# How to sell a domain to a buyer in another country How a domain sale settles with an overseas buyer, what slows international payment, and how funds and name change hands cleanly. --- ## How to sell a domain to a buyer in another country Every domain deal involves two handovers happening simultaneously: a name moving from one registrar account to another, and money moving from one country to another. Most domain professionals have the transfer side under reasonable control. The payment side is where international deals quietly erode value — through exchange-rate markups, correspondent-bank deductions, currency-of-denomination disputes, and delays that create room for buyers to reconsider. This article is for the broker, advisor, or dealmaker managing an international domain transaction end-to-end: what the mechanics actually look like, where each stage can go wrong, and how to structure the deal so both handovers complete cleanly. ## The two things that have to close at the same time A domain sale is not like selling a file. The domain itself has no inherent location — it lives in the DNS, controlled by whoever holds registrar credentials. But the transaction still requires simultaneous settlement of two distinct processes: the technical transfer of registrant control, and the financial movement of cleared funds across a border. These two tracks run on entirely different timelines and infrastructures, and a professional's job is to coordinate them so neither completes before the other is assured. The domain transfer is initiated at the registrar level using an EPP authorization code (commonly called an auth code or transfer secret). The seller's registrar issues this code; the buyer's registrar submits a transfer request using it. Once initiated, this process can take several business days, depending on the banks and banking systems of the country — and in the domain context, depending on the registrars on each side and whether a same-registrar push is available. The payment, meanwhile, moves through an entirely separate infrastructure. If the buyer is wiring USD from Singapore, Euros from Germany, or GBP from the UK, that money travels through correspondent banking networks, conversion desks, and receiving banks before it touches anyone's account. These two clocks run independently. The broker's control over how they synchronize defines whether the deal closes cleanly or becomes a dispute. ## How the money actually moves — and what it costs Understand this before structuring any international deal: the wire amount the buyer sends and the net amount the seller receives are almost never the same number. When a bank converts currency for a wire transfer, it does not use the mid-market rate you see on Google or Reuters. It applies a markup typically ranging from 1.5% to 5%, depending on the currency pair, the bank, and the client relationship. On a $100,000 domain sale, a 2% FX markup is $2,000 the seller never sees and may never know was taken. Most international wires do not travel directly from Bank A to Bank B. They pass through intermediary correspondent banks that have the right relationships and accounts to route the payment to its destination. Each correspondent in the chain is entitled to deduct a fee from the transfer. Each intermediary bank on a SWIFT wire can deduct $25 to $50 from the principal. The problem is that the number of correspondents in the chain is invisible to both parties until the payment arrives. SWIFT's charge-bearer codes attempt to address this. Under "OUR" pricing, the sender agrees to cover all fees, but even then, the sending bank often cannot guarantee the total because it does not control what downstream correspondents will charge. Under "SHA" (shared) pricing, costs are split unpredictably between sender and receiver. For a deal involving two professionals — a broker representing the seller and a co-broker or referral partner on the buyer's side — the situation is more complex. Multiple wallet addresses need to receive their share. In a traditional wire structure, the lead party receives the gross amount and then has to initiate separate outbound wires to the co-broker, the advisor, or any party owed a split. Each of those outbound wires to a foreign account incurs its own fees and its own delay. International wires aren't instant. Standard processing times are often several business days, and that timeline can extend depending on the destination country, currency, or bank review processes. The real total cost of a cross-border wire is often obscured. For small business owners paying overseas contractors or suppliers, that flat wire fee is usually just the beginning. The true cost of an international wire can include several layers that don't always appear on the confirmation screen — exchange rate markups, intermediary bank deductions, administrative time, and the impact of delayed payments on cash flow. This is the environment every domain professional operates in when the buyer is overseas. ## Structuring currency and price denomination One of the first decisions in an international domain sale is which currency denominates the deal. It