At domainAlot.com it's not only important for us to protect our users, but in a world why the product is digital rather than physical, it's essential.
Premium Domains can be highly valuable and buyers should have confidence that their purchases are truly secure, while sellers should know the transaction is covered without the risk of chargebacks.
For these reasons, domainAlot.com partners with the world's leading secure payment provider, Escrow.com.
Paying with a credit card is fine for small transactions, but the purchasing of a domain involves several steps. For example, payment, acceptance of payment, releasing of the domain from the current registrar, and transfer to the new owner.
In the case of domain leasing, both the lessor and lessee must abide by the domain's Leasing Agreement, where the owner must provide service to the lessee in exchange for the lessee's payment.
Whenever payment is made for a service, it is advisable to pay through escrow, not only because the sum can be considerable, but because the use of escrow to perform the transaction provides multiple benefits over other forms of payment.
In a typical domain purchase situation:
By having this series of checks throughout the purchase and transfer process, Escrow provides complete protection for both the buyer and the seller.
More than this, Escrow provides extra peace of mind for the buyer. Since the buyer pays Escrow.com and not the seller, Escrow.com can withhold payment until satisfied the domain name has actually been transferred by the seller. One of the ways Escrow does this is by checking the WHOIS database of the appropriate Registrar to confirm it reflects the new buyer's name as the domain name registrant. Once this has been verified, Escrow.com releases payment to the seller.
In addition, Escrow offers, another layer of protection for both buyer and seller.
Because situations can change, and we can also make purchases we regret, in a typical debit payment or credit card scenario, the buyer would be unable to reverse the transaction. Escrow accomodates for this and provides what is called "An Inspection Period".
The benefit of the inspection period is its flexibility. For example, by default it provides a limited timeframe to allow for any change of heart. At the same time, if both the buyer and the seller choose, they can opt to negate this period and press ahead with the transfer immediately. In other words, there is added security for the buyer if needed, and for the seller to minimise the potential for chargebacks.
All domain purchases and leasing payments are made through Escrow on domainAlot.com.
This means that when you opt to buy a domain, or you choose to commit to a Domain Leasing Agreement, your payment will be made through Escrow.com.
We recommend all domain buyers to open a free Escrow account, and all domain sellers to do so in order to receive payments.
Unlike other marketplaces and brokerage services, domainAlot.com does not take commission for any sale or transaction which means we have nothing to gain in making the process overly complex. In addition, transaction fees through Escrow.com, are typically lower than through other comparable financial services, such as PayPal, and we are trying to help our members in every way possible, which includes reducing costs.
Our site is aimed at bringing both buyer and seller together, and we believe that your business is your business — not ours. We certainly don't want to control either the appraisal of your domain's value, your sale of it, or your purchasing of another domain from another domain owner, because you should have complete control over your assets and your finances.
For a full overview of transaction fees related to the use of Escrow, please see: The Escrow Fee Calculator, and you'll see why Escrow makes better sense.