Domains sold by forum member repossessed by GoDaddy

[draco]

I bought two domains, 28924.com and 82742.com, that were advertised by Omer Doron on NamePros.

https://www.namepros.com/threads/82742-com-28924-com-350-each-sold.1101500/

I paid with PayPal and the domains were pushed to my GoDaddy account. Three weeks later, I was notified that the domains were repossessed by GoDaddy. They told me,

"The original purchases of the domains in question were charged to an invalid payment method, resulting in the repossession of products and subsequent refund for initial cost. If the seller reverses charges for the services they purchased on your behalf, we “repossess” the purchase meaning the products are removed from your account. The original price of the domains must be paid in full before they may be returned to your account. We offer you the option of purchasing the domains for the original price of $761.34. This price is the cost of the original receipts connected to these domains which has been refunded.".

The Seller is claiming that they bought the domains from someone, and they weren't the ones that paid with the invalid payment method or did the chargeback. The $761.34 GoDaddy wants is actually more than I paid for the domains. The Seller claims I'm trying to get a refund from the wrong person, because they didn't do anything wrong. I feel it's their responsibility, since they sold them to me. They should go after the person they claim they bought them from.

Originally he said he would give me a refund after he verified the information with GoDaddy. Then he said he wouldn't do it because he thought they were stolen. Then he asked me to post here anonymously and he would issue me a refund if he was convinced it was 100% the right thing to do. When I asked him what it would take to be 100% convinced, he wouldn't answer.

I opened a dispute with PayPal. He lied in the response, claiming GoDaddy told me there was something wrong with my account. GoDaddy never told me there was anything wrong with my account. They just gave me the option to buy the domains back from them. It's an option, not a debt I owe them.

 

[IMEZI]

Doesnt matter. The point is, Godaddy should take responsibility of their own loss. They cant just transfer the burden to someone else.

deep down in my mind i have some suspicion that GD were doing it intentionaly to destroy another domain platform/marketplate to monopolize domain marketplace.....

 

[IMEZI]

I contacted undeveloped.com.
They paid the person who sold me the domains with bitcoin and said they cannot cancel the transaction.
I thinl it's stupid to pay people with bitcoin becauase then you can't control the transaction if something like this happens.

bitcoin.... well this one good studycase as crypto payment were unsecure for buyer

 

[Shailendra Mishra]

I talked to GoDaddy multiple times about this. I also messaged @Joe Styler on the forum. They were all quite clear, and quoted me GoDaddy policy. They do not guarantee second hand transactions and they will repossess the domains.

The million dollar question is:
Would Godaddy take responsibility if the original scammer sold the domains through "Godaddy auction" platform instead of "undeveloped" and the (subsequent)buyer basically paid to godaddy for the "Stolen" domain??
@Joe Styler

 

[IMEZI]

The million dollar question is:
Would Godaddy take responsibility if the original scammer sold the domains through their own auction platform instead of undeveloped and the (subsequent)buyer basically paid to godaddy for the "Stolen" domain??
@Joe Styler

AWESOME!!! that is the real question of the day....

 

[offthehandle]

Another GoDaddy problem thread.

 

[equity78]

This is the true version:

I bought 2 domains from Undeveloped.com (82742.com and 28924.com) on September 20th.
I held them for a few time and then William Efron offered me 700$ for the domains so I sold it to him on October 17th.

I transferred the domains to William's GoDaddy account, William confirmed to me that he got the domains and the deal was successful.

On November 7th William got a message from GoDaddy that his domains are repossessed by GoDaddy and if he wants them back, he can purchase them from GoDaddy for 761$.

You can see the email William got from GoDaddy here (William sent me the copy):
https://www.dropbox.com/s/dmnrnkj2yx2u86i/GoDaddy's response to William's Email.png?dl=0

GoDaddy took the domains from his account and added them to his cart so if he wants he can purchase the domains for 761$.
William is saying that I bought the domains with a stolen credit card and this is why the domains were repossessed, but it's not true.

