Is Escrow.com as good as a contract?

[melmunch]

I am trying to buy a name using escrow.com and I am wondering at what point it is necessary to have an actual contract for the sale, as opposed to the escrow agreement?
Is there a dollar amount that makes it worthwhile to do so for the added protection? Or perhaps, is the escrow.com agreement considered legally ironclad, and a separate contract is not worthwhile?

Thanks

 

[tekz999]

No, dont use escrow. Escrow contract only means the payment will be secured. They cannot enforce a seller to sell a domain, nor can they enforce the buyer to pay after agreeing to the transaction.

Get a contract for serious sales.

 

[IDEAS4]

when the buyer and seller agree on a price - that's a contract - but contracts are only as good as the two parties honesty. If it's for a lot of money - all things change.

What's even better is when the buyer sends escrow.com the money - and you send the domain and then get the money - It's a beautiful thing.

For buyers not members here - Doms over $1000 - I use Escrow - everything below that or DNFers - paypal.. Make sure the seller is actually the owner!
A

 

[GAMEFINEST]

Just deal with trustworthy, good feedback members, escrow.com works fine for me all the time...

 

[think]

I can only speak from my experience and I am no expert but there are situations where written contracts faxed between parties seem to carry more weight. I have never used these type of contracts when I have made purchases but I have had many buyers insist on them to protect them from fraud and misrepresentation. I have also done many $xx,xxx transactions just in the forums without escrow just because the members have been here a long time and have good trader rep. It comes down to a question of being a good judge of character. That said I've been burned a few times in the early days.

Back to your question I would say yes to written contracts over just Escrow.com if you are dealing with a company or person you are not familiar with and the sale is a big investment to you. It is becoming less common but domains still get stolen and resold. Sellers still misrepresent traffic and revenue statistics. Dishonest sellers may not disclose being contacted by companies regarding trademark problems. I have even bought a one character domain that showed up in Enom.com's whois but did not actually exist. It even showed in my account after the purchase but when I tried to access the DNS it would lock me out and I eventually lost my money and the fake domain.

If a seller is from overseas even with contracts it may be impossible to be reimbursed should complications arise. I consider it prudent to research the domains value and history before buying a domain from an unknown source. A domain's whois contact info should be accurate and complete. You should be able to contact the owner from this information.

Checking the history can be done at sites like Archive.org:
http://www.archive.org/web/web.php

Hope this helps and best of luck to you in your purchase.

C.T. Kirkpatrick
aka: Think

 

[steveatvillas]

I've used Escrow.com many times, for buying and selling from $100 to $50,000. It's a super clean and super safe service. And very reasonably priced in transaction cost, cheap, really, considering the service they provide.

Once you've struck a deal (buying or selling) either of you can initiate the escrow, and specify the terms. Then set up the transfer and send the money into them. They do the rest. It is a contract.

If it's a really small sum you're talking about Like $10 or $20, and you know the buyer then don't bother with Escrow.com as the minimum fee will be too great.

That's my $0.02 hope it helps.

Steve

 

[melmunch]

Thank you all very much for your insights. There is no real concern of statistical misrepresentation, or tm issues, so I am not worried about that. I am also as confident as I could be, that the name is not stolen.

 

[Gerry]

Escrow has worked flawlessly for me time after time. International currancy transactions may take longer (ie, paying with credit care then having to wait for that approval and then of course, once approved the currency exchange rate).

Beyond that, I have never had any issues with escrow.com...and that was not even an issue but just a delay with validating the CC and that funds were secured.

 

[BGray]

I really like Escrow.com for transactions.

Short of the downtime fiasco a few weeks ago I've never had a problem with them. There is some contractual verbage throughout the transaction process but if you're really concerned about it I'd get a lawyer to draft a contract up for you.

 

[SeanIM]

The one time I've used escrow for a domain was when selling one for 31k. The buyer was also in the US and we had a signed, notarized contract FEDEXed to each other. Honestly because I knew who it was that was buying I'd personally have felt fine with just using escrow without the additional contract, but there were other parties involved and items that needed addressing, such as NDA issues, etc...