SnapNames - Are they cheaters ?!

keepsmile · Sep 21, 2010

Hi everybody

Few minutes ago I was a participant in the auction "mobitunes.com"
There were 5 people including me in this auction. Only two of them were active bidders.
Nickname "drow" was bidding against me.
When 1 minute left until the end of the auction i started bidding against "drow" but somehow my bids weren't placed into the auction .
I was trying three times but the page was just reloaded without my new bid.
While i tried to place a new bid the auction ended.

I have sent 6 letters to [email protected] but they still didn't respond.

I'm not a novice , a spent a lot of money with them and it wasn't my fault that i didn't win the mobitunes.com !!!
I Suppose there are two variants :
1. it was a lag of their system and that's why my bids wasn't applied
2. it was done intentionally by someone from their staff! somehow someone of their staff just disabled my bidding ability and my bids wasn't placed into auction.

I just want them to start new auction for this domain name with same participants.

GoQuickly · Sep 22, 2010

Snapnames are very honest people. I've dealt with them for a while now. If the incident happens like you explained. I would have taken a screen shot and spoken with a supervisor. Not through email.

This way they could maybe restart the auction.

Rich · Sep 22, 2010

I would vote lag, I've learned long ago not to trust these auction platforms to always be instant and reliable. I personally have not had any problems with the snapnames system, but have experienced the same problems on other auction platforms (GD, ebay). Good luck

keepsmile · Sep 22, 2010

They responded as always:

"Hi Vik,

I do not have any information about why your bids weren't placed successfully, only that we have not had any problems with our website today.

The auction has ended and the domain has been awarded to the high bidder. Again, we cannot re-run the auction.

Best regards,
Dorothy "

The same answer i received when their search was broken, when their system sent me about 200 letters with the same notification about a domain i won and now. They just have no any infomation . That's all.

By the way domain registration is completed with turned on privacy and it's parked with sedo.
Minimum expected offer is $3000

realy smell fishy

RazorNF · Sep 22, 2010

I have also personally experienced timeouts and lags at the closing minutes of auctions at various platforms, causing me to miss out on the domains. Not much you can really do about it.

They can't really restart an auction unless a problem was system-wide affecting all the bidders. It wouldn't be fair to the other users who didn't have problems. The issues could've just been on your end.

DU · Sep 22, 2010

GoQuickly said:
Snapnames are very honest people.

Based on?

RazorNF · Sep 22, 2010

I guess GoQuickly is not aware of the whole halveraz fiasco.

keepsmile · Sep 22, 2010

come on guys
i don't believe that i'm alone in this problem

and let's talk about all issues that you have had with snapnames

hollywood · Sep 23, 2010

keepsmile said:
come on guys
i don't believe that i'm alone in this problem

and let's talk about all issues that you have had with snapnames

Issues like stealing from their customers?
Issues like lying about stealing from their customers?
Issues like getting caught stealing from their customers?
Issues like interstate fraud?

keepsmile said:
I'm not a novice , a spent a lot of money with them...

If you are not a novice, why can't you type a few words like "shill", "fraud", "steal", "halvarez", and "snapnames" into a search box somewhere? You can't find the search button?

HeyNow · Sep 23, 2010

RazorNF said:
I guess GoQuickly is not aware of the whole halveraz fiasco.

Yeah, no kidding. It's as if nothing ever happened, even though Snapnames admitted to huge auction fraud, in thousands of auctions, beginning 2004 and 2005, and extending for several years. Clueless domainers (nothing personal "GoQuickly") better read about the admitted fraud, and only then thereafter decide whether or not to participate in any Snapnames auction. IMHO, Snapname's can't be trusted.

SnapNames Gets Hit With Class Action Suit Over Shill Bidding

SnapNames User Name “Halvarez” Was Nelson Brady, VP of Engineering Bidding on Domain Names [Updated] | Domain Name News

SnapNames Discloses Epic Fraud By halvarez | Dots News

DU · Sep 23, 2010

HeyNow said:
Yeah, no kidding. It's as if nothing ever happened, even though Snapnames admitted to huge auction fraud, in thousands of auctions, beginning 2004 and 2005, and extending for several years. Clueless domainers (nothing personal "GoQuickly") better read about the admitted fraud, and only then thereafter decide whether or not to participate in any Snapnames auction. IMHO, Snapname's can't be trusted.

