First experience : Using the Escrow.com Domain Concierge service for domain transactions

As an Escrow.com customer for the past 15 years, I’ve been using its services exclusively for the acquisition and sale of domain names.

Exactly a year ago, Escrow.com launched its Domain Concierge service, soon after NamesCon 2016.

I’ve just completed my first transaction using the Escrow.com Domain Concierge, and this is a quick review of my experience.

Using the services of Escrow.com to facilitate domain sales sometimes requires an extra layer of peace of mind; in this case, I dealt with a corporate buyer, who did not want to perform a domain push within the current registrar.

At the same time, their choice of registrar is a Tucows reseller as opposed to an ICANN-accredited registrar, doubling as a web host. Therefore, their lack of trust was met by an equal amount of distrust from my end.

Looking into the Escrow.com Domain Concierge, I received positive feedback from the Escrow team, and was given advance details about the process.

During the exchange, the domain would be held by Escrow.com that would then facilitate the transfer to the buyer, allowing me to sit back and relax.

I explained to the buyer that a registrar transfer would be feasible, as long as they were willing to pay the higher fee for Domain Concierge; the sale involved a five figure transaction and the fee was a few hundred dollars, so they agreed to that. In the meantime, I advised them to begin the account verification process, which they completed without any issues.

To set up an Escrow.com Domain Concierge, one simply starts a new escrow transaction, selecting the option that says:

Yes, I would like assistance from escrow.com (extra fees apply)

Once the form is set up, communication is established with the Escrow.com personnel handling the Domain Concierge transactions.

When the funds arrived from the buyer and were secured by Escrow.com, I was advised to prepare the domain for transfer. At that point, I communicated with Escrow that the domain was to be pushed to their account within the same registrar; this was done, ensuring that the transfer lock was waived in the process. Emails from Escrow.com were very detailed, providing information about every step of the process.

The final communication with the Escrow.com Domain Concierge service team occurred quite late in the evening, past the typical office hours, and pushing the domain completed before midnight. Escrow.com confirmed that they were in possession of the domain, and my part of the transaction was complete.

The beauty of this process is not only that it’s far more secure, in my opinion, but also that the domain seller gets paid faster: the funds were marked for release as soon as the domain was in the possession of Escrow.com, all while the buyer was in the process of transferring it out to the registrar of their choice.

This asynchronous processing allows for a fast completion of domain transactions, while ensuring that assets and funds change hands securely, through the Escrow.com Domain Concierge service.

I will definitely utilize the same process in the future, as it allows me to facilitate sales faster and in a more secure manner.