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question Selling Domains Direct, Straight To Bank, No Escrow, No Marketplace?

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Has anybody sold a domain that way? I usually do it thru a Marketplace or Escrow. I have a buyer that said:

"This whole escrow thing doesn’t work at
all.

I run a company with $6.5billion
in transactions and it is the worst payment
site I’ve come across.

"If you can send your account details, we will transfer the funds to you and you can transfer the URL us."

It's a big company, I've checked them out.

Any downsides to that? I guess they would just need the same info the Escrow sites need, routing number and such, right?
 
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Well, you surely don't see that one every day.

The only scenario where I can see people getting cute is when you hand over your bank coordinates and some it is used it to run unauthorized ACH transactions against your account. That happens.

If it truly is the big company and you are receiving correspondence from an email that matches the domain name. Just make sure you can correspond back and forth with them at those addresses in order to validate not a spoof.

Many bigger companies ask for a purchase and sale agreement. However, when you are dealing with a high enough exec, they can just make the call and not worry about CYA to their boss.

You are a smart guy. If it smells legit, go for it. The downside is on them.
 
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Well, you surely don't see that one every day.

The only scenario where I can see people getting cute is when you hand over your bank coordinates and some it is used it to run unauthorized ACH transactions against your account. That happens.

If it truly is the big company and you are receiving correspondence from an email that matches the domain name. Just make sure you can correspond back and forth with them at those addresses in order to validate not a spoof.

Many bigger companies ask for a purchase and sale agreement. However, when you are dealing with a high enough exec, they can just make the call and not worry about CYA to their boss.

You are a smart guy. If it smells legit, go for it. The downside is on them.

Thanks. Yeah, it's a big travel company, offices all over the world. Email from the CEO, matching the site. They would send money first, then I would transfer name. I've just never done it that way but was thinking, he would just be asking for the same info I would supply to Afternic, GoDaddy, Escrow.com etc. to send money to my bank, routing info I suppose.
 
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Done deal.

The CEO is calling the shots. Deal Friday. The bank wire will be done in the AM by his EA. Congrats.

Rob
 
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If it's a big company and it's their CEO, and they will pay you first, and you transfer the name afterwards, there should be no problem in 95% of cases,

...providing you can check their profile on some credible venue (Linkedin or similar). and best is to communicate via such platforms as well, I prefer it to emails.

I personally would still prefer to go via some neutral third party - for example, if they do not like to go via Escrow, offer them to go via Dan.com for example - import the lead there, and it will cost you 5%, but it might give you another layer of assistance, if you feel this is better for you.

Or use another third party as per your choice. I just made a smaller sale few days ago, buyer wanted to go direct (also CEO of a company), but I rather imported the lead to Dan...just somehow felt it is more convenient for me, and I really do not care those 5%.

But given your circumstances, you can also proceed directly imo .. congrats to your sale :)
 
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Has anybody sold a domain that way? I usually do it thru a Marketplace or Escrow. I have a buyer that said:

"This whole escrow thing doesn’t work at
all.

I run a company with $6.5billion
in transactions and it is the worst payment
site I’ve come across.

"If you can send your account details, we will transfer the funds to you and you can transfer the URL us."

It's a big company, I've checked them out.

Any downsides to that? I guess they would just need the same info the Escrow sites need, routing number and such, right?

I've done it several times for 4 figure domains. Never had a problem.
 
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Yeah, does anybody know if you have to get verified at DAN? He's having trouble with verification at Escrow, forgot that over $3,000 you have to jump thru some extra hoops.He just contacted me. We'll see.
 
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Yeah, does anybody know if you have to get verified at DAN? He's having trouble with verification at Escrow, forgot that over $3,000 you have to jump thru some extra hoops.He just contacted me. We'll see.
As far as I know, if you start a new transaction in Dan's interface for him and the domain name, Dan will then send him immediately the email with payment instructions, and he will then pay. Ater he pays, you will be notified, and Dan will ask you to provide Authcode or do the push.

To start new transaction on Dan, you need to have following data:
Name and Surname of the Buyer, his phone number, and his email address
:)
 
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As far as I know, if you start a new transaction in Dan's interface for him and the domain name, Dan will then send him immediately the email with payment instructions, and he will then pay. Ater he pays, you will be notified, and Dan will ask you to provide Authcode or do the push.

To start new transaction on Dan, you need to have following data:
Name and Surname of the Buyer, his phone number, and his email address
:)

I'm still reading thru the Dan thread, I saw this:

"We do not. However, we do perform KYC on all first time sellers."

