Escrow.com Fees: What Domain Buyers Pay
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Escrow.com charges 2.6 percent on a domain up to $5,000 (minimum $50) and 2.4 percent from $5,000 to $50,000 (minimum $130), falling to 1.9 percent up to $200,000. Paying by card or PayPal adds a 3.05 percent processing fee on top, while a wire does not. The buyer and seller decide between them who pays, so the fee can be all yours, half, or none.
Price the whole purchase before you open an escrow
Every name in our catalogue shows its asking price, and the sale runs through an Escrow.com transaction. See the price bands in what premium domains actually cost.
Escrow.com fee schedule for domain names
Escrow.com prices domain transactions on a sliding scale. The percentage drops as the deal gets bigger, but every bracket carries a minimum, and that minimum is what you actually pay at the bottom of each bracket. This is the published standard schedule for domain name transactions in US dollars, the one in force since Escrow.com changed its pricing on 31 May 2024.
| Purchase price | Escrow fee | Minimum fee |
|---|---|---|
| Up to $5,000 | 2.6% | $50 |
| $5,000.01 to $50,000 | 2.4% | $130 |
| $50,000.01 to $200,000 | 1.9% | $1,200 |
| $200,000.01 to $500,000 | 1.5% | $3,800 |
| $500,000.01 to $1,000,000 | 1.2% | $7,500 |
| $1,000,000.01 to $3,000,000 | 1.0% | $12,000 |
| $3,000,000.01 to $5,000,000 | 0.95% | $30,000 |
| $5,000,000.01 to $10,000,000 | 0.9% | $47,500 |
| Above $10,000,000 | 0.7% | Quoted on request |
If you have seen "under 1 percent" quoted for domain escrow, that figure predates the 2024 change, which is why the numbers you find online disagree. Across the $2,000 to $50,000 range where most startup names sell, the rate is 2.4 to 2.6 percent.
How much is escrow fee on a domain purchase?
On a typical startup purchase the escrow fee is between $50 and $1,200. Here is what the schedule produces at common price points, before any payment processing charge and before splitting it with the seller.
| Domain price | Escrow fee | Your half on a 50/50 split |
|---|---|---|
| $1,000 | $50 (the minimum; 2.6% would be $26) | $25 |
| $2,500 | $65 | $32.50 |
| $5,000 | $130 | $65 |
| $10,000 | $240 | $120 |
| $25,000 | $600 | $300 |
| $75,000 | $1,425 | $712.50 |
Notice what the minimums do at the bracket edges. A $5,000 name costs $130 to escrow. A $5,100 name is charged at 2.4 percent, which would be $122.40, so the $130 minimum applies instead and the fee does not move. The same thing happens above $50,000: the 1.9 percent rate only starts saving you money once the price passes about $63,160, because until then the $1,200 minimum is higher. So there is no bracket to game. Negotiate the domain price, not the fee.
Who pays the Escrow.com fee, buyer or seller?
Whoever the two parties agree on. Escrow.com lets the buyer pay all of it, the seller pay all of it, or the two split it 50/50, and in a broker deal the broker can take a share too. If the buyer pays some or all, it is added to the amount you fund up front. If the seller pays, it comes out of the money they receive when the transfer is confirmed.
Many sellers in private deals accept a split or pay it themselves, since the seller is the one who needs the buyer to feel safe enough to send money. Treat it as part of the negotiation. On a $25,000 name, moving from buyer-pays to a split is worth $300 to you, which is a reasonable thing to ask for at the same time as the price.
Escrow.com transaction fees by payment method
The escrow fee is only half the bill. How you fund the transaction decides whether a second charge lands on top, and on a card payment that second charge is bigger than the escrow fee itself.
- Wire transfer from a US bank: no Escrow.com processing fee. Your own bank may charge its usual outgoing wire fee.
- International wire: buyers outside the United States pay an extra $25.
