Is there any reason not to fully trust escrow.com?
October 4, 2011 3:40 PM Subscribe
I'm selling a website for ~25KUS$ and using escrow.com to a European buyer. The deal has closed and escrow.com says that funds have been disbursed but the ACH check has not yet shown up in my account. They say there is a delay of up to 3 days to complete an ACH transaction. The buyer is waiting for the server login and other materials that we agreed would be delivered upon receipt of funds. Should I trust that escrow.com will not somehow withhold the funds and go ahead with delivery or wait until funds are posted to my account?
According to this, you will not receive the funds until you deliver the goods. Or are you saying that step two has not taken place? If so, you wait.
posted by cosmac at 3:51 PM on October 4, 2011
posted by cosmac at 3:51 PM on October 4, 2011
Response by poster: Delivery of the logins is to be done after receipt of funds. My question is whether to trust escrow.com statement that funds were disbursed as being receipt of funds.
There is no downside to waiting. The buyer was fair and decent with me and I want to be the same with him.
posted by jorlando at 4:22 PM on October 4, 2011
There is no downside to waiting. The buyer was fair and decent with me and I want to be the same with him.
posted by jorlando at 4:22 PM on October 4, 2011
I'd say wait at least the 3 days the service says it can take -- I mean, why not?
posted by AwkwardPause at 4:31 PM on October 4, 2011
posted by AwkwardPause at 4:31 PM on October 4, 2011
Response by poster: cosmac: The domains were delivered already and triggered the closing/disbursement of funds. The content was to be delivered after receipt of funds. So buyer has the domains now and I still have the content and source code. I'm deciding whether or not to treat escrow.com at its word that funds are en route or wait till fund actually show up and are posted to my account.
posted by jorlando at 4:36 PM on October 4, 2011
posted by jorlando at 4:36 PM on October 4, 2011
Wait - what could you possibly loose by waiting, what could you possibly win by not waiting?
posted by zeikka at 4:39 PM on October 4, 2011
posted by zeikka at 4:39 PM on October 4, 2011
The poster has already answered the "why not wait" question: The buyer was fair and decent with me and I want to be the same with him.
posted by arcticwoman at 4:51 PM on October 4, 2011
posted by arcticwoman at 4:51 PM on October 4, 2011
Being fair and decent is not the same as not protecting yourself--until you have the money in your hands, you have no idea how fair or decent the buyer has been, in my mind.
posted by tjenks at 5:08 PM on October 4, 2011
posted by tjenks at 5:08 PM on October 4, 2011
Being fair and decent is not the same as not protecting yourself--until you have the money in your hands, you have no idea how fair or decent the buyer has been, in my mind.
But isn't that the whole point of using escrow in the first place? If you don't trust your escrow provider, what's the point in using it at all?
posted by zsazsa at 5:22 PM on October 4, 2011
But isn't that the whole point of using escrow in the first place? If you don't trust your escrow provider, what's the point in using it at all?
posted by zsazsa at 5:22 PM on October 4, 2011
Response by poster: Its really a question about escrow.com. It was used to avoid issues of buyer or seller failing to perform. Now the question is if escrow.com will perform. They appear from here to have a sterling reputation but I have never used them before.
Why not wait? Future business is always a possibility. Being unreasonable in closing a deal won't help in the future.
posted by jorlando at 5:23 PM on October 4, 2011
Why not wait? Future business is always a possibility. Being unreasonable in closing a deal won't help in the future.
posted by jorlando at 5:23 PM on October 4, 2011
Delivery of the logins is to be done after receipt of funds.
Please get a grip of your "I want them to like me" nonsense. You have zero experience making transactions like this. The funds have not been received. It would be unprofessional of you to release your content. What if they sent the monies to the wrong account number? At best fire off a letter to the other party letting them know that the ACH transaction is in the process of being completed and they should receive their materials in the next couple of days.
By the way, I make ACH deposits to an online company and they do not credit me until the transaction goes through.
posted by phaedon at 5:44 PM on October 4, 2011 [2 favorites]
Please get a grip of your "I want them to like me" nonsense. You have zero experience making transactions like this. The funds have not been received. It would be unprofessional of you to release your content. What if they sent the monies to the wrong account number? At best fire off a letter to the other party letting them know that the ACH transaction is in the process of being completed and they should receive their materials in the next couple of days.
