I’m not a Catholic, so quick disclaimer: the reference to a “Purgatory” does not intend to offend, nor is intentionally religious.<\/p>\n
Going by the definition of Purgatory:<\/p>\n
“A place or state of suffering inhabited by the souls of sinners who are expiating their sins before going to heaven.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Very recently, I sold a domain through the Domain Name Sales<\/strong> marketplace; the negotiation took a while to materialize, but once the transaction started at Escrow.com<\/strong>, things moved along fast.<\/p>\n
Escrow.com received the payment wire, and I created a new retail account with Fabulous<\/strong>, its current registrar. I’ve found that this approach – handing over a username\/password pair<\/em> – works well and eliminates the need to wait extra for a transfer to complete.<\/p>\n
Once I created the account with the buyer’s credentials, I confirmed the domain was in it and updated the Escrow.com process.<\/p>\n
The next day, the buyer send an email stating that the domain was inaccessible, and followed up with a screenshot from within their account at Fabulous. More emails followed, showing that the domain was no longer in their account. They stated that they had not been able to initiate a transfer out either.<\/p>\n
Every WHOIS tool I used to query the domain’s status, returned an ominous message, with a typo to boot:<\/p>\n
“Sorry, this server does not host that domain.\u00a0 Please use the root server to find this domain’s authorative whois server”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
A mini panic ensued. I wanted to make sure there was no malicious gaming of the process by the buyer, located in eastern Europe, although no such indication existed prior to this glitch.<\/p>\n
The first thing I did was respond to their communication and copied the Escrow.com support account on the exchange. They’ve been very helpful in the past, and I followed up with a phone call to explain what is going on.<\/p>\n
I also called Verisign<\/strong>‘s support department; as managers of the particular TLD, they were able to assure me that the domain was alive and well, locked in place, and not in any pending transfer, or – god forbid<\/em> – deletion mode. I was particularly impressed by Verisign’s professionalism at the time.<\/p>\n
Engaging Fabulous.com in the exchange was also a smooth process, but due to the 15 hour time difference things were offset throughout the day. Meanwhile, my buyer politely expressed his frustration more than once, having anticipated a prompt exchange.<\/p>\n
I was now coordinating feedback from three separate timezones plus my own, and the domain was in limbo, somewhere.<\/p>\n
Early next morning Aussie time, I called Fabulous.com and explained the situation. Initially, I was told that the domain was already gone, en route to an unspecified registrar.<\/p>\n
Within moments, however, Fabulous located the issue; a display glitch, that had rendered the domain unavailable to the buyer’s account, all thanks to a small omission on my part: I had not included a ZIP code, as the buyer did not provide one. Due to the lack of a ZIP or postal code, I had punched in a “dash” that somehow sent the domain’s account into a special place, unable to manage its domains properly.<\/p>\n
Fabulous fixed the issue in seconds, and responded to the multi-recipient support email, confirming the updated status for the domain.<\/p>\n
I’m happy to have been able to resolve this minor headache in only one extra day, through my direct communication with all parties involved: Escrow.com<\/strong><\/a>, Fabulous.com<\/strong><\/a>, Verisign<\/strong><\/a> and the buyer. Keeping the process streamlined and the buyer happy is how I do business, and this incident ended to everyone’s satisfaction. I’m grateful towards the people providing the technical support, as well.<\/p>\n
As a footnote, it feels strange to acknowledge that while domain names are digital entities stored in a technological realm, we can most definitely view them as “souls” – ghosts in the machine<\/em> – and this one appears to have stayed in the Purgatory for a short while. \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’m not a Catholic, so quick disclaimer: the reference to a “Purgatory” does not intend to offend, nor is intentionally religious. Going by the definition of Purgatory: “A place or state of suffering inhabited by the souls of sinners who are expiating their sins before going to heaven.” Very recently, I sold a domain through […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,193,10,1236,424,1189,835,274,359],"class_list":["post-4916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-domains","tag-acro","tag-acronet","tag-acroplex","tag-domain-purgatory","tag-domain-sales","tag-domains","tag-escrow-com","tag-fabulouscom","tag-verisign","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n
Domain Purgatory exists : Just ask Escrow.com, Fabulous and Verisign<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Domain Purgatory exists : Just ask Escrow.com, Fabulous and Verisign\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/domain-purgatory-exists-just-ask-escrow-com-fabulous-and-verisign\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Domain Purgatory exists : Just ask Escrow.com, Fabulous and Verisign\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Domain Purgatory exists : Just ask Escrow.com, Fabulous and Verisign\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/domain-purgatory-exists-just-ask-escrow-com-fabulous-and-verisign\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Acro.net - A Domain Investing Blog by Theo Develegas\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-12-03T20:40:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-12-03T20:46:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Theo Develegas\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Theo Develegas\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/domain-purgatory-exists-just-ask-escrow-com-fabulous-and-verisign\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/domain-purgatory-exists-just-ask-escrow-com-fabulous-and-verisign\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Theo Develegas\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9c9625f061a0e603a87f5bf0f6f781fe\"},\"headline\":\"Domain Purgatory exists : Just ask Escrow.com, Fabulous and