Unstoppable Domains — Get your daily AI drops report

.mobi I bid $611,000 for music.mobi - Lawsuit Pending

NamecheapNamecheap
Watch

musicdotmobi

Established Member
Impact
5
Hello everyone,

I have been a part of this SEDO .mobi auction auction and I am the one responsible for the bid $611,000 for music.mobi.

However I stopped bidding at the point where I realised that the NEW auction was a scam because the two bidders that were bidding me up were NEW bidders who were not even involved in the initial auction.

The initial auction closed with me winning the last bid at $66,000.

I received an invoice and 2 emails regarding the winning bid.

Let me ask everything this key question? If you are bidding on eBay and you have a 7 day auction and you take a chance and wait til the last second to bid what if your DSL line or connection or even your computer crashes? I think many of us had this experience in the past. I know I had this happen last week on eBay when my computer froze and in essence lost the bid. Did eBay care? NO! Does SEDO care if you WERE going to bid and failed to do so if your computer crashed or had a slow connection? NO! Well, wait a second in this case they do.

They proclaimed me winner send me 2 emails, sent me an invoice. I considered the bid finished and was ready to go and play guitar and record this new song I was working on in the studio. By chance, I get an email by whom? BOTH the .mobi MTLD who started INVITING people via a bulk message hyping them up that the servers have crashed and that there is huge demand for the .mobi auction. Then Sedo followed. So 2 bulk messages sent to the world inviting them to attend a NEW auction. Not only that, they extended the auction to 2.5 hrs NOT 5 minutes.

Anyhow, I seriously have been negotiating with .mobi since 2006 about music.mobi but they seem to want money and to rob everyone of money than have someone develop a super site like I am. So the whole RFP was bogus. I tried fir over a year and they just said "you will have to bid for it".

So, I am really upset, they caused me to miss my jam session and on top of that they allowed NEW bidders to the new auction. I say I have NO PROBLEM with old bidders that were active in the original auction bidding their maximum. Even though I was invoiced $66,000 I emailed SEDO and MTLD letting them know that I would pay them $81,000 because bidder 9 (I was the last bidder 12 to bid for the name in the original auction) rebid his maximum at $80k.

So there comes along NEW bidders 13 and 14 who did not even attend the initial, legal auction. They probably got the bulk email fro both SEDO and MTLD and invited themselves to the dance. HOW can an auction that has ended have NEW bidders? I have no problems bidding with the 12 bidders that have bid against me in the initial auction but NEW bidders who were enticed by HYPE emails? Have you ever heard of a closed auction then an hour later having a new bidder say I will outbid the winner even though i was not even in the auction? NO!

Anyhow, the bid to $616,000 is illegal. I sent the MTLD and SEDO an email and let them know that they should retract all my bids ($611,000) that were automatically placed by SEDO as a result of NEW bidders who were not even active in the original auction. In the new auction, the only legal bidder was bidder 9 who was also in the original auction. The bidder bid for $80k and i outbid him.

How can I be declared a winner then told that I am not the winner then they invite new bidders? Also how can they say that their terms of services states that they can redo the auction and there is no legal agreement? REALLY? I checked it and i saw no section that related to servers crashing and technology interruptions.Tough luck, you had 7 days to bid and you didnt. You cant be bidding after. You take a chance, then be brave enough to live by it and acknowledge that you had considerable time to bid. And the new bidders 13 and 14 and dont care who you are but you had no place bidding in an auction with the old active bidders.

Sedo I have bought numerous domains for tens of thousands of dollars and I refuse to park them and make money off parking (Domain King you can do that and **** the internet up for all of us). I will NEVER do business again with thieves especially the MTLD. They are making bank and playing everyone.

OK my story is not done yet. I stop bidding at $611k because in my mind I should not be bidding against NEW bidders (yes I did realise it at the end) who had no place in the auction since they did not attend the original one. So i stop and half an hour later I get a message from SEDO asking me if I was interested to buy mp3s.mobi for $500,000? So let me get this straight. because I bid up to $611,000 (yes I am retracting this bid and every other bid made against NEW, illegal bidders), does that mean you think I should buy another music domain? I told them I would not buy mp3s.mobi for $300 and basically told them that they will hear from my lawyers if this mess is not solved.

I suggest a class lawsuit and I seriously will BOYCOTT both SEDO and MTLD. I loved SEDO and have been a client for years but this money hungry, sleazy, unethical tactics are unacceptable. For all of you complaining that you did not get a bid in the last 5 minutes tough luck, you had 7 days (considerable time that is). I took a chance and won. I would have bid higher but I am not going to fill SEDO and MTLD's pockets with my hard earned money because they screwed up royally.

