Friend having issues with escrow service/seller

[baldidiot]

Think this is probably the most suitable forum for this to go in...

Anyway, a friend of mine has reached out asking for advice on a domain they're trying to purchase but having issues with the transaction. I wasn't sure what to tell them so wondering if you lot had any suggestions.

They're trying to buy a .com. Price has been agreed and virtual hands have been shaken.

The problem is that the seller is insisting on using an escrow company called Payoneer that, according to my friend, just doesn't work. They've tried submitting payment via card several times and each time they just get an error message. They've contacted the escrow company (or tried to) but the contact form also returns an error message. Not a great advert for the company really.

There is an option to send funds via international bank wire, but they're understandably worried that it's going to go tits up and is hesitant to proceed.

My advice was to get them to use a different escrow service, but the seller is flat out refusing to use anyone other than payoneer. Which is raising his suspicion levels.

So... are payoneer legit? Had anyone had any dealings with them in the past? Suggestions on next steps?

 

[boxfish]

I think @admin may have mentioned using them in the past although I can't remember when.

They are definitely legit. I think the reason some people insist on using them is because you can have the funds withdrawn to a Payoneer charge-card rather than your bank account, which is probably very handy in certain situations.

 

[Murray]

Yes they're certainly a legitimate company (not that I've used them)

Apparently they only fairly recently started being an escrow for domain names

http://domainnamewire.com/2016/09/12/payoneer-jumps-domain-name-escrow-business/

I can understand not wanting to bank wire any money before you've talked with them, but they have phone numbers and a live chat on their site? have they tried calling

 

[atlas]

They're legit:

http://domainnamewire.com/2016/09/12/payoneer-jumps-domain-name-escrow-business/

I've not used them myself.

 

[baldidiot]

I think @admin may have mentioned using them in the past although I can't remember when.

They are definitely legit. I think the reason some people insist on using them is because you can have the funds withdrawn to a Payoneer charge-card rather than your bank account, which is probably very handy in certain situations.

Ah, ok that makes a bit more sense. I couldn't think of a legit reason why they were being so stubborn over it.

 

[baldidiot]

I can understand not wanting to bank wire any money before you've talked with them, but they have phone numbers and a live chat on their site? have they tried calling

I'll ask. Live chat always seems down, but not sure if he's tried to call.

 

[martin-s]

I had similar trouble with Payoneer in the past - and from memory I'm not sure it worked with UK payments. I vaguely remember resorting to another payment method, but it's a while ago.

It's a really common payment method in the Philippines I believe.