Escrow.com
Escrow.com is a privately held internet escrow company. Based in San Francisco, CA, Escrow.com was founded in 1999 by Fidelity National Financial. It was acquired in 2015 by Freelancer.com.
 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1999 |
| Headquarters | United States |
Key people | Matt Barrie, President and CEO; Neil Katz, CFO; Owen Smith, Head of Compliance [1] |
| Services | Online Escrow |
| Website | www.escrow.com |
Escrow.com is a privately held internet escrow company. Based in San Francisco, CA,[2] Escrow.com was founded in 1999 by Fidelity National Financial.[3] It was acquired in 2015 by Freelancer.com.[2]
History
[edit]Escrow.com was founded in 1999 by Fidelity National Financial in response to Bank of America's four million dollar purchase a few years earlier of Loans.com. Fidelity decided to liquidate Escrow.com and did so in 2002 in a trade with iLumin for a software license. In 2004, Escrow.com was purchased by a private investor.[4] Currently, the company is owned by Freelancer Technology Pty Limited.[2]
Overview
[edit]Escrow.com provides internet escrow services for many companies in e-commerce, international trade, online auctions, and online shopping, such as eBay,[5] GoDaddy[6] and AutoTrader.[7] The items that are handled range from domain name sales to high monetary value items such as motor vehicles and heavy equipment/machinery. Escrow.com is a strategic partner with the United States Department of Commerce[8] in support of President Obama’s National Export Initiative.[citation needed]
The company has been a guest blogger on ‘Tradeology’ – the official blog of the International Trade Administration[9] as well as a featured writer in various magazines, including the Specialty Equipment Marketing Association (SEMA) News,[10] EXPORT Magazine,[11] and contributed towards having the term ‘Escrow Service'[12] added to the third edition of the Trade Finance Guide, published by The International Trade Administration (ITA).
In 2013 Escrow.com reached an accrued value of over two billion dollars in transaction volume.[13] The company works extensively in an effort to prevent online fraud and is a resource for the Internet Crime Complaint Center,[14] a multi-agency task force made up by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C), and the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA)[citation needed]
Services
[edit]The escrow company takes the buyer's funds, verifies the deposit to the seller, and transfers the funds to the seller after the buyer receives the merchandise, thus protecting the interests of both the buyer and seller.
- Vehicle Escrow: An escrow process that protects both buyers and sellers. It ensures the money is transferred and the vehicle is delivered with every sale.
- Domain and Website Escrow: An escrow process that ensures buyers get the domain or website and sellers get paid.
- Domain Name Holding Escrow: A service designed for domain name buyers and sellers who agree to hold the domain(s) in escrow while the buyer makes scheduled payments.
- General Merchandise Escrow: An escrow process used for almost any product that protects both buyers and sellers from fraud.
- Milestone Escrow: An escrow process where Escrow.com does not release payments to the seller until each phase/milestone has been completed and approved by the buyer.
- Broker Escrow: A three-party escrow transaction that offers brokers the ability to begin, manage and close transactions privately and in a secure manner.
- Trade Transaction Protection: An escrow process used for international trade that protects both exporters and importers from fraud.
