Section

Checklists for domain buyers and sellers

Each checklist is a set of confirmations to work through at one specific point in a deal, with a line of context for every item.

Most losses in domain deals are not clever. They come from a step nobody thought to check: a name already inside a waiting period, a bank account in a different name to the seller, an auth code sent before the funds cleared, a transfer that quietly expired because the confirmation email went to an old contact address.

A checklist works here because the steps are always the same and the cost of missing one is high relative to the time it takes to look.

What is in this section

There is a list for the buyer, covering everything confirmed before a payment is authorised, and a matching list for the seller, covering everything confirmed before an auth code is released or a push is started. Both are written so the two sides can compare them and see where the responsibilities meet.

Beyond those there is a readiness list for opening an escrow transaction without it stalling on identity checks or a mismatched account, a day by day timeline showing what should have happened by each point in a normal transfer, a grouped list of signals that mean a deal should stop, and a list of the documents worth keeping once the sale is finished.

Using them in a live deal

Run the relevant list once before agreeing terms and once immediately before acting. Conditions change between those two moments: a name can be renewed, moved, or locked in the days while price is being discussed, and a registrant change resets waiting periods that were not in force when the offer was made.

Where a list raises a question rather than answering it, the longer explanation sits in the guides, and the vocabulary used in registrar and escrow interfaces is set out in the reference section.

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.