Name & Shame Flippa NO RESERVE Auction fail

[Daniel Mac Sweeney]

Hi guys
I am putting this message up as I just got scrued on an Auction on Flippa

Can't say the domains that were on NORESERVE but when I won the Domains for $20

this is the message I got

"i am looking for 3000$ at least..not 20$..this is fucking diss honer for me...fck this..sorry to wast ur time....i put 500$ For flippa and domains...now i have wasted my time...sorry bor i can not sell this...i will create website and i will come back to flippa with an established site...fk flippa..tnq for ur time seriously..."

Can he do this??

This is not on!! and not business like in the Domain world!!
People like this piss me off!!!

I realise what happened but tough!! Don't you think?
Waiting on flippas response

What can I do?
I'll name him soon if his on this.

 

[domainer111]

Yeah I mean it's a buyers market at the moment.

I sold three (including a package of 8 four chars) last week.

Blogsy.com was a very good bargain which I honoured. In fact, they all were good bargains.

If you sell at NR Flippa - yes you are taking a chance.

Legally, I am not sure where you stand. I mean is it actually binding at Flippa? I would imagine it is, and if you wanted to pursue it, you could. But, that could be incorrect.

 

[HeyNow]

Gee, where's the Flippa rep chiming in about how wonderful the system is?

 

[ramkumaritrvs]

After few dig, i found that

he is new to domaining (from april,2015) and used 2 of his email address. he just completed his college.

I called him and asked about the flippa auction but he refused to talk and hangup.

after few hours called threw my friend (USA) and gave offer for another one domain. he gave $6500 . once my friend told it's too much for this domain, he hangup the call !!!

Check his domains from flippa listings and stay away.

His Image: http://s25.postimg.org/d6e0uy0z3/918951877379.jpg

Still flippa can solve this kind of problem by implementing few rules to new sellers.

 

[FlippaDomains]

Still waiting on flippa to get back.
Here is the guy he still won't reply either
https://flippa.com/users/960733

Is there a Madhu maddy here on namepros?
Does he have anything to say?

-- I see absolutely no record of your filing a dispute, nor any Support thread stating that you filed a complaint. Can you please confirm the Support ticket or dispute number that you have record of? He should be banned, but we won't know to ban him if our departments don't know there is a problem.

I don't think there is anything you can do. Flippa will ban him if he didn't transfer the domain to you.

It takes nothing to get another account started there. This is one reason I no longer use Flippa. They need to start banning by IP. Not foolproof by a long shot, but it will help.

-- We do. He'll be watched over, so long as our team knows there is an issue.

For me Flippa is total waste of money ($9 listing) and time, those domains can easily get $XXX offers here in the offer section, won't even received $1 offers on Flippa.

-- Would appreciate knowing which domain(s) you tried to sell so we can assess whether they were a good fit for auction or not.

Wow, 6 times. Seems like you are lucky enough to run across lots of them.

To bad Flippa wouldn't do something about that. You would think they would realize it's just hurting them in the long run with the damage it's causing to their reputation. The rules need to be for everyone so that the integrity or your reputation can be maintained. If they continue to do things like that it's gonna hurt their reputation a lot and cost way more money in the long run.

-- Again, there appears to be no record of a complaint filed. Blanket statements that we don't care about these kinds of things are simply wrong.

Here's the last one that happened to me. After they didn't ban him, I pretty much have been turned off of Flippa.

Conversation with Flippa seller who refused to transfer domain.

The solution is forcing new sellers to watch an educational video about how auctions work and making it crystal clear what "no reserve" means, and maybe even holding domains in escrow for new sellers. I already mentioned this to Kevin and others at Flippa. I doubt they care.

-- That's personal. I spent a long time digging into this and assuring you were connected with the right people to assist. If you are still having issues, I recommend continuing to speak with someone to help - or ping me if you feel that no one is. I understand you're pissed that a seller or two withheld the domain that you rightfully won, and that sucks -- it's also not accurate to say that we don't care. Those who think it's in our best interest (for $1 auctions, we don't even get a success fee), the math doesn't add up. Way more trouble than it's worth for all involved, and if we can find a magic bullet way to prevent this from happening, we will.