is not a formality. If you denominate in USD and your buyer is in Europe paying in Euros, the buyer bears conversion risk. If you denominate in EUR and the seller is in the US, the seller bears it. Neither party wants to absorb the spread silently, and in high-value deals the spread is large enough to reopen price negotiations after everything was agreed. The most defensible approach is to denominate in the currency that aligns with the majority of the commission recipients' home markets, and to specify in the sale agreement not just the amount but the currency, the FX reference rate if applicable, and which party bears conversion costs. Like any business transaction, the sale of a domain name must be governed by a contract that clearly outlines the terms of the sale, the payment process, and the transfer of ownership. In international domain sales, contracts take on additional complexity because of the involvement of parties from different legal jurisdictions. The contract must specify which country's laws will apply to the transaction and which courts will have jurisdiction in the event of a dispute. For deals above $50,000, experienced domain brokers typically insist on a signed sale agreement before the auth code is disclosed or any transfer is initiated. The agreement should specify: the agreed sale price in the agreed currency, the payment deadline, what constitutes confirmed receipt, and what happens if the transfer completes but payment does not clear. These are not standard terms buyers resist — they are the professional's protection and they define the deal structure clearly before either party acts. ## The domain transfer: how gTLDs and ccTLDs behave differently A .com buyer in Tokyo and a .de buyer in Berlin are not in the same situation, technically or legally. Understanding this distinction is essential. ### gTLDs: the ICANN transfer framework For generic top-level domains — .com, .net, .org, and most new gTLDs — the transfer process is standardized under ICANN policy. Two distinct lock mechanisms protect domains: the registrar lock you can toggle manually, and the ICANN-mandated 60-day lock that cannot be bypassed under most circumstances. ICANN's 60-day transfer lock policy prevents domain transfers in three scenarios: within 60 days of initial registration, within 60 days of a previous transfer, and within 60 days of changing registrant contact information (though this can often be opted out). This last scenario is where most international deal complications occur. The moment you update the registrant name or email to reflect the buyer's details, the 60-day clock restarts on registrar-to-registrar transfers. The 60-day transfer lock after a registrant change is an ICANN security measure designed to prevent domain hijacking. When registrant information changes, there is a risk that the change could be unauthorized or fraudulent. The lock period gives the previous registrant time to detect and report any unauthorized changes before a domain can be transferred away. The professional play: if the buyer uses the same registrar as the seller, you can avoid the inter-registrar transfer entirely with a same-registrar push, which bypasses the 60-day lock. A push domain feature can instantly transfer ownership to another account at the same registrar. Pushes bypass the ICANN lock entirely — no waiting, no fees. This is the fastest possible domain handover and worth structuring the deal around when the buyer is flexible on which registrar they use. If a registrar transfer is unavoidable, the sequence matters: initiate the transfer to the buyer's registrar first, then update registrant contact information after the transfer completes at the new registrar. Never update registrant contact information immediately before planning a transfer. If you change your name or email on Monday and try to initiate a transfer on Tuesday, you've triggered a 60-day lock that prevents the transfer until that period expires. Always complete transfers first, then update contact information at your new registrar after the transfer completes. ### ccTLDs: the real complexity in international deals Country-code domains are where international domain sales become genuinely difficult. The fundamental issue lies in the autonomy each country has over its namespace. Unlike ICANN-regulated generic domains, ccTLDs are governed by national registries, each with its own eligibility policies, transfer methods, and documentation requirements. Some are liberal, allowing easy international ownership, while others impose strict residency, citizenship, or business presence rules. For buyers and sellers accustomed to the smooth, automated systems of generic domains, these country-specific rules can turn a straightforward sale into a prolonged and frustrating ordeal. When deals involve ccTLDs, transfers that should take hours can stretch into weeks or even months, and in some cases, collapse entirely due to compliance complications or misunderstanding of national regulations. The eligibility walls are real and specific: Canada's .ca domain requires the registrant to meet Canadian Presence Requirements, meaning