As I said I have paid for the domains via PayPal as you can see here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bw3m3l3n41ae1mu/Completed Payments I made for Undeveloped.png?dl=0

Also, these are the Invoices from Undeveloped.com:
Invoice for 82742.com:
https://undeveloped.com/invoices/asxw24br/buyer.pdf
Invoice for 28924.com:
https://undeveloped.com/invoices/kw0m4lp0/buyer.pdf

I did not cancel any payment, I just bought 2 domains from Undeveloped.com which is a well-known domains website, and sold them to William because he offered me 700$ for them.
William contacted ME. HE wanted to buy the domains from ME. I did not force him to pay for the domains.
William just offered me 700$ for them so I accepted it.

Now GoDaddy is telling William that something is wrong with his account, and instead of trying to solve it with GoDaddy, he looks for the easy (and the wrong) way to get his domains back which is getting a refund for 700$ from the seller (which has nothing to do with the fact that GoDaddy took his domains) and then purchase the domains from GoDaddy for 761$.

If I was responsible in any way, GoDaddy would have contacted ME, and added the domains to MY cart. but that is not the situation. They sent William an email and gave HIM the option to purchase the domains from them because HE is the owner and held them for more than 3 weeks in his account before GoDaddy contacted him.

*I* didn't take the domains from William's account. *I* didn't cancel any payment. I am 100% legit, you are more than welcome to check my payment history and you will see that I NEVER did a chargeback or my payment wasn't accepted.

I really don't understand why he opened this case instead of keep contacting GoDaddy and explain the situation to them until they give him his domains back. After all, if they are giving him the option to purchase them, they can also give them back to him.
I can't control GoDaddy's actions and as much as I want to help, I will not take the hit for GoDaddy's actions.

Thanks for the info, but weren't these names won on GoDaddy auctions first? https://namebio.com/blog/daily-market-report-for-september-11th-2018/

What did the guy on Undeveloped sell them for that you were excited about $700?

 

[wwwweb]

Same thing happend to me. I feel godaddy does not legally have the right to dip into a legitimate account to enforce a 3rd parties debt to them.

I don’t understand why bidders Ids are not shown, clearly fake bidders are gaming the system, and bidding without recourse. In my case the domain was repossessed after 4 months, and I could have easily moved it out, and they could have not done any thing about it. Given the debt originated in another account, without any notice they came into my account, and took the domain without any notice or reason. This is a clear over reach and abuse of trust. Godaddy should use a collection agency to recover the debt they took on thru their trusted verification of the bidder. If they did not do proper due diligence they are doing every auction user a disservice by allowing rouge bidders on the platform.

 

[AgentE13]

Thanks for the info, but weren't these names won on GoDaddy auctions first? https://namebio.com/blog/daily-market-report-for-september-11th-2018/

What did the guy on Undeveloped sell them for that you were excited about $700?

As you can see in the Invoices I have attached in my post, I paid 550$ for both.

700$ is 150$ profit which is good for me.

 

[equity78]

As you can see in the Invoices I have attached in my post, I paid 550$ for both.

700$ is 150$ profit which is good for me.

I saw that after I posted, thank you. So the guy who sold to you took a $211 loss. Makes sense he might have been defrauding @GoDaddy.

 

[equity78]

Same thing happend to me. I feel godaddy does not legally have the right to dip into a legitimate account to enforce a 3rd parties debt to them.

I don’t understand why bidders Ids are not shown, clearly fake bidders are gaming the system, and bidding without recourse. In my case the domain was repossessed after 4 months, and I could have easily moved it out, and they could have not done any thing about it. Given the debt originated in another account, without any notice they came into my account, and took the domain without any notice or reason. This is a clear over reach and abuse of trust. Godaddy should use a collection agency to recover the debt they took on thru their trusted verification of the bidder. If they did not do proper due diligence they are doing every auction user a disservice by allowing rouge bidders on the platform.