Wonder why is it so difficult for Flippa to take escrow of domains when they get a bid on no reserve listing or when bid meets the reserve?

Maybe it cannot be done for all tlds, but for tlds like .com/.net/.org it would not be a problem. That should solve this problem. Flippa could make this optional for a seller, to establish trust. Genuine sellers having confidence in their names would not have a problem escrowing their domains.

Plus asking new bidders to optionally but willingly keep refundable deposit of small amount like $10 to $50 as escrow to show they are serious buyers would help. This deposit could be used towards Flippa escrow payment method. This deposit could be reflected in user's rating. The higher the escrow amount and longer you keep it at Flippa, higher your rating.

-- This is something we're exploring but there are some potentially legal obstacles in the way; we would probably have to partner with or become a registrar to do this right. Not a bad idea, though.

I review his profile. he's a new user.you can only file a dispute or can contact flippa. I don't think he's afraid of to get banned on flippa because he don't have any previous history of selling. which most seller's afraid to ruin.
However flippa really suck's sometime. overall domaining is a risky business. We all face these circumstances sometime.File a complaint and go on. Don't waste your further time.

-- Yes, once I hear from our Marketplace Integrity team as to the resolution on the dispute filed, I will report back.

 

[cocaseco]

Thanks for correcting me, that's good to know.

 

[Nick]

-- That's personal.

What's personal, to me, is that the same rules don't apply to everyone. You guys were ready to ban me no quicker than a blink of the eye without even a notice or warning, for inadvertently listing my domains in 2 places (even though you have a filter on your search for "Flippa exclusives" which implies that some listings AREN'T exclusive to Flippa.), when it really was not clear that it's against your rules. Had I not made a big deal about it and emailed the founders and CC'd anyone I thought was somewhat important, I'd still be banned.

Now this guy comes along, sells a $190,000 worth of stuff on your site and he still doesn't know the rules about reserves? And not even only on my auction; 2 others at the same time, which had bids of $40 and $25 the buyers got screwed over on as well. Far fetched. And no, I never got a followup from anyone at Flippa as you told me I would, several times. I don't understand why you the "domain manager" wouldn't followup. Here we are, weeks later now, and we're following up on a public discussion forum. Odd?

 

[FlippaDomains]

What's personal, to me, is that the same rules don't apply to everyone. You guys were ready to ban me no quicker than a blink of the eye without even a notice or warning, for listing my domains in 2 places (even though you have a filter on your search for "Flippa exclusives" which implies that some listings AREN'T exclusive to Flippa.), when it really was not clear that it's against your rules. Had I not made a big deal about it and emailed the founders and CC'd anyone I thought was somewhat important, I'd still be banned.

Now this guy comes along, sells a $190,000 worth of stuff on your site and he still doesn't know the rules about reserves? And not even only on my auction; 2 others at the same time. Far fetched. And no, I never got a followup from anyone at Flippa as you told me I would, several times. I don't understand why you the "domain manager" wouldn't followup. Here we are, weeks later now, and we're following up on a public discussion forum. Odd?

I wrote you a half dozen emails - and forwarded you what our Marketplace Integrity officer, Josh Wells, wrote as well. That said, I do apologize since I only just now saw the final email you sent me from June 27. It's unfortunate if this seller is being spared due to special circumstances, so I'm looking into that now -- that is not our policy.

 

[FlippaDomains]

What's personal, to me, is that the same rules don't apply to everyone. You guys were ready to ban me no quicker than a blink of the eye without even a notice or warning, for inadvertently listing my domains in 2 places (even though you have a filter on your search for "Flippa exclusives" which implies that some listings AREN'T exclusive to Flippa.), when it really was not clear that it's against your rules. Had I not made a big deal about it and emailed the founders and CC'd anyone I thought was somewhat important, I'd still be banned.

