Trust is earned, not bought

When engaging in a domain transaction without using escrow services, one needs to be 100% certain that the other party is going to fulfill their part of the deal.

The trust factor kicks in, but how do you trust someone from behind an Internet connection?

Domainer communities, such as DNForum and Namepros, utilize a “trader rating” that reflects on the user’s professional activity. With every successful transaction, the rating increases. Screw up once and negatives begin to show up; until your tracking record essentially decides your eventual banishment from the community.

With 676 positive transactions and a perfect 100% score as the very top domainer at DNForum, I believe I’ve earned the trust of other members by addressing each and every transaction as if it were accompanied by a handshake. It took a little over eight years to achieve this score, having held the top spot since 2007, and I intend to cross the 1,000 mark sometime in the future.

These days, many sellers that I’ve done business with time and again, will push the domains to my registrar account without waiting for the payment to arrive. I don’t expect that, but I definitely appreciate the gesture as it reflects on my trust score.

Thus, trust is earned, not bought.

I’d like to thank Adam Dicker for providing and maintaining DNForum as the top domainer community and forum for domain professionals.