw (not really a bug .. but kinda a case of bad communication and poor clarity).
I'm thinking maybe it was a side effect of them having one platform for all their transactions including physical products.
Besides .. if that were really the case where buyers could cancel within a "FULL" day, then there should be notices warning to not do any push or transfer with a 60 day lock (more than just in the TOS). But at the same time I think doing a push/transfer with the 60 day lock is far and away your best protection as a seller. Because in cases like this one, Escrow.com would have 60 days to figure it all out with the buyer, seller, and registrars involved, before the domain could be gone forever, re-transferred to some registrar overseas.
Anyhow .. I'll repeat again like a few days ago .. rather than speculating, guessing or arguing .. how about we simply ask Escrow what "1 day inspection period" actually means EXACTLY? (
@Jackson Elsegood? What say you on this matter? lol)
All that said .. regardless of everything everyone has said so far ..
Escrow.com needs to create a 0 day inspection option.
(Or otherwise allow us to remove inspection periods completely)
Unless "1 day" is like I suspect and actually means to include the current day .. which equates to no actual inspection period .. in which case that fact needs to be
SIGNIFICANTLY MORE clarified).
Because I certainly understand the need for an inspection period for most conventional products and services .. however .. in the case of "sold as is" domains with no promises of traffic/content, then an inspection period is just a needless potential loophole to be exploited.
