Afternic suspends my account due to violation

[RapidNames.com]

Hello Np'ers,

I listed Crypto/Gamers.com for $1,600 BIN and it was sold at afternic.com

I transferred the domain to LCN.com a day ago it sold and it has 60 days lockin period.

I informed buyer to create an account at lcn.com,so i can push immediately but buyer keeps initiating transfer at name.com, so i contacted afternic agent and informed about the ICANN 60 days lock period.

I clearly mentioned that i can't wait 60 days to complete the deal because domain trend is up and down but i can wait upto 15 days to create an account and get a push to lcn.com. I also emailed the same to buyer.

After 25 days i got offer of $2,500 from whois email and i sold to another buyer.

Afternic suspends my account due to violation of afternics tos

JYI: I sold crypto/game.com for $85k at afternic.

I have received many offers @ afternic, possibly they will loose my sales commission

There is no loss to me because if buyer needs the domain, he will come through my landing page / whois / sedo etc.,

What do you think about it?

 

[Shailendra Mishra]

Just want to hear the feedback from the community that i grown

Your English may turn more people against you than your decisions. :P

 

[Kate]

Any person who sells domains on a regular basis knows that some sellers will not accept a push. Thus sales can take longer than necessary to complete. This is frustrating but you have to accept it.
Putting a BIN on a domain also means you can't counter-offer or back out. It was your decision.

What I think ? It's good that Afternic are enforcing their rules, even against power sellers.
You cost them their commission and possibly their reputation as they now have a frustrated customer, who might not use Afternic again in the future because of you, especially if it's their first experience.

What you did was wrong, but you don't even seem to realize.
If anything, you further tarnished your reputation here, don't be surprised if members here are reluctant to do business with you from now on.

 

[blockchain]

Why afternic not taking control of domain through their lcn account and release fund to seller,

while using sedo multiple transaction locking period was more than 30-40 days then sedo taken control of the domain and released the fund to me.

Here's my current experience: Afternic is taking control of domain through their name.com account and do not release fund to seller (60 day lock transfer).

 

[golan]

If anything, you further tarnished your reputation here, don't be surprised if members here are reluctant to do business with you from now on.

I don't fully agree. He came here and told us this story, openly. Sure he understood this could hit his rep. He could easily hide this story and never tell to us, and we would never know, so his rep would stay intact. He made a wrong/bad thing but he didn't hide it and he spoke about it honestly. So i respect that. Yes it sounded a bit cynical, like "I'm the one who hit $85K recently, now i f**d Afternic and their stupid TOS, look at me bros and tell what you think", but anyway.

 

[frank-germany]

What I think ? It's good that Afternic are enforcing their rules, even against power sellers..

agreed

 

[domeen]

You can let registrar remove the 60 days lock. At least all the better ones allow it.
Losing afternic account is big thing. Where will you find now all the idiots who buy your crypto domains?

 

[RapidNames.com]

I don't feel anything wrong with my move...

I agreed to push the domain for buyers bin price. It shows that i didnt need more money (greedy)....

I am not comfortable with the funds lock in for longer period.

I told immediately to ta agent about my decision. He should create an account.

Afternic should improve their system like sedo....

Who all are faced the same issue with Afternic, they knew what I mean....

Think as a seller perceptive...

 

[Crysis]

I don't feel anything wrong with my move...

What you did was wrong, but you don't even seem to realize.

This statement best describes your current situation!

 

[Joshua16]

@Joe Styler
Please review this case. Does he deseve getting his account actived again?

 

[Furquan]

@Joe Styler
Please review this case. Does he deseve getting his account actived again?

I don't think so, because he clearly violate there T&C.

 

[Kate]

I am not comfortable with the funds lock in for longer period.

I told immediately to ta agent about my decision. He should create an account.

But the buyer was not aware beforehand that such conditions would apply to the purchase, conditions that you cannot enforce anyway. Afternic do not offer à la carte sales, it's already hard enough to do it right with inexperienced buyers.
I thought the customer was king ?