What can I say? I am ready to kick some serious butt here. And sue these guys for emotional distress. SEDO seriously, you lost one of your top clients and super domainers. Lost my respect and you have robbed me and others in all fairness. I seriously will NOT let this go. If justice is not served, I will sue, I will go to the press, I will tell my story, I will post all the emails I got, invoices and screenshots of my winning bid and I am sure it will reflect future SEDO=MOBI auctions. Did anyone say sex.mobi? Yes, the MTLD is greedy and so is SEDO. This is bad business. REALLY bad. Not sure I can trust them. i will not be surprised if Bidder 13 and 14 were internal just to bid up my proxy of $611,000.

The world record is not real people. It would have been if other original bidders bid me up to $615k. The new bidders in my mind either are internal fake bidders or new, illegal bidders who came in after being sent bulk emails by both SEDO/MTLD full of hype.

If they do not accept my winning auction and fair win versus the original bidders even in the new auction, then I WILL pursue this since I do have some spare change here now.

Costa

MusicMusic.com
Music.us
Music.pro
Music.im
Music.fm
MP3.fm

Blog: Entrepreneur.pro


PS After 3 years of development, I will be launching the biggest music site in the beginning of 2008, so if anyone knows any bands who would be interested, let them know to sign up their email at music.us. So much for the .mobi implementation on my site.
 
2
•••
The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
GoDaddyGoDaddy
I hope true Justice will win! I wish "Musicdotmobi" good luck!
 
0
•••
alexsimon said:
1. mtld sucks. This guy tried to get music.mobi through the RFP process, and mtld better sent the domain to the auction, while I think he had a strong development plan for music.mobi. Shame on you mtld.

I think that is the key to this - for long term mobi success, which is better? Big cash sales to domainers or lower 'sales' to someone with a valid plan.

It is worrying to see which path the registry went down and perhaps shows where their priorities lie.
 
1
•••
Hi Musicdotmobi, and welcome to NP.

The first thing that has to be cleared up is Sedo's TOS (Terms of Service).

1). Under which section of Sedo TOS are they claiming that:
a) They can extend an auction;
b) They can nullify a previously winning bid;
c) That they can allow in new bidders to an extended auction;
d) They can extend an auction without giving 'all' original bidders due time to be aware of the extended auction (2, 2 1/2, or even 3 hours is ludicrous).

2). Under which Nations laws were the auctions held (this is very important and your lawyers will rip through both Sedo and Mobi here).

3). The TOS have to be legal. Any company can have TOS saying whatever they like, that does not mean to say they are lawful, indeed look at the history of litigation against companies and you will find the subject littered with cases where a companies first defence was along the lines 'It's in our TOS' or 'It's in the contract'. Courts throughout the world have for a long time now dismissed such arguments as scrutiny of such TOS and contracts have been found to be in unlawfully in favour of the company and not balanced.

4). It is a general rule internationally (including Germany, UK, and the US) that in an auction when the hammer falls the auction is finished and the buyer has entered into a legally binding contract to purchase the goods at the final closing price. Conversely the seller is legally bound to sell the goods at the final closing price to that bidder. This auction obviously closed, the hammer fell, and the goods, in this case a domain name, was sold. You are the highest bidder and .mobi registry are the seller, you have both entered into a legally binding agreement (whether the law that applies is German, English, or American).

5). You should also note that Sedo has offices in the US and therefore you can sue them there. (I note from your profile you say you reside in the US at least part of the time.) That would almost certainly result in higher damages being awarded but also a legal system that is far more in tune than some others for 'fair play'.

These are just some points that come to mind immediately, and please note none of the above is 'legal advice', just a laymans understanding of the law and areas you may wish to discus with your legal representatives.

In the meantime I think you will realise, from this and the majority of posts above, we really do wish you all success in this matter. Sedo in the eyes of many have simply shot themselves in the foot again.
 
1
•••
Good luck to you, you deserve better!
 
0
•••
0
•••
alexsimon said:
...And when do end users bid? Wait or the last minute of the auction? No .... they throw in their maximum bid well before the end of the auction. ...

Must say the above conflicts directly with what my own experience suggests, but I'm just one person so I may be wrong.

On ebay at least though, the above statement doesn't seem to reflect what usually happens - and I'm talking here asset categories that are almost exclusively bought by end users.
:imho:
 
0
•••
Well, I may be wrong on that Mobi cheap. I do not have experience in this, it was just an assumption.
 
