Before you start
- The domain ends in .com, .net, .ai, .io, .org, .xyz, .app, .dev, .co, .cc, .info, .vc, .me, .bet, .pro, .art, .now, .bot, .sh, .ac, .bz, .live, .finance, .fm and .inc.
- It was registered more than 60 days ago, and expires more than 30 days from now. Renew it first if it doesn't.
- There is no 60-day transfer lock from a recent change of owner. Ask your registrar: the public record doesn't show it.
- You and the buyer agree on the price.
Start with a buy link
Make a buy link: it checks the domain against the registry, then you set the price and how the domain changes hands. Send the link to your buyer, or post it, or the “Buy with Yescrow” button it gives you as HTML or as BBCode for NamePros. The buyer adds their own wallet and registrar and pays into the escrow. The deal then waits for you to accept it in My deals. If the buyer started the deal instead, accept from the link they send you.
Moving the domain to another registrar
This is the usual case, and the strongest proof: the registry shows the domain leaving your registrar and arriving at the buyer's.
- Accept the deal. You sign, and Yescrow submits it for you at no cost. Yescrow attaches a proof from the registry's own record that the domain is at your registrar today. If the registry served an older cached record, wait a minute and accept again.
- Unlock the domain at your registrar (it may be called “transfer lock” or “registrar lock”).
- Get the transfer code (also called auth or EPP code) and send it to the buyer privately, for example by email. Never post it anywhere public.
- Approve the transfer if your registrar emails you about it. Otherwise registrars wait up to five days before releasing it.
- Wait for the proof. Once the registry shows the buyer's registrar, Yescrow submits the proof automatically and the buyer's challenge window starts. You can also press “Check the registry now” on the deal page.
- Get paid. When the challenge window ends without a challenge, the price minus the 1% fee is credited to you. Withdraw it from My deals; withdrawing is free.
Pushing within the same registrar
If the buyer uses the same registrar as you, the domain is pushed from your account to theirs. The registry can't see which account holds a domain, so the proof is that the domain's nameservers changed to the buyer's:
- Accept the deal.
- First set the domain's nameservers to the ones in the deal.
- Then push the domain to the buyer's account. Some registrars ask the buyer to accept the push.
- Yescrow proves the nameserver change; the buyer checks their account during a longer challenge window, then you are paid.
The order of steps matters
Move the domain first, and let the buyer change the owner details afterwards. Changing the owner before the move can start a 60-day lock at your registrar, and the transfer window would run out. After any transfer, the domain can't move registrar again for 60 days; that is normal and doesn't affect the deal.
Deadlines
- Transfer window. If the registry doesn't show the move before it ends, the buyer can be refunded.
- Delivered but the proof keeps failing? For example, the registry's server is down. Open a dispute on the deal page before the transfer deadline. The arbitration fee is about $2 for deals up to $2,000, and Yescrow normally pays it for you; see the dispute guide.
- Can't complete the sale? Refund the buyer from the deal page at any time.
What you pay
1% of the amount you are paid, taken when you are paid. Making the link, accepting, refunding and withdrawing are free: you sign, and Yescrow pays the network fees. Only a dispute can cost extra: its arbitration fee, paid in ETH, which Yescrow normally pays for you on deals up to $2,000.