Epik Escrow Review & Questions

[Domains - Wanted]

Sold a domain using Epik Escrow. I'd transferred-in the domain to Epik prior to the transaction, so the sale went through and funds were credited to my Masterbucks account immediately. So far so good.

Next, I initiated withdrawal to PayPal on Sunday, May 28th and received email confirmation and funds were debited from my Masterbucks account instantly. I expected to receive equally instant deposit into my PayPal account or next day at the outside. No joy! It has been 4 days and no money credited to my PayPal.

Don't know if this is an isolated case or maybe I missed some small print somewhere and this is par for the course - a standard delay with payouts by Epik? Has anybody here had any experience selling through Epik and withdrawing funds to PayPal? How long did you wait for the money?

@robepik

 

[Rob Monster]

Hello Rob, how do decide the BTC/USD rate for Bitcoin payouts? What's the reference exchange?

Coinbase.

 

[Rob Monster]

Hmm I'm on day 6 now and support doesn't have an answer for me about my money still.

Greetings form London.

A 6 day wait for an escrow transaction sounds unlikely. PM me or Email at [email protected] your support case number and will look into it for you.

 

[creataweb]

The customer service is excellent and I'm going to be posting most of my names on their MP for sale.

 

[Jv1999]

ANOTHER WIN FOR ME USING EPIK!

I just sold a $1600 domain and did nothing, not even park! I just listed it in their AWESOME marketplace omg :D.

I'm going to post in domain sales thread about this :D.

EPIK IS DEFINITELY great. And the "commission" is only 5%. I just requested a withdrawal.

I had the domain at Namebright and it didn't sail. But all I did was transfer it to Epik and within like 5 months of transferring it there, it sold!

If u are going to join, pls use my ref link!

 

[Rob Monster]

@Jv1999 - Congrats on your sale earlier this morning. As soon as operations does their fraud check on your buyer, your redemption request will be processed. The buyer is a first-time buyer at Epik using a cc but looks legit.

 

[Wali Dahot]

I just purchased one domain todays morning at epik.com using the domain loan service which i tried out applying for last week using my domain/s as collateral. I noticed it was available in my dashboard within a few minutes, am so far happy with the service and looking to transfer 80% of all my names to epik.
thanks @Rob Monster Great service and hustle free

Did you purcahsed a domain while loaning out another domain? Or you got $ in account credit by applying for a loan and than purchased a domain by that account credits?

 

[Yousaf Saeed]

There appear to be a lot of folks in Pakistan that are building websites and selling them. Often the websites come with other assets like social media handles. The Epik escrow platform is being adapted to make it easy to keep track of the entire inventory or manifest associated with a domain sale. Incidentally, these website deals can be quite large, valued in millions, for a commercially successful site.

The upgrade looks quite hot. Here is an illustrative example below which shows how other related assets are appended to the domain, e.g. hosting asset, social media asset etc. In this example, it is possible to set up a deal with a so-called Broker spread where the price the buyer pays and the amount the seller gets are separated by an amount of profit for the broker.

Show attachment 183474

The update on epik for web/app asset details & transfers looks amazing!

 

[Saiful]

Thanks, Epik! I almost buy 17 Websites by using Epik Escrow.... Really Really Happy about there Service. Both sides are really Secure Buyers and Sellers. Really again Thanks Epik

 

[Domains - Wanted]

Anybody...?

5 working days and no money credited to PayPal

 

[Domains - Wanted]

I confirm that the funds were paid out to Paypal after a week's delay.

Thanks for explaining your policy, @robepik. Better late than not at all. Too bad there is no information about this to be found on your site, nor any notice given about any security concerns with this particular transaction. I would have saved you and myself the time and inconvenience and gone with an established intermediary like Escrow.com or Sedo, who pay out within 24 hours.

While I appreciate your reply here on NP and your security concerns, I must say I am disappointed with:

(1) your lack of understanding of what an escrow service entails. Escrow is securing funds and item being paid for and releasing both to respective parties immediately upon transaction conditions being met. Complimentary evaluation of pricing is NOT part of escrow. You need to decide what service you want to offer - whether escrow or domain appraisal - and stick to it!

(2) your fairly limited domain valuation know-how. The transaction price was US$ 1350 for a 4-character .COM (LNLN.com with repeating number). From mine and my partners' "first time seller" 18-year domain sales experience, this is a very satisfactory price, but calling this "above FMV" shows that your domain valuation skills need some more work. I'd stick to your day job for now

Last but not least, we do have a portfolio with Epik, even if it's only a fraction of our entire inventory, including many 10 year+ and even 20 year+ domains. Something you could have easily checked upon, given your valuation concerns, instead of blocking the withdrawal to Paypal - without any notice whatsoever.

