PayPal effectively says: Don't use us" - definitive reply

[Adventure]

I use sedo.com for all my domain sales. Even when the buyer contacts me directly, I'll negotiate with the buyer by phone or e-mail, and refer them to sedo to make the offer --- which I tell them I'll accept.

I do this for several reasons. I can't believe that a prospective buyer wouldn't type in the URL to see what was there, in this case a parked page with a link to the "For Sale" page on Sedo. I don't think it is good business to cheat the broker out of a commission.

Also, it is much easier for me! For 10% of the transaction, Sedo has been advertising the sale in their system, accepts the offers and bids, confirms all transactions, receives the funds and confirms its validity, deposits the funds, and handles the domain transfer and all inquires from the buyer. Sedo direct deposits the funds into our corporate account. I never even have to go to the bank!

If you want to deal with buyers directly, either accept checks in a specified currency and drawn on a specific country's banking system (watch out for phony bank checks), or use a bank wire. Bank wires have fees for sending and sometimes receiving, so you have find out the costs and negotiate who is going to be absorbing those costs.

With reference to PayPal, I think that many domainers are too hard on that firm. Yes, I think it is confirmed that you should not use PayPal for domain payment. It is not because PayPal doesn't want to earn a commission, it is because they were burned by disreputable domainers in prior transactions.

PayPal has performed an enormous service to small and medium size businesses conducting commerce on the internet! Before PayPal, it was impossible for a small business to get a merchant account at any bank. Totally impossible! The reasons were numerous, according to bank logic: It's a new business, it operates out of a house instead of a commercial office building, it conducts business on the internet instead of a store, it has low sales figures, etc, etc etc.

PayPal changed all that! Now, commercial banks are competing with each other to open merchant accounts so that totally new businesses operating out of homes can accept credit cards. Yet, PayPal is still a staple of companies with these merchant accounts, if for no other reason than buyers like the consistency and security of PayPal.

That's my .02 cents on some of the issues discussed.

---Ed

[thevirtual]

I use sedo.com for all my domain sales. Even when the buyer contacts me directly, I'll negotiate with the buyer by phone or e-mail, and refer them to sedo to make the offer --- which I tell them I'll accept.

I do this for several reasons. I can't believe that a prospective buyer wouldn't type in the URL to see what was there, in this case a parked page with a link to the "For Sale" page on Sedo. I don't think it is good business to cheat the broker out of a commission.

Also, it is much easier for me! For 10% of the transaction, Sedo has been advertising the sale in their system, accepts the offers and bids, confirms all transactions, receives the funds and confirms its validity, deposits the funds, and handles the domain transfer and all inquires from the buyer. Sedo direct deposits the funds into our corporate account. I never even have to go to the bank!

If you want to deal with buyers directly, either accept checks in a specified currency and drawn on a specific country's banking system (watch out for phony bank checks), or use a bank wire. Bank wires have fees for sending and sometimes receiving, so you have find out the costs and negotiate who is going to be absorbing those costs.

With reference to PayPal, I think that many domainers are too hard on that firm. Yes, I think it is confirmed that you should not use PayPal for domain payment. It is not because PayPal doesn't want to earn a commission, it is because they were burned by disreputable domainers in prior transactions.

PayPal has performed an enormous service to small and medium size businesses conducting commerce on the internet! Before PayPal, it was impossible for a small business to get a merchant account at any bank. Totally impossible! The reasons were numerous, according to bank logic: It's a new business, it operates out of a house instead of a commercial office building, it conducts business on the internet instead of a store, it has low sales figures, etc, etc etc.

PayPal changed all that! Now, commercial banks are competing with each other to open merchant accounts so that totally new businesses operating out of homes can accept credit cards. Yet, PayPal is still a staple of companies with these merchant accounts, if for no other reason than buyers like the consistency and security of PayPal.

That's my .02 cents on some of the issues discussed.

---Ed

Of course the Paypal system was a big step for ecommerce and small businesses on the internet, but they have not taken steps to improve their service. Paypal is not doing a service that other companies have and could probably do much better. The company which was bought by Ebay has become like a monopoly and the only choice for people buying and selling online. The reason why so many people use paypal is because they have no choice.

[tristanperry]

For >$250 domains, I'd try and go for Escrow if possible. Although it is pretty expensive, so the buyer may not even want to split the fees.

If the buyer is reputable, and their posting activity has been normal (i.e. they haven't been hacked or anything), PayPal should be fine.

If you don't know the buyer though, Moneybookers is a good bet.

As a non-US domainer, Escrow and wire transfers are pretty costly (for example to simply transfer the money to Escrow via wire would see my bank charge me at least $40 just to transfer the money).

[ScriptMonster.net]

I dont agree with escrow being fast, i had to wait 28 days for no reason for even escrow to confirm the deposit/funding from the buyer! When we both contacted them they could not give us a reason.

At the end of the day fellas, the best way tbh is to use wire transfer, or you could get on a plane and go get it cash in hand .

That way if any monkey business goes on you can give them a good bashing in person

[tristanperry]

I dont agree with escrow being fast, i had to wait 28 days for no reason for even escrow to confirm the deposit/funding from the buyer! When we both contacted them they could not give us a reason.

At the end of the day fellas, the best way tbh is to use wire transfer, or you could get on a plane and go get it cash in hand .

That way if any monkey business goes on you can give them a good bashing in person

What bank do you do wire transfers with? I'm with Halifax at the moment, although at £20/$40 per wire transfer (at least), I'm happy to seek out cheaper options.