Verisign\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-12-03T20:40:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-12-03T20:46:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/domain-purgatory-exists-just-ask-escrow-com-fabulous-and-verisign\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":680,\"commentCount\":3,\"keywords\":[\"Acro\",\"Acro.net\",\"Acroplex\",\"domain purgatory\",\"domain sales\",\"Domains\",\"Escrow.com\",\"Fabulous.com\",\"Verisign\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Domains\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/domain-purgatory-exists-just-ask-escrow-com-fabulous-and-verisign\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/domain-purgatory-exists-just-ask-escrow-com-fabulous-and-verisign\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/domain-purgatory-exists-just-ask-escrow-com-fabulous-and-verisign\\\/\",\"name\":\"Domain Purgatory exists : Just ask Escrow.com, Fabulous and Verisign\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-12-03T20:40:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-12-03T20:46:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9c9625f061a0e603a87f5bf0f6f781fe\"},\"description\":\"Domain Purgatory exists : Just ask Escrow.com, Fabulous and Verisign\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/domain-purgatory-exists-just-ask-escrow-com-fabulous-and-verisign\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/domain-purgatory-exists-just-ask-escrow-com-fabulous-and-verisign\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/domain-purgatory-exists-just-ask-escrow-com-fabulous-and-verisign\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Domain Purgatory exists : Just ask Escrow.com, Fabulous and Verisign\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Acro.net - A Domain Investing Blog by Theo Develegas\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9c9625f061a0e603a87f5bf0f6f781fe\",\"name\":\"Theo Develegas\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6794630c371bee89f2b833c1f4b777d9ba75767b217c8fce2cfd6e6d7d90960d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6794630c371bee89f2b833c1f4b777d9ba75767b217c8fce2cfd6e6d7d90960d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6794630c371bee89f2b833c1f4b777d9ba75767b217c8fce2cfd6e6d7d90960d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Theo Develegas\"},\"description\":\"Theo Develegas - News and opinions on domain name investing, brand development, design, and the occasional rant or two about life's challenges. Founder of Acroplex LLC.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/acroplex\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/admin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Domain Purgatory exists : Just ask Escrow.com, Fabulous and Verisign","description":"Domain Purgatory exists : Just ask Escrow.com, Fabulous and Verisign","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/domain-purgatory-exists-just-ask-escrow-com-fabulous-and-verisign\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Domain Purgatory exists : Just ask Escrow.com, Fabulous and Verisign","og_description":"Domain Purgatory exists : Just ask Escrow.com, Fabulous and Verisign","og_url":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/domain-purgatory-exists-just-ask-escrow-com-fabulous-and-verisign\/","og_site_name":"Acro.net - A Domain Investing Blog by Theo Develegas","article_published_time":"2015-12-03T20:40:04+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-12-03T20:46:37+00:00","author":"Theo Develegas","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Theo Develegas","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/domain-purgatory-exists-just-ask-escrow-com-fabulous-and-verisign\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/domain-purgatory-exists-just-ask-escrow-com-fabulous-and-verisign\/"},"author":{"name":"Theo Develegas","@id":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9c9625f061a0e603a87f5bf0f6f781fe"},"headline":"Domain Purgatory exists : Just ask Escrow.com, Fabulous and Verisign","datePublished":"2015-12-03T20:40:04+00:00","dateModified":"2015-12-03T20:46:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/domain-purgatory-exists-just-ask-escrow-com-fabulous-and-verisign\/"},"wordCount":680,"commentCount":3,"keywords":["Acro","Acro.net","Acroplex","domain purgatory","domain sales","Domains","Escrow.com","Fabulous.com","Verisign"],"articleSection":["Domains"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/domain-purgatory-exists-just-ask-escrow-com-fabulous-and-verisign\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/domain-purgatory-exists-just-ask-escrow-com-fabulous-and-verisign\/","url":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/domain-purgatory-exists-just-ask-escrow-com-fabulous-and-verisign\/","name":"Domain Purgatory exists : Just ask Escrow.com, Fabulous and Verisign","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-12-03T20:40:04+00:00","dateModified":"2015-12-03T20:46:37+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9c9625f061a0e603a87f5bf0f6f781fe"},"description":"Domain Purgatory exists : Just ask Escrow.com, Fabulous and Verisign","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/domain-purgatory-exists-just-ask-escrow-com-fabulous-and-verisign\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/domain-purgatory-exists-just-ask-escrow-com-fabulous-and-verisign\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/domain-purgatory-exists-just-ask-escrow-com-fabulous-and-verisign\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Domain Purgatory exists : Just ask Escrow.com, Fabulous and Verisign"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/","name":"Acro.net - A Domain Investing Blog by Theo Develegas","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9c9625f061a0e603a87f5bf0f6f781fe","name":"Theo Develegas","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6794630c371bee89f2b833c1f4b777d9ba75767b217c8fce2cfd6e6d7d90960d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6794630c371bee89f2b833c1f4b777d9ba75767b217c8fce2cfd6e6d7d90960d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6794630c371bee89f2b833c1f4b777d9ba75767b217c8fce2cfd6e6d7d90960d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Theo Develegas"},"description":"Theo Develegas - News and opinions on domain name investing, brand development, design, and the occasional rant or two about life's challenges. Founder of Acroplex LLC.","sameAs":["https:\/\/acro.net","https:\/\/x.com\/acroplex"],"url":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4916\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}