The Word Corner

I haven’t posted here in a while because I’ve been busy closing open loops. (In case you haven’t read Dave Allen’s Getting Things Done, open loops are all those unfinished projects begging to be completed that occupy psychic RAM, create stress and keep us awake at night.

What I’ve Been Doing

Recently I purchased a domain for a niche site and I’ve decided to focus on it for the next few days. I usually tend to underestimate what it takes to launch a site from scratch. I love writing and adding images to a site while I detest installing plugins and doing all the behind the scenes SEO setup.

Buying a Domain Name from an Individual

For this new site, I bought a domain name from an individual using the services of a domain escrow company called www.escrow.com.

The domain transfer went smoothly and both seller and buyer (me) were pleased with the speed of the transaction.

Here’s how it works

1. Contact the domain owner and offer to buy his or her domain name. If the seller agrees, go to escrow.com and write your information.
2. You then enter your payment information. I used a credit card for added protection in the event something went wrong. I also had to fax a copy of my credit card to Escrow for verification.
3. The seller was notified of the payment and was told to begin the domain transfer process.
4. I registered with a hosting company (big mistake! should have stayed with Bluehost) and set up a hosting account for the new domain.
5. I accepted the domain via the hosting control panel.
6. When the domain was completely transferred to me and I knew everything was ready to go I accepted the domain in Escrow at which point, my funds were released to the buyer.

Total time elapsed: Less than one business day! We started on Friday evening. Nothing much happened over the weekend. On Monday morning we started the process and at 9:00PM that same day I emailed the seller: “it was a pleasure working with you”.

In case you’re wondering, all these steps were beautifully orchestrated by Escrow via email. You don’t have to wonder what’s happening or what you should be doing. They take care of all the notifications.

The Lesson

One of my favorite quotes from Albert Einstein is “Smart people solve problems geniuses avoid them”. I braced myself for 1 to 2 weeks of delays and problems and I Googled “How to buy a domain name without getting screwed” (that’s how I got the tip about using Escrow).

The buyer asked me to pay him via Paypal and then he would do the transfer. When I suggested we use a domain escrow instead he agreed and everything worked out fine.

Ok, back to plugins…