The Escrow.com api announcement.

[Kuffy]

What do you guys think of the latest email from escrow.com?

I think it is unfortunate that they include the comment about Ebay insisting that people use escrow puts them on a par with PayPal in my opinion.

 

[anantj]

Did not get the e-mail you referenced. Can you share it here?

Thanks

 

[xynames]

Yes I just read it. It’s more suited to larger transactions I’d imagine, because there would be a delay in seller getting paid and a bit more hoops for buyer to jump through what with having to approve the transaction, so I wouldn’t think parties would want to bother for small time purchases. Seems like they’re trying to assume the role of a credit card processor. I’m not clear on the fees (“as low as 0.89%”) - does that include the transactional cost of funding the escrow?

In a way all credit card transactions are escrows in that the buyer may dispute the payment.

 

[Kuffy]

In a way all credit card transactions are escrows in that the buyer may dispute the payment.

Surely if the buyer can dispute the payment or the transaction, then it is no longer an escrow. What is there to dispute in a domain name. Either it gets transferred or it doesn't.

 

[Asfas1000]

I won't overthink it, Escrow.com + Beta = No thanks

 

[xynames]

Surely if the buyer can dispute the payment or the transaction, then it is no longer an escrow. What is there to dispute in a domain name. Either it gets transferred or it doesn't.

Perhaps you are not understanding what this escrow.com announcement means. They are offering their services for any transaction, to use it as a sort of credit card processor, via API to link with your shopping cart for example, on your website selling goods. Indeed this announcement concerns using their services in lieu of a credit card processor, and would not be, I imagine, for domain sales at all, unless you want to use them for instant Buy it Now checkout on your site for domains. This is more applicable to general sales of most anything on the web.

Stepping back a bit, the way credit card transactions on the internet work, is with both a credit card processor and a gateway. The gateway is like your intermediary between the buyer and the processor. Most credit card processors do not connect directly to your website, a gateway is needed, a gateway such as for example authorize.net People get so used to something like PayPal that they forget that even with PayPal, still a gateway is needed, but the gateway is integrated into the PayPal already.

What escrow.com is offering here is to be both the processor and gateway, allowing you via API to connect directly to your shopping cart on your website for customer purchases.

Now, with any regular credit card transaction: A buyer who purchases something with a credit card may dispute the transaction for non-receipt, or claiming that the goods were not as described. There could be fraud involved in which case the credit card owner could claim that he did not do the transaction. In a regular credit card transaction there may be disputes for the goods. These disputes are called "chargebacks."

Conceivably, a chargeback could be done even for a domain sale, if for example a stolen credit card were used for the transaction. For the direct sale I mean. I think it'd be stupid, as you'd know exactly who used the stolen card by tracing to who got the domain, but still, it could happen.

What escrow.com is offering to do here is act as the intermediary for any credit card transaction, and handle any potential disputes so that you don't have worry about a chargeback. They verify the payment so that there could be no chargeback for buyer's payment. But in a way, still although there may no longer be a chargeback because escrow.com is assuring the payment, still there may be a buyer dispute. A buyer dispute for non-receipt, for not as described goods, etc. But what escrow.com will do here, is settle any potential dispute within the escrow period, while with a regular credit card transaction the buyer has a long time to dispute the transactions - typically 60 days to do a chargeback. THAT is what escrow.com is offering here, the ability to make certain that a transaction is settled within the escrow period, with no chance of dispute afterwards. This might be appealing to buyers since they will know that they must approve the goods before payment is released. But, even now, without "escrow" buyers still have ability to dispute the transaction afterwards, which is why I said that "In a way all credit card transactions are escrows in that the buyer may dispute the payment."

And again, you must stop thinking about only domain sales because this announcement is their "biggest announcement in 18 years" because it really goes beyond domain sales it is offering to step in and act like a credit card processor and gateway for all credit card transactions.

 

[Kuffy]

I understand all that xyz - the point I was making is that they no longer seem to be an escrow company. For a sale with escrow, I expect that control of the goods is not passed to the buyer until cleared funds are received. Cleared funds are things like cash, Bitcoin, bank drafts and registrar account payments. I thought that Escrow.com offered a similar guarantee, but it seems that they don't. PayPal can reverse a transactin for up to six months if they feel like it, and that is why I think the association is unfortunate. A PP payment is just an advance until the six months is up, and then the transaction can be confirmed.

 

[xynames]

With PayPal the buyer has 180 days to initiate a buyer dispute, true. A “friends and family” PayPal payment (we have those in the U.S., and abroad they are called a "personal" payment, and are available in certain countries) is essentially irreversible. But what does PayPal have to do with escrow.com ? The mention of eBay has nothing to do with PayPal, and eBay and PayPal have been separate companies for over two years now. Escrow.com is merely saying that you could now use escrow.com with eBay sales.

The rest of what you post - I can't even follow why you posted it, what it means or what the relevancy is. Escrow.com DOES guarantee the payment, the funds that is the point! You imply that they do not. With escrow.com once funds are verified, the buyer may dispute the transaction only on the basis of some issue with the goods received, or not received, and only for the period of the escrow inspection (length of escrow).

That is the service that escrow.com is offering here. That they will verify funds and leave open to dispute only issues that have to do with non-receipt of goods, or not as described goods, and only for the period (length) of the escrow - all done via API for use on any shopping cart on any website, apparently for any good or service.

As one of your colleagues just posted:

Kuffy as usual you make little to no sense.

 

[Kuffy]

My comments are biased towards the domain industry in this thread of course. The "sense" comes from the escrow announcement about Ebay's attempt to push buyers into insisting that the seller uses Escrow.com. Based on past performance, I assume that Ebay has shares in Escrow, or is looking to take over the company. They did this with PayPal, and look what happened to PP as a result.

Unfortunately I've deleted the mail, but I thought they mentioned PayPal in the mail, but I may have made this assumption. The association is still valid in my opinion though.