Who pays the Nominet transfer fee?

Richard K · Mar 4, 2020

I know that both DomainLore and UK Backorder provide for the Buyer to pay the transfer fee, but what if it isn't an auction sale and the parties never addressed the question of who would pay the transfer fee when they agreed a price?

Is there any general presumption, in one direction or the other, as to which side should pay the transfer fee? (My guess is probably no!)

Thank you
Richard

boxfish · Mar 4, 2020

Buyer

Siusaidh · Mar 5, 2020

If we hadn't a agreed who should pay the transfer fee in advance, I would offer to go half-and-half.

I agree that it should be the buyer, but if someone is new to domaining and doesn't know it's usually the buyer who pays, then you could be left with them feeling a bit ripped off, and is that really what you want in a transaction, when half-and-half is just £6?

It would have to be a really cheap sale for the transfer fee to seem like it was something worth losing goodwill over. Like if I was selling the domain for £6 then I guess paying the transfer fee and ending up making a loss would be a bit sub-optimal!

But generally speaking, I think goodwill matters in any kind of business. They could come back and buy from you again, and also you don't want someone bitching about you to others. Reputation for decency is a positive I think.

I've seen a lot of that decency with people here in fact, and also, with trust established, certain individuals here have cut me some really good arrangements.

Richard K · Mar 5, 2020

Thanks Susannah – I entirely agree, and in fact I'd already decided to pay 100% of the transfer fee given that this is the most valuable domain sale I've had since I started and the Buyer has been really nice and helpful from the start.

This does lead though to a broader question, which is simply a matter of curiosity on my part and there may not really be an answer. The question is this:

Why is there this general presumption that it falls to the Buyer to pay the transfer fee?

I find this very odd. At its purest level, people buy domains in order to use them (not just for speculation), and I would have expected the market practice to reflect that.

The Seller in these cases is much more likely to know about transfer fees than the Buyer is. Surely it is only to be expected that an "end user" Buyer who has agreed to pay £1k for a domain will not then be hit by an extra charge which the Seller knew about but never mentioned?

Anyway, that's enough from me for now!
Richard

Nigel · Mar 5, 2020

It's always been the way in the UK domain market that buyer pays nominet transfer fee, but it's important that you point that out to the customer before agreeing price for domain. One reason that buyer pays may be the hassle factor. Every year we get some buyers who take a long time to complete transfer. Sometimes we might set up the transfer 3 or 4 times before it completes. So, if seller paid fee, that would involve getting your credit card each time, paying, timing out, being refunded, then going through this process again and again until the customer completes the transfer.

Richard K · Mar 5, 2020

Many thanks Nigel, that's very helpful – and your point about the hassle factor being a possible reason why the buyer pays certainly makes sense to me.

My original question was a bit academic really, because I don't think I'd have raised the transfer fee with the Buyer even if I'd thought of it, given the amount that he is paying for the domain ... but it's still useful to know for another time!

Nigel · Mar 5, 2020

We put the info about nominet fee in our seller profile with Dan, so no dispute later.
And congratulations on this sale

Richard K · Mar 5, 2020

Nigel said:
We put the info about nominet fee in our seller profile with Dan, so no dispute later.

Yes, I've seen your Dan seller profile, and have been thinking that I must do something similar but without it looking as if I've just plagiarised you!