Discuss your Epik Experience!

Future Sensors said:

Despite this, the NamePros Award is still on your homepage, even though you had said earlier in an angry mood that you would remove it at the start of this year. So apparently you are not that unhappy with NamePros. You even promote them.

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We earned that accolade and have improved further since then. I remain hopeful that the biased moderation will go away though and that NamePros will once again be worthy. We did acquire a competing forum just in case and this is being independently run by some lovely people who have no editorial bias.

Rob Monster said:

We earned that accolade and have improved further since then. I remain hopeful that the biased moderation will go away though and that NamePros will once again be worthy. We did acquire a competing forum just in case and this is being independently run by some lovely people who have no editorial bias.

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Perfect. I can't wait for your new forum to award Epik.

Could you tell us what did you do about security? You know, hackers and stuff.

Welcome back. And I hope you reverse "hiding buyer info" (with GDPR as excuse),
because it is not reasonable or smart or acceptable. It just means less sales
(fewer and lower amounts),
and may look suspicious as well. To make 5-6 figure sales from time to time,
we need to know who the buyer is, and whether there is a serious buyer,
and we don't want to respond to unserious people. Also we don't want people
to test us, make fun of us , waste our time. We don't want someone else to
monitor all that action and make decisions on our behalf, manipulate things.
People without an account send a message , give their info so we can contact them,..
and this has nothing to do with GDPR. If people are "serious about protecting their privacy"
they can just give less info to us. They give those contact info to us, not to you.
You keep it for yourself and hide from us. Not a good thing obviously.

Rob Monster said:

This is paid out now.

The issues here:

1. New buyer

2. Buyer paid with credit card

3. Seller cashed out as crypto.

4. Initial ID verification failed.

5. Seller with small account

6. No indication from account notes that this account is associated with an established NamePros user.

The good news is that you got a lot more ETH.

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Hi Rob thanks for intervening. Happy that the amount got paid out eventually (at a better ETH value) but I missed out on an NFT mint that went 4x, till now.. but these things happen. The reason I was frustrated is because this sale was communicated by an Epik broker (who ghosted as soon as I told him there's an issue accessing my domains, which is another issue I had, so I had to negotiate with the buyer, thankfully I had their email address).

Also, I had already sent my IDs to 'validate' the account when I requested my domains to be moved to my accessible Epik account. The reason it got rejected while 'verifying' is because I changed my residential address. I also had previous sales thru nameliquidate which is part of Epik (maybe using my obsolete account tho, but both my accounts are linked, always got cc'd in communications, so it only should've been a 5 mins back office team task to get this right. Instead I had to do a 10 days back and forth with support, answering questions which I had already answered multiple times. My account was marked as Namepros member but I guess things got purged when the account migration happened. Anyway, overall dissatisfied with the experience to be honest, I obviously waited 10 days to put this in public because I really like Epik, but really appreciate your intervention. I know you work hard to get Epik right so respect for that.

Issue sorted

(Epik is updating things (related to marketplace) frequently nowadays, and screwing things up from time to time, and this may be normal, but there should be no irreversible damage. For example if our domains are all priced at 10, and best ones sold, then this would be unacceptable.)

A new bug: Landing pages have irreversible cache. So you can't change the price on landing page. Only when the buyer clicks "buy" then, he will see the new/correct price. Namesilo had the same problem, it would take time (10 minutes or 30 minutes, can't remember..) to see the new landing page. In case of Epik,..this is a new problem, and it is not clear if landing pages will ever update and show current marketplace/parking status of domains. You can't fix this problem, by removing the domain, changing the price more than once,.. and you can see several prices in different places. For example uppercase and lowercase may have different prices. Landing page price, and actual price can be different, and there may be a 3rd price as well. .. Ok they can fix this, but can we make sure, things won't get even worse... Caches may help with speed. We used them as well, and I was not happy about it.
Caches should be erased after each update. If there is no change, ok, show the old cache for a while, no problem.

edit: if you change the offer type, then landing page may change. But for each type, there is one cache, looks like. So if you stay in BIN sale only, you can't change the price. Add rental or financing, then price may change.
and there are bugs there as well, giving wrong info etc.

