So, you have found the perfect domain name for your business, it is for sale, and you cant wait to get it in your account and get started building and marketing. YES!
But then you think to yourself, "Wait a minute, I dont know this person. How do I know they actually own the name? How can I trust them? What if I pay them and I dont ever get the domain name?"
Your concerns are valid and prudent. Many buyers often feel embarrassed that they don't know how to verify ownership of a domain or don't feel comfortable or confident in buying a valuable domain name from a complete stranger. While we complete multiple domain transactions and ownership transfers on a weekly basis, for many of our buyers, they have only ordered an available domain name directly from a popular domain registrar. These are questions you need to ask, and you need to be confident in the seller's answers and transaction method before proceeding.
VERIFY DOMAIN OWNERSHIP!
First, to verify information on ownership, there are a number of web services that offer "whois" information lookups. You simply find a "whois" information website using your favorite web browser, enter the domain name in the search box, and the results should give you the name of the registrant, administrative, and technical contacts for the domain. The "registrant" is what we call the domain owner. "Whois" information will also have the contact email address for the domain, the address of record for the owner, and a phone number.
Sometimes due to privacy concerns, the owner of a domain will hide their identity and personal information by utilizing a "whois" privacy service. In these instances, it may be more difficult to verify ownership of the domain.
For the domains YESnames sells, we always have a web page set up with our direct contact information on the page. We also never utilize "whois" privacy so that you as a buyer may verify ownership by our company MOLTOV.
USE A TRUSTED DOMAIN NAME ESCROW SERVICE!
When buying a domain, especially when the value is over $1000 of your hard earned cash, it is always a good idea to utilize the services of a reputable and well established escrow service that can facilitate domain sales transactions.
Our preferred service for this purpose is Payoneer Escrow.
We have had an excellent experience with the ease of use, speed of transactions, and customer support from the team at Payoneer Escrow. It has been an affordable and reliable service and we highly recommend the use of this service when agreeing to a domain sales transaction. The escrow fees on transactions below $5000 are the best in the industry.
Another Alternative in the market is Escrow.com. This is the most well known and widely utilized internet escrow service. We also have used Escrow.com to close dozens of domain sale transactions over the last couple of years and we also believe they offer a great service to protect both sides of a domain transaction. Escrow.com does require some additional identity verification steps based upon the amount of the transaction. This has sometimes caused difficulties and delay particularly with larger or international transactions in our experiences. It is however a very established and solid choice to handle a domain transaction.
HOW DOES A DOMAIN TRANSACTION WORK?
Once the buyer and seller agree to a price and to initiate a transaction, the buyer will need to sign up with the domain escrow service of choice if not already set up and verified.
A domain escrow agreement is set up and both parties log in and agree to the transaction. The buyer submits payment to the escrow account. Payment options may be paypal or credit cards for lower priced transactions. Transactions over a certain amount will in most cases need to be paid by ACH bank transfer, International Wife Transfer or Certified Check.
There is a fee associated with the escrow service, and it is usually a very small percentage of the total purchase price (1.5-6.5% depending upon the final price and escrow company used).
Once the escrow company receives the payment, they instruct the seller to transfer the domain. The seller then will communicate with the buyer on completing the domain transfer and provide transfer codes or obtain information needed to push the domain to the buyers account with the same domain registrar.
After the transfer is completed, the seller will mark the domain as transferred and this starts a "review period" where the buyer can verify control of the domain, and once verified, can accept the transfer and approve the payout to the seller.
If the domain is not transferred, the buyer may initiated a dispute and the escrow company will hold payment until the dispute is investigated or until the transfer issue is resolved and the buyer accepts the domain and authorizes the payout.
This is the safest way to handle a domain transaction, and whether you buy from us, or from another domain owner, we highly recommend that you use a domain escrow service to protect yourself in these transactions.
So now that you are armed with information on how to buy a domain from a seller, go check out our portfolio at NamePerfect.com and find your perfect domain!