I know it's frustrating, but your margins should be high enough to afford some courtesy. Patience is required in this business.

Afternic should improve their system like sedo....

Sedo does not do things differently. They usually request a push of the domain to their account at the same registrar, then they pay you and they handle the rest of the transaction with the buyer. But if the buyer wants a direct transfer to their usual registrar then they will comply.
Also for ccTLDs that cannot be pushed.

Keep in mind that end users are not familiar with domain transfers like we are, it's one reason why they use the marketplace. They want to have the domain straight to their registrar, so they don't have to do it on their own two months later. Assisting with domain transfer is where the marketplace brings added value to the buyers.

 

[jideofor]

That's too harsh . You have taken it so personal .every domainer is greedy when it comes to sales. We only try to control it. Have lost a sale this morning due to a mere $100 difference but I don't bloody care

What the OP did is wrong bro. Very wrong. Stand by the truth. If you or the OP was the buyer and you were treated like this, how would you feel?

 

[Haykay2005]

What the OP did is wrong bro. Very wrong. Stand by the truth. If you or the OP was the buyer and you were treated like this, how would you feel?

I never said the op is right. I won't support TOS violation but using all sorts of negative words is what am correcting. Just go back and read how the guy reacted. As if they both had an unsettled issues. That na Beef bro. It can be easily spotted

 

[Sathyam]

First of all, thanks for coming out on this and opening up a discussion in the forum. You know that your reputation is at stake and that nobody here is going to help you get back into afternic.
It is mistake of prerogarative on both sides, Afternic based on their TOS and you being a seller on demand. You attempted to explain the situation to Afternic for a leeway on your case which they didnot acknowledge.

I would have suggested you to wait on this sale, being a small one considering you had a huge one with Afternic few weeks back. As a newbie in the block, I understand this is business and this is Sparta and no remorse what so ever.

Thanks again for opening the discussion and keeping us aware of how the nerves could conquer the situation and its repercussions.

Note: For all English experts please takeoff your anglo-egoistic glasses before reading this..

 

[Joe Styler]

Here's the way I understand it. So please correct me if I am wrong. You listed and sold the domain on Afternic when you could not move it (due to a lock). The domain sold. You said you wanted the transaction to complete faster. It didnt complete in the time you dictated - 15 days. Everything was still moving along i.e. deal in place until day 25 when you get a higher offer and sell. I'm guessing here but I'm guessing that if there was no higher offer on day 25 you would have completed the deal on day 60 because if you were really upset about it you would have cancelled the sale on day 15 and I would have had a bit more sympathy for you.

The other thing you point out though seemingly only in your favor is that crypto domains are volatile in pricing based on the market they can swing up or down in price. So you are not willing to take the risk. I would argue that you agreed to it by listing a domain you cannot move for 60 days. Also the other side of the coin is the buyer accepted that same risk and paid money up front for a domain they cannot receive for 60 days. If the value of crypto domains dropped in the 60 days instead of going up that buyer is on the wrong side of the deal through nothing they did and they cannot sell the asset until they have possession of it while watching the prices drop. They accepted that risk as well as you, except by your actions they only accepted the downside, ie the name went up in price you sold it they were never able to realize the profit as you sold it again.