@Rob Monster I am looking at a few names listed in your marketplace that I might be interested in purchasing in installments. But they all seem to have recently been transferred from Network Solutions, which we all know has not exactly had the highest standard of security.

With hidden whois, it is quite hard to do due diligence these days. Do you look into sellers before they are allowed to list names for sale in installments? I guess a person who is not the legitimate owner would only want to list with a BIN for a quick sale and not offer payment in installments?

Embrand said:

@Rob Monster I am looking at a few names listed in your marketplace that I might be interested in purchasing in installments. But they all seem to have recently been transferred from Network Solutions, which we all know has not exactly had the highest standard of security.

With hidden whois, it is quite hard to do due diligence these days. Do you look into sellers before they are allowed to list names for sale in installments? I guess a person who is not the legitimate owner would only want to list with a BIN for a quick sale and not offer payment in installments?

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There was a time when NetSol had a domain theft problem. I believe they plugged that hole in the meantime.

The typical pattern of a domain thief is to (1) sell for a low price and (2) cash out immediately in crypto. It would be unlikely that a domain thief would go for a lease.

If you are concerned about provenance for a domain, feel free to contact me privately and will assist in reviewing the chain of title.

Also, check out DNProtect.com for protecting against the scenario of a domain being impaired. This project is led by @bhartzer.

Rob Monster said:

There was a time when NetSol had a domain theft problem. I believe they plugged that hole in the meantime.

The typical pattern of a domain thief is to (1) sell for a low price and (2) cash out immediately in crypto. It would be unlikely that a domain thief would go for a lease.

If you are concerned about provenance for a domain, feel free to contact me privately and will assist in reviewing the chain of title.

Also, check out DNProtect.com for protecting against the scenario of a domain being impaired. This project is led by @bhartzer.

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Thanks. Yes, I totally agree that a thief would opt for a low price and probably payout in crypto - not payment in installments.

It does look like NetSol is finally improving security - even offering 2FA - so that is a good thing for all of us.

By the way, I feel payment plans are a good opportunity for both sellers and buyers in these circumstances.

I noticed recently that Epik has masked the buyer's IP and email from the landing page which is quite disappointing. I purposely moved a large of my domains to Epik landers due to this benefit but I guess I'll have to find other alternatives.

Any reason for the change @Rob Monster @ncabete

There's a time when Rob has been very fond of the landing page on how Epik shows complete transparency to seller and buyer. Sadly this has come to an end.

domainchampion said:

I noticed recently that Epik has masked the buyer's IP and email from the landing page which is quite disappointing. I purposely moved a large of my domains to Epik landers due to this benefit but I guess I'll have to find other alternatives.

Any reason for the change @Rob Monster @ncabete

There's a time when Rob has been very fond of the landing page on how Epik shows complete transparency to seller and buyer. Sadly this has come to an end.

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Let's see:

1. Registrant owns hundreds of domains, none of which are registered at Epik.

2. Registrant has domains powered by Epik landers for free and receives offers.

3. Registrant has never cleared a domain sale via Epik marketplace.

I do realize that some folks think we are running a charity at Epik, and in many ways we are charitable. At the same time, the modest commissions on marketplace and escrow from domain sales is what funds operations.

The freeloaders in the industry are what break the system for everyone else. The folks that were and are self-governing are able to see the full CRM as before.

It is truly a pity because I very much agree that showing full contact details equips sellers with a better ability to manage pricing strategy as well as follow up via email, phone and SMS.

Rob Monster said:

Let's see:

1. Registrant owns hundreds of domains, none of which are registered at Epik.

2. Registrant has domains powered by Epik landers for free and receives offers.

3. Registrant has never cleared a domain sale via Epik marketplace.

I do realize that some folks think we are running a charity at Epik, and in many ways we are charitable. At the same time, the modest commissions on marketplace and escrow from domain sales is what funds operations.

The freeloaders in the industry are what break the system for everyone else. The folks that were and are self-governing are able to see the full CRM as before.

