FlippaPay is Flippa’s integrated payments solution that uses a regulatory trust account to securely hold funds during a transaction. It’s an alternative to using Escrow.com, designed to be low-cost and flexible for global deals. When a buyer chooses FlippaPay, the funds are held in a Regulatory Trust Account administered by Flippa’s licensed payment partners (AscendantFX and Trolley). This means the money is kept safe by a third-party in trust until all sale conditions are met, similar to a traditional escrow service.
Key Features of FlippaPay
Security
Buyer funds are deposited into a trust account and are not released to the seller until the buyer explicitly authorizes it (after receiving the assets). This protects both parties – buyers know their money won’t be released prematurely, and sellers know the funds are real and being held for the sale.
Regulatory compliance
The trust account is managed by accredited partners under strict regulatory compliance. For example, AscendantFX holds the funds in a U.S. regulatory trust account and even maintains surety bonds (e.g. in Florida) to protect customer funds. This ensures that even though Flippa is not a traditional escrow agent, your payment and the transaction is handled with similar safeguards.
Global payments flexibility
FlippaPay supports multiple currencies and payment methods. Buyers can send funds via wire transfer, ACH (US interbank transfer), or even non-bank payment services like Payoneer, Revolut, or Wise. Sellers can receive payouts via wire transfer in over 100+ currencies (defaulting to the Seller’s local currency). This flexibility is a big advantage if you’re dealing internationally.
Cost efficiency
FlippaPay fees are typically lower for large transactions. The fee is a flat ~0.5% for most deals (generally for $10,000 and above), which can be lower than Escrow.com’s 0.71%–1% fee range. This lower cost – plus avoiding multiple currency conversion fees – can save Buyers money on high-value purchases.
Integrated process
Given FlippaPay is built into the Flippa platform, the entire sale – from accepting an offer, signing the Asset Purchase Agreement (APA), to funding and closing – is managed through Flippa’s Deal Room and Payments team, you won’t need to go to an external site to track progress. Flippa’s interface will guide you step-by-step and show when funds are received, when assets are transferred, etc.
How a FlippaPay transaction proceeds
Buyer and Seller Agreement
First, the buyer and seller agree on a price and terms (usually by signing an APA through Flippa). Flippa will then present payment options.
Choosing FlippaPay
The buyer selects to Activate FlippaPay in the Payments tab of the Flippa Deal Room. (Sellers will see that the Buyer chose FlippaPay – Sellers don’t need to manually choose anything in this case.)
KYC Verification
Before any money moves, both parties must complete identity verification as part of industry-standard Know Your Customer (or KYC) checks. Flippa’s system will prompt the Buyer (and Seller) to verify their identity if that has not been done already. This step is required by regulations for using the trust account.
The Buyer funds the Trust Account
Once KYC has been completed and the Asset Purchase Agreement has been signed, the Buyer will be given details on how to pay into the trust account in your Deal Room on Flippa. These instructions include the bank details to wire the money into the trust account and the eight digit Flippa listing number to use as a reference or transaction ID to include with the bank or wire transfer. The Buyer arranges the payment via their bank or chosen method to send the funds. (See Funding Your FlippaPay Trust Account for more details on this step.)
Funds are received and securely held
The Buyer’s payment is received into the trust account. Flippa updates the deal status to indicate the funds are Secured in trust, and both parties will see an update in your Flippa transaction timeline when the funds have arrived. The funds will stay in this secure trust account until all of the assets have been successfully transferred and release of funds to the Seller has been approved by the Buyer.
Asset transfer
With funds secured, the Seller would then proceed to transfer all the agreed-upon assets (e.g. website files, domain name, affliate accounts, etc.) to the Buyer. Flippa may have a checklist for the transfer process in the Deal Room.
Buyer inspection
The Buyer should verify that they have received everything as described in the signed agreement. Flippa strongly encourages buyers to thoroughly inspect the assets received prior to releasing funds. This is the point of the transaction where the Buyer needs to be satisfied that the sale terms are met, as funds released for payment to the Seller cannot generally be reverted or undone.
Releasing funds
If everything looks good, the Buyer will authorize the release of funds to the Seller. With FlippaPay, this involves a two-step confirmation for security. The buyer clicks to Release Funds on Flippa and responds to a confirmation email with explicit release authorization. Once that’s done (and Flippa confirms the request is valid), Flippa will instruct the trust account to disburse the money held in trust to the Seller. (We cover this in detail in Releasing Funds with FlippaPay.)
The Seller gets paid
Finally, the Seller receives the payout. FlippaPay can disburse (pay out) to the Seller’s chosen payout method in their local currency. The timing of the payout can vary by bank or provider, but often the transfer is initiated quickly after release authorization. The Seller will get a notification once the payment is on its way.
Throughout the FlippaPay process, our team is available to help if any issues arise. FlippaPay transactions will have a member of the Flippa Payments team assigned to that transaction so you can reach out if you need any help or status updates.
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