paydomain.net

Paying for a domain and getting it handed over

A domain deal is two events that have to be tied together: a payment and a change in a registry record. PayDomain covers both, in the order they happen.

01 / Agree

Price, deadline and who carries which cost, written down before anything moves.

02 / Pay

A payment route that cannot be reversed behind the seller, released only once the name has moved.

03 / Transfer

Unlock, auth code, transfer, and the account checks that make the buyer the real holder.

Nothing ships in a domain sale. Money moves, then a line in a registry database points somewhere else. Deals fail when those two events are not linked in a way both sides can verify, or when one side assumes the other will act in good faith once the funds have gone.

This site is about the money and process side of a domain purchase: what to settle before paying, which payment route fits the size and the counterparty, and what has to happen for the name to end up in an account the buyer controls.

The three stages

  1. Agree. Price, payment method, who carries the escrow cost, the handover deadline, and what happens if the transfer fails. Written down, even in a short exchange of emails.
  2. Pay. Funds go either straight to the seller or to a third party that holds them until the name has moved. That choice decides which side carries the risk during the gap.
  3. Transfer. The name is unlocked, an auth code is issued or an internal push is started, and the buyer accepts it into an account nobody else has access to.

Skipping a stage does not save time. It shifts the risk onto whichever side is less able to absorb the loss.

Agree first, in writing

Most disputes come from things that were never stated: whether the price included the escrow cost, whether the seller would keep the name renewed until handover, how many days the buyer had to accept a push. A short written agreement removes the ambiguity before there is any reason to argue about it. The clauses that matter are covered in the purchase agreement essentials.

Choose the payment route deliberately

A bank transfer is fast and cheap but final. A card payment can be pulled back weeks later, which turns the seller into the exposed party. Escrow puts a neutral holder between the two sides and releases only after the transfer is confirmed. The trade-offs are set out in the payment method comparison, and marketplaces often provide escrow directly, as Tappaya does alongside its listings.

Make the transfer the trigger

Payment and transfer should never both depend on trust. In a sound sequence, one of them is held by a third party, or the name is moved into a marketplace or escrow account before the funds are released. The mechanics differ by extension, and the transfer rules per extension set out which registries use auth codes and which use an internal push.

Where to start

The guides section follows a deal from first offer to the first week after handover. The checklists section holds the lists to run through before money leaves an account and before a name is released. The reference section covers the vocabulary, the rules per extension, and which party in the chain can actually do what.

Guides

All guides
01How escrow works in a domain saleEscrow puts a neutral party between payment and handover so that neither side has to move first on trust. The value is entirely in the sequence.02Domain payment methods comparedThe payment method decides which side of a domain deal carries the risk during the gap between money moving and the name moving.03Who pays the escrow feeThe escrow cost is small next to the price and causes a disproportionate number of stalled deals, because it is usually the last thing anyone agrees.04Paying a domain seller in another countryCross border payments add three things to a domain deal: a currency decision, a chain of banks nobody controls, and a compliance check that can hold funds without notice.05Chargebacks and reversals in domain salesSome payments are final on arrival and some are not. The difference decides whether a seller is safe once the name has gone.06Lease to own domain purchasesIn a lease to own deal the buyer uses the domain immediately and pays over time, while ownership only moves once the final instalment clears.07Invoices and VAT on a domain saleA domain sale is a supply of services, not goods, which decides how the invoice is written and where the tax is due.08Spotting payment fraud in domain dealsDomain fraud is repetitive. The same handful of setups account for nearly all of it, and each one has signals that appear before the money moves.09Verifying the sellerThree checks separate a genuine seller from someone offering a name they do not hold: the registration record, a live proof of control, and a payment account that matches the counterparty.10Purchase agreement essentialsA domain purchase agreement can be one page. What it cannot be is silent on who transfers what, by when, and what happens when the transfer does not work.11Broker or direct dealA broker is worth paying when the obstacle is finding or persuading the other side. On a name already listed at a stated price, a broker mostly adds a layer.12How a domain name changes handsA domain sale ends in one of two technical moves: a push inside a single registrar, or a transfer between two different ones. The choice decides how long handover takes and when control becomes real.13Auth codes explainedThe authorisation code is the single credential that allows a domain to move between registrars. Handing one over is the point of no return in most deals, so the checks around it matter more than the code itself.14Registrar locks and waiting periodsMost failed handovers are not fraud. They are a lock nobody removed or a waiting period nobody checked before agreeing a deadline.15Transfer rules by extensionEvery registry runs its own transfer procedure. Agreeing a handover deadline without knowing which one applies is the most common way a clean deal turns into a dispute.16The first week after paymentA domain is not safe because it arrived. It is safe once the account holding it answers only to the buyer, with the previous holder cut out of every route back in.

Checklists

All checklists
01Buyer checklistRun this list before the money moves, not after. Every item takes minutes and each one closes a way of losing the payment, the name, or both.02Seller checklistA seller loses a name in one of two ways: releasing control before the money is real, or releasing it to someone who was never the buyer. This list closes both.03Escrow readinessEscrow transactions rarely fail on the money. They stall because a name is spelled differently in two places, an identity document is missing, or nobody agreed who pays the cost.04Handover timelineA handover that is on track produces a visible event most days. This is what a normal one looks like and where the natural pauses are.05Red flags listMost bad deals announce themselves. The signals below are the ones that appear before the loss, grouped by the stage at which they usually surface.06Documents to keepA domain has no title deed. The archive assembled around the sale is the only evidence of what was bought, from whom, and on what terms.

Reference

All reference
01Glossary of domain payment termsThe vocabulary that appears in domain deals, registrar control panels and escrow flows, defined without jargon.02Extension rules tableA reference table for the eight extensions that appear most often in European domain deals, and the rules that decide how a handover is scheduled.03Who does what in a domain dealSix kinds of organisation touch a domain sale. Knowing which one owns which problem saves days when a handover stalls.04Payment terms explainedEscrow platforms and bank screens use words that mean something precise to a finance department and something vaguer to everyone else. These are the ones that decide when a domain deal can proceed.05Questions answeredDirect answers to the questions that arise between agreeing a price and having the name in a registrar account.