Securing a Domain Name from a reseller

Domain Name reseller buying

[modiddy]

I am currently involved in negotiations
to secure a three character .net url from
someone calling themselves an 'OpenSRS
reseller' under the Tucows system.

The domain would be highly convenient but
not one hundred percent necessary to the
development of a project I am working on
in my own free time. Still id like to have it.

I have very little money but am willing to pay

Any suggestions on how I can protect myself so that
I only have to deal with this shady domain reseller
one time? The reseller indicatted that this domain
was available and that they would consider offers.
I asked for further clarification about what obligations
the reseller would be under in an agreement. Baically
I want to buy the domain name, not lease it. What is the
best way to express that to this Open SRS reseller?

Also any ideas about going rates for something like this?
I realize I want to avoid making the first offer but
ballpark. All representations to this guy so far is that
I am very small time, which I am.

Help, please.

[rcjordan]

I've dealt with OpenSRS resellers on some substantial domain purchases. On the positive side, they are able to transfer registration very quickly ..just by emailing you a password, or very little more than that. On the downside, the ease of transfer within OpenSRS made it feel somewhat less than secure, so I tranferred them out of there within a day (as soon as the whois data changed).

Check out the domain transfer service of escrow.com. Extraordinarily well set up and provides both parties with some assurance that the deal will go through.

[mole]

I don't think OpenSRS is an issue in itself, and being an OpenSRS reseller doesn't actually entail shadiness as the orginal post implies.
You need to be sure that you end up as the REGISTRANT of the domain i.e. the legal owner of the domain, at whatever market price you agree with the vendor.
If you're worried about the legalities of the transfer, or suspect your 'shady reseller' is attempting a rip-off then employ an internet-savvy solicitor.

[vdlddd8379]

I recently bought a domain from an OpenSRS reseller who is located in Korea. I solicited him, we dickered back and forth and agreed on a price. We used escrow.com and it went very smoothly. It was all on the up and up, and escrow.com gives both parties added assurance since we are total strangers on opposite ends of the word. The OpenSRS platform was easy to use--you make all the ownership changes yourself using your login and password and the changes are reflected in Whois real-time. I transfered the domain to GoDaddy as soon as I saw the changes in Whois. No problem at all. Escrow.com is reasonably priced and worth the money, in my opinion. Good luck.