Regardless here are the facts:
You are not supposed to list a domain name you cannot move to the buyer - several others have pointed this out already above. You had a lock on the domain so you couldn't move it. That is strike one.
We contacted the buyer explained things to him asked him to accept the domain at the other registrar he said no but I will wait the 60 days to get it where I paid for it. (this is our normal m.o. in these circumstances)
Other option is the buyer bought at one of our partners - not GoDaddy or Afternic and we do not make that offer to accept the domain at lcn.com but we do offer the 60 days to accept the domain where they paid. Why? Because we are part of a larger network. Registrar X where the buyer buys the domain is not gonna be happy if the domain they sell on their website winds up at Registrar Y, they made the sale they want the domain. We are not interested in moving domains away from other partners who make the sales. This and the 60 day wait for a buyer are among the several reasons we have for saying in the terms you need to be able to move a domain you sell.
So now we have a buyer who agreed one way or another to wait 60 days for the domain they paid for. They are not usually happy about this. We are now in a position to explain that to them and try and save your sale. We did apparently.
25 days later you cancel the sale to sell it to someone else. This means we need to go back to that buyer and say, Sorry after a month of waiting you cannot have the domain the guy sold it to someone else for more money you can have your money back that we've been holding for a month and we hope that the exchange rate on the funds didn't change in that time etc. That is never a good conversation for either the support agents making that phone call or the buyer getting that call.
If you bought that domain you would not want that call. It's been a month it is very possible that buyer was developing a website or looking for other buyers etc that whole time. Even if they weren't this isn't a good situation.
One of the most important things for us is to have a viable marketplace where if you sell a domain it sells and it you buy a domain you get it, otherwise we lose trust and losing trust is not worth a loss of commission to us. So I would say with the present facts it is extremely unlikely you will be able to continue to sell domains on our platform.

 

[RapidNames.com]

Thanks for the reply and your time.

I agreed that i cancel the sale and violate Afternic tos but I informed my position from day 1 to ta agent.

I requested him to cancel the deal if buyer didn't want to accept push from day 1. I am clear in my response from day 1 and it doesn't mean i need more money for it ...

I got buyer email too and contacted him about the push but he didn't replied.

I am done with this thread but feel free discuss whatever your thoughts.

Cheers

 

[Anjani]

Thanks for the reply and your time.

I agreed that i cancel the sale and violate Afternic tos but I informed my position from day 1 to ta agent.

I requested him to cancel the deal if buyer didn't want to accept push from day 1. I am clear in my response from day 1 and it doesn't mean i need more money for it ...

I got buyer email too and contacted him about the push but he didn't replied.

I am done with this thread but feel free discuss whatever your thoughts.

Cheers

I was a bit surprised when you started this thread after a 85K Sale on Afternic.

Classic case of Hubris

 

[wwwweb]

Thanks for the reply and your time.

I agreed that i cancel the sale and violate Afternic tos but I informed my position from day 1 to ta agent.

I requested him to cancel the deal if buyer didn't want to accept push from day 1. I am clear in my response from day 1 and it doesn't mean i need more money for it ...

I got buyer email too and contacted him about the push but he didn't replied.

I am done with this thread but feel free discuss whatever your thoughts.

Cheers

Agree in your thoughts, but a contract is not one sided, just because you state your case, you need all parties to sign off before proceeding in another direction. Your buyer was probably watching the domain on whois, and panicked after seeing it move, as maybe sold. Many times I get offers right after I renew a domain. Coming off your last big sale, I would have thought you would have upped that BIN a bit, as you had a new comp against it. Live, and learn, move onto the next deal, no part dwelling now.

 

[tonyk2000]

We contacted the buyer explained things to him asked him to accept the domain at the other registrar he said no but I will wait the 60 days to get it where I paid for it. (this is our normal m.o. in these circumstances)

Not all registrants/sellers are aware that recently transferred com/net domains still can be transferred away to another registrar, in any moment, if the current registrar so agrees. I am unsure whether all afternic transfer agents are aware of this, but it is technical fact. Afternic acted correctly in this case, no doubts, however it would be great if in similar cases (in future) afternic transfer agents reminded the seller of recently transferred domain about this potential option (contacting current registrar and asking them to manually remove the lock + generate authcode), and asked the buyer to wait if and only if the seller explicitly confirmed that the current registrar refused to remove 60 days after-transfer lock.
?
Cc: @Joe Styler

 

[Joe Styler]

You are right that some places do not enforce a 60 day lock on a transferred domain. This gets into some technicalities that would make for another whole thread.
For this specific use case most times we do not ask a registrar to remove the lock very very RARELY we do. The domain owner can ask the registrar to remove the lock and see what they say.