Paying for a premium domain - Whats the best method???
 

I am purchasing a good .org domain and after agreeing on a price he sent me a Domain Name Assignment Agreement, which states.

Payment of the Transfer Price shall be in the form of cashier?s check, certified check, bank wire transfer, or company check (10 day delay on company checks to clear funds); for the amount of $X,XXX,XX U.S. Dollars and shall be made payable to: XXXXXXXXX

I don't know the guy from a hole in the wall, his info states a California address.

Should I tell him I prefer to pay a different way? I am looking for the best way to not get scammed. Should I insist on Moniker Escrow or Escrow.com?

Whats your opinion?

If you don't really know the guy, I would do escrow. Anything in $x,xxx honestly is probably best done through escrow unless you've done business with the person before. Since he's obviously fine with delays (like on checks), he should be fine with escrow delays. You may have to pay the escrow fees since he is offering other payment options, but it's worth it to avoid getting screwed. Escrow.com, Moniker and Sedo are all good options.

go with what you feel comfortable with. if he's legit he shouldnt have any issues catering to a smooth transaction

I would only do Escrow if you don't know him.

i only use escrow.com, i have bought about 20 domains using escrow and one moron tried to scam me and my money was safe thanks to escrow. I will use them forever now, well worth the small fees

Yeah I think I might ask him to do one of the Escrow methods. Does Moniker Escrow need you to fax cc authorization? Have not used it in a year. Escrow.com requires this.

This guy was a real negotiator so I played the game back and forth I was able to cut his original asking price in half.

I used Sedo recently, didn't need to fax CC authorisation. Fees were about $60 or 3% whichever is larger.

sedo.com I used them and it went pretty smooth

I really don't mind the extra fees, but it seems like faxing a copy of your cc and drivers license and signature seems like a lot of info. I guess if I go with the others I'll check the fax number 5 times, god forbid the # ends up in Nigeria. :helpme

escrow.com ........period

for sure now, I just searched his name, he is a domain speculator and has a bunch of stuff about domain disputes, most of the cases they ruled against him. He even had a issue with AOL.

escrow if you dont know him

Sadly, a lot of really successful domainers (i.e. more successful than ones like myself) have tons of UDRP etc. cases against them. Just saying that so you know it's not as rare as you think to see someone with lots of domain disputes and probably doesn't speak all that much to trust. There are some companies and domainers with unbelievable domain portfolios easily worth 8-9 figures with probably dozens of cases against them.

Regardless, for anyone you've never done business with, $x,xxx and even probably mid $xxx on up is best to proceed via escrow with.

Hell use escrow even if you do. Business goes smoother when no one is left on the honor system :thumbsup

That's true. Also note that some credit card companies won't protect you for non-physical items.

You have 3 options:

1 ) For small sums under $1k you can go through paypal, epass or normal check. Anyways, everything over $500 is a good idea to use escrow.

2 ) For mid sums between $1k and $20k use escrow.

3 ) For larger than $20k sums you can just send someone from your company with the proper papers to their office and do all the paperwork and contracts in place. Just tell your account guy to prepare all the needed contracts. After it's done you can even send your secretary. Usually I take the travel and use it as vacations traveling. Sending a live person for decent sums of money grants you the opportunity to know the purchasing company and probably deal some partnership with them in a future business. After all, if they are willing to pay a big sum for a domain then it's more than clear that they are generating money and business, so it's a good chance for you to know them in person :)

escrow.com rocks.. Recommend them for any domain deals. :-)

Escrow.com is recommended.

use escrow and don't think twice about it. There really is no way I would send someone a wire for that amount if I didn't know the person