0
•••
italiandragon said:
You know what my left ear is suggesting to my brain right now:

is it possible that this "event" occurred "under pressure" of MTLD because they were "not happy" of the (1th) selling price?

I mean....one thing is $66,000 , another one is $616,000...

I always think bad.... :alien:


I thought the same thing at one point than I said ,,NA! why would a ligit biz do that,, Legit ????MMMMM!!!!
Buisiness is a dirty place and what way to stir up hype that to have your servers crash, when you think of it what a stratagy but I too honest to think along those lines,

Regards
 
0
•••
I'm not a .mobi acolyte; in fact, I believe it's one of the most overly hyped and overvalued TLD's ever. However, if Costa can establish a case with Sedo it will be a case study against such events. The auction marketplace is exploding right now and millions of dollars are at stake. Perhaps even to the point of having denial of service attacks during the course of such events. The next logical step would be to have private networks hosting these events with pre-approved bidders.

At any rate, good luck Costa - kali tyxi ;)
 
0
•••
Acroplex said:
... The next logical step would be to have private networks hosting these events with pre-approved bidders.

At any rate, good luck Costa - kali tyxi ;)

Can't miss this rare chance to agree with Acroplex on the quoted bit above.

Kali tyxi!
%%-
 
0
•••
Mr Roussos. I see you are a part of a very large organization.
Real Estate, Entertainment ect...
I see you are an intelligent person especially if you run all these projects. If you feel you have been wronged, your instinct will tell you what to do. It is unfortunate with what happened and it only details more on the misuse of the internet business.There must be a government controlled or government audited policy in place with the domain market or Human instinct and greed will contine to corrupt this business.I hope you find peace in the end with this mishap.
 
0
•••
:talk:

1, 2, and 3 part auctions for the same names?


further adds to the hype on dot enron...i mean .mobi ;)

it sounds much better for .mobi if the names sells for $616K, than $60K
 
0
•••
biggie said:
...
it sounds much better for .mobi if the names sells for $616K, than $60K

Seriously? I thought we were just told in this forum that so much so soon cannot possibly be good for .mobi itself.
:|
 
0
•••
so much for having the top names developed....

What happened the RFP process lol
 
0
•••
DNWizardX9 said:
so much for having the top names developed....

What happened the RFP process lol

They will have to be developed within six months, or else (in the contractual sense).

So what you saw yesterday was effectively - as I have said before - RFP 2.0.
:imho:
 
0
•••
Mobi Cheap said:
Can't miss this rare chance to agree with Acroplex on the quoted bit above.

We can agree to disagree :D
 
0
•••
Acroplex said:
We can agree to disagree :D

Sure, any time :D

Just kidding: too much going on to have a proper debate on the broader issues right now, but if there is any particular part in what I said above that doesn't make sense I would be glad to elaborate - I know not all is intuitively obvious.
B-)
 
0
•••
nice to see all the dnf naysayers make an appearance here at namepros .mobi forum.

look forward to hearing more.
 
0
•••
"Any publicity is good publicity"

Mtld better hope that this is true here.

While I assume Mtld was in contact during the post auction I conference, they are not the responsible party - Sedo is. Sedo set themselves up as an auction house (not very long ago, by the way), they wrote the TOS. This is their mess, not Mtld's.

I feel for the OP. He sounds to have a great plan for Music.mobi and I hope he gets it. I imagine Mtld did not give him the name in RFP because they wanted Sony, Apple, Capital records - some top player.

Mtld is guilty of over-reaching for that, but this badly messed up auction is all on Sedo.
 
0
•••
accentnepal said:
"Any publicity is good publicity"

Mtld better hope that this is true here.

While I assume Mtld was in contact during the post auction I conference, they are not the responsible party - Sedo is. Sedo set themselves up as an auction house (not very long ago, by the way), they wrote the TOS. This is their mess, not Mtld's.

I feel for the OP. He sounds to have a great plan for Music.mobi and I hope he gets it. I imagine Mtld did not give him the name in RFP because they wanted Sony, Apple, Capital records - some top player.

Mtld is guilty of over-reaching for that, but this badly messed up auction is all on Sedo.

my sentiments exactly
rep added
 
0
•••
Dynadot — .com TransferDynadot — .com Transfer
Appraise.net

We're social

Escrow.com
Spaceship
Rexus Domain
CryptoExchange.com
Domain Recover
CatchDoms
DomDB
NameFit
  • The sidebar remains visible by scrolling at a speed relative to the page’s height.
Back