that only citizens, permanent residents, or registered Canadian entities can hold them. A buyer in Taiwan wanting to acquire a .ca domain can't simply take ownership — they need to either qualify through a Canadian entity or use a trustee arrangement. China's .cn is notorious for its stringent identity verification process. The registry, CNNIC, requires all registrants to provide valid government-issued identification, and for organizations, an official business license in Chinese. Foreign companies must typically work through an approved local agent, and documentation must be translated and sometimes notarized. Countries like Argentina (.ar) and Brazil (.br) require registrants to have local tax identification numbers — essentially, proof of local citizenship or business presence. For foreign buyers, that requirement means establishing a local entity or using a representative, a process that can take weeks. The ICANN 60-day lock policy applies to gTLDs (.com, .net, .org) but not to country-code domains like .co.uk, .eu, or .ca — which sounds like good news, but it just means the ccTLD registry's own rules apply instead, and those rules can be more restrictive, not less. The practical implication for the domain broker: before taking a ccTLD to market internationally, verify whether a foreign buyer can legally hold the domain. If they cannot, scope out the trustee or proxy arrangement that makes the sale possible. This changes the timeline, the documentation checklist, and potentially the structure of the purchase agreement. An international buyer discovering the eligibility wall after they've wired funds is a deal that ends in dispute. ## The timing problem: who moves first? This is the central trust problem in every domain sale and it intensifies across borders. The seller will not hand over the auth code until payment clears. The buyer will not send payment until they have some assurance the domain will transfer. Time zones and banking delays make the standoff worse: a wire sent Monday afternoon from Hong Kong may not be confirmed clear in a US account until Wednesday. Meanwhile the domain is unlocked and the seller has disclosed the auth code. If the wire reverses, the seller has lost both. The conventional solution is a transaction coordinator who holds funds and coordinates the release of the auth code against confirmed receipt. This approach is sound in principle. The mechanics of how it works across jurisdictions — which entity holds the funds, what "confirmed transfer" means, how the coordinator handles split payouts to brokers in different countries — are where most of the friction lives. When there are multiple payees — a listing broker in one country, a co-broker in another, a referral partner or advisor — the coordinator has to disburse separately to each. In a wire-based system, each disbursement is a separate transaction with its own cut and its own delay. The broker in Germany might wait four days to receive their split while the broker in the US clears the same day. This is not exceptional — it is standard. This disbursement problem is where Shaka changes the picture for domain professionals. A broker sets up the payment link with each recipient wallet and the exact split percentages before the deal closes. When payment comes in, every party — co-broker, advisor, referral partner — receives their share in one transaction, simultaneously, with no manual disbursement step. The broker closes the deal; Shaka handles how the money lands. ## Real scenarios: how international domain deals actually settle ### Scenario one: .com sale, buyer in Germany, seller in the US, USD-denominated The broker agrees a $75,000 sale. The buyer wires in USD from a German bank account. The German bank converts EUR to USD before sending, applying an FX spread. The SWIFT wire travels through a correspondent in London and a US money-center bank before reaching the coordinator's account. Each bank that helps process the transfer can charge a handling fee, often without notifying you. These charges are often taken out of your transfer, reducing the amount the recipient receives. The deal was agreed at $75,000; what actually arrives may be $74,600 or $74,400. Someone has to absorb that variance or the deal reopens. The mitigation: the sale agreement specifies that the buyer is responsible for all transfer costs and that the seller receives the full agreed USD amount. The buyer sends additional funds to cover estimated correspondent fees — which requires the buyer to know in advance what those fees will be, which no one can guarantee. The alternative is to quote the transaction price net of fees, which shifts the risk to the seller's side. The auth code is released when the coordinator confirms cleared funds. The buyer's registrar initiates the transfer. The transfer completes within five days. The coordinator then disburses — one payment to the seller, a separate wire to the listing broker, and a third to the co-broker who sourced the buyer from Singapore. Each of those outbound wires takes its own path. ### Scenario two: .br sale, buyer in the UK, seller in Brazil The domain is a premium