Comments on: Which Is The Best Online Escrow Service?

By: Travis

Travis — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 14:15:19 +0000

David:

Good question. While I’m a fan of SafeFunds.com I don’t know that I would personally run a $100k transaction through them or ANY escrow service solely. If I was selling a site of that value, I would probably work with a lawyer and draft an iron-clad agreement in conjunction with an escrow service.

Travis

By: david

david — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 05:02:18 +0000

Trav,

This blog is great. I thought I was quite knowledgeable and then realized I wasn’t! If you’re selling a site for say $100K would you suggest Safefunds was ok or would there be another way you would suggest?

Thanks

By: Travis

Travis — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 17:23:22 +0000

Yes, an escrow service dedicated strictly for website transactions would be awesome. If I had the time and legal know-how on how to setup such a service, I would do it as it is badly needed.

Travis

By: Buying Websites 101

Buying Websites 101 — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 16:16:55 +0000

Yes, I agree, there is no better alternative. I would argue about them being good enough though: you are paying their escrow fee and not really getting anything in return. Personally, I wouldn’t use them again, no matter what the price.

That, and the fact that noone can really verify anything — in terms of claims of traffic, revenue and so on — is why fraud and scams are so prominent out there, in my opinion.

Time to start an escrow and verification service specifically tailored for digital goods?

By: Travis

Travis — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 14:55:22 +0000

Steve:

Thanks for your comments. I don’t disagree with you but as far as escrow services go for website transactions, it’s as good as it gets right now. There really isn’t an escrow service suited for website transactions. The two services I’ve outlined, while not perfect, are usually “good enough” for most transactions.

The best solution would be to hire a lawyer and do it that way but for most guys buying and selling websites on places like Flippa, that isn’t an option.

If you know of better services or a better way of handling these transactions, I’d love to hear about them!

Travis

By: Buying Websites 101

Buying Websites 101 — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 05:07:34 +0000

Uh escrow.com is not setup to handle digital goods and let alone web sites at all. The best they can do is handle the transfer of the domain, but not the contents and not verify any claims.

I really don’t think they should be considered an acceptable escrow service — especially given their fees that are even worse and even more useless than those of Flippa.

By: Travis

Travis — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 03:30:03 +0000

Bill:

Like PayPal, Google Checkout will not provide any kind of protection. In fact, Google Checkout doesn’t have any buyer protection programs that cover digital goods (i.e. domains and websites). For me personally, I would only use Google Checkout (or PayPal for that matter) if the deal was less than $1,000 and I trusted the buyer (or seller). Good luck!

Travis

By: Bill

Bill — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 17:59:47 +0000

Travis,
I have a seller that wants to use Google Checkout. Any opinions about it.
I do not conduct many site unseen, e-transactions and am concerned about returning product if not satisfied and getting my funds back.
Thanks In advance.
Bill

By: Travis

Travis — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 16:40:05 +0000

Jason:

Thanks for the kind words! Glad you like what I’m providing here. Thanks for sharing your experiences with Escrow.com. I wasn’t aware there was a $5,000 limit on the basic service. So basically if you do a transaction over $5,000 and you use Escrow.com, you are forced to use their Premier Service and pay twice the fees – nice.

After learning that, then it totally makes sense to go with SafeFunds.

Take care – and congrats on the $9k payday. That’s awesome!

Travis

By: Jason

Jason — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 13:13:37 +0000

Man Travis I wish I would have seen this post a couple of days ago.

I had never heard of SafeFunds before but I would of used them on my recent sell of 9k!

I was so disappointed when we went to use escrow.com and come to find out they only do up to 5k. I was really lucky that my buyer was a very nice guy and he ended up just sending the payment directly through paypal. (That is a big risk for anyone, and NEVER trust the average Joe when sending that large of an amount, always use an escrow service!)

Not only does escrow.com have a low limit but you cannot use your credit card or paypal to pay if you do use their premier service. If you use their premier service it also cost twice as much, so you loose more money again. BAH I am really disappointed with escrow.com to say the least.

Thanks for another bomb ass post Trav!!! You write some god stuff!!!!

PEACE
Jason