Thanks for all the hard work on this blog. I currently have a bunch of $69 bids in - on names I believe have value (I don't care if others bid or not - if I like a name, I buy it if I can get it for a price I believe is reasonable). Some have no other bidders - others have many.
However, there does appear to be some fishy stuff going on. Here are 2 examples:
I bid on SUMMON.COM along with 55 others. Seems weird that this is even listed here - as it doesn't expire until 2018. So why is it listed? It currently has 56 bidders. Will this name be pulled because it doesn't expire - or did the guy list it via Fabulous or some other place - and just wants to see what he can get (and then he'll pull it if he's not happy?) Or did he renew it recently - after it went to 'auction'.
The second listing is for MILLIGRAM.COM. It has 130 bidders - with a high bid of $600. Seems legit - although it doesn't expire until Jan 2013. Shouldn't all pre-release names show expiry dates that have passed? As well - it sold in 2011 for >$1,000 via NameJet. So why would they guy let it expire - and then NameJet resells it? I don't get it.
Are these new scams?
Thanks much.
Hi,
NameJet does not clearly say that they list domains for auction from private sellers. they have been however increasingly tipping that of on some help pages.
nonetheless, they clearly do not distinguish expired domains from private sellers to generate confusion and hide the fake bidding going on for years. I know some bidders would not bid if they knew that the domain is not really expired.
they have even placed fake bids *themselves* in the past so to list private sellers auctions on the top of their main pages and lists (if a domain does not have any bids it will be placed well into the deep expiring domains lists).
so, it is very simple actually. if you want to be legit you have to first look legit. NameJet hasn't taken any steps so far to improve this. nonetheless they have revamp their site with no truly useful feature and without clearing up this mess. again, we can only conclude that this is has been done because there is money being taken from the table with the current status quo.
also, you can be wary of any domain not expired coming from Enom and Fabulous. there are some unscrupulous owners there. no, many domains that come from these registrars show no problem and are from honest people, but the fact is the scams are always from these registrars. Enom is one of the shareholders of NameJet so one could only imagine the s*** that is going on.
again, we are all too occupied with taking our piece of the expired and fake expired action that we look the other way.
regards,
tonecas
---------- Post added at 07:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:25 PM ----------
Obviously, something fishy is going on. Could registrars renewing expired domain names and removing them from Registrant accounts before registry deletion have anything to do with situations such as the above bolded?
yes, registrars can do AND do that.
actually, what registrars do is to renew domains from owners at the registry level to allow them to renew their domnains *after* the expiration date. if the owners don't renew them they can return the domains to the registry so that they may enter the Redemption Period AND recover their fees paid for renewing the domains. ICANN rules don't state the deadlines for the "grace renew period" and registrars take this somewhat fuzy rules to arbitrarily decide when the owner has or has not rights to renew the domains. typically, when a domain auction is started on NameJet the previous owner will not have a chance to recover the domain auctioned if it is a John doe. If you have contacts inside Network Solutions or Enom or you are a big company however rules will be bended. One notable case was the NFR.com auction two years ago. I know of no John Doe having had the correct action taken on the part of NameJet stake holders, including some poor widows and living owner that have lost the domains with no appeal.
considerations aside, the fact is that Registrars have been warehousing domains by this method and retaining them in their own portfolios or selling them in expired auctions.
one day this will to come back to hunt our industry and is in fact hunting our industry right today because this is unfair competition.
regards,
tonecas