Escrow.com

[freedomatlast]

Anyone have any experiences using escrow.com for a financial transaction? I'm selling a car to an out of state buyer who wants to use escrow.com to handle the funds.

 

[mrfeh]

No, but I did sell a car recently to a buyer a couple thousand miles away. No escrow - once the purchase agreement is signed and the cashier's check cleared, the car was no longer mine.

Mind explaining why this would be necessary?

 

[freedomatlast]

No, but I did sell a car recently to a buyer a couple thousand miles away. No escrow - once the purchase agreement is signed and the cashier's check cleared, the car was no longer mine.

Mind explaining why this would be necessary?

The point is, I don't think it is necessary.

I'm the seller and the buyer suggested this.

In the past, I handled out of state sales this way:

1) Open a separate account at my bank.
2) Instruct the buyer to send the funds by wire to this account
3) Once the funds are received, transfer the funds to my regular account and close the account to which the funds were transferred.
4) Notarize the title, take a picture of it and send the notarized title to the buyer.
5) Cooperate with the buyers shipping company. Take pictures of the vehicle as its being loaded.

BTW, my bank specifically stated not to use cashier's checks because the fraudulent ones are extremely difficult to detect and the amount of time it takes to get them to officially clear, depending on a variety of circumstances.

 

[mrfeh]

The point is, I don't think it is necessary.

I'm the seller and the buyer suggested this.

In the past, I handled out of state sales this way:

1) Open a separate account at my bank.
2) Instruct the buyer to send the funds by wire to this account
3) Once the funds are received, transfer the funds to my regular account and close the account to which the funds were transferred.
4) Notarize the title, take a picture of it and send the notarized title to the buyer.
5) Cooperate with the buyers shipping company. Take pictures of the vehicle as its being loaded.

Seems like a solid procedure to me.

Sounds like you need to decide if you're going to stick with your MO or if you're willing to bend for this sale. I don't have a recommendation.

 

[sengsational]

I bought a used car from an individual who didn't hold the title. The escrow agent got the funds I paid, paid the lender, and forwarded the remaining to the seller. And of course got me the title. Seems he paid a couple hundred bucks for the service, but I'm not sure how the transaction would have been possible without it.

 

[38Chevy454]

How much total money are you getting? Is the buyer coming down in person to drive back? Wire transfer is the safest, but it might be tough for buyer to do if they are at your location and not able to be at their bank. If $20k or less just get cash if buyer is coming down.
You can use the third party escrow, just make sure fees are not going to be excessive.

 

[REWahoo]

The point is, I don't think it is necessary.

I'm the seller and the buyer suggested this.

In the past, I handled out of state sales this way:

1) Open a separate account at my bank.
2) Instruct the buyer to send the funds by wire to this account
3) Once the funds are received, transfer the funds to my regular account and close the account to which the funds were transferred.
4) Notarize the title, take a picture of it and send the notarized title to the buyer.
5) Cooperate with the buyers shipping company. Take pictures of the vehicle as its being loaded.

BTW, my bank specifically stated not to use cashier's checks because the fraudulent ones are extremely difficult to detect and the amount of time it takes to get them to officially clear, depending on a variety of circumstances.

The buyer would have to be very trusting that the seller would, after getting paid, actually follow through with the title transaction as described in step #4. I'm not that trusting and wouldn't do the purchase without the use of the escrow option.

 

[sengsational]

The point is, I don't think it is necessary.

I'm the seller and the buyer suggested this.

In the past, I handled out of state sales this way: .....

That's great for you, but zero safeguards for the buyer. You could take the wire money and go mute.


So it's not necessary for you

 

[HillCountry]

As for escrow.com, I have 100+ translations there. The good thing for the buyer is that he can dispute the transaction. I would the buyer covering the fee.