Buyer checklist

Before agreeing a price

1. Look the name up in WHOIS and RDAP. Record the sponsoring registrar, the creation date, the last updated date, the expiry date and every status code.
2. Read the status codes properly. clientTransferProhibited is normal. serverTransferProhibited, pendingDelete, redemptionPeriod or a registry hold mean the name cannot move on the date being discussed.
3. Ask when the name was registered and when it last moved. For .com, .net and .org a transfer can be refused inside sixty days of registration, of a previous transfer, or of a registrant change.
4. Check the extension rules. A .de or .be handover completes on validation of a code, a generic extension transfer can run to about five days. The differences are in transfer rules by extension.
5. Search for trademark conflicts. Check national and regional trademark registers for the exact string in the classes the name would be used in.
6. Look at the name history. Archived versions of the site, past uses and any sign of a previous dispute or a spam listing.

Before agreeing terms

1. Confirm the seller controls the name. Ask for a TXT record with a buyer supplied string, a file at the site root, or a nameserver change. Choose which one, rather than accepting a screenshot.
2. Identify the counterparty in full. Legal name, company number where applicable, address. A trading alias and an email address are not an identification.
3. Agree the handover mechanism explicitly. A push at the current registrar, an inter-registrar transfer with a code, a token or a registrar tag change.
4. Agree the deadline from a timestamped trigger. Business days from confirmed receipt of funds, not from a vague moment after payment.
5. Agree who pays the escrow cost before the price is settled, because reopening it afterwards stalls transfers.
6. Get the essentials in writing. Parties, name, price mechanism, deadline, warranties on ownership and trademark, and what happens if transfer fails, as set out in purchase agreement essentials.

Before the payment leaves

1. Match the receiving account to the counterparty. The account name must be the party in the agreement. A third party account, an unexplained country or a newly opened account is a stop.
2. Confirm bank details out of band. Call a number found independently. Details that changed mid conversation are treated as fraud until proven otherwise.
3. Check the escrow provider is the real one. Type the address by hand rather than following a link sent in a message, and confirm the domain of the site character by character.
4. Choose a reversible enough method. Understand before paying whether the route can be pulled back and how long a holding period runs.
5. Confirm the registrar lock is already off if a transfer is the agreed mechanism. A code against a locked name produces a failed transfer.
6. Have the receiving account ready. An open account at the gaining registrar, verified, with the contact email working.
7. Ask for the invoice before paying, not after, so the reference on the payment matches the document.

Immediately after handover

1. Verify the name in the account and in an independent lookup. Both views should agree.
2. Screenshot the domain overview page with the date visible.
3. Change the account password and enable two factor authentication.
4. Remove every recovery path connected to the seller, including alternative email addresses, old nameservers and marketplace listings.
5. Update the registrant and administrative contacts, keeping in mind that on generic extensions this can start a sixty day transfer lock.
6. Turn the transfer lock back on and enable auto renew.
7. Release escrow funds only once all of the above is confirmed, not on the seller stating that the transfer was sent.

The days that follow have their own sequence, set out in the first week after payment.