If you're selling a domain independently to someone you don't know, how do you conduct the transaction so that you and the buyer are both protected (i.e., you get your money, they get the domain)?

Also, is there a way to ensure that they don't recreate your old site (I'm talking about just selling the domain name, not the current content of the site) by copying your work? Is there some sort of enforceable contract?

u can escrow to sell your domain.

escrow will charge a nominal fee for it.

take a look here
https://www.escrow.com/solutions/domain_name/index.asp


as to the recreating the site, thats a tricky part for which i dont have an answer, maybe someone else will have a better knowledge abt it

thanks Praveen!

Contracts are only enforceable if you can find an honest court to enforce them (yes, I'm cynical - I have yet to find a court of justice in the US; they're all courts of law) and you have the money to pay for the enforcement. Theft is prevalent. Your selling just the domain, so they won't have the site files (unless your site is completely static). You can't stop them from duplicating the content of your site. You can make it a real pain, however. Contact a lawyer to really cover your butt. I'd just put something in there that if they copy the look and/or function of your site, they agree to pay a licensing fee (then make the licensing fee such that if they do steal your work you won't care) or to forfeit their payment and restore ownership to you. I find that most contracts have more perceived value than actual value, so I try to make sure that the co-signer perceives the penalties to be significant enough that they don't try breaking it, but that's obviously not what a lawyer would tell you. Good luck.

Thanks Jeremy, and nice avatar. (I was a math nerd back in school )

No problem. My avatar is a tool I use to teach the unit circle.

Use paypal for payments
they return you up to 200$
but I think that this was only for ebay clients.