Know Your Customer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_your_customer

So if that's for the buyer as well, then I don't know. I guess it's the law, can't get around it, but it probably frustrates some buyers having to jump thru these hoops. He might get frustrated and ditch the sale. When somebody wants to buy a domain, they just want to whip out the CC or other payment method and pay, not send stuff in to get verified.
 
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PS: honestly I have not studied yet what are the levels of verification for buyers on Dan, but if he is CEO of legit and large company, chances are great he will pass the process very smoothly imo.

Btw, they are amazing team and will probably reach out to him directly in case something is not clear...they are fast, efficient, very friendly and very professional...so I do not think they will frustrate him .. give them a chance imo :)
 
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But..if you have good feeling about buyer, then just send him your bank account details and let him pay you first. Should be by wire transfer imo. as methods like paypal or cc can be subjects of chargebacks (in case someone later change the mind, and it can happen)

I really prefer to go via third parties though, as it is much harder for buyers to back off from the deals, (once they paid), as their are bound by TOS of third party provider...if you do deals directly with someone, you do not have this additional layer of protection (hence I rather pay those 5% personally). So it is really up to your judgement if you prefer third party or direct.
 
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But..if you have good feeling about buyer, then just send him your bank account details and let him pay you first. Should be by wire transfer imo. as methods like paypal or cc can be subjects of chargebacks (in case someone later change the mind, and it can happen)

I really prefer to go via third parties though, as it is much harder for buyers to back off from the deals, (once they paid), as their are bound by TOS of third party provider...if you do deals directly with someone, you do not have this additional layer of protection (hence I rather pay those 5% personally). So it is really up to your judgement if you prefer third party or direct.

I emailed him asking what the issues are and in the same email asked if he was talking about bank wire and what info he needed from me. He replied just telling me he couldn't get past the authentication page. I was in Live Chat with Escrow at the same time asking about cancelling. I emailed him back telling him over $3,000 he needs to get verified, also gave him the number to call them directly, maybe they can do it over the phone. So because he didn't reply to the question about bank wire, I think he could still be open to figuring the Escrow stuff out. So, will see in the next email. I would be fine with direct, just to even try it out and get some experience with it, have never done it that way. Then time zone issues on top of that, could be to bed already. I'm fine with either way, it's really up to him at this point. This should be easier.
 
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Escrow will require proof of corporation, pic of company seal, etc.. Pain in the ass.

Routing and account # are on every check. You can't start an ACH or wire from an account you don't own so it's not really a problem.
 
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Escrow will require proof of corporation, pic of company seal, etc.. Pain in the ass.

Routing and account # are on every check. You can't start an ACH or wire from an account you don't own so it's not really a problem.

Yeah, like I said, it's the same info I would have to give to these other places. I was thinking, why don't people do it this way more often, direct into bank. Of course it's because the buyer wants protection as well. They don't want to send big amounts and then worry about getting the domain. Hence Escrow and third parties/marketplaces/platforms.
 
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Use Epik or Dan. Since @Rob Monster is online, use the Epik E. and he will help you all the way ... (I do direct deals; signed contract first (via signnow), wire after.)
 
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Has anybody sold a domain that way? I usually do it thru a Marketplace or Escrow. I have a buyer that said:

"This whole escrow thing doesn’t work at
all.

I run a company with $6.5billion
in transactions and it is the worst payment
site I’ve come across.

"If you can send your account details, we will transfer the funds to you and you can transfer the URL us."

It's a big company, I've checked them out.

Any downsides to that? I guess they would just need the same info the Escrow sites need, routing number and such, right?

That's the only way I do it, I sell through my landers and then process any payment up to 10k directly through my company merchant credit card account. If it's over 10k I ask for a bank transfer or a certified cheque.

In Canada we also have e-Transfer of 3k per day and I often ask people to make multiple transfers. I even buy domains like that because there are no costs to an e-transfer.

Now as far as @Rob Monster cautioning you against unauthorized transactions, that can easily be mitigated. I have a dedicated transfer account that contains no more than $25 and when I receive funds in it I transfer them to another account. I never give the info of an account that has a lot of money in it.

The last part is a solid bill of sale specifying the domain remains your property until paid in full and has a no refund policy. Make sure to get that signed and any payment should have the domain name on it, I always insist upon that when I buy or sell.

When done right it is the most economical way of doing business and has almost zero risk. I mean when you think about it escrow is not going to give you any money back if there is fraud either so other than saving money I have had no down side.
 
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Use Epik or Dan. Since @Rob Monster is online, use the Epik E. and he will help you all the way ...

They already told me they want it at a specific registrar. With DAN, if we go from Escrow.com where they have to jump thru hoops, and they have to do the same thing at DAN, that could kill it. Might as well go thru the frustration just once, instead of twice. But I really haven't delved too deeply in the laws and KYC stuff so I guess these places have no choice if it's the law.
 
