Buying a domain on the secondary market — meaning a name someone already owns — feels different from registering an available one at a registrar. Here’s the path, end to end.
1. Find the right name
Use the marketplace search to look for keywords + TLDs that match your project. Filter by max price and length to surface what’s actually in your budget. Save the ones you like with the heart button — saved domains trigger a price-drop alert if the seller lowers their asking price later, plus an auction-start alert if the name moves to auction.
2. Decide your budget — before you make contact
The biggest negotiation mistake first-time buyers make is starting a conversation without knowing their walk-away number. A clear ceiling protects you from creeping upward in $500 increments over a week of polite back-and-forth.
Look at the seller’s min_offer_usd — that’s the floor they’ve published. A reasonable opening offer is typically 30-60% of asking, depending on how priced-up the listing looks. Lowballs (under 20%) tend to be ignored.
3. Buy It Now, make an offer, or bid
Three paths, and they’re not interchangeable:
- Buy It Now: instant. The published price is the price; you pay, and the domain enters escrow within minutes. Best when you’ve already decided the asking is fair.
- Make an offer: the seller accepts, counters, or rejects. Best when there’s negotiation room or no published BIN.
- Auction: bid up to the close. Anti-snipe extends the timer if a bid lands in the final minutes, so the auction doesn’t close on a last-second outsider.
4. Pay through escrow — never around it
Once a price is agreed, the marketplace mints a one-time escrow.com checkout link. Pay through that link. Don’t send funds directly to the seller, don’t accept a private payment instruction in chat — both bypass the protection you’re paying the marketplace to provide.
Escrow holds the money until the seller actually transfers the domain into your registrar account. If the seller doesn’t deliver, you get refunded in full.
5. Take delivery
Two paths, and the marketplace usually picks the faster one automatically:
- Push transfer (same registrar): instant. If you and the seller both use the same registrar (Cloudflare, Porkbun, GoDaddy, etc.), the seller pushes the domain to your account and you confirm receipt.
- Inter-registrar transfer: 5-7 days. The seller unlocks the domain at their registrar and gives you the EPP code (also called auth-code). You submit it at your registrar’s transfer form. The gaining registrar processes the change.
Once the domain shows up in your account, accept the delivery in escrow. Funds release to the seller, and the name is yours.
What to do if something goes wrong
If the seller stops responding mid-transfer, escrow has a defined delivery window — open a dispute and you get the refund. If chat communication breaks down on a contested issue (which TLD pricing tier? who pays push fees?), marketplace support can intervene. Don’t go off-platform to resolve disputes — once you do, you’ve lost the audit trail you’d need to defend your position.