Now this guy comes along, sells a $190,000 worth of stuff on your site and he still doesn't know the rules about reserves? And not even only on my auction; 2 others at the same time, which had bids of $40 and $25 the buyers got screwed over on as well. Far fetched. And no, I never got a followup from anyone at Flippa as you told me I would, several times. I don't understand why you the "domain manager" wouldn't followup. Here we are, weeks later now, and we're following up on a public discussion forum. Odd?

Parnell Piano, also in Marketplace Integrity, reached out to you on June 28. I won't paste the email here, but it appears you were offered full assistance with this.

It appears that the seller received a warning, but any subsequent issues will result in a ban.

 

[Nick]

Parnell Piano, also in Marketplace Integrity, reached out to you on June 28. I won't paste the email here, but it appears you were offered full assistance with this.

Yes, Parnell said "from what I can see, this is not a system error..." - which I already knew, and then told me to file a dispute, which I did and then nothing happened.

It appears that the seller received a warning, but any subsequent issues will result in a ban.

Well, there were 3 auctions- so, I guess he got a pass on all of them.

https://flippa.com/4807677-premium-domain-room-cheap
https://flippa.com/4807678-premium-domain-servers-cheap
https://flippa.com/4807679-premium-domain-full-support

Listen, to be honest, I'm over it. Yes, I'm going to chime in now and then when others run into the same issue and voice my opinion- but I'm not losing sleep over this. Just know that it, PRECISELY, is reasons like this which drive people to form startups that end up disrupting a space.

 

[FlippaDomains]

@Nick V ~ I'll look into why this further for you. Let us please communicate offline from here on out, as it's getting o/t from o/p

 

[hollywood]

@Nick V ~ I'll look into why this further for you. Let us please communicate offline from here on out, as it's getting o/t from o/p

Excuse me but it does seem quite relevant. Why should I bother with Flippa, then?

 

[hollywood]

You may need to try harder agame. Less time writing and more time thinking maybe?

I was very clear with a short response to a short quote made by flippa. I would hope for a response from flippa but i dont expect one if youre shilling.

 

[FlippaDomains]

From the rules page on Flippa it states:

"Bids and offers you make must be a genuine intention to buy"

and then toward the bottom:

"We have a zero tolerance policy to any of the above infractions" but then it goes on to say "and breaking these can have serious implications to both your listing and your user account." also "Listings breaching any rules may be corrected, suspended or removed." (highlighting and underlining is mine)

Worded that was is quite contradicting. The language is drafted in such a way giving Flippa complete discretion of whether to ban an account or not. Can... May... instead of Will... If "can" and "may" were both replaced with "will", Flippa would have to ban them each and every time. Perhaps that is by design.

Whats the point of saying "zero tolerance" then? Right now it looks like "One tolerance" because he was "warned" and then he'll be banned if he does it again.

and to suggest something from what you wrote further above:

"if we can find a magic bullet way to prevent this from happening, we will."

I have never purchased a domain name from anyone, so I dont know how it works and if it does work like this on Flippa then please ignore this part, but, maybe its time that prospective buyers have to file their credit card information with Flippa. Each time they engage in bidding on an auction a $500 or $1000 authorization is charged against their card. If they lose the auction then the authorization comes off the card. OR if they have no credit card to use then they fund an escrow account BEFORE bidding. This will stop fly-by-night bidders. This will also curb shill bidders. If a bidder has to part with $500 (temp authorization) for each auction that I want to take part in then it will really make someone think long and hard about trying to game the system. If the bidder is serious, he wont mind these rules. It would make for a safe marketplace.

Please discuss this openly. This is for the benefit of Flippa as well as the domainers. I know that I do not want to take part in selling my names on any auction platform (Sedo, GoDaddy, Flippa alike) because of dead-beat buyers. I doubt that I am alone. Dead-beats are a black eye on this industry. Sedo and GoDaddy are too big to care about changing their systems. I think Flippa, if any, is hopefully willing to listen and change the rules to a REAL zero tolerance policy.

