question Is it typical to split the escrow or domain transfer costs?

[Gallienus]

I just agreed to buy a domain for a four-figure price. We didn't discuss the escrow costs. Is it customary for the seller to pay these or for the buyer and seller to split these costs? We haven't discussed this other than we may be using Sedo as the transfer/escrow agent.

 

[TheOracle]

When selling on the forum... I typically do split fees or buyer pays fees.... end user clients I handle the fees so to present no complications.

 

[Gallienus]

Okay thanks. That seemed the conventional thing to do. It wasn't bought on the forum but I approached the owner and made the offer.

 

[biggie]

Hi

if you are buying a domain thru sedo, then the seller pays the commission fee, which is deducted from the selling price.
the buyer is responsible for initiating (paying for) the transfer of the domain to a different registrar.
if the buyer has an account at the same registrar where the name is currently located, then sedo may be able to "push" it from one account to another, at no cost to the buyer.

imo...

 

[Bannen]

First, if doing the escrow through Sedo, you can read their price list here. Fees differ according to how the deal is done. If the domain is listed/parked with Sedo, the fees may be different than if you're using them just for the escrow but domain is not listed there. Read down the price list to see which price applies to your exact situation.

In your case, where the domain is not listed at Sedo, and you and the seller have come to a private agreement and now only wish to use Sedo for the escrow transaction, you can see the fee/s for that in the above list I linked to.

As for paying the commission: since you and the seller did not discuss this when you arrived at the sales price, this is yet another negotiation, separate from the original price negotiation. Talk about this and reach your decision with the seller privately, before you bring the transaction to Sedo for escrow. If you were buying a domain that was listed on Sedo, you would hit the BIN button (or make an offer) and the commission would by default be paid by the seller (unless you went through a Sedo agent and specified that you wanted to pay the commission - this sometimes happens when you wish to make an offer for the domain).

Before talking about this privately with the seller, you would have to decide, looking at Sedo's fees, whether the extra commission fee is a deal breaker for you, or not. If it's a deal breaker, you can tell the seller that if you have to pay the commission, the deal is ended. If the seller doesn't mind paying the commish and is happy with the sales price after commish, that makes it easy.

If you can budget half the commish, that gives you more leeway for negotiation. If you can budget the whole commish, then there's no worry; you can try get the seller to pay commish, or to pay half, but if they stand firm and will only sell the domain if they can get full asking price and you pay commish, then at least you know that your fallback position will still get you the domain.

Basically boils down to what you want to budget for this domain, versus what the seller is willling to accept for this domain. Sometimes the question of who pays commission does break a domain deal. But that is rare; the commish is a small percentage of the selling price and if the buyer really wants a domain, they **usually but not always** are fine with paying the commish fee too, if it is necessary.

 

[nathan3dvrlab]

I just sold an .ai domain for a five-figure price to an end user client. All the fee for escrow.com is paid by the buyer.

 

[karmaco]

I just sold an .ai domain for a five-figure price to an end user client. All the fee for escrow.com is paid by the buyer.

Thats because you set it up that way. It’s not automatic. It’s usually negotiated beforehand.

 

[nathan3dvrlab]

Thats because you set it up that way. It’s not automatic. It’s usually negotiated beforehand.

Yes, it was set up by the broker.

 

[Gallienus]

" If you can budget the whole commish, then there's no worry; you can try get the seller to pay commish, or to pay half, but if they stand firm and will only sell the domain if they can get full asking price and you pay commish, then at least you know that your fallback position will still get you the domain."

Thanks Bannen. This is the path I'm going to take. Initiating the transfer and splitting the commission and we'll see what happens. Sedo's rate is 3% and not publishing the transaction adds zero to that which is what I've requested. Obviously, I'd like the seller to pay half but won't kill the deal over 1 &1/2%.

 

[forge]

Initiating the transfer and splitting the commission and we'll see what happens.

Initiating the transfer?

You, as the buyer, would have have the first move by submitting the (agreed upon) payment.