yescrow
Start a deal

Selling a domain

You lock nothing. You move the domain to the buyer, and the registry's own record gets you paid.

Before you start

  • The domain ends in .com, .net, .ai, .io, .org, .xyz, .app or .dev.
  • It was registered more than 60 days ago, and expires more than 30 days from now. Renew it first if it doesn't.
  • There is no 60-day transfer lock from a recent change of owner. Ask your registrar: the public record doesn't show it.
  • You and the buyer agree on the price, and you know the buyer's registrar and wallet address.

Start a deal runs these checks against the registry for you, or accept the deal link the buyer sends you.

Selling from a forum post or a for-sale page

Don't know the buyer yet? Make a buy link: set the domain, price, token and how it changes hands once, and share the link, or the “Buy with yescrow” button it gives you as HTML or as BBCode for NamePros. A buyer who opens it adds their own wallet and registrar and pays into the deal; they need no wallet connection to pay. The deal then waits for you to accept it in My deals, like any other.

Moving the domain to another registrar

This is the usual case, and the strongest proof: the registry shows the domain leaving your registrar and arriving at the buyer's.

  1. Accept the deal. You sign; the relayer pays the gas. yescrow attaches a registry proof that the domain is at your registrar today. If the registry served an older cached record, wait a minute and accept again.
  2. Unlock the domain at your registrar (it may be called “transfer lock” or “registrar lock”).
  3. Get the transfer code (also called auth or EPP code) and send it to the buyer privately, for example by email. Never post it anywhere public.
  4. Approve the transfer if your registrar emails you about it. Otherwise registrars wait up to five days before releasing it.
  5. Wait for the proof. Once the registry shows the buyer's registrar, yescrow submits the proof automatically and the buyer's challenge window starts. You can also press “Check the registry now” on the deal page.
  6. Get paid. When the challenge window ends without a challenge, the price minus the 1% fee is credited to you. Withdraw it from My deals; withdrawing costs no gas.

Pushing within the same registrar

If the buyer uses the same registrar as you, the domain is pushed from your account to theirs. The registry can't see which account holds a domain, so the proof is that the domain's nameservers changed to the buyer's:

  1. Accept the deal.
  2. First set the domain's nameservers to the ones in the deal.
  3. Then push the domain to the buyer's account. Some registrars ask the buyer to accept the push.
  4. yescrow proves the nameserver change; the buyer checks their account during a longer challenge window, then you are paid.

The order of steps matters

Move the domain first, and let the buyer change the owner details afterwards. Changing the owner before the move can start a 60-day lock at your registrar, and the transfer window would run out. After any transfer, the domain can't move registrar again for 60 days; that is normal and doesn't affect the deal.

Deadlines

  • Transfer window. If the registry doesn't show the move before it ends, the buyer can be refunded.
  • Delivered but the proof keeps failing? For example, the registry's server is down. Open a dispute on the deal page before the transfer deadline. You pay the arbitration fee in ETH; see the dispute guide.
  • Can't complete the sale? Refund the buyer from the deal page at any time.

What you pay

1% of the amount you are paid, taken when you are paid. Accepting, refunding and withdrawing are signatures, so they cost no gas. Proposing a deal yourself is a transaction, so it needs a little Arbitrum ETH, as does a dispute.