Anyone used Escrow before?

Furton · 28 Feb 2006 at 21:15

Been offered $1500 for a domain I owe and don't even use, I'm going to accept the offer but want the buyer wants to pay via Escrow. I've never used this service before and have no idea if I can get scammed out of my domain or not by this.

From what I understand they hold the money for the product (the domain in this case), until they verify the product, however as far as I know, after I've transfered the domain over there's no way of getting it back, and the buyer could just refuse the release the money, what would happen then?

Any thoughts on this?

Adz · 28 Feb 2006 at 21:20

Which Escrow company do they propose to use?

Siliconslave · 28 Feb 2006 at 21:21

if your going to use it make sure its a widely recognised service, not some dodgey site hes just set up to look like a seperate company. Apart from that if hes paying the fees i wouldn't worry too much about it.

Al Vallario · 28 Feb 2006 at 21:27

Furton said:
From what I understand they hold the money for the product (the domain in this case), until they verify the product, however as far as I know, after I've transfered the domain over there's no way of getting it back, and the buyer could just refuse the release the money, what would happen then?

Any thoughts on this?

Logic says in that case you'd appeal to the escrow company, with adequite proof that you've transferred the domain, and they should release the money to you.

Make sure it's you who chooses the escrow company though, don't let the buyer choose his best mate's fake escrow site he set up last week. Research user opinions on said escrow services, and ask yourself if your domain is really worth $1500 to this person

chopchop · 28 Feb 2006 at 21:31

tell them you dont want to use escrow. they can send you cheque, paypal, nochex and bank transfers. if they really want the domain, they WILL pay by another method!

Adz · 28 Feb 2006 at 21:50

chopchop said:
tell them you dont want to use escrow. they can send you cheque, paypal, nochex and bank transfers. if they really want the domain, they WILL pay by another method!

...or he could lose the chance to make $1500 from a domain he doesn't want. Insist they use escrow.com and pay the fees themselves. I sold a domain for substantially more than that through the aforementioned site and it was one of the easiest transactions I've ever made.

chopchop · 28 Feb 2006 at 22:21

Adz said:
...or he could lose the chance to make $1500 from a domain he doesn't want. Insist they use escrow.com and pay the fees themselves. I sold a domain for substantially more than that through the aforementioned site and it was one of the easiest transactions I've ever made.

well if he uses the proper site then i guess its ok, just there are/were loads of dodgy escrow sites that are there to rip people off.

Furton · 28 Feb 2006 at 22:48

Didn't know there were more than 1 escrow sites, I've only looked at escrow.com, is this generally the best, most reputable?

alexakasloth · 28 Feb 2006 at 22:49

Is this person offering you $1500 perhaps nigerian?

ste_bla · 28 Feb 2006 at 23:07

Just make sure you know which $ it is they are offering ie;

NZ/Aust/Usa/E.Caribbean/Jamaican...

PinkPig · 28 Feb 2006 at 23:15

Furton said:
Didn't know there were more than 1 escrow sites, I've only looked at escrow.com, is this generally the best, most reputable?

As far as I know, yes. Certainly the most well-known. It's a very common scam for someone to try and get you to send your money to a fake escrow site set up somewhere.

Sanzy · 28 Feb 2006 at 23:17

whats the domain name?

Furton · 4 Mar 2006 at 14:57

suicidle_tramp said:
Is this person offering you $1500 perhaps nigerian?

I have his full name, and it's not Nigerian.

Just make sure you know which $ it is they are offering ie;

NZ/Aust/Usa/E.Caribbean/Jamaican...

It's stated as US Dollars

whats the domain name?

tgnetwk.com

Which confuses me a bit, since it's not really too popular.

alexakasloth · 4 Mar 2006 at 15:05

Only accept under these conditions:

-You keep it until it has cleared and
-It cannot be charged back (i.e. they can't get the money back without going through you). TBH I wouldn't go through an escrow site.

Siliconslave · 4 Mar 2006 at 15:15

Furton said:
tgnetwk.com

Which confuses me a bit, since it's not really too popular.

erm.... that seems to be a defunked gamers comunity, very dodgey. Only go ahead if you can pick the escrow, or you use escrow.com itslef

molar · 5 Mar 2006 at 13:27

Any updated on this? Just interested to know if it was a scam or not?

Chronos-X · 5 Mar 2006 at 14:16

Blatant 419. They'll dupe you out of the domain, send you too much and ask for the "change" - etc.

Be very, very careful. I would get cleared funds first.

Furton · 5 Mar 2006 at 15:26

He's initiated the escrow.com transaction process, however I'm still dubious about the whole thing.

daz · 5 Mar 2006 at 16:03

Just for the record, there's nothing wrong with accepting Western Union.
Except it looks like you are a scammer.

Al Vallario · 5 Mar 2006 at 16:22

Chronos-X said:
Blatant 419. They'll dupe you out of the domain, send you too much and ask for the "change" - etc.

Be very, very careful. I would get cleared funds first.

I highly doubt Furton is going to be a victim of the "send too much money, ask for change" scam if he's using an escrow service which waits for cleared funds.

Other than that, what has he got to lose and what has the "scammer" got to gain? An $8/year domain name? Hardly the scam of the century!