If everything spelled out here is true, you are right, I would like to hear @Joe Styler or @Paul Nicks explanation, because I don't think they would repossess names for us as a customer if we got hustled.

There are 4 players here:

GoDaddy who handled the initial auctions, the closing prices can be seen here, https://namebio.com/blog/daily-market-report-for-september-11th-2018/

The second player is that winner who spent $761 at GoDaddy then sold the names to the third player Mr. Doron for $550 on Undeveloped, the fourth player being Mr.Draco who bought them from Mr.Doron.

How is GoDaddy allowed to screw Mr.Draco? What if he had transferred out, would GoDaddy have got that registrar to help them repossess the names for them?

 

[eurorealtor]

If you both were scammed, I would split the loose.

This is the true version:

I bought 2 domains from Undeveloped.com (82742.com and 28924.com) on September 20th.
I held them for a few time and then William Efron offered me 700$ for the domains so I sold it to him on October 17th.

I transferred the domains to William's GoDaddy account, William confirmed to me that he got the domains and the deal was successful.

On November 7th William got a message from GoDaddy that his domains are repossessed by GoDaddy and if he wants them back, he can purchase them from GoDaddy for 761$.

You can see the email William got from GoDaddy here (William sent me the copy):
https://www.dropbox.com/s/dmnrnkj2yx2u86i/GoDaddy's response to William's Email.png?dl=0

GoDaddy took the domains from his account and added them to his cart so if he wants he can purchase the domains for 761$.
William is saying that I bought the domains with a stolen credit card and this is why the domains were repossessed, but it's not true.

As I said I have paid for the domains via PayPal as you can see here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bw3m3l3n41ae1mu/Completed Payments I made for Undeveloped.png?dl=0

Also, these are the Invoices from Undeveloped.com:
Invoice for 82742.com:
https://undeveloped.com/invoices/asxw24br/buyer.pdf
Invoice for 28924.com:
https://undeveloped.com/invoices/kw0m4lp0/buyer.pdf

I did not cancel any payment, I just bought 2 domains from Undeveloped.com which is a well-known domains website, and sold them to William because he offered me 700$ for them.
William contacted ME. HE wanted to buy the domains from ME. I did not force him to pay for the domains.
William just offered me 700$ for them so I accepted it.

Now GoDaddy is telling William that something is wrong with his account, and instead of trying to solve it with GoDaddy, he looks for the easy (and the wrong) way to get his domains back which is getting a refund for 700$ from the seller (which has nothing to do with the fact that GoDaddy took his domains) and then purchase the domains from GoDaddy for 761$.

If I was responsible in any way, GoDaddy would have contacted ME, and added the domains to MY cart. but that is not the situation. They sent William an email and gave HIM the option to purchase the domains from them because HE is the owner and held them for more than 3 weeks in his account before GoDaddy contacted him.

*I* didn't take the domains from William's account. *I* didn't cancel any payment. I am 100% legit, you are more than welcome to check my payment history and you will see that I NEVER did a chargeback or my payment wasn't accepted.

I really don't understand why he opened this case instead of keep contacting GoDaddy and explain the situation to them until they give him his domains back. After all, if they are giving him the option to purchase them, they can also give them back to him.
I can't control GoDaddy's actions and as much as I want to help, I will not take the hit for GoDaddy's actions.

 

[dncafe]

Neither the buyer or seller on NP here has given a full outline of what happened.

Is this how it played out?

Buyer 1 buys the two 5N.com from GoDaddy Auctions back in September

Buyer 1 lists those two domains on Undeveloped.com

Buyer 2 (Omer) buys those two domains (with credit card?) through Undeveloped.com as escrow

Buyer 1 pushes those domains into Buyer 2 (Omer) GoDaddy account.

