Buying & Selling: An Escrow Dilema

Hello all,

I (seller) have agreed to sell a website to someone else. The buyer has requested we use escrow as a safe way to complete the transaction. I agree with this method as I use it every week (freelance).

However, in this case, I am transferring my code to the buyer first where they will test for a while. But this means, I run the risk of my code being stolen since the buyer can just reject sale and walk away.

How can I protect myself from this happening?

The seller is also a member of this forum and may want to comment.

Thanks all

Mods: If I posted in the wrong part of forum, please move.

 

usually with escrow the buyer will need to send the payment first to a trustable third party (e.g. escrow.com), which will secure the funds while the buyer checks the product and release them when it's complete.

 

How does that stop them from copying the code and rejecting the sale?

 

I am the buyer.

For clarification, I requested a testing period to verify:
1) Adsense revenue
2) Traffic stats

The standard process would be simply:
1) I pay escrow.com
2) Seller transfers websites to buyer
3) Buyer verifies traffic & revenue
4) Buyer accepts websites
5) Escrow.com pays Seller

 

Since the money is in escrow.com for that the buyer will need to prove the product he received is not what was agreed on. Which is usually pretty hard, considering you're either selling a site, or a domain, so he gets what you sees.

I've used escrow.com over 10 times both as a seller and a buyer and all went smooth, so no worries

 

I agree I've used escrow.com many times with no problems.

 

What if the buyer says, I do not like it. Cancel the transaction. They could still walk a way with copied code.

 

Just email their support for clarifications. They usually reply quickly

 

Sorry, I edited my previous reply. Please see.

 

Like I expressed to the seller, I am interested in purchasing BOTH the website + domain name. Therefore I am interested in buying the code that comes with it.

 

Why don't you just give your adsense code to the current owner and he can replace it for 24 hours so that you can check the earnings? as for the traffic stats, if you're using analytics you can always add his email to your account so that he can check...

 

I did the latter already.

I offered for him to put adsenes code on my site but he said no for some reason.

Maybe he can explain why?

 

well, that sure is fishy..

 

Well why doesnt 50/50 Work? Tell him to send some first and then the rest later.

 

Dude, I've been doing everything to sell this site.

I have even offered this to be sold in stages to make it safe for everyone.

But when he sees this thread. I am sure he will reply as to why.

 

No it is not fishy at all. In fact, when a seller does not want to use an escrow service, then THAT is fishy.

24 hours of adsense earnings are in no way representative of how the website's adsense earnings. A test of more than a few days would be better.

Besides, during the testing period of the escrow process is when I was going to test for adsense anyways.

 

Yes, the reason I did not want to do this in many "stages" is because I believe it is not necessary. It would make things more complicated than necessary.

If the website truly does have the adsense earnings like the screenshots I have received, then I will buy the site, but I need to verify this first.

I do not want to pay $$ to the seller only to find out that the site doesn't get the traffic or earnings I was told. Then I would be out what I paid. Escrow protects this because they hold the money until I verify, not the seller.

There are a few facts here:
1) I want to buy the website and domain
2) I am NOT trying to steal the code
3) Using a 3rd party escrow is the safest way to handle transactions

 

I have given the reason why. I have also contacted escrow support to see what they say about intellectual property.

Reason not wanting yo use escrow does not result in something being described as "Fishy".

So you do want to give me your adsense code so I can put it on my site to verify? I will put it on there for 3 days. You require more?

 

Complicated? It makes it even more safe for you, since you're limiting the amount of money you are sending meaning you are taking less of a risk.[/QUOTE]

Who said this wasn't true? The problem is that it has flaws, for the seller. Escrow can not guarantee the loss of intellectual property (code being copied).

Maybe the community at DP can come up with a way for me the seller,
to sell my site to the buyer welldawg08. One that will protect me from loosing
 my code. And one that will protect welldawg08 from finding that this site isn't
 what he thought it was (in terms of adsense & traffic).

Code (markup):