Thanks for your comments.

Actually, the $500 authorization (note: it is NOT A CREDIT CARD CHARGE, but merely a hold that disappears once the buyer is verified officially) -- is exactly what we just started doing.

Granted, that's for higher-value transactions ($5k+).

The deadbeat buyers have dissipated two/three-fold (at least), since we have implemented stricter changes. The issue of deadbeat sellers is another issue altogether, and that is something I agree we need to address to improve upon next.

As for the ToS you cite above, I agree with you that we need to shore our language up. Let me see what clarification I can get from our team on this.

 

[hollywood]

Ahh i shouldve quoted that agame's post, like flippa did.

Encouraging. Perhaps Flippa et. al. are indeed clever enough to clean up these dirty sellers. Road map? and thanks for the responsiveness btw

 

[hollywood]

So despite my positive approach, i end up ignored by flippa. @FlippaDomains instead chooses to gather his shills/employees and make posts in other threads. Hmmmm. Well this changes things.

"When ignorance turns to evasion, someone should go get the sheriff."

Those who have been burned or cheated by @FlippaDomains are now invited to send me PM with details. I am in the United States, I have worked for the US Dept of Commerce.

So send me your details and spread the word to other victims so they can be heard too. Shame on you Flippa.

P.S. it is a good thing I have the screenshots showing @AGAME and what they posted here yesterday. Now that user's posts have "magically" disappeared. Perhaps flippa gets help from namepros hmmm....

 

[Daniel Mac Sweeney]

-- I see absolutely no record of your filing a dispute, nor any Support thread stating that you filed a complaint. Can you please confirm the Support ticket or dispute number that you have record of? He should be banned, but we won't know to ban him if our departments don't know there is a problem.

I have the Dispute filed.



-- We do. He'll be watched over, so long as our team knows there is an issue.



-- Would appreciate knowing which domain(s) you tried to sell so we can assess whether they were a good fit for auction or not.



-- Again, there appears to be no record of a complaint filed. Blanket statements that we don't care about these kinds of things are simply wrong.





-- That's personal. I spent a long time digging into this and assuring you were connected with the right people to assist. If you are still having issues, I recommend continuing to speak with someone to help - or ping me if you feel that no one is. I understand you're pissed that a seller or two withheld the domain that you rightfully won, and that sucks -- it's also not accurate to say that we don't care. Those who think it's in our best interest (for $1 auctions, we don't even get a success fee), the math doesn't add up. Way more trouble than it's worth for all involved, and if we can find a magic bullet way to prevent this from happening, we will.



-- This is something we're exploring but there are some potentially legal obstacles in the way; we would probably have to partner with or become a registrar to do this right. Not a bad idea, though.



-- Yes, once I hear from our Marketplace Integrity team as to the resolution on the dispute filed, I will report back.

Done

 

[FlippaDomains]

So despite my positive approach, i end up ignored by flippa. @FlippaDomains instead chooses to gather his shills/employees and make posts in other threads. Hmmmm. Well this changes things.

"When ignorance turns to evasion, someone should go get the sheriff."

Those who have been burned or cheated by @FlippaDomains are now invited to send me PM with details. I am in the United States, I have worked for the US Dept of Commerce.

So send me your details and spread the word to other victims so they can be heard too. Shame on you Flippa.

P.S. it is a good thing I have the screenshots showing @AGAME and what they posted here yesterday. Now that user's posts have "magically" disappeared. Perhaps flippa gets help from namepros hmmm....

What in the hell are you even talking about?

 

[FlippaDomains]

So despite my positive approach, i end up ignored by flippa. @FlippaDomains instead chooses to gather his shills/employees and make posts in other threads. Hmmmm. Well this changes things.

Sorry, how did I ignore you? Because I didn't write back within 12 hours?

Those who have been burned or cheated by @FlippaDomains are now invited to send me PM with details. I am in the United States, I have worked for the US Dept of Commerce.