two-letter .br with a corporate buyer. Brazil ownership transfers require legal documentation and approval from Brazil's registry authority. The UK buyer has no Brazilian business entity and no CPF (Brazilian individual tax ID). Before any price discussion, the question is whether the buyer can legally hold the domain. The answer in Brazil is generally no, without establishing a local entity or using a trustee. The deal structure changes. The purchase agreement must address the trustee arrangement — who holds the domain on the buyer's behalf, what documentation is required, what the trustee charges, and how the seller is indemnified if the trustee arrangement later fails. This is not unusual work for a domain attorney; it is, however, work that must be scoped before the deal is priced, not after. Payment in this scenario typically flows in GBP from the UK buyer to the transaction coordinator, with conversion to USD or BRL depending on the seller's preference. The currency chain adds two FX conversion steps. ### Scenario three: same-registrar push, buyer in Japan, seller in Canada, .com This is the cleanest version of an international domain deal. Both parties happen to use the same registrar — common when large marketplaces or registrars like GoDaddy or Namecheap are involved on both sides. The payment settles first through the transaction coordinator; once confirmed, the seller initiates a push transfer within the registrar's system. You cannot transfer a domain to another registrar if it is under a 60-day ICANN security lock. This global lock is automatically applied whenever a domain is newly registered, previously transferred, or if the registrant's WHOIS contact information is updated. To bypass this, you can push the domain to another account within the same registrar. The domain moves in seconds. The buyer has registrar-verified ownership before the transaction coordinator's disbursement cycle even begins. This is the version of the deal you engineer for if you have any flexibility in pre-sale setup. ## Tax and legal exposure across jurisdictions Taxation is an important consideration in the legal frameworks surrounding international domain sales. When a domain name is sold internationally, the transaction may be subject to tax laws in both the seller's and the buyer's countries. In practice this means: a seller in the UK selling to a US buyer may face UK capital gains treatment on the proceeds. The buyer in the US may face withholding requirements if the transaction is structured in a particular way. Neither party should discover this at closing. The domain broker's job is not to provide tax advice but to flag the question early enough that both parties can get proper counsel before the wire goes out. Discovering a withholding obligation after the deal closes, when the funds have already moved, is a significantly worse problem than addressing it beforehand. The Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP) is an essential element of the legal framework for international domain sales, providing a mechanism for resolving disputes over domain names, particularly in cases of alleged trademark infringement. Administered by ICANN, the UDRP allows trademark holders to file complaints against domain owners if they believe the domain name is being used in bad faith or infringes on their trademark. A clean UDRP history check is part of due diligence for any domain sale. For an international buyer, a domain acquired for $80,000 that turns out to be the subject of a pending UDRP complaint is not just a legal problem — it is an unrecoverable loss if the wire has already cleared and the name is subsequently transferred away by a UDRP panel. ## How co-brokered international deals settle in practice Some high-value deals involve split commission structures where both parties contribute. In international domain deals, the co-broker relationship adds both value and complexity. The listing broker has the seller relationship and controls the auth code. The co-broker brought the buyer from another market — often from a country the listing broker had no reach into. The deal would not have happened without both parties. For transactions at this level, the broker's network and relationships often make the difference between success and failure. Many premium domains aren't publicly listed, and owners may only consider offers that come through trusted intermediaries they've worked with before. The commission split should be agreed in writing before the buyer is introduced to the seller. This is not administrative caution — it is the protection both brokers need if the deal takes eight months to close, the buyer changes contact terms three times, and there is a dispute over who was the procuring cause. In international deals, a handshake agreement between brokers in different time zones is not enforceable in any jurisdiction with any reliability. A short co-broker agreement specifying the split percentage, payment currency, payment timing, and what constitutes a closing event costs one hour to prepare and prevents a multi-month dispute over six figures. Once the deal closes, the