SnapNames Gets Hit With Class Action Suit Over Shill Bidding

SnapNames User Name “Halvarez” Was Nelson Brady, VP of Engineering Bidding on Domain Names [Updated] | Domain Name News

SnapNames Discloses Epic Fraud By halvarez | Dots News

Well. I was being more subtle. I trust Snapnames if you are the only one with the backorder - but then you just feel crappy because you were the only one with a backorder

I used to say that the domaining industry was nothing but sleazebags, backslapping, shill bidding, people robbing, unregulated, tax cheating, money laundering, TM violating.....

Now I say all that but add... I've met some fine people at Namepros. There are people here I would push domains to pre-payment.. there are people I would ask advice of and get nothing but their best selfless advice. There are people here I would let them pay me "what they think is a fair price".

So yeah. Everyone's cheating.. but act right on NP and you will find people that can give you GREAT FREE advice... some of it PROFESSIONAL and worth $$ in the legal section.

Snapnames. Not so much.

Drow · Sep 23, 2010

Growing up is necessary, otherwise the whole world will seem a cheater for each failure.

Andrei P. · Sep 23, 2010

I don't think anything wrong has been done by Snapnames intentionally in this situation. Moreover Snapnames is a very rare auction system whom I trust. And I know Drow personally and I may assure you that he's far from being somehow connected with Snapnames staff to ask not to accept bids against him

I think that problem could be in your internet connection or browser that caused javascript error for example and didn't sent your bids.

keepsmile · Sep 23, 2010

Drow said:
Growing up is necessary, otherwise the whole world will seem a cheater for each failure.

true

StonePillar · Oct 4, 2010

GoQuickly said:
Snapnames are very honest people. I've dealt with them for a while now.

:lol:

Domain Auction Site Faces Shill Bidding Lawsuit :wave:

DN BROKER · Oct 4, 2010

GoQuickly said:
Snapnames are very honest people.

thats the biggest bull shit -

WARNING Readers, SNAPNAMES is known for corruption and have managed to get away with it below is the link to the corruption, they blamed all the scam on one person

http://www.namepros.com/domain-name-discussion/621078-halvarez-at-snapnames-auctions-uncovered.html

Erdy · Mar 2, 2011

There is some suspicious bidding activity going on at snapnames related to register.com domains. These are pre-release domains. This means they don't need to be caught. It also means the current registrar will gain hugely from the sale.

Here is an example:
http://i53.tinypic.com/15wkjes.gif

Domain Name: CHINESEMOVIES.COM
Registrar: REGISTER.COM, INC.
Whois Server: whois.register.com
Referral URL: http://www.register.com
Name Server: NS1.EXPIREDDOMAINS.REGISTER.COM
Name Server: NS2.EXPIREDDOMAINS.REGISTER.COM
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Updated Date: 01-feb-2011
Creation Date: 31-jan-1998
Expiration Date: 30-jan-2012

The domain started at $15,000 USD minimum bid and already it has a bid. There is no way this can be a genuine bid for this average domain.

Erdy · Mar 2, 2011

I received an answer from snapnames to my ticked about CHINESEMOVIES.COM. They say the bid is genuine.

Hi Erdinc,

Thank you for contacting us.

I have checked the names. They are not currently in auction, so the 'bids' that you see are backorders that we have on the name. I have verified that they are valid customers.

We have a priority partnership with Register.com and other registrars. This partnership allows these registrars to set their own minimum bids on the names that they release to us.

We do not participate or allow fake or shill bidding on our platform.

Thank you,
*** ***
Client Services Representative
Oversee Domain Services
Supporting Moniker, SnapNames & DomainSponsor

As you can see in the screenshot in my previous message, this domain has a minimum bid of 15.000 USD. It was send to snapnames auction by the registrar with a minimum bid of 15.000. That was the price even before nobody had bid on it.

Afterwards, somebody has actually placed a bid on it and is ready to buy it for 15.000. This is in my opinion a fake bid. They will probably cancel this bid right before the domain goes to auction.

I don't think snapnames is to blame here except they shouldn't allow such high minimum prices set by the registrars. Some registrars are misusing the snapnames platform to sell their domains at hype prices. 15.000 USD minimum bid for CHINESEMOVIES.COM followed by an actual bidder is definitely suspicious.

