In the case of Brian Gordon, on Digital Point, I almost got scammed myself. But things just didn't add up. Including the fact that with Google maps, I couldn't find an Emeral(d) Dreams Drive in Princeton Illinois. I am not saying that Google maps is perfect, but the way he responded to my sale, the fact that his contact info didn't match the domain registration info for the domain in his signature, that he had only purchased services, and no domains up until that point, and the fact that he wanted me to push the domain first, then pay: Each one alone, not a big deal, but all together? I think the DP account had been hacked.
I was lucky, but there seems to be a lot of hacked forum accounts lately
I am sorry you got scammed. Good luck with the registrars and paypal.
Are there any best practices white papers for domainers? Any scam avoidance resources anyone has put together. I know we can learn a lot from the boards, but much of that info is sometimes scattered across dozens of posts among the hundreds of thousands of others. Is there any central repository for this info?
I also agree that a specialty escrow or clearing service is needed for this industry. Paying $25 to escrow.com for a $50 - $100 domain doesn't often make a lot of financial sense. Yet, they need to make a profit, and cover their costs, like insurance on the transactions, banking fees, trust management fees, legal fees, etc.
I have acquired a few domains for a domain escrow and clearing service and am considering getting involved in that kind of a venture.
What are the features necessary? What kind of pricing structure? Should it be an independent company, a co-op, run by an industry association, each registrar? Should domainers get bonded like other service providers? What about transparency, not just on the buyer side, but the seller side too? It's no longer just 'caveat emptor' -- sellers are getting scammed too.
I have my own ideas, of course. What do you think?
This kind of crap drove me away from this industry a few years ago, and may drive me and thousands of others away again.