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Ask HN: Someone offered to buy my browser extension from me. What now?

28 points by roykolak ↗ HN
I received an offer from a company to buy a popular chrome extension that I created. Any tips to make the transaction extra smooth? Any tips to protect the extension's userbase? This will be an international transaction. The amount is not a lot but also not little.

The escrow sites that I researched all seem really shady. It seems like a paypal to paypal transaction, possibly in two chunks, might be the best. Advice?

17 comments

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jorkos
Use escrow.com
ryduh
I've used escrow.com for domain sales and can vouch for them. Not exactly sure how they work for selling IP/source code though.
probdist
Why not just hire a lawyer to help with terms and closing? I'm assuming you have a significant fraction of a house in value here. You'd have a lawyer to help close that transaction.
brudgers
That's good advice. Personally, I'd give the deal a good sniff test before bringing a lawyer onboard to make sure it looks legitimate on the surface if selling browser extensions were not my normal business practice.
brudgers
Paypal protects buyers. Paypal will allow the other party to dispute the transaction after they have the source code. They will freeze significant amounts of money and could make it difficult to collect. It is not an escrow service; using it as one defeats the purpose of escrow.

My advice is to take it one step at a time to protect your interests. If the buyer wants your extension, then there are not abundant alternatives in the market.

First, ask the buyer what they have used in the past. This will provide information into their legitimacy and provide a starting point for your research.

Next, ask for a term sheet. Again, this is both a measure of legitimacy and a starting point.

Finally, ask for references regarding similar transactions.

If the other party doesn't present themselves as experienced in this sort of thing, consider it a yellow flag. Don't kid yourself that what looks like a red flag isn't a red flag. International transactions are complex and getting your money won't be easy if someone doesn't want to pay.

If things are proper, the deal could easily close in thirty days or so. That's not to suggest that you need to drag things out, only that it might be wise to take the time to perform some due diligence regarding the counter-party. Particularly since your experience is limited.

Good luck.

hent700
Use an escrow service. If you are in the US use escrow.com. If you are in Europe use eco-treuhand.de. Would also get a lawyer to draft an agreement.
ryanlol
Why not just do a wire transfer? Or hey, it's 2015. We've got bitcoin.

Definitely an infinitely better solution than escrow.com, and assuming I've guessed the extension right you'd probably have to pay almost a thousand dollars of fees on there.

International wire transfers are irreversible, so that's just as good as having them give you a briefcase full of cash. Actually, even better since you can't really receive a forged wire transfer.

(Edit: Not sure why I'm getting downvotes, am I wrong?)

jjoe
For those who downvote, why is a wire transfer no go in this situation?
beachstartup
because unless you are an established business, nobody legitimate is going to wire you a large sum of money overseas without some kind of delivery assurance.
ryanlol
This is about transferring IP ownership, since it's a chrome extension he probably doesn't even have any source code to hand over.

There's not really anything he needs to do after he receives the money, the contracts should be signed before the money is sent and only become active after the money is received.

jimrandomh
Find out a little bit about the buyer and make sure they're honorable enough to not turn your extension into malware.
ryanlol
What's malware here? If you're referring to ad replacement/injection that's by far the best and pretty much the only way of monetizing free extensions.
joegray
There have been instances [1] of shady companies buying popular chrome extensions and then injecting ads and affiliate links in every website. There was an interesting reditt AMA earlier this year from the dev of popular extension Honey [2] on this topic

This could greatly tarnish the reputation of the OP and therefore should ask the company what they plan to do with the extension. If the answers are vague and it does not look like the company is buying the extension for the benefit of the consumers, walking away from the deal might be a better situation.

[1] - http://www.labnol.org/internet/sold-chrome-extension/28377/ [2] - https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1vjj51/i_am_one_of_th...

ryanlol
What else could they possibly be doing to monetize it that'd be less malicious?
patd
I got a similar offer. I've sent you a mail to GMail listed on your GitHub profile if you want to chat.
davismwfl
Avoid PayPal.

Personally, I have used Wire Transfers as the goto option. I have never used escrow.com but the fees seem reasonable for a smaller deal. But honestly if the deal is anywhere around $20k or more then I'd get an attorney to handle the transaction part and have the attorney make sure to protect you from liability down the road.

And especially since it is international I'd specify US Dollars and Wire Transfer. I know the US Dollar specification sounds crazy but you'd be amazed what games people will play.