Is there a UK based escrow service?

[mistermix]

I'm just about to buy a .co.uk domain from an individual in the UK.

I was looking for a good value escrow service but could only find escrow.com. Am I right to assume it will take a while to use their service because they are totally US based?

Sedo.co.uk also have a service but at 3% its way too much.

Is there a UK based service you guys can recommend? Or is escrow.com really the best option?

thanks

 

[Bailey]

I'm not sure about UK based. but lets be honest your not going to find an Escrow service less at less than Sedos 3%.

Escrow.com can complete in 48 hours providing the buyer sets the "inspection period" to 1day.

 

[rob]

If you are VATable then Sedo may charge your comission on that.

I would either operate off trust / agreement, or , use Escrow.com

I think Primey posted here recently saying Escrow.com = zero issues, Sedo = loads.

 

[mistermix]

thanks for the quick responses...

But escrow.com says they will convert all funds into $.

It will then be converted into £ when the buyer gets the money. This could eat up a few percent too?

If you guys have used escrow.com for uk to uk sales in £ - wasn't the currency conversion an issue? I can't really guarantee the buyer will get exactly the amount we agreed...

 

[Bailey]

True -Given it's all Stateside I must admit I probably wouldn't use Escrow in a £ to £ sale, Not unless it was a case of having to.

Have you checked out the domain seller on any of the domain boards, I personally like to speak to the other person on the phone, find out about their domain selling history etc - then move forward on trust.

You could try Pm'ing the transaction details to one of the old hands here. Rob or Edwin probably wouldn't mind given it a precautionary once over for you

 

[GreyWing]

Not UK based but Namedrive do it and the best I have had up to now.

 

[mistermix]

The domain owner isn't actually in the domain business. They are a bricks and mortar company and I approached them when I noticed they had this domain but weren't using it.

I've spoken to them on the phone and have decided to do it based on trust.

I'll no doubt come back here ranting and raving if it all goes wrong...

 

[GreyWing]

Pay on your credit card and you will have even more backup should it all go wrong.

 

[CannyInvestor]

Yes, there is a UK based Escrow service.
www.Transpact.com

It is FSA and HMRC registered.
And ideal for your purposes.

Always check that the escrow service you use is listed on an online Government register (Transpact.com is both on the FSA online register and the HMRC online register).

 

[Retired_member41]

Re transpact and hmrc and fsa registered, how does this guarantee any payments?

All it means is someone has sent some paperwork in, businesses like this are not covered under the financial compensation scheme, so where is the guarantee?

Plus its had a fair few name changes last couple of years.

I'm all for using a new service other than escrow, so if anyone can support this company that would be great.

 

[CannyInvestor]

Caz,
You are correct, the FSA registration doesn't count for much, although it does mean that money held separately for clients by Transpact.com is safe by law if the company ever becomes insolvent.
But the HMRC registration is much more important, as it means that HMRC have checked that both the company and each of its employees involved in money operation is 'Fit & Proper' to trade as a money transmitter.

Transpact.com is used by websites such as OfficeCavalry.com and MyArtBroker.com, without problem.

The two extra names used by Transpact are not extra names, but marketing tools, and there is no reason to question their use.

And money held in Transpact.com is covered by the FSCS if the bank the money is held in (HSBC at present) goes bust - Transpact.com has an official ruling from the FSA/FSCS confirming this.

 

[Retired_member41]

Lol being hmrc registered doesn't mean all the directors or employees have been checked out at all. You could be bent as a ten bob note with a credit score of 0 and as long as you haven't been banned by them before they accept everyone. Watching a few money laundering videos and signing to say you've watched it and will abide by the guidelines doesn't mean you've been checked out.

And to say that if hsbc goes bust the money is safe, although true is a nonsense.

You do show a good example though of how companies paste a few logos on their websites and say fsa. Hmrc BBC itv etc and kid themselves on they are whiter than white.

It may well be the case in most instances but looks rubbish to anyone with an ounce of business knowledge.

That company would be better selling itself more on the website rather than waving an fsa hmrc flag.

 

[Edwin]

CannyInvestor, from the sound of your posts it seems you work for Transpact.com. Is that the case?

 

[CannyInvestor]

Lol being hmrc registered doesn't mean all the directors or employees have been checked out at all. You could be bent as a ten bob note with a credit score of 0 and as long as you haven't been banned by them before they accept everyone. Watching a few money laundering videos and signing to say you've watched it and will abide by the guidelines doesn't mean you've been checked out.

And to say that if hsbc goes bust the money is safe, although true is a nonsense...