Kate · Mar 2, 2011

I find it hard to believe it is an opening bid. I'd rather believe it's the reserve price set by the registrar.

Erdy · Mar 2, 2011

sdsinc said:
I find it hard to believe it is an opening bid. I'd rather believe ...

sdsinc,

There is no need to "believe". Snapnames clearly shows number of bidders. It looks like you didn't check the screenshot I posted. Look on the bidders column:
http://i53.tinypic.com/15wkjes.gif

Also, I have send snapnames a ticket telling them I believe this is a fake bid and they wrote back saying it is a genuine bid which is not true.
There is a reserve price of 15.000 and there is a pre-bid. The auction has not started yet.
Why don't you check it yourself? Just go to snapnames.com and type this into the search box: CHINESEMOVIES.COM

There are two issues here:
1) The registrar is setting an artificial minimum price of 15.000.
2) The registrars bids on his own domain hoping that this way other people will jump in as well. Then in last moment they will cancel their bid.

They are doing this with feminism.com as well right now. Just make a search. Search results show both the minimum bid and number of bidders.

HeyNow · Mar 3, 2011

GoQuickly said:
Snapnames are very honest people.QUOTE]

You're joking, right? Snapnames is the largest admitted domain name auction fraudster in history, and you consider them "very honest people?" Are you serious?

Kate · Mar 3, 2011

Erdinc said:
There is no need to "believe". Snapnames clearly shows number of bidders. It looks like you didn't check the screenshot I posted. Look on the bidders column:
http://i53.tinypic.com/15wkjes.gif
...

Well, I don't believe that 'bid' is genuine. If it is, then the domain will sell and will be reported in DNJ. End of the story. But I wouldn't be surprised to see the domain on whois privacy soon, and no sale ever being reported.

You can try to make people bid on domain names with fake opening bids - it happens all the time at namejet. But it's difficult to get people to offer unrealistic prices for domains.
Feminism.com 15K ? No thanks

Erdy · Mar 3, 2011

Feminism.com has now 3 bids on snapnames. This domain is not worth that much. However when people see it, they might think, "let's join the auction and watch".

After all, if there are other bidders before you they will be on top when the auction starts, not you. So there is no harm for anybody to bid 15.000 to watch it. But there is a catch. Those fake bidders usually cancel their bids right before the auction starts.

It happened to me. In the past they were using this tactic at snapnames with lower value domains at $69 USD starting bids. Now they have improved their dirty tricks. Combined with minimum bid of $15.000, those fake bids will do a lot of damage. If the minimum bid was not set to 15.000 for those two domains (feminism.com and chinesevideos.com) it would take a lot of bid to increase the auction start price at that level. It would look completely fake. Can you imagine an auction where the minimum bid is $69 and somebody bids 15.000 even before the auction starts? It is totally fake. However now they have increased the minimum bids to 15.000 to make it look more genuine. The whole thing is a fake.

I too think the bids are fake. However snapnames says they are genuine. I have sent them a ticket to alert them. There is nothing else I can do if they don't want to solve the problem. However domainers should be alerted as well. That's why I'm writing it here.

If somebody here knows any managers at snapnames they might want to contact them. This fake bidding is done by the registrar, not by snapnames in my opinion.

HeyNow · Mar 3, 2011

Erdinc said:
This fake bidding is done by the registrar, not by snapnames in my opinion.

You mean you don't suspect the largest admitted domain auction fake bidder in history of "fake bidding" in this particular auction? Well, you might want to take the blinders off and open your eyes. It's funny, you blame the registrar who has no history of proven fraud, but give Snapnames a pass as though they are as clean as a whistle.

This is bizzarro-land, for sure.

Erdy · Mar 3, 2011

HeyNow,

It is the registrar, not snapnames, who has set the minimum price of 15,000 USD for chinesemovies.com. This domain is not worth 15,000. It is maybe worth 200 USD. Naturally I suspect the registrar. If somebody is pricing a 200 USD product as 15,000 USD and then make it look desirable by placing bids, wouldn't you suspect them? They will get the money if it sells.

You are confusing pre-release with pending delete. If this was a pending delete domain the registrar wouldn't matter.
But with pre-release domains, the registrar gets the most money. Also they have set the price themselves.

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