- Credit card or PayPal: a 3.05 percent payment processing fee on top of the escrow fee. Cards are only accepted on transactions up to $5,000 plus fees, so anything larger has to go by wire anyway.
Put numbers on it. On a $4,000 domain paid by card, the escrow fee is $104 and card processing adds about $125, so the card nearly doubles the cost of using escrow. Pay the same name by wire and the second charge disappears. Sellers have their own disbursement fees ($10 for a domestic wire, $20 international, nothing for ACH), but those come out of their side.
Escrow com fee calculator: working it out yourself
You do not need the calculator to budget. Take the purchase price, multiply by the bracket rate, compare the answer with the bracket minimum, and use whichever is higher. Multiply by your share (1, 0.5 or 0). If you are paying by card or PayPal on a deal of $5,000 or less, add 3.05 percent of the total you are funding. Escrow.com's own calculator on its fees page will confirm the exact figure, and the transaction page shows every charge before you send money.
Escrow.com fees compared with marketplace checkout
If the name you want sits on a marketplace, you often never see Escrow.com at all, because the marketplace runs its own payment and transfer process. The cost moves into different places. Sedo, for example, adds a 3 percent express processing charge on card and PayPal payments over $500, and a wire avoids it, which we cover in what buyers pay on Sedo. Brokers are the expensive route: a buyer-side broker usually works on 10 to 20 percent of the price, and our breakdown of domain broker fees and commission shows why a $119.99 retainer plus 20 percent can cost more than the escrow fee many times over.
Against those numbers, 2.4 percent is cheap insurance. The mistake is not paying it. The mistake is paying it twice, which happens when a buyer hires a broker, pays a card surcharge and then agrees to cover escrow in full on top.
Is the Escrow.com fee worth paying?
Yes, on any private domain deal. Escrow.com holds your money, tells the seller to push the domain, checks that it has actually arrived in your registrar account, and only then releases payment. Without that, you are wiring money to whoever is named in a WHOIS record and hoping. On a $10,000 name, $240 (or $120 on a split) to remove that risk is an easy trade. The one case where it adds little is a tiny purchase at a big registrar marketplace that already controls both sides of the transfer.
How does escrow work when you buy a domain from BoldDomains?
Every name in our catalogue is ours, with a fixed asking price on the listing. When you buy, we open a transaction on Escrow.com in your name for that price with a three day inspection period, so you can confirm the domain is in your account before the money is released to us. The Escrow.com transaction page lists every charge and who pays it before you fund anything, and you can pay by wire to avoid the card charge. There is no buyer premium or broker commission added to our price. For a walk through each step of a transfer, see how domain escrow works, and if you are still choosing between marketplaces, our BrandBucket alternative comparison sets out refund windows and payment terms side by side.
Recording the escrow payment in your books
A founder who buys a domain for the company usually has to explain the payment to a bookkeeper a month later. The wire to Escrow.com shows up on the bank statement as one line, while the domain and the escrow fee belong in different places. Save the Escrow.com receipt that splits the two. If your books live in QuickBooks, you can convert the bank statement into a QuickBooks file and match that one wire against the receipt instead of retyping it.
How to keep escrow fees down
- Wire, do not charge. The 3.05 percent card and PayPal fee is the largest avoidable cost on most deals.
- Ask for a split or seller-pays. Raise it with the price, not after you have agreed a number.
- Skip the broker if the name is listed. A fixed-price listing needs no one to negotiate on your behalf.
- Buy once, not in stages. Payment plans and holding transactions carry their own fees on top of the escrow fee.
The bottom line
Budget 2.6 percent of the price (at least $50) for a name under $5,000 and 2.4 percent (at least $130) up to $50,000, then negotiate who carries it and pay by wire. On most startup purchases that puts the real cost of escrow somewhere between $25 and $600. If you would rather skip the negotiation entirely, search our catalogue: the price on each listing is the price, and the sale closes through Escrow.com.
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