I think you will find that being HMRC registered does mean that all directors and employees involved in handling money have been individually checked out by HMRC.
I don't think HMRC's money-laundering team would agree with your assessment, but you are free to your opinion (we live in a free country, thankfully, and you can hold whatever opinion you like).

But why do you question the fact that on a bank failure, a client's money would indeed be covered by the FSCS.
It is true in this case.
Where is the nonsense in that ?

 

[Retired_member41]

Hmrc do not individually check each employee so whoever told you that is wrong. Even if it's the daft reps they use for their money laundering education scheme.

I do like your passion though and I'm now pretty certain you operate a solid business, but your eagerness shows big holes in your business acumen.

That will come in time though.

As for my nonsense comment about your hsbc example.

1. At present the fscs guarantees just 50,000

2. From December 31st it covers 100,000 plus anything you may get after the receivers have been in.

For any escrow service I see that as very little indeed. It may only be 4 or 5 decent domain transactions never mind any others from the different business areas you operate in.

But here is the BIGGY why I thought your comment was nonsense.

The maths don't add up.

Even if you charged a 5% fee and your turnover and for the sake of bank and fscs this includes your customers deposits was just £999,999 pounds a year.

Your commissions would oy be 50k

With the staffing you would need to operate i can't see 50k doing it.

I guess it would work though if you saw your deposits over the year as more than £999,999 and you charged flat fees it could then be a pretty lucrative business. And Now I've thought about it. Shouldn't greywing be doing this lol sounds like something he would be good at.

What do you forecast the amount of transactions you will make over the next few years? 2 3 million or more? It is a huge marketplace.

 

[CannyInvestor]

Caz,

I think you misunderstand how the FSCS works in the case of Transpact.com.

Because Transpact.com is holding client money in segregated client accounts specially for clients, then the FSCS works just as it does for solicitor client accounts and the client (not Transpact.com) is guaranteed by the FSCS should the bank fail.

So if there were, say, £500,000 in Transpact.com's client accounts made up of 50 amounts of £10,000 each, then FSCS would cover each of the £10,000 amounts for the individual client holders (the fact the money was held by Transpact.com would be irrelevant, and the FSCS would look through Transpact.com to protect the individual money holders). The above is subject to the normal FSCS exceptions (so if you already had £50,000 with that bank, for example, then you would not be covered).

 

[Retired_member41]

Ah ok, so if your company had a turnover of £1m or more, the only people excluded from the fscs would be you the company and not your clients?

So basically the way you have it set up, no one can actually lose their money unless fraud occured, which is the same everywhere.

I was just going to say, I hope you have some adwords for the term escrow, so just checked and bingo you do.

Well if anyone is mad enough to ever pay 10k for any of my domains, I will defo use you

Just a few website changes and your sorted then

 

[Pred]

i would use escrow every time normally
sedo will take ages getting back to you if emailing and theyre shut weekends which makes them a nightmare imho, they dont deserve the business

the big downside is $ to £ as people say

i haver been buggered a few times by barclays

lets use an example
if you get say $3000 for a domain and xe.com says it's say £2000 (for arguments sake) or any other online currency coverter

expect your bank to give you like £1500, not kidding
they work off a different exchange rate
banks truly are lowest form of life

shame paypal cant be trusted for people you just got approached by and have struck a deal with
chargeback too risky, nontangible goods etc

if it's a proper uk business buying, just get them to send a bankwire to you, then transfer domain

there are guarantees they have sending direct to a bank account, they can get a reversal if they feel unsafe or feel a scam has occurred, plus you have to jump through a lot of hoops to get a uk bank


if someone screwed you over and charged back a bank transfer for no reason just report to police as fraud, thats way i look at it
i feel very safe sending money to uk bank accounts and receiving

in fact whenever i sell via a non online platform, ie godaddy, forums etc, by email correspondance, i just bill them an invoice with my bank details
when it lands in my bank account they get domain

i have never had a problem. and most of my buyers are not brits. tend to be europeans, italy, france, germany, sometimes america

obviously europeans hit you with euro offers, i just tell them offers have to be in £, and when they send to my bank make sure they're clear to teller that it is in £ to arrive other ends

with yanks i tend to stick to $, as theyre a bit dense
i use escrow.com with them. they are happiest with that

 

[retired_member26]

Am I missing something here? Sedo just charges usual 10% escrow fee for my domain sales. Where do you get that 3% sedo escrow fee?

 

[Retired_member41]

3% is just when you use their escrow, not from a sale you have made via sedo.