They agreed that the transfer was a success and Undeveloped.com releases the money to Buyer 1, paying in Bitcoin

Buyer 2 (Omer) lists those domains here on NamePros

Buyer 3 (draco) buys them from Buyer 2 (Omer), sends him the money and he pushes them into his GoDaddy account.

Couple weeks later Buyer 3 (draco) is contacted by GoDaddy, saying he owes the balance of the 2 domains because the original Buyer 1 auction purchase credit card transaction was reported fraudulent

If that's all accurate, it seems as though the first buyer (who is not part of the NamePros sale) was a scammer using stolen credit card information, buying up liquid domains and selling them as fast as possible, through a marketplace that would allow him to be payed in Bitcoin, which cannot be disputed.

That seems to be the scam, using stolen credit cards to buy sought after domains that will sell fast, push to the users GoDaddy account, have the buyer approve the escrow and get your Bitcoin return....all before GoDaddy has caught the stolen credit card.

This sucks for both of the Namepros users here.

The blame seems to go to GoDaddy, as they shouldn't be allowing names to be pushed to other accounts before the payment is 100% complete

I believe most credit card companies offer 120 days to offer a charge back if the card is reported stolen or there is a fraudulent purchase.

Should GoDaddy restrict domain pushes/transfers for 120 days after an auction purchase?

 

[draco]

It is in GoDaddy's policy that they'll repossess domain names in cases like this. Not sure what would have happened if I transferred them out. Most of my domains are at GoDaddy and I've been happy with their service in the past. I didn't see a need to.

The way I see it, I bought the domains from Omer. Regardless if he's innocent or was scammed too, isn't he ultimately responsible? Not that I don't feel sorry for him, if he was scammed (though less after he lied claiming GoDaddy said there was a problem with my account). Undeveloped has a Buyer Protection Policy. He should go after them and after the person that sold them to him. If any of you were in my position and the Seller said I didn't do anything wrong so I'm not going to give you your money back, would you just accept that? Would you deal with someone that did that to someone else?

 

[wwwweb]

Neither the buyer or seller on NP here has given a full outline of what happened.

Is this how it played out?

Buyer 1 buys the two 5N.com from GoDaddy Auctions back in September

Buyer 1 lists those two domains on Undeveloped.com

Buyer 2 (Omer) buys those two domains (with credit card?) through Undeveloped.com as escrow

Buyer 1 pushes those domains into Buyer 2 (Omer) GoDaddy account.

They agreed that the transfer was a success and Undeveloped.com releases the money to Buyer 1, paying in Bitcoin

Buyer 2 (Omer) lists those domains here on NamePros

Buyer 3 (draco) buys them from Buyer 2 (Omer), sends him the money and he pushes them into his GoDaddy account.

Couple weeks later Buyer 3 (draco) is contacted by GoDaddy, saying he owes the balance of the 2 domains because the original Buyer 1 auction purchase credit card transaction was reported fraudulent

If that's all accurate, it seems as though the first buyer (who is not part of the NamePros sale) was a scammer using stolen credit card information, buying up liquid domains and selling them as fast as possible, through a marketplace that would allow him to be payed in Bitcoin, which cannot be disputed.

That seems to be the scam, using stolen credit cards to buy sought after domains that will sell fast, push to the users GoDaddy account, have the buyer approve the escrow and get your Bitcoin return....all before GoDaddy has caught the stolen credit card.

This sucks for both of the Namepros users here.

The blame seems to go to GoDaddy, as they shouldn't be allowing names to be pushed to other accounts before the payment is 100% complete

Godaddy has to do a better job of verifying bidders. Here in lies the issue the more lax their bidder verification policy is the more bidders who will bid on all auctions, and push final closing prices up, there in pushing profits higher. If tougher measures were in place many bidders would not be verified, and hence lower overall selling prices. In essence godaddy is not absorbing any risk, qualified bidders, and any domain buyer assume all risk.

