Tdnam.com Fraud

brdennis · Oct 11, 2006

I've attached a small rar to illustrate the flaw in tdnams "expired" domain auctions. I had been using network solutions for my whois on .coms and other domains to see there expiration date after I had checked the expired domain auctions. Little did I know that network solutions is a piece of shit, and does not update timely. That's besides the point though.

I recently discovered that Tdnam.com does NOT mention in the FAQ that all domains in the expired name auction can and will be renewed while they are still on the auction. I was looking at edropshipper.com last nite. Which has been #1 for active bids for some time (weeks). So I ran a whois on it, only to find out that it had been renewed. Thinking this was an error, I called the registrar (Godaddy) and confirmed this. It indeed was not an error.
Through my research I've discovered that Tdnam.com does not update the "expired" domains in the auction. It in fact does not at all check on the status of an domain once its been placed in the auction.

One of the top domains in the expired name auction right now is BIDFORBABYS.com. It has been renewed already. Think this might just be because It's been on the domain auction for a long time ? Think again. Last nite and just today as of this writing I ran a whois on a just placed domain in the auction, and the first domain I whoised on page 1,365 SMARTITDESIGNER.com has already been renewed.

According to the stunned and stuttering Godaddy.com Customer service rep. They do "remove" domains 2-3 days after they've been renewed. Which is a complete lie. This rep and also one of the other reps I had spoken too were completely speechless and fumbled for words. Not even Godaddys.com Representatives know about this flaw. So how did they expect us too ?

I have now been screwed out of an business I was planning to start up based upon the faulty information I was given by both tdnam.com and network solutions.

I have not yet had time to do the statistics, but just from what I've done I'd say over 60% at least of the domains on that auction have been renewed. Its a complete sham.

Sincerely yours,

Brad

jeter4982 · Oct 11, 2006

Well they do say that there is no guarentee in getting the expired domain as they can be renewed as you mentioned. I don't know if I would call it fraud as you do, but perhaps a little improvement on their side of things would be good to prevent these kinds of incidents from occuring.

Tom

godinu · Oct 11, 2006

That's a trip. I would say when you see a name worth bidding on, do a whois check first. I have picked up a few names through TDNam, but these were not names that had much attention or high worth.

Another quirk I've noticed on TDNam is that some of the listings in the "going, going, gone" section (and maybe the expired names section, too) seem to loop. For instance, a name that is supposedly dropping in 10 minutes might be up there again tomorrow. This has happened enough times for me to go "hmmm." I still enjoy checking it out, though, and have gotten a couple decent buys. Too bad you have to wait 2 weeks to get most names you win there.

spaggle · Oct 11, 2006

Thanks for the warning. TDName is getting lowered to the worst of the worst!

brdennis · Oct 11, 2006

jeter4982 said:
Well they do say that there is no guarentee in getting the expired domain as they can be renewed as you mentioned. I don't know if I would call it fraud as you do, but perhaps a little improvement on their side of things would be good to prevent these kinds of incidents from occuring.

Tom

No offense, but a little improvement is a very big understatement. They need a complete overhaul of the expired name auctions. It's false advertisement. I've spent countless hours looking at the expired name auction market only to find that nearly 100% of the domains I was looking at was not even possible to get. That is like going to a car auction and spending all day there looking at cars, to only find that "Oh gee, sorry this car and that car and this one over here is already taken" I'm sure the people actively bidding on tdnam.com on the already RENEWED domains aren't aware of the major incompetence of tdnam.com

Tdnams.com parent company (Godaddy.com) is the Registar of these domains, and you are telling me that it is just an "incident" ? I paid for tdnam.coms service. Not even tdnam.com's representatives know about this problem. It is quite a big deal. Nearly every domain on there is renewed. The entire expired domain auction is defunct. As I'm writing this response, I just checked the first domain that I saw on the most active auctions. And what do you know ? It's renewed! Tdnam.com is completely scamming.

