Afternic FAQs & Help

Once a price is agreed upon and/or an auction has been completed, the buyer will select their payment method and initiate the escrow process through Afternic’s secure escrow service.  The buyer’s funds are held in Afternic escrow.  The seller is then instructed to transfer the domain to the buyer. Once the buyer confirms control of the domain Afternic will disburse the funds to the seller.

Afternic protects you in several ways:

1.  You are protected in writing, as stated in the Afternic Membership Agreement.
2.  There is a rigorous escrow process to ensure every escrow payment is deposited into a secure holding account.
3.  Afternic is a member of the Better Business Bureau Online Reliability Program

In short, Afternic guarantees that the transaction will be completed or you will get your property (domain name or money) returned in full, less any transactional fees.

There are eight easy steps to Afternic’s secure escrow process:

1. Seller selects the disbursement method and confirms the sale agreement.

2. Buyer selects the payment method and confirms the purchase agreement.

3. Buyer submits the new registration information for the domain. (This information is hidden from the seller until the payment is approved.)

4. Afternic escrow receives the payment.

5. Afternic escrow approves the payment and authorizes the domain name transfer. This step is completed immediately after step 4 for guaranteed payments: money orders, cashier checks, wire transfers. Otherwise, it is completed after the payment clears.

6. Seller transfers the ownership of the domain to the buyer at the current registrar or sends the buyer the authorization code to initiate a transfer at the buyer’s preferred registrar. The buyer pays the transfer fees if moving from current registrar to a different registrar.

7. On seller created accounts, Buyer will change the password.  On Buyer created accounts, authorization codes are used.  The Buyer will confirm control of the domain in their registrar account, and then confirm with Afternic by clicking the link in Step 7.

8. Afternic will send the net proceeds of the sale to the seller.

Once funds have cleared, the seller transfers the domain name to the buyer. There are three ways to do this:

Option 1:  If both buyer and seller use the same registrar, the domain can be pushed from one account to the other.

Note: If your registrar does not allow a “push”, see option 2.

Option 2: If the buyer and seller have the same registrar and that registrar requires the buyer to initiate the transfer, the buyer creates a free account and requests to “pull” the domain name into their account. The seller simply accepts the request to “pull” the name into the new account. The buyer now has full control of the name.

Option 3: If the buyer and seller have different registrars, the seller simply “unlocks” the domain, and provides the buyer with the authorization or EPP code. The buyer then initiates a transfer at their registrar of choice. The buyer’s registrar will send an email to the domain owner asking them to approve the transfer. Once the domain owner approves the transfer, the process of moving the domain from one registrar to another begins.

Note: Option one and two are instantaneous.  Option three — transferring between two different registrars – usually takes about a week.

If you have any questions, please contact Customer Service at service@afternic.com

Transfer notifications are sent via the registrar to the email address you have on file. You can also log into your registrar account to ensure the transfer has been completed.

Afternic disburses funds to the seller after the buyer confirms control of the domain.  We can send payment to the seller through the following methods:

Paypal (via mass pay, no additional fee)

Check (via first class mail, no additional fee)

US Wire ($15 additional fee)

Non-US Wire ($35 additional fee)

ACH/Direct Deposit (no additional fee & only available to US-based members)

Note: ACH/Direct Deposits are disbursed once a week, on Fridays, and consist of all payments from the previous Friday-Thursday week. Money will appear in the seller’s account within 3 business days.

For domain name sales, we accept the following payment methods:
• Wire transfer (US additional $15 fee or non-US additional $25 fee)

• PayPal (additional 4% fee, payments are capped at $2,500)
• Check (business, personal, US, non-US; no additional fees)
• Money order (no additional fees)
• Credit Card (additional 4% fee, payments are capped at $2,500)

TIP: To expedite your domain purchase transaction we recommend using PayPal or wire transfer.

There is no escrow fee for sellers listing and selling a domain through Afternic.  The escrow fee is included in the sales commission. For “escrow only” services where a domain buyer or seller wishes to use Afternic escrow services for domains not listed and sold through our marketplace there is a 3% commission. This service ensures full protection for both buyer and seller.

When transacting a domain purchase on Afternic, both Buyer and Seller are required to use Afternic’s secure escrow service. This is to protect both Buyer and Seller, and to maintain Afternic’s marketplace integrity.