Godady to this day has never once given a proper reason to why bidder ids are not identified? Every other platform seems to show buyers user id.

 

[wwwweb]

It is in GoDaddy's policy that they'll repossess domain names in cases like this. Not sure what would have happened if I transferred them out. Most of my domains are at GoDaddy and I've been happy with their service in the past. I didn't see a need to.

The way I see it, I bought the domains from Omer. Regardless if he's innocent or was scammed too, isn't he ultimately responsible? Not that I don't feel sorry for him, if he was scammed (though less after he lied claiming GoDaddy said there was a problem with my account). Undeveloped has a Buyer Protection Policy. He should go after them and after the person that sold them to him. If any of you were in my position and the Seller said I didn't do anything wrong so I'm not going to give you your money back, would you just accept that? Would you deal with someone that did that to someone else?

Undeveloped is simply performing a service much like escrow would between buyer and seller, even though I paid them via PayPal, I wouldn’t do a dispute because I don’t think they did anything wrong. They are simply facilitating a transaction.

I would say the debt lies with the defaulter, if godaddy says they ran their verification process of bidders, and in the end it doesn’t pan out, they shouldn’t have the right to go into a 3rd party account, and steal a domain back without any rhyme, or reason. If they extended credit to a bidder, maybe they should have a 1 year phrobation process, get a passport like NameJet does, obviously someone found a way to game their platform in 2018, and cause a bit of a mess. In the end godaddy didn’t lose anything, but given their lack of internal controls, they put their customers at risk.

What if someone listed that domain on premium domains, and godaddy was the seller, would they claim the domain back from a buyer they sold it to.

 

[offthehandle]

Godady to this day has never once given a proper reason to why bidder ids are not identified? Every other platform seems to show buyers user id.

Yea, I asked Godaddy here before and Paul said no plans to ID anyone.

https://www.namepros.com/threads/godaddy-domain-name-expiry-changes.1051138/#post-6445318

 

[wwwweb]

Yea, I asked Godaddy here before and Paul said no plans to ID anyone.

https://www.namepros.com/threads/godaddy-domain-name-expiry-changes.1051138/#post-6445318

Yes, we have all heard the same answer, without a proper explanation.

Maybe it was back when huge domains was bidding on every auction, that had a last minute bid placed on it, I don’t know what the big secret is?

Every legit bidder big, or small had asked the same question, very simple to change bidder 1 to a username.

 

[draco]

Undeveloped has a Buyer Protection Program.

https://undeveloped.com/help/trust-and-safety

Omer should take advantage of it. I can't. I didn't buy from them. And Undeveloped can't say anymore that no transaction has turned into a nightmare.

Undeveloped is simply performing a service much like escrow would between buyer and seller, even though I paid them via PayPal, I wouldn’t do a dispute because I don’t think they did anything wrong. They are simply facilitating a transaction.

I would say the debt lies with the defaulter, if godaddy says they ran their verification process of bidders, and in the end it doesn’t pan out, they shouldn’t have the right to go into a 3rd party account, and steal a domain back without any rhyme, or reason. If they extended credit to a bidder, maybe they should have a 1 year phrobation process, get a passport like NameJet does, obviously someone found a way to game their platform in 2018, and cause a bit of a mess. In the end godaddy didn’t lose anything, but given their lack of internal controls, they put their customers at risk.

What if someone listed that domain on premium domains, and godaddy was the seller, would they claim the domain back from a buyer they sold it to.

 

[offthehandle]

I don’t know what the big secret is?

.

The API’s bidders get to be hidden and discovered only once you bid so remain covered up.

 

[equity78]

Yes, we have all heard the same answer, without a proper explanation.

Maybe it was back when huge domains was bidding on every auction, that had a last minute bid placed on it, I don’t know what the big secret is?

Every legit bidder big, or small had asked the same question, very simple to change bidder 1 to a username.