It is truly a pity because I very much agree that showing full contact details equips sellers with a better ability to manage pricing strategy as well as follow up via email, phone and SMS.

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Your No.1 info is absolutely WRONG! I do have a few domains registered at Epik.

Secondly, this is extremely shocking!

How can you disclose info about your own customer on an external site without their own consent?!
You private msg me asking for my Epik Username which I resist and ask you back what's it for but you then replied you have found it yourself. You proceed without my consent and I did warn you to keep it private but yet you choose to rant it here?!!! Where is your professionalism then.

As much as I value your fast action as CEO but your are doing it in a wrong way.
This thread is suppose to discuss about Epik experience and you should just reply to the question. Fullstop.

domainchampion said:

Your No.1 info is absolutely WRONG! I do have a few domains registered at Epik.

Secondly, this is extremely shocking!

How can you disclose info about your own customer on an external site without their own consent?!
You private msg me asking for my Epik Username which I resist and ask you back what's it for but you then replied you have found it yourself. You proceed without my consent and I did warn you to keep it private but yet you choose to rant it here?!!! Where is your professionalism then.

As much as I value your fast action as CEO but your are doing it in a wrong way.
This thread is suppose to discuss about Epik experience and you should just reply to the question. Fullstop.

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Actually, you did not want to give your account info, though I figured it out quite easily.

If you had told me your account info and I had determined that you were actually an Epik stakeholder, I would have upgraded your account.

Instead, you became a case study for why some accounts are not seeing lead details.

Nevertheless, as a gesture of good faith, and because you have purchased domains on Epik in the past, the account details are enabled on your account now so you can see the details from your offers.

Most of my recent sales happened at epik. Most of my domains are at epik. I didn't list my new domains elsewhere for a long time, because Epik would be enough. I prefer to sell at Epik whenever possible (if domain is at epik). Still I'm punished "because there are bad people" (or apple). This is like punishing all men because they can theoretically r.pe w.men.

You need to fine tune your system then. Because it is harmful to sellers and Epik, unless Epik is trying arbitrage in various ways to get "much higher commission". How to fine tune: for example hide contact info if domain is external, show it if domain is at Epik. Also you can require that there is at least one 4 figure sale completed at Epik, by that user. This way people have to "work hard" to earn a better status.
Also you are advertising Epik by showing a logo, and you can also provide link back to Epik (backlink). How do Sedo, Afternic, Dan get so many backlinks: via parking.

nevermind...

Rob Monster said:

.. the account details are enabled on your account now so you can see the details from your offers...

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I expect the same. Although I didn't buy domains at Epik marketplace (can do later maybe), I handregged thousands, sold some, and parked lots of them, praised epik to some endusers, also found some of your mistakes, so you could improve your site. I don't need special treatment, but most people don't care, and not even use Epik as registrar or marketplace or parking site, so they don't complain about this awkward situation, and not deserve any "upgrade". I don't sell elsewhere just because of lower commission (can do for better price, or to make the sale possible). Solution is simple.. mentioned above. Anyone like me must see buyer info for sure. I'm about to go elsewhere otherwise.

BTW: Masterbucks tracking is very difficult. One needs to check the whole history to know if anything is wrong. "Current balance" is not shown after each purchase/deposit. In the past it was just like instore
(as I remember). Now balance after an action is hidden: Why. What is the benefit.
For example as I remember my balance was 800 yesterday (as I remember), today it is 200+,
500+ was spent in one day (or in two days?). I see I registered less than 20 domains today, which must be about 150 USD...Here I'm not complaining about anything about this detail. But I can't easily make sure that everything is ok either.

(Yes, something can be wrong. At one of my favorite registrars a domain was paid for 4 times, and still not registered, and I had to work hard for refund (meaning, if I didn't complain about it, it would be just forgotten). Why not show balance after each purchase and deposit.)

Also instore balance is shown in two places, and they don't match after a deposit.

I mention such "mistakes" all the time, they are usually not taken into account.