Licenses and partnerships
[edit]Licenses
[edit]| State | License Type | Regulator |
|---|---|---|
| Arizona | Escrow | Arizona Department of Financial Institutions |
| Arkansas | Money Transmitter | Arkansas Securities Department |
| California | Escrow | California Department of Business Oversight |
| Colorado | Money Transmitter | Colorado Division of Banking |
| Georgia | Seller of Payment Instruments | Georgia Department of Banking and Finance - Non-Depository Financial Institutions Division |
| Idaho | Escrow | Idaho Department of Finance |
| Illinois | Money Transmitter | Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation |
| Iowa | Money Transmitter | Iowa Division of Banking |
| Kansas | Money Transmitter | Kansas Office of the State Bank Commissioner |
| Maine | Money Transmitter | Department of Professional & Financial Regulation - Bureau of Consumer Credit Protection |
| Mississippi | Money Transmitter | Mississippi Department of Banking and Consumer Finance |
| Missouri | Sale of Checks | Missouri Division of Finance |
| Montana | Escrow | Montana Division of Banking and Financial Institutions |
| Nebraska | Money Transmitter | Nebraska Department of Banking & Finance |
| New Hampshire | Money Transmitter | State of New Hampshire Banking Department - Consumer Credit Division |
| New Mexico | Escrow | New Mexico Financial Institutions Division |
| North Carolina | Money Transmitter | North Carolina Office of the Commissioner of Banks |
| North Dakota | Money Transmitter | North Dakota Department of Financial Institutions - Consumer Division |
| Ohio | Money Transmitter | Ohio Department of Commerce Division of Financial Institutions |
| Oklahoma | Money Transmitter | Oklahoma Banking Department |
| South Dakota | Money Transmitter | South Dakota Division of Banking |
| Texas | Money Transmitter | Texas Department of Banking |
| Washington | Escrow | Washington Department of Financial Institutions |
| West Virginia | Money Transmitter | West Virginia Division of Banking |
- Escrow.com has 42 financial services licenses granted or in-application [15]
Partnerships
[edit]- National Independent Automobile Dealers Association[16]
- Specialty Equipment Marketing Association (SEMA)
- eBay[17][18]
- GoDaddy
- DomainNameSales.com[19]
- United States Department of Commerce[20]
- International Trade Administration[21]
- United States Commercial Service[8]
- BizBroker24.com[22][23]
References
[edit]- ^ "About Escrow.com, The Online Escrow Service - Escrow.com". www.escrow.com. Retrieved 26 February 2026.
- ^ a b c "Freelancer.com Acquires Payment Service Provider Escrow.com For $7.5M". Retrieved 27 October 2016.
- ^ "Fidelity National Financial, Inc. to Offer Internet Escrow Services Through Escrow.com". thefreelibrary.com. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
- ^ Frager, Owen (12 July 2012). "How It Could Have Been: Escrow.com Rebrands As Finera". The Frager Factor. Archived from the original on 19 February 2018. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
- ^ "eBay Preferred Escrow Services". Archived from the original on 20 December 2017. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
- ^ "Commission rates for Premium listings | GoDaddy Auctions - GoDaddy Help US". www.godaddy.com. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
- ^ "Fraud Awareness Tips: Prevent Internet Fraud - Autotrader". autotrader.com. 17 August 2017. Archived from the original on 17 August 2017. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
- ^ a b "The Strategic Partnership Program". export.gov. Archived from the original on 26 July 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
- ^ "How Are Escrow Services Used In International Trade Transactions?". Tradeology, the ITA Blog. 25 September 2013. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
- ^ "What Are "Escrow Services" and How Can It Help My Business? | SEMA". www.sema.org. Archived from the original on 26 July 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
- ^ "Escrow Services – how to get paid when exporting!". www.rivcoeda.org. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
- ^ "Trade Finance Guide - Chapter 2: Cash-In-Advance". export.gov. 13 November 2012. Archived from the original on 30 May 2016. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
- ^ Sokol, Andrew (13 January 2014). "Escrow.com Surpasses $2 Billion in Secured Transactions". PRWeb. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
- ^ "Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) | Internet Crime Schemes". www.ic3.gov. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
- ^ "Escrow.com Licenses". www.asx.com.au. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
- ^ "4th quarter Member Benefits & Services Guide". Issuu. NIADA. 21 November 2016. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
- ^ "eBay brings escrow aboard". CNET. 2 May 2002. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
- ^ "Online escrow fraud on the rise". cbc.ca. 28 October 2002. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
- ^ Berkens, Michael (10 July 2012). "Frank Schilling's DomainNameSales.com Integrated With Escrow.com". TheDomains.com. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
- ^ "US Department of Commerce Partners".
- ^ "International Trade Administration Partners".
- ^ "Escrow Partner BizBroker24.com". escrow.com. Archived from the original on 6 December 2014. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
- ^ "BizBroker24 Premium Partner of Escrow". bizbroker24.com. Retrieved 5 December 2014.