I agree it's bogus, I have spoken about as much as anyone, writing about it for years. But they have given a reason, Joe Styler says they want a name to stand on it's own. Now other members like @Arca did a good job speculating that they don't want people to see some of the big players id like Huge Domains bidding on domains.

 

[wwwweb]

Undeveloped has a Buyer Protection Program.

https://undeveloped.com/help/trust-and-safety

Omer should take advantage of it. I can't. I didn't buy from them. And Undeveloped can't say anymore that no transaction has turned into a nightmare.

1. If the seller doesn’t deliver on their part for whatever reason, we refund you within 12 hours. No questions asked.
   
   
   Policy is pretty surface level, doesn’t really give much detail into anything else. Really strong words for not supplying transfer info.

 

[equity78]

Undeveloped has a Buyer Protection Program.

https://undeveloped.com/help/trust-and-safety

Omer should take advantage of it. I can't. I didn't buy from them. And Undeveloped can't say anymore that no transaction has turned into a nightmare.

Good point where is your buyer protection plan @Undeveloped? Because you paid by Bitcoin why should that affect a buyer who never agreed that you do that. If you know crypto you know it can't be reversed, is this another parameter for all members, specify, I will not buy from your marketplace if you will pay the seller in crypto.

 

[wwwweb]

I agree it's bogus, I have spoken about as much as anyone, writing about it for years. But they have given a reason, Joe Styler says they want a name to stand on it's own. Now other members like @Arca did a good job speculating that they don't want people to see some of the big players id like Huge Domains bidding on domains.

I don’t know huge domains current activity but back in 2015/2016 they were in basically every auction, or last 5 minute bid. I assume they were gaming the system with the backorder loophole also, probably the reason godaddy took so long to close the loophole once exposed to the public to give them time to use up all those backorders they purchased.

All those poor bastards that that sat their hitting refresh for hours wondering where the domain went never had a clue. I remember when Rick Schwartz had a domain win renewed, and he made a big deal, and all of the sudden the policy changed.

 

[equity78]

It is in GoDaddy's policy that they'll repossess domain names in cases like this. Not sure what would have happened if I transferred them out. Most of my domains are at GoDaddy and I've been happy with their service in the past. I didn't see a need to.

The way I see it, I bought the domains from Omer. Regardless if he's innocent or was scammed too, isn't he ultimately responsible? Not that I don't feel sorry for him, if he was scammed (though less after he lied claiming GoDaddy said there was a problem with my account). Undeveloped has a Buyer Protection Policy. He should go after them and after the person that sold them to him. If any of you were in my position and the Seller said I didn't do anything wrong so I'm not going to give you your money back, would you just accept that? Would you deal with someone that did that to someone else?

Here is the question? Is he responsible, he did not repossess your names and he did not do business with GoDaddy. and I hate seeing you get screwed, don't get me wrong but I am not 100% sure. Seems like GoDaddy got conned and they took from you. Now maybe by the laws of stolen property he is responsible, but are you guys from the same country and the same governing laws? I don't know.

@jberryhill Maybe you could give a legal take on this.

 

[equity78]

I don’t know huge domains current activity but back in 2015/2016 they were in basically every auction, or last 5 minute bid. I assume they were gaming the system with the backorder loophole also, probably the reason godaddy took so long to close the loophole once exposed to the public to give them time to use up all those backorders they purchased.

All those poor bastards that that sat their hitting refresh for hours wondering where the domain went never had a clue. I remember when Rick Schwartz had a domain win renewed, and he made a big deal, and all of the sudden the policy changed.

Correct they changed it for GoDaddy names not some of their partners. But I think what you are saying is that Rick came out like that and they changed that one policy, so maybe some more heat they will change this one. But I think they said Rick had no effect on their decision about renewing and they seem to be more dug in on they will not have bidder id's, probably until someone sues or files a class action if they can find ways they were harmed, that's a real longshot IMO but who knows?