Rob Monster said:

We earned that accolade and have improved further since then. I remain hopeful that the biased moderation will go away though and that NamePros will once again be worthy. We did acquire a competing forum just in case and this is being independently run by some lovely people who have no editorial bias.

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Well, I think everyone knows that Rob bought his "accolade" but he did earn, and well deservedly, the WORST REGISRTRAR OF 2021. Here is an article that explains all of Epik's hard work that went into earning the WORST REGISTRAR OF 2021. https://providencepost.com/a-monster-of-epik-proportions/

Rob Monster said:

Epik was not sold. We raised capital last year. I am still far and away the largest shareholder of a single class of common equity.

Lately I have also been keeping an eye on a number of emerging projects that are being incubated inside of Epik. Over the last 4 years, we completed a dozen acquisitions -- mostly not announced.

The support team is larger than ever, and is operating 24/7 across web, phone and livechat. Our customer service level is still as a high as ever according to all of our metrics.

Some of the most experienced support people like Jessica, Sarah, Nelson and Jaime are increasingly doing level 2 support. The level 1 team is the one that has grown -- they are doing routine frontline support.

I rarely post on NamePros because the moderators here have not been fair or balanced on multiple occasions to the point of showing troubling allegiances. That said, I do check DMs.

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This just a dishonest statement. Rob Monster constantly says things that are just not true and threatens people who speak truth to his false statements and instead of refuting those accurate statements he threatens and tries to deplatform and if the mods actually practice free speech in a professional atmosphere, and don't deplatform based on his demands, he cries out in pain.

Rob Monster, right here and now let's have a discussion on this article. https://providencepost.com/a-monster-of-epik-proportions/ Please refute anything that is not accurate or if you are so concerned that the mods of namepros will not treat you fairly, WHICH THEY IN FACT DO, let's have a public live stream with a moderator. I hereby challenge you Rob to a public debate. Here's your chance to set the record straight and correct all the lies.

At @Rob Monster what is going with withdrawals through masterbucks. I submitted a withdrawal request 2days ago through crypto and I am yet to receive payment. Your CC reps disconnect me from the live chat anytime I want to ask questions. What is going on Rob? This is unbecoming of Epik!!!

Heyzee said:

At @Rob Monster what is going with withdrawals through masterbucks. I submitted a withdrawal request 2days ago through crypto and I am yet to receive payment. Your CC reps disconnect me from the live chat anytime I want to ask questions. What is going on Rob? This is unbecoming of Epik!!!

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This has been resolved. Thanks @Rob Monster

Should I still be concerned about my data being leaked 11 months ago? @Derek Peterson
Seems the only ones affected were the ones that had something to hide.
Mission accomplished.
Your friends will be out of prison before a mod moderates a live stream between the two of you. One guy got 84 months in crowbar hotel last news I heard
Sorry i bumped this Rob, so dead around here getting desperate

Someone should hack Epik and publish "buyer info" for each inquiry.
What is the point of asking buyer info, if domain owner won't see it.
And they are not even buyers yet and most of the time.

Registrar part was good/great (except the leak), until today.
Today it is extremely slow.

topdom said:

Someone should hack Epik and publish "buyer info" for each inquiry.
What is the point of asking buyer info, if domain owner won't see it.
And they are not even buyers yet and most of the time.

Registrar part was good/great (except the leak), until today.
Today it is extremely slow.

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So epik is requiring potential buyers to submit their personal details?

MasterOfMyDomains said:

Should I still be concerned about my data being leaked 11 months ago? @Derek Peterson
Seems the only ones affected were the ones that had something to hide.
Mission accomplished.
Your friends will be out of prison before a mod moderates a live stream between the two of you. One guy got 84 months in crowbar hotel last news I heard
Sorry i bumped this Rob, so dead around here getting desperate

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Don't follow what you are trying to say. Are you asking me if you should worry about your personal info with Epik, umm, yes, of course. Rob has proven to be dishonest and care about user security or privacy in one of the most dramatic ways I have ever seen.

Yes, Rob has hurt a lot of people with his lies but we have done all we can to warn others and will continue to do so until he is gone.