Merry Christmas!
Lease-to-own domain sales, often abbreviated as “LTO,” are becoming popular among domain investors, that offer a flexible payment plan to their prospective buyers.
The option to pay for the acquisition of domain names in installments is not new but it’s the automation that wins customers. If the process is bulletproof then more domain investors are inclined to suggest it to their would-be buyers.
I’ve been a long time customer and user of Escrow.com and have also been using Dan.com since 2021. The former “Undeveloped” start-up was snatched up by GoDaddy at the peak of its demonstrated growth.
In recent months, I’ve been offering domains via the LTO plan at Dan, all while utilizing Escrow.com’s Domain Concierge plan.
Today I’m comparing Escrow.com and Dan.com for LTO transactions exclusively. Your mileage might vary and I’m not recommending one over the other—simply attempting to describe their differences.
Escrow.com implemented its Domain Concierge service several years ago and I’ve used it with great success repeatedly, but simply for the sake of ensuring that the domain is under the control of Escrow.com.
Using it for lease-to-own sales requires setting up one such transaction, creating a payment schedule.
Both parties are required to have active accounts at Escrow.com and the payment schedule involves selecting the number of months, up to 60 (5 years.) The seller can future-date the original due date for the first domain payment and the buyer is responsible for paying the fees up front.
With the Escrow.com Domain Concierge plan, the buyer, or the seller, or both parties can be responsible for the fees. If you want a zero cost solution, this is it.
Dan.com, on the other hand, offers zero fees to the buyer for LTO transactions that complete in 12 months or less. The cost to the seller is that negotiated on your contract, typically 9%. In my case it’s less.
What’s really impressive at Dan.com is the automation of the process, via the use of intelligent “bot” messages and prompts.
As soon as the first payment is made, you are prompted to provide the auth code for the domain, as LTO contracts require that the domain be transferred to Metaregistrar BV, a Dutch ICANN-accredited registrar Dan.com works with. The transfer is initiated and requires your approval. Once this completes, the bot will notify you about the payment schedule, which arrives on time.
Meanwhile, while there is extensive automation at Escrow.com, it’s handled via email, SMS messages, and internal notices. Some steps of the procedure might require manual intervention but it’s all handled by experts at Escrow.com rather swiftly. If the buyer misses a payment, notifications to both parties are sent out automatically.
Escrow.com is a licensed, bonded escrow business and requires compliance with the Know your Customer laws. It also sends out payments via ACH which means there are no fees to receive payments for the LTO plan to your US bank account. On the other hand, as Dan.com operates in Europe, funds arrive via bank wire and that means your bank’s wire fee schedule will bite into your earnings.
Overall, I’m impressed by Dan.com and its LTO automation and I’m looking forward to using it more in the future. In my first experience, I took some time to explain parts of the process to my buyer, although Dan.com describes the cost and steps involved in detail. Dan is owned by GoDaddy, the biggest domain registrar in the world.
Naturally, I will continue to use Escrow.com as the most trusted domain transfer service available globally. It’s well-established and operated by an organization with more than 20 years in the business.
In a nutshell, I advise anyone looking for a lease-to-own sales plan to try both services and find out what works best. My best wishes for a healthy, successful New Year!
For five year LTO, DAN.com’s effective Commission is 9% +15%(50% of additional 30%)= 24%, one of the highest in this industry.
First of all, Dan does not offer lease to town, they offer installment plans, Installment plan or financing plan and lease to own are related but legally different contracts! It’s illegal to promote something as lease to own but offer installment plans. With an installment plan, the seller has no legal recourse if the buyer goes bankrupt. It’s legally buyers domain name! With a lease to own, there must be a correct option price, otherwise it’s not a legal lease to own agreement, if it’s an illegal agreement, the seller has no recourse in any dispute,
Dan and others that are offering installment plans but calling them lease to own are going to destroy this industry. Both Mike Mann and now Dan are both lying to the buyers, and sellers!!