An interesting story for a domain sold for $999. What is the lesson from this?

[HiFiNames.com]

Here is an interesting story for a domain i sold recently for $999.

I had a .org domain and expired an year ago. (It was a crappy registrar and i forgot to renew. they never send me any expiry notice too. Due to very low price for .org, i registered only that domain with them. Normally all my domains are with GD).

I was marketing it without knowing it was expired. I got a buyer for $999 (there were 3 buyers and the top was 999$). After my sale of $999:sold i got offer for $1500 from one of the another buyer. As it is not ethical, i explained its sold for $999. ( I sold the .com version of this domain for $1500 2 years ago. Now surprised to see .org at same price now. All are end users.)

Then comes the issue. The domain is not in my account. !!! It was in namejet prerelease closing due on 13 oct 2011 8pm et. (the whois expiry shows enom & expiry sep 2012!) I was the only bidder. but they didn't award me the domain. instead they just removed the domain from the pre-release date. I contacted them. They said its their rules blah blah... I'm still not understanding why they mention prerelease date as 13 oct 2011. To shorten the story, It was no use with namejet.

But the main part happen.

Buyer has sent me the payment of $999 by paypal & Paypal automatically withdrawn money to my bank account same day as per RBI regulations!

The domain is not in my account:red:. What to do?

I contacted

1. old registrar
2. enom (enom replied domain with namecheap !)
3. NameCheap
4. Namejet

In the meantime I was adding more funds (to cover paypal fees, exchange loss ) and ready to refund buyer.

After my chasing finally old registrar replied:notme: - domain is not with them.

Namecheap said, they can't guarantee. But if i fund my namecheap account with $209.69 they will give a try!! I made that in instant & namecheap really did a quick work and finally i got the domain in my namecheap account.

My goodness. What a big tension & relief.

Now i have asked buyer for his namecheap account and will push the domain.

To me few things got in my mind.

1) Should never use many registrars for few dollars.
2) Must check expiry b4 marketing
3) Never use namejet

What do you peers think on this story?

After pushing the domain to him, i'll reveal the domain name.:wave:

 

[vincenzo]

Interesting story, and well done on recouping the deal.

I am most concerned though with you comment that registrar didn't send you an expiry email notification.

I've seen many others say the same, even premium TV domain owners, so maybe it's time to get on top of this and demand some effort to improve communication of expiries, i.e. an SMS option maybe?

- Vincent

 

[HiFiNames.com]

To make the story more interesting, Here is the below info!

That domain was in my NP auction a long ago. Winning bid was $7 or $8.

The highest bidder didn't want to take it for $8. !
The next highest bidder also don't want it for $7. !!

It was now sold for $999. (The sad part is i paid $209 