Summing up: looks like Epik's escrow service is in early Beta and still needs work. Pricing is very attractive, but you get what you pay for. Speaking of which: it seems there is a minimum withdrawal fee to Paypal of $5 or 5% for smaller amounts. I ordered another $100 withdrawal yesterday and promptly received $95 in Paypal (expected $97).

 

[Domains - Wanted]

Will respectfully disagree. Your funds were immediately available. Due to extensive experience with payment fraud, first time payouts can be delayed for folks with little or no other domains with us.

I respectfully disagree with you. By your own admission, due to your security concerns, funds were NOT immediately available. Displaying funds in Masterbucks.com with no possibility of withdrawal is funds unavailable in my book. What's more, you led me to believe they have been paid out without a hitch. The amount has been debited from our Masterbucks account and email received, confirming the withdrawal, text as follows:

Masterbucks withdrawal request

Method: paypal
Username: ****
Amount: $****
Paypal Email: ****

Epik Escrow is not a beta. It is a low margin service to customers. Most folks simply sell through our marketplace, which is self-service and instant, but for folks who want escrow, we do it.

Actually, given the domain had been already transferred to Epik before the escrow transaction was ordered, you simply listed it for sale and sent the buyer a link to it in your marketplace. Once they paid, you credited the amount to our Masterbucks account instantly. Nice and smooth going as far as it goes. My beef here is lack of notice the funds would be blocked for one week while you conducted your fraud check.

And when we do disburse an escrow transaction, and there is a subsequent fraud problem on the payee side, we eat that loss. Been burned enough time to be vigilant to first-timers.

This is entirely understandable. What I take issue with is misinformation! How the heck could I have foreseen you would find the domain sales price questionable??? How could I imagine the withdrawal was blocked and a fraud check ongoing ???

So what's the big deal, you might ask? Following your confirmation of payout to Paypal, I promised a $60 payment from Paypal to a friend in a day or two. That's but a fraction of the amount supposedly paid out from Masterbucks and a silly amount to you or me, but not to my collegue. Were I informed of any issue, I would have made other arrangements and would not have to explain myself and repeatedly apologize as the week went on why I am delaying payment of a few $$
My mistake in trusting "The Swiss Bank of Domains", based on Epik's very satisfactory service to date as a registrar
While your registrar service is first rate, however, your ancillary services obviously still need a little work to match this - with special attention to your information policies!

 

[Rob Monster]

Yes it was, within a few hours, as I had initially expected. Thank you

But I'd suggest you be more circumspect with statements like "...whitelisting is working as advertised". The problem here is that it is NOT advertised, unless you call your comments in this thread as "advertising". I have never come across any mention anywhere of the need to have an account with Epik whitelisted before any withdrawals of domain sale proceeds can be allowed. I hope you will make some changes following this unfortunate case study. To be clear, I refer here to your information policies and practices and not fraud checks, which are a neccessary part of this business.

Points taken and duly noted.

 

[DNWon]

simply caused the transaction to be flagged for review prior to being paid out.

Thanks @robepik, there certainly is a lot of fraud in domain sales these days, so being extra precautious only protects everyone involved in the transaction!

 

[GoWebnames.com]

Congrats on your sale.

To clarify:

1. If the buyer and seller are repeat customers, or known/verified, there is no 5 day delay.

2. If the domain is on Epik at the time of the transaction, proceeds are deposited commission-free and tax-free.

Hello Rob, how do decide the BTC/USD rate for Bitcoin payouts? What's the reference exchange?

 

[CJ6]

I just need a good sale to go through Epik's Escrow.
C'mon buyers! I need ya!

 

[Rob Monster]

How to get paid in BTC? I see only cheque or PayPal payout in the masterbucks dot com website? Or its that the wrong place to request payout?

Request payment via check, and then email your crypto instructions to [email protected] and we'll process accordingly.

 

[creataweb]

Hmm I'm on day 6 now and support doesn't have an answer for me about my money still.

 

[creataweb]

Looks like the money is almost on the way, thanks for the help @ Jessica & Rob

 

[AlexGreen]

does epik file 1099 form, after it wires the payout to the seller?

does epik require a tax ID to wire the payout ?

 

[Yousaf Saeed]

Hi, Rob, i sold one of my websites at $26k; the website domain and files got transferred to the buyer. the buyer approved the fund's release twice; and then after his second email to Epik, the funds were released to my master bucks account.

And then i initiated wire transfer withdrawal, and its the second day, my transaction is still in "Pending" status. Can anyone let me know how long it will take for me to get my funds from epik?

