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This post is to review the Epik's Escrow payout process, and to make users aware while transacting with them to avoid the kind of loss I encountered. I am not commenting anything on Epik as a registrar, but their shady and unethical payout process. Here goes the case:
I sold a domain for $3120 to a buyer and decided to use Epik's Escrow Service to facilitate the transaction, considering the good image of @Rob Monster in the industry his goodwill among domainers. I usually use DAN for my escrow transactions and well aware of their crypto payout process so I was "What can go wrong" and this is where I got wrong.
The payout amount after their escrow fee turned out to be $2962. The deal was completed and then the vicious cycle of torture started at the time of payout.
- First of all, they do not have any "direct" payout method to send you the funds. They first deposit it in something called "masterbucks", which appears to be their own currency (is it even legit?) and you have to separately login and request a withdrawal request at masterbucks.com. Alright, I was not aware of it - my fault.
- After requesting the payout via crypto (Bitcoin) - they did not initiate the transaction. I contacted Epik after waiting for 2 days and they mentioned it might take some time. I waited more and finally on 4th day, they informed that the original transaction did not take place and they will re-send it again.
- They finally initiated a new transaction but to my surprise, the BTC amount was WAY lower to match with the payout amount at current rates. Upon enquiring, they informed that the BTC amount was LOCKED 4 days back, when Bitcoin's price were all time high, even though they did not initiate the transaction that time.
- Finally when I received the Bitcoin, the amount was 0.05182611 which equals to $2400 as per the rates at the time of deposit, which is $562 less than my payout amount.
Now my question to Rob and Team Epik is: Whose fault is it that the payout team did not initiate the transaction 4 days back? Why did they calculate the price of Bitcoin as per 4 days back but initiated the final transaction today itself?
To me, it looks like they are leveraging the Bitcoin's price at the expense of users loss. They just "Lock" the amount when Bitcoin's price is high and process the payout in next few days when they see the prices are dropped. As a user, why should I face the loss of $562 which is more than 15% of the whole transaction??
I know that crypto is volatile, and I'm ready to absorb the volatility of few hours, which is the maximum time it takes to process a withdrawal (hence I immediately convert Crypto to USD upon receiving). However, this here is simply a fraud by team Epik with the users using Bitcoin's volatility. Any user at Epik, should be careful about using their Escrow services.
Here's the Bitcoin Transaction for anyone to confirm WHEN it was initiated and what's it value: d56fd09eec099db209ad2564b1c73539d1cab3bf051c4a4ef3805c3b5ff1b0d9
I sold a domain for $3120 to a buyer and decided to use Epik's Escrow Service to facilitate the transaction, considering the good image of @Rob Monster in the industry his goodwill among domainers. I usually use DAN for my escrow transactions and well aware of their crypto payout process so I was "What can go wrong" and this is where I got wrong.
The payout amount after their escrow fee turned out to be $2962. The deal was completed and then the vicious cycle of torture started at the time of payout.
- First of all, they do not have any "direct" payout method to send you the funds. They first deposit it in something called "masterbucks", which appears to be their own currency (is it even legit?) and you have to separately login and request a withdrawal request at masterbucks.com. Alright, I was not aware of it - my fault.
- After requesting the payout via crypto (Bitcoin) - they did not initiate the transaction. I contacted Epik after waiting for 2 days and they mentioned it might take some time. I waited more and finally on 4th day, they informed that the original transaction did not take place and they will re-send it again.
- They finally initiated a new transaction but to my surprise, the BTC amount was WAY lower to match with the payout amount at current rates. Upon enquiring, they informed that the BTC amount was LOCKED 4 days back, when Bitcoin's price were all time high, even though they did not initiate the transaction that time.
- Finally when I received the Bitcoin, the amount was 0.05182611 which equals to $2400 as per the rates at the time of deposit, which is $562 less than my payout amount.
Now my question to Rob and Team Epik is: Whose fault is it that the payout team did not initiate the transaction 4 days back? Why did they calculate the price of Bitcoin as per 4 days back but initiated the final transaction today itself?
To me, it looks like they are leveraging the Bitcoin's price at the expense of users loss. They just "Lock" the amount when Bitcoin's price is high and process the payout in next few days when they see the prices are dropped. As a user, why should I face the loss of $562 which is more than 15% of the whole transaction??
I know that crypto is volatile, and I'm ready to absorb the volatility of few hours, which is the maximum time it takes to process a withdrawal (hence I immediately convert Crypto to USD upon receiving). However, this here is simply a fraud by team Epik with the users using Bitcoin's volatility. Any user at Epik, should be careful about using their Escrow services.
Here's the Bitcoin Transaction for anyone to confirm WHEN it was initiated and what's it value: d56fd09eec099db209ad2564b1c73539d1cab3bf051c4a4ef3805c3b5ff1b0d9
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