disbursement problem is real. In a traditional wire-based structure, the listing broker receives the gross commission and initiates a separate outbound wire to the co-broker's account in another country. That wire has its own fees, its own FX exposure, and its own processing time. The co-broker in Singapore sitting on a 20% share of a $120,000 transaction is owed $24,000. If the outbound wire is sent through a US bank to a Singapore account via SWIFT, the timeline to cleared funds in Singapore is measured in days, and the amount that arrives may be meaningfully less than $24,000 after correspondent fees. When Shaka is used to structure the disbursement, the broker builds the split into the payment link before the deal closes — listing broker's wallet at 80%, co-broker's wallet at 20%. When the buyer's payment clears, both wallets receive their share in a single transaction. There is no secondary disbursement, no outbound wire, no waiting, no currency leakage between the gross receipt and the co-broker's payout. ## What the auth code handover actually looks like The auth code — called an EPP code, transfer secret, or authorization code depending on the registrar — is the single most sensitive piece of information in a domain sale. It is the key that allows a transfer request to be submitted. Once the seller unlocks the domain at their registrar and generates the auth code, the name is vulnerable to transfer by anyone who has that code. The seller cannot take it back by refusing to provide it; once the code is in circulation, the transfer window is open. This is why experienced domain brokers do not release auth codes against a wire confirmation email. Wire confirmation is not cleared funds. A wire can be recalled. Cleared funds — funds that have passed through the coordinator's account, been held through any applicable review period, and are available for disbursement — is the correct trigger for auth code release. In an international wire from a high-risk banking corridor, this distinction can mean the difference between a clean close and a clawback. The practical sequence: buyer sends wire → coordinator confirms receipt → coordinator confirms funds are cleared and not under review → seller releases the domain lock and provides auth code → buyer's registrar initiates transfer → transfer completes → coordinator disburses to all parties. Any compression of this sequence — releasing the auth code against an "expected" wire, or initiating a push before funds are confirmed — introduces a risk that does not exist in domestic deals and should not exist in international ones. ## Registrar choice: how it affects the close Not all registrars support international buyers equally. A buyer in Brazil trying to transfer a domain to a registrar that doesn't support Brazilian registrant data formats may find the transfer technically initiated but never completing because the WHOIS data doesn't pass validation. A buyer in China working with a registrar that has no Mandarin-language support will face documentation hurdles the seller's broker can't anticipate. For high-value international deals, the pre-sale check should include: whether the buyer's registrar can accept a transfer of the specific TLD, whether that registrar is accredited for the TLD in question, and whether there are known compatibility issues between the seller's and buyer's registrar systems. Top domain broker services with international reach routinely handle coordination across major registrar platforms, and seasoned professionals keep a working knowledge of which registrar pairs create friction and which clear smoothly. Premium domain marketplaces — Sedo, Afternic, Dan.com — have their own transfer systems that abstract much of the registrar complexity for common transactions. For deals that originate off-platform through broker-to-broker introductions, the registrar coordination falls to the professionals involved. That coordination is not difficult, but it must happen before the deal closes, not after the wire goes out. ## The clean close A cross-border domain sale is two transactions running in parallel — one technical, one financial — and the professional's job is to ensure they complete in the right sequence. The technical side is more predictable than most brokers expect: same-registrar pushes are fast and clean, gTLD inter-registrar transfers follow ICANN timelines, and ccTLD complexity can be managed if it is identified early. The financial side is less predictable than most brokers prefer: SWIFT wires arrive short, FX spreads erode value, and multi-party disbursements multiply the delay. The professionals who consistently close international deals cleanly — without price disputes opening at the last moment, without co-broker payment arguments, without auth-code timing errors — are the ones who sequence the transaction deliberately, commit every split to writing before introductions are made, and use infrastructure that handles the money landing as precisely as they handled the negotiation that preceded it. The domain is the deal. How the money moves is the execution. Both deserve the same level of professional control.