Hello everyone,
Since I left Afternic and their lander and then moved to Efty. Finally settled for NamePros lander, I started dabbling several external escrow services more extensively because that’s going to be used more frequently than ever before.
I’ve mostly used GoDaddy custom checkout link, Sedo, DaaZ.com and Dynadot.com for selling my domains but recently I came across this issue a couple of times where I sent two different buyers GoDaddy checkout link and both said the amount they see was more than what we agreed upon. It was really not good because the amount I was seeing at my end was the same. I even discussed this with my Afternic rep and he told me that it’s most probably the VAT which is getting added.
Now this was troubling because first of all, GoDaddy should not be adding the VAT. Secondly, even if the VAT is added, there is no breakdown given on the checkout page. This may create doubts in the mind of a buyer that the seller might be sending the domain purchase link by increasing the price and that doesn’t give a good impression. After explaining this to my buyers, we then used another escrow service which went smoothly and no hidden addition of VAT charges. After doing some research I came to know that this VAT is added especially for EU buyers. Anyone from GoDaddy can clarify in this regard if anything I’ve shared is not correct information.
Going forward, I’m planning to use the GoDaddy custom checkout link only if they stop adding VAT or only if the buyer insists on using them by knowing that the VAT will be added to the agreed amount of the domain sale.
Excluding those couple of situations, I had a good experience using the GoDaddy checkout link but this issue must be resolved by them as soon as possible.
I would like to know if any one of you have faced this embarrassing situation with the buyer before?
Thank you!
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Same experience. After agreement was reached, Godaddy asked me to deduct VAT from the agreed price (lost almost 1/4) because the buyer was from EU. I accepted because didn’t want to upset the buyer, and wasn’t my fault! Avoid Godaddy for checkout if buyer is from EU. Not worth risk, many alts.
Thanks for sharing your experience.
Yeah, there are definitely many alts and we should not just rely on one.
GoDaddy has no choice here. It’s an EU regulation for larger companies, and increasingly affecting more platforms. The VAT is added if the buyer is based in the EU.
Totally understandable. But they should also make it clear at the checkout page and show the additional amount as VAT for the buyer to have clarity.
Yeah, IMO this is a DELIBERATE omission. They could and should easily put that in UPFRONT but they don’t. I had same experience with a recent godaddy order – it defaulted to the Australian site au.godaddy.com and gave me a price in AUD, then when added to the cart and at final checkout they whacked on an extra 10% in tax. Funny though… next time I did an order it already included the tax. Imagine how much extra they are taking by putting in a few random extra tax takes… double dipping??
Yeah, it could be a deliberate omission and I wouldn’t be surprised. This is a basic thing and should’ve been added right from the start.
Why you do not use Escrow.com?
I use them as a last resort because their support is not good. Also they ask for too much verification and almost every time the buyer has never used escrow.com and they find it difficult to sort out the verification process. It’s frustrating, time consuming and risky to lose a deal when I can use any other escrow service very quickly and smoothly. Of course, the fee is relatively more than escrow.com but usually that’s paid by the buyer.