How did I burn or cheat you?

P.S. it is a good thing I have the screenshots showing @AGAME and what they posted here yesterday. Now that user's posts have "magically" disappeared. Perhaps flippa gets help from namepros hmmm....

@AGAME's post is gone, but I had nothing to do with it. @AGAME, what happened to it?

 

[D Haynes]

I have no opinion on Flippa one way or the other really but I have to say that I'm impressed that Kevin comes on here to take bullets. Threads and forums in general are negative in their nature because people like to complain and negative news stays in the mind longer than good news. It would be easier for Kevin to not reply to any threads, dodge the bullets and for Flippa to have no real presence on NP like the other sales sites, but he's still here and still answering posts and I think that should be commended. We as NP users need to make the most of our opportunity and make any criticism constructive even when we just want to shout at someone or one day we might find that nobody is listening anymore. Oh and don't play in the road

 

[ResoluteDomains]

Sorry, how did I ignore you? Because I didn't write back within 12 hours?



How did I burn or cheat you?



@AGAME's post is gone, but I had nothing to do with it. @AGAME, what happened to it?

I dont know what happened. You did reply to my message and quoted it and I appreciate the response.

 

[-EM-]

I would blame flippa to for this things too.
They tend to "promise" higher rates (more bidders) if you chose premium features such as bold text, twitter advertising, premium listing packages etc. They also suggest the seller to use the $1 no reserve auction for better results (which is totally stupid), just to make sure the auction will end with a winner.
New domainers tend to fall on this and after investing money on those features, they are far away from the expectations.
Myself I had the same thing happening, but I added the reserve auction, so I was saved, lol. I bought the twitter advertising feature which the promise was to get x3 more bids, but the auction ended with only one bid. Pointless is the only thing I can say.

 

[FlippaDomains]

I would blame flippa to for this things too.
They tend to "promise" higher rates (more bidders) if you chose premium features such as bold text, twitter advertising, premium listing packages etc. They also suggest the seller to use the $1 no reserve auction for better results (which is totally stupid), just to make sure the auction will end with a winner.
New domainers tend to fall on this and after investing money on those features, they are far away from the expectations.
Myself I had the same thing happening, but I added the reserve auction, so I was saved, lol. I bought the twitter advertising feature which the promise was to get x3 more bids, but the auction ended with only one bid. Pointless is the only thing I can say.

Would be great if you could share the domain(s) you were seeking to sell, so we can assist further. [email protected]

 

[Eric Lyon]

P.S. it is a good thing I have the screenshots showing AGAME and what they posted here yesterday. Now that user's posts have "magically" disappeared.

AGAME edited two posts in this thread to include only a dot. Posts with no content are cleaned from threads.

 

[hollywood]

AGAME edited two posts in this thread to include only a dot. Posts with no content are cleaned from threads.

Thank you for the clarification Eric. Two posts.

@FlippaDomains, keep pretending you can't scroll up the page to find my post, but you can quote other posts.

 

[FlippaDomains]

Ahh i shouldve quoted that agame's post, like flippa did.

Encouraging. Perhaps Flippa et. al. are indeed clever enough to clean up these dirty sellers. Road map? and thanks for the responsiveness btw

So despite my positive approach, i end up ignored by flippa. @FlippaDomains instead chooses to gather his shills/employees and make posts in other threads. Hmmmm. Well this changes things.

"When ignorance turns to evasion, someone should go get the sheriff."

Those who have been burned or cheated by @FlippaDomains are now invited to send me PM with details. I am in the United States, I have worked for the US Dept of Commerce.

So send me your details and spread the word to other victims so they can be heard too. Shame on you Flippa.

P.S. it is a good thing I have the screenshots showing @AGAME and what they posted here yesterday. Now that user's posts have "magically" disappeared. Perhaps flippa gets help from namepros hmmm....

Which one of these were you hoping I reply to? And what exactly were you hoping I reply with?