By the way, I make ACH deposits to an online company and they do not credit me until the transaction goes through.
posted by phaedon at 5:44 PM on October 4, 2011 [2 favorites]
This is a tough one. The whole point of an escrow service is that you trust them to give you the money once you hand over the goods. On that level you should hand over the goods, including content and source code. But clearly you don't trust your escrow service; not knowing whether you can trust an escrow service is functionally identical to distrusting them. The problem you're having is exactly why you should only use an escrow service that you have rock solid confidence in.
I have not heard bad things about escrow.com. But it's not my 25k on the line so you have to decide whether the goodwill you generate by releasing the stuff a day or two early is worth risking your 25k. My own answer would probably be that the peace of mind from actually being in possession of the 25k is more important. It's a lot better to have 25k and less goodwill than 0k and more goodwill.
But, like zsazsa says, what's the point of using an escrow service if you don't trust them?
posted by Justinian at 5:44 PM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]
I have not heard bad things about escrow.com. But it's not my 25k on the line so you have to decide whether the goodwill you generate by releasing the stuff a day or two early is worth risking your 25k. My own answer would probably be that the peace of mind from actually being in possession of the 25k is more important. It's a lot better to have 25k and less goodwill than 0k and more goodwill.
But, like zsazsa says, what's the point of using an escrow service if you don't trust them?
posted by Justinian at 5:44 PM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]
"Receipt of funds" to you, or to escrow.com? There is a big difference between the two. I would go with "receipt of funds" to your account to be safe if you can.
posted by Vaike at 5:46 PM on October 4, 2011
posted by Vaike at 5:46 PM on October 4, 2011
You're probably okay, but holding off a couple more days could save you enormous headache, if there was an error somewhere. Everything's most likely fine, and the buyer probably won't mind the extra couple of days. Talk to him or her on the phone if you want to be extra reassuring, and then as soon as you see the money in your account, do the deed.
Basically, transferring now loads all of the remaining risk onto you. The buyer has the actual domains, so he/she knows you're dealing in good faith. Unless you expect to sell this entity more domains in the future, their goodwill is of little value to you, so I don't see much reason to increase your risk at this point.
You're not going to screw them, so making sure there wasn't a mistake somewhere before releasing the last leverage you have seems most intelligent to me.
posted by Malor at 7:27 PM on October 4, 2011
Basically, transferring now loads all of the remaining risk onto you. The buyer has the actual domains, so he/she knows you're dealing in good faith. Unless you expect to sell this entity more domains in the future, their goodwill is of little value to you, so I don't see much reason to increase your risk at this point.
You're not going to screw them, so making sure there wasn't a mistake somewhere before releasing the last leverage you have seems most intelligent to me.
posted by Malor at 7:27 PM on October 4, 2011
This doesn't seem right. How is the buyer being protected by the escrow service if you aren't turning over the site until you have cash in hand?
posted by smackfu at 8:30 PM on October 4, 2011
posted by smackfu at 8:30 PM on October 4, 2011
I sold a domain name and used escrow.com, and it was all above board. Escrow.com says they've received the money, right? Their entire business model hangs on them being trustworthy.
posted by theora55 at 11:26 PM on October 4, 2011
posted by theora55 at 11:26 PM on October 4, 2011
This doesn't seem right. How is the buyer being protected by the escrow service if you aren't turning over the site until you have cash in hand?
This. I thought the whole point of escrow was to take money/trust issues out of the equation. When they say they have the money, its like you've already been paid. You should hand off the login, unless I'm missing something huge.
posted by Slackermagee at 8:29 AM on October 5, 2011
This. I thought the whole point of escrow was to take money/trust issues out of the equation. When they say they have the money, its like you've already been paid. You should hand off the login, unless I'm missing something huge.
posted by Slackermagee at 8:29 AM on October 5, 2011
Can you give them a login with limited permissions for now? That will allow them to start updating some content, but still leave you with control until the payment is settled.
posted by Gomez_in_the_South at 9:05 AM on October 5, 2011
posted by Gomez_in_the_South at 9:05 AM on October 5, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by TheBones at 3:42 PM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]