New escrow service coming in December.
Cybertonic, the company behind Domaining.com, is readying a new domain name escrow service at eCOP.com. The service appears to be only for domain names sold for $5,000 or less and will charge a flat $25 fee.
eCOP will not take ownership of the domain name and will only be an intermediary to hold the money until the domain name is transferred. Focusing only on smaller domain name transactions is an interesting idea and I’ll be curious to see how this plays out.
Cybertonic’s Francois Carrillo is certainly a busy guy right now. Within the past couple weeks he has launched two new marketplaces: MatureNames.com for adult domain names and LocationDomains.com for geographic location domains.
Hal Meyer says
Licensed, insured, bonded?
If something goes wrong, what recourse do Americans have with a company based in France?
DR.DOMAIN says
Is’nt this space already occupied by ESCROW.COM?
Francois says
The same recourse an Italian has with a company based in US, or an Irish with a company based in Japan, …
…
If you visit eCOP.com you will notice secure domain sales is just one of the service we will provide. Today nobody else secure domain exchange or domain lease or complex domain transaction. So no, this space is NOT already occupied.
RH says
You really did not answer the question. Personally I don’t care about the Italian citizen recourse. And how are you securing anything. What are you doing if the person sells a stolen domain, or the person pulls some other scam ? How are you specifically securing the transaction ? Thank you
Louise says
In the world of expensive, slow domain escrows, I welcome a new player who is Francois, a proven, trustworthy entity who has already built a reputation, and is offering escrows at low flat fee! More power to Francois!
Adam says
He’s starting another site?! He can’t keep track of the ones he got. I upgraded my catchy.com account months ago and the status never changed. Out $10, won’t return emails and now that site’s contact page doesn’t work. Spread a little too thin maybe?
Francois says
Adam:
We are moving Catchy.com to the Cax.com format so you are right, the contact link was apparently broken, I am sorry. Try again and for sure we’ll be happy to assist you with any issue you may have.
RH:
First I want to outline that NOBODY offering escrow service today can know if a domain has been stollen or if the email of the registrant has been hijacked.
I have made the experience personally with the major existing escrow services.
Now what is possible to do and that should refrain possible scam and facilitate police investigations if a case appear is:
– Ensure the registrant WHOIS email is aware of the domain transaction and accept it.
– Ask a copy of the ID plus a recent utility bill for first time customers.
Now if you have something in mind that may help increase safety you are most than welcome to expose it.
Now Just One Minute says
While I give Francois credit for what he has created to date; and it is impressive; offering an escrow service where he accepts money (even if he doesn’t take ownership of the domains) requires state licensing (including insurance & a bond) in most if not all the states of the US.
Just ask Escrow.com what they had to go through a few years ago in order to operate legally.
And this legal nexus is based on where each domain buyer and seller maintains their legal residence; i.e. if the buyer or seller is in California, California state laws, etc apply to the escrowing agent.
Limiting the dollar amounts to 5k or less does not excuse him from meeting all applicable laws, rules, and regulations.
What he needs to do before he finds himself buried in legal actions is hire a US-based business/escrow specialist attorney to do this correctly.
I assume many if not most other countries, states, etc have similar requirements.
Holding money for others is no small matter.
As I am not a lawyer, this is not legal advice.
Louise says
@ Now Just One Minute, It’s a good point. Cax has alreay had payments transferred to it to hold until the domain changes hands. There must be an informal definition of what it is, without being, “escrow.” Sort of like consignment: the shopholder handles the transaction in behalf of the contributor, keeps a percentage, and hands over the $$ later, albeit, when the contributor comes in to pick it up!