How to sell a domain name?

Hi all,

I was wondering if anybody had any advice on the process of selling a domain name. I have a buyer from a different country that is willing to pay a rather large sum of money for the handover of this domain name...

...any tips on transferring the domain. Should I wait until I receive the money? Should I give them full access to my account to change the dns and ip settings? I have set the transaction up using escrow.com.

Regards

Antony Ribot

[DotComster]

Rule #1 - wait till you recive the money.
The rest, the buyer can do themselves later.

Originally posted by ribot
I have set the transaction up using escrow.com.

I don't understand the question. Just follow the instructions on escrow.com, they have special ones for domain names (unless they've changed it recently).

[Gail]

Originally posted by DotComster
Rule #1 - wait till you recive the money.
The rest, the buyer can do themselves later.

Ditto!
... in spades!

...but I'm talking about that the client is contacting me directly and asking me these types of questions. Escrow doesn't deal with the exact transfer of domains, they only deal with the business deal in general.

thx.

ribot

[adoptabledomains]

Originally posted by ribot
Hi all,

I was wondering if anybody had any advice on the process of selling a domain name. I have a buyer from a different country that is willing to pay a rather large sum of money for the handover of this domain name...

...any tips on transferring the domain. Should I wait until I receive the money? Should I give them full access to my account to change the dns and ip settings? I have set the transaction up using escrow.com.

Regards

Antony Ribot

I don't think you want to know how to "sell" a domain, escrow.com will handle that part for you. I think you want to know how to "transfer" ownership of a name. For that you'll need to read the procedure at the registrar of the name. Some require notarized paperwork, most just require sending the name to a new account at the registrar and sending the new owner the login name and password. Don't do any of that until escrow.com confirms the payment is received.

Mention the registrar and you may get more detailed info on the transfer process.

[Banned: timechange.com]

My 2 biggest sales involved sales of domains to overseas (Singapore and UK). Both were to brick and mortar companies, not individuals.

adoptabledomains - you're right, I'm not in need of sales info, I'm in need of transfer info. Thanks for clearing that out.

The current registrar is gandi.net. Are the a good company to use for transfering domains?

Thank you very much for all the help you've given me!

Ribot

[adoptabledomains]

I've never used Gandi, but a quick search brings up this page:
http://www.gandi.net/faq/modifications.html.en

It appears they have three qualities that make them unfriendly to domains sellers:

• They charge a transfer fee.
• You cannot transfer yourself online.
• They require paper documents be mailed.

Unless you've registered the domain in the last 60 days, it may be easier to transfer the domain in your name to a more friendly registrar, then do the ownership transfer. It seems they charge a $12 transfer fee. You can transfer to many registries like openSRS, Registerfly.com, GoDaddy.com or others for about $10 including an added year of registration, then do an immediate ownership transfer under their policy that charges no fee and requires no paperwork.

Good Luck.

adoptabledomains - Thank you very much for the information!!! You've probably saved me a great deal of time.

Thanks

Ribot

[DomainPairs]

If you get stuck, you can transfer it to a sub account of mine at OnLineNIC. You can have your own control page and change everything including the registrant details for no extra cost. You have to pay for an extra years reg though. This is under $10 or DN$850. PM me for the exact amount.

[Ari Goldberger]

One warning about using any escrow service. Although I have had smooth experiences in most cases, one problem with some escrow services is that the buyer has to "approve" the receipt of the "merchandise," even after the whois shows buyer as registrant. I know of one situation where a buyer did not approve the transaction after name was transferred to it, claiming a trademark to the domain. We then had to settle the deal for less. So, just be careful.

[chatcher]

I know of one situation where a buyer did not approve the transaction after name was transferred to it, claiming a trademark to the domain. We then had to settle the deal for less.

Are you willing to say which escrow service was involved? Or more specifically, was it escrow.com?

I would think having a trademark would not be grounds to invalidate the previously agreed upon terms of the escrow contract, and that unless the domain name was returned to the seller, the escrow company would eventually release the funds to the seller. (I can certainly understand a delay in payment in a case like this.)

But then again, many things in the real world do not fit my notion of how things should be...

Ari Goldberger - that's exactly what I'm afraid of...It's easy with items that you can actually deliver via registered post...but domain names unfortunately cannot be packaged this way.

If the transaction was to be made to a company in the same country as I, I also wouldn't be as bothered.

This will be the first time I will be using any type of escrow service (specifically: escrow.com).

Regards

Ribot