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That's the only way I do it, I sell through my landers and then process any payment up to 10k directly through my company merchant credit card account. If it's over 10k I ask for a bank transfer or a certified cheque.

In Canada we also have e-Transfer of 3k per day and I often ask people to make multiple transfers. I even buy domains like that because there are no costs to an e-transfer.

Now as far as @Rob Monster cautioning you against unauthorized transactions, that can easily be mitigated. I have a dedicated transfer account that contains no more than $25 and when I receive funds in it I transfer them to another account. I never give the info of an account that has a lot of money in it.

The last part is a solid bill of sale specifying the domain remains your property until paid in full and has a no refund policy. Make sure to get that signed and any payment should have the domain name on it, I always insist upon that when I buy or sell.

When done right it is the most economical way of doing business and has almost zero risk. I mean when you think about it escrow is not going to give you any money back if there is fraud either so other than saving money I have had no down side.

That's a whole lot of new stuff I would have to research. I use Efty and they have Stripe integration but then do I have chargeback concerns?

We'll see how this one goes, then I'm going to start researching some other solutions. I like things to run smooth as possible, want to get them thru the checkout process fast and smooth as well.

Lot more reading and research ahead.
 
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Yeah, does anybody know if you have to get verified at DAN? He's having trouble with verification at Escrow, forgot that over $3,000 you have to jump thru some extra hoops.He just contacted me. We'll see.

I was wondering the same thing. I have a lot of Escrow.com transactions fall apart because of their KYC rules that result in an undue burden for many buyers.

Brad
 
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Then I'm looking at Sedo Escrow again. I used to have parking pages going to Sedo to buy the domain. Never had issues. Escrow is 3% but if you have domains there, they charge you the 15/20% or whatever. So I guess I would have have to delete all my names or something. I have to reread all that again, it was always confusing to me that setup.

Sedo still has the most ridiculous Live Chat window I've ever seen:

Monday - Friday: 09:00 AM - 11:00 AM EDT

2 hours a day. Why even have it.
 
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That's a whole lot of new stuff I would have to research. I use Efty and they have Stripe integration but then do I have chargeback concerns?

We'll see how this one goes, then I'm going to start researching some other solutions. I like things to run smooth as possible, want to get them thru the checkout process fast and smooth as well.

Lot more reading and research ahead.

A good bill of sales and terms cover charge backs. I only had two and when I provided the bill of sale as evidence to my merchant account the funds were given back to me. On a charge back the funds go into a holding account until both parties have their say. One cannot really argue against an iron clad bill of sale and I never worried about the charge backs. I do over 1.5 million per year in one of my online stores and have thousands of transactions. Charge back attempts are easily taken care of with a good TOS (Terms of Sale) or a proper bill of sale. I apply the same principles to all my businesses and so far everything has gone perfectly and by so far I mean almost 20 years.
 
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A good bill of sales and terms cover charge backs. I only had two and when I provided the bill of sale as evidence to my merchant account the funds were given back to me. On a charge back the funds go into a holding account until both parties have their say. One cannot really argue against an iron clad bill of sale and I never worried about the charge backs. I do over 1.5 million per year in one of my online stores and have thousands of transactions. Charge back attempts are easily taken care of with a good TOS (Terms of Sale) or a proper bill of sale. I apply the same principles to all my businesses and so far everything has gone perfectly and by so far I mean almost 20 years.

Still thinking about it, but maybe this is an option. I have the middle plan at Efty. Pro plan has Stripe integration - https://blog.efty.com/customer-support/setting-up-your-stripe-integration/

Where I could take credit cards. And I would use it more for customers I trust and have researched. Or maybe just for everybody. Have to read about chargebacks, have to read if there is any hoop jumping, stuff like that.
 
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"If you can send your account details, we will transfer the funds to you and you can transfer the URL us."

It's a big company, I've checked them out.

What's the problem with doing a wire transfer?

In Canada we also have e-Transfer of 3k per day and I often ask people to make multiple transfers. I even buy domains like that because there are no costs to an e-transfer.

I love Interac e-Transfers. Does the US have an equivalent option?

As far as I understand, if you give someone your bank account number and name, bank's branch number, and a transit number, they can't take money out, they can only deposit money to that account.
 
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What's the problem with doing a wire transfer?

None. I've never got paid like that, but I'm fine with trying it out. Have to wait to see what route he wants to take. Could be asleep, might have quit the deal, might be talking to Escrow on the phone and go that route, might take the direct/wire route. I'm sure I'll know more tomorrow.
 
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