Regards,

Brad

Mark · Oct 11, 2006

Moved to a "Discussion" section from the expired section

And as jeter4982 stated above , They do not hide the fact that there is a chance the domain will be renewed. Fraud is a bit strong to use in this case IMO as well ... They give no guarantees you will receive a domain you bid on in the expired section.

flussie · Oct 12, 2006

You've got to make a distinction between the expired name auctions and the public auction. For all expired name auctions, a renewal fee is required. In fact, you have to click a checkbox next to the agreement about the renewal fee to confirm your bid.

The "most active auctions" and "ending soon auctions" both contain expired domain and public auctions combined. If you click on a domain, look next to "Sale type" to make sure what kind of auction you're bidding on.

Wether the expired domain is already renewed or not doesn't matter. If nobody buys the domain, it will be deleted, otherwise godaddy will recover renewal fees as indicated in the agreement.

VURG · Oct 12, 2006

Having bought over 40 names through TDNAM and sold over 90 names through TDNAM, I can say that I'm very happy with their service. Yes they sometimes can do things which upset some people but who doesn't. When buying names on the aftermarket, most of the time you get the names when you win the auction. If the domain gets renewed during the auction, TDNAM will fix it up before you get asked to pay.

I wouldn't compare domains on the aftermarket with cars on auction. These are names that are being dropped. Most of them aren't worth renewing and have little value. Most cars in auctions do have value. The domains that you competing for on the aftermarket are very often the ones that have value and shouldn't have been dropped in the first place. If the owner regrets dropping it, repurchases the name and GoDaddy is slow in removing it from auction then it's not a case of fraud.

.X. · Oct 12, 2006

I don't see them hiding anything....The disclaimer tells it all

cache · Oct 12, 2006

I agree that this may be a little bit miss leading, but a buyer should read the fine print.

fonzie_007 · Oct 12, 2006

VURG, I'm a bit surprised to see you've been happy with buying/selling on TDNAM. I've bought and sold on their, but it is by far the WORST format out of all major domain marketplaces.

I generally will not accept any offer on TDNAM unless it is way above market value--because it takes so long to get your money. Likewise, I will generally only bid under market value for domain names because it takes so long to get them (e.g. my capital is tied up with no domain to show for it).

-OutlawBiker- · Oct 12, 2006

GoDaddy auctions names that the current owners can still renew and pull from the auction at any time. If you understand that then there is no problem. They do have a problem with the backorders though. I think everyone knows a backorder on a domain is placed as an initial $10 bid on TDNAM, and if anyone else bids, the backorder is then worthless. The problem comes when GoDaddy/Wildwest will continue to accept payment by others on these worthless backorders even though they have NO chance on the names having received a bid in the auction. They need to prevent the system from backordering the name for maybe 3 months again or something.

Jasdon · Oct 12, 2006

-X- said:
I don't see them hiding anything....The disclaimer tells it all

Precisely - where is the fraud? Who's money are they stealing? What would they have to gain by purposely auctioning names that have been renewed?

Answers to the above: None - No-ones - Nothing

diederik · Oct 12, 2006

Yep, it's cleary stated that people can still renew and that you have to wait 2 weeks. I've made a decent profit on a couple of names on tdnam so far, so no complaints here

VURG · Oct 12, 2006

fonzie_007 said:
VURG, I'm a bit surprised to see you've been happy with buying/selling on TDNAM. I've bought and sold on their, but it is by far the WORST format out of all major domain marketplaces.

Maybe it's because I haven't tried in a large variety of domain marketplaces or maybe it's because TDNAM complements my domain pricing and selling style. (I always sell BUY_NOW and for an average of around $40/domain for numes that I just registered) I just know that I am happy with my profitability with my selling domains on TDNAM. I've sold around 20% of the names that I've listed in the past 15 months.

I've also had some lucky wins on the aftermarket such as some CCC.COM domains for under $25 each.

MadAboutDomains · Oct 13, 2006

When you say 'It has already be renewed when I checked the WHOIS', all of the domains that go to the auction get renewed for quite a few months, which makes it hard to tell if it has actually been renewed, or whether TDNAM(godaddy) have just renewed it a few months in advance.

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