Escrow.com - Less Safe then previously thought?
January 27th, 2009Escrow.com has been a steady and safe mode of payment for me in the past. In my opinion they have only one flaw in their service, which is not securing the Domain from the seller. Today I recieved a phone call from Escrow that troubled me even more.
I was due a small escrow transaction of about $700. I was simply waiting for the ACH to hit my account. This morning I recieved a phone call from Escrow, explaining that on accident, instead of depositing the funds into my account, they had withdrawn them.
In their almost 10 years of business, this has never happened (claims Escrow.com). However, it frightened me that his happened. Fortunately, I was prepared in a case like this, the account that I send and recieve money in, ususally has a balance of less than $100 (in the event something like this happens). Meaning, more than likely the "check" will bounce and i’ll be stuck with a few minor fees.
Escrow insists they will "Make it Right", but I’m not sure I will ever be comfortable using them in the future.
Justin
I suppose the one good thing is that they told you immediately, and did not simply return it in the hopes that it would slide by.
At least they are being upfront and honest. I use escrowdns.com anyway, but for different reasons.
Comment by GUA — January 27, 2009 @ 12:44 pm
I’ve used them for hundreds of transactions and that has never happened to me (thankfully). I use my main business account for transactions, so if they stuck me with a $10k bill I would be pretty pissed. I find myself still using them a lot even though they don’t take possession of the domain because they are so incredibly fast. I had one deal with them were I was in negotiations in the morning, and later that day the funds were in my account and the deal was done. With Sedo escrow, it usually takes them a few days just to set up escrow, and every step usually takes at least one business day. Thanks for the heads up.
Comment by Michael — January 27, 2009 @ 7:53 pm
I love escrow.com and have used them dozens of times over the past 5-6 years, but there is one small problem I sometimes have. If I sell a domain and then the buyer makes their whois listing anonymous, it is impossible for escrow.com to verify the sale took place. So, if the buyer fails to respond to the escrow.com verification emails, it can take weeks or months for escrow.com to finalize the transaction. I have had this happen twice recently. I am not sure there is any good solution for this, but just be aware this can happen if you are in a rush to get your money.
Comment by Eric Borgos — May 14, 2009 @ 7:24 am