How does escrow work on a six-figure transfer?

What is escrow actually doing in the deal?

Escrow removes the question of who moves first. Without it, either the buyer sends six figures to a person they met online and hopes the domain follows, or the seller hands over the code, the customer list and the brand and hopes the payment follows. Neither party will reasonably do that at $120,000, so a regulated third party holds the money while the assets move, and releases it when the buyer confirms receipt.

The agent is independent of both sides and of the platform. Indiemaker is non-custodial: the funds go to the escrow provider, and the platform never holds them at any point in the transaction.

What is the sequence on a $120,000 close?

The sequence is fixed, and every step has to finish before the next one starts. On a typical transfer of a micro-SaaS at that price, it runs like this.

1. Terms are agreed and the asset schedule is written, item by item, with a completion test for each.
2. Both parties open the escrow transaction with the independent agent and accept its terms. On Indiemaker the inspection period is set by the platform at 48 hours, so there is no length to negotiate.
3. The buyer deposits the full $120,000. Nothing moves until the agent confirms cleared funds.
4. The seller begins the transfer and works the schedule, ticking items off as each lands.
5. Once everything has landed, the buyer confirms receipt with the agent, which starts the inspection period.
6. The buyer checks each item against its test (registrant records, repository ownership, account logins, customer data) and accepts inside the 48 hours.
7. The agent releases $120,000 to the seller in a single payment.
8. The handover period runs afterwards, covering questions, introductions and anything the schedule did not need to cover.

Step three is the one people try to reorder. A seller who wants assets to move before funds are with the agent, or a buyer who wants access before depositing, is asking the other side to carry the whole risk of the deal.

Who does what, and when?

Each stage has one party acting and one thing that has to be true before it can happen.

Identity checks are worth expecting rather than resenting. A regulated agent will ask both parties for identification and, above certain thresholds, for source-of-funds information. Budget a few days for it at the start rather than discovering it on the day you meant to deposit.

What does escrow cost, and who pays?

Escrow.com's fee is tiered and steps down as the amount rises: 1.9% between $50,000 and $200,000, so about $2,280 on a $120,000 close. Disbursement to the seller is free by ACH and $10 or $20 by wire. On Indiemaker the buyer bears the escrow fee as the standard basis. Escrow.com allows a different split, and if you want one it belongs in the letter of intent rather than in a conversation on deposit day.

Compared with the professional fees on the agreement itself, escrow is rarely the number worth arguing over. Agree it early and move on to the schedule, which is where the real money is decided.

What is the inspection period for?

The inspection period is the buyer's time to check each asset against its test before the money releases. On Indiemaker it is fixed at 48 hours for every sale, and it starts when the buyer confirms receipt with the escrow agent, not when the seller says the transfer is done. That makes the order matter: let the slow items land first, including registrar transfers and the processor migration, and confirm receipt only when you are ready to spend the next two days checking.

If the period runs out with no decision, Escrow.com releases the funds to the seller. Keep the seller reachable throughout, because most problems found in inspection are a missing credential that takes minutes to fix.

What has to be written down before funds go in?

The asset schedule, with a test per item that a third party could apply. The exact list varies by business, and the discipline does not: a domain is complete when the public record shows the buyer as registrant, a repository when it sits under the buyer's organisation with the seller's access removed, a processor when the buyer's own account is charging the customers.

Also settle who pays the escrow fee if you are departing from the standard basis, what happens if a third party delays an item outside the seller's control, and where the handover period starts. Ambiguity in any of these is what turns a routine transfer into a fortnight of email.

What can go wrong with escrow itself?

The arrangement is straightforward, and the failures are almost always in the paperwork around it. Vague completion language is the common one, where the buyer thinks an item is outstanding and the seller thinks it was delivered. A lapsed inspection period is next: on Escrow.com, silence at the end of the 48 hours lets the funds release, which is a detail worth knowing in advance rather than discovering afterwards.

The third is geography. Escrow.com can't send money to or take it from banks in about forty countries, including Nigeria, Pakistan, Egypt and Ukraine, and it can't serve anyone who lives in or banks in a sanctioned country such as Russia or Iran. For the first group only the bank's country counts, so a founder living in Pakistan with a UAE account can sell normally. Indiemaker asks where you live and bank before you list or make an offer, so this surfaces at the start rather than after an offer is accepted. Where sales work.

The other failure is choosing the counterparty badly. Use an established, regulated escrow provider, and reach it through its own domain rather than through a link you were sent. Impersonated escrow sites exist precisely because this is the moment the money moves.

Does the platform hold the money?

No. Indiemaker does not hold, touch or route funds at any point, and the escrow agent is an independent regulated provider with its own terms, its own identity checks and its own dispute process. That separation is the reason the arrangement works: the party holding the money has no interest in whether the deal closes.

For context on the band, Indiemaker carried 112 businesses listed between $50,000 and $150,000 as at 14 September 2026. At that size, one upfront deposit released against a written schedule is the ordinary shape of an ownership transfer, and buyers at six figures expect it.

Related: escrow, what-if-a-seller-doesnt-complete-the-transfer, how-to-take-over-hosting-domains-and-payments