The escrow company I will be using is sedo.
The registrar I was going to use for the domain is godaddy.
Any personal experiences or opinions with this type of transaction and or with these companies are much appreciated.
Take care
Yes as others have said, Sedo is reputable but can be very slow.
Since you are already in touch with the seller, I don't see why you would not use the excellent ESCROW.COM. They have a very easy to use "domain escrow" service and the fees are very reasonable.
BTW is the name already at GoDaddy or at another registrar?
A transfer takes time, however, SEDO was very helpful and made sure there was a smooth transaction.
On a side note, they did go and post the domain & final $ amount I paid on a look-how-much-these-sell-for domain-news website. I would have rather kept the sales details private.
Overall I am very pleased with their services.
On a side note, they did go and post the domain & final $ amount I paid on a look-how-much-these-sell-for domain-news website.
They did the same for me last year when I used their escrow service for a privately-negotiated sale. Publicised it in a "top sales" list which gave the appearance they helped sell it, and without asking either party.
So when I had a good $xx,#*$! sale earlier this year I went to escrow.com, and that deal has remained confidential (and was completed within a matter of hours, not weeks).