--
I've sold a money-making website; the buyer is so happy to have it; and he continuously told epik to release my funds but still not update...

 

[Gube]

And then i initiated wire transfer withdrawal, and its the second day, my transaction is still in "Pending" status. Can anyone let me know how long it will take for me to get my funds from epik?

Is your Epik account verified ? If it's the case, it shouldn't take long even though it could be a larger than usual sum.
You can go through the verification otherwise wait for a reply during the US daytime

 

[Yousaf Saeed]

Update: My withdrawal status is now changed to "Accept".

 

[Yousaf Saeed]

Congrats on your sale.

- Transaction started on Feb 18
- Wire arrived on Feb 19
- Domain received at Epik on Feb 22
- Funds disbursed to Masterbucks on Feb 22 as immediately usable funds
- Funds redeemed to Pakistan bank on Feb 23
- Account verification completed on Feb 23
- Disbursed via Amex FX to Pakistan on Feb 24 in the very early AM

That timing is actually not horrible. We have been faster. I sincerely doubt anyone else would be faster considering the domain arrived on Monday, and you were paid out the next day!

Now, for context, here is how we approach risk when it comes to disbursement:

- Both the buyer and seller are new to Epik. Buyer from Korea. Seller from Pakistan. Epik has no staff in either of these markets. If there is a legal problem, enforcement will require hiring outside counsel.

- The domain itself has low collateral value. It is impressive that someone paid $26K for it. That is the way it is with brandables. Nice work but if there was a problem later, we would likely never recover $26K.

- You have no other domains at Epik, nor does your buyer. We are delighted to welcome you both at Epik, but again, if there is a problem we have no recourse.

- Ultimately, it was my decision last night to sign off on full disbursement to your bank in Pakistan. Amex FX will handle the rest, and Jessica in our team will be in contact with you.

I suggest next time to be a little patient. Better yet, develop a relationship with some of the Epik staff so that the seller due diligence can be expedited. I had no idea that you were a NP since 2014. Great!

Someone who is engaging in willful fraud is a lot less likely to have a domain portfolio at the place where they perpetrate a fraud. Commitment to a vendor relationship is a "signal". We use it as part of our risk-assessment model as a heuristic indicator of whether to do light or heavy due diligence.

In this case, we looked up the prior owner of the domain and confirmed that the email of the seller matches the email of the historical registrant since 2017. The government ID matches that domain. This does not mean that it could not be identity theft by a relative engaging in a clever fraud.

So, at the end of the day, it is a risk assessment that is governed by our published terms of service. We are insured against the big stuff, but $26K is big enough to matter but not big enough to file a claim if we got it wrong. So, at the end of the day, we make a risk assessment and we hope for the best.

It's worth mentioning here; the domain didn't had low collateral value, because, it is a established website that has history of making around (+)/(-) $1k/month on an average by AdSense. So, this was a win win situation for both the buyer and the seller because the buyer got the website that makes over $1k per month in profits and seller got 3 years of its annual revenue at sale price.

 

[Yousaf Saeed]

There appear to be a lot of folks in Pakistan that are building websites and selling them. Often the websites come with other assets like social media handles. The Epik escrow platform is being adapted to make it easy to keep track of the entire inventory or manifest associated with a domain sale. Incidentally, these website deals can be quite large, valued in millions, for a commercially successful site.

The upgrade looks quite hot. Here is an illustrative example below which shows how other related assets are appended to the domain, e.g. hosting asset, social media asset etc. In this example, it is possible to set up a deal with a so-called Broker spread where the price the buyer pays and the amount the seller gets are separated by an amount of profit for the broker.

Show attachment 183474

Thats correct, initially i offered buyer to buy my full portfolio of websites that made US$40k profit in collectivelly in last 13 months; but due to his budget constraints he asked to buy just one website out of full portfolio; which is why the social media stuff of around 200k+ followers was taken out of this deal.

I was contacted by this buyer directly via email; and we were in talks for over a year. Also, i have all the emails saved that we exchanged since beginning

I am in talks with some more investors who maybe interested in buying my rest of the sites in one go deal so i can take an exit as i got better career options now.

Yes, you are right, a broker can be a good option but it's hard to find someone who really have genuine buyers for such scale of AdSense websites. .

 

[DN_Hunter]

That is a substantial amount of waiting time and definitely not usual. Could you please PM me your Escrow Transaction ID so I can have a look at what's happening?

Thanks, the transaction was just paid to my Masterbucks account. I'm assuming I can now withdraw from that account to get the funds. I also sent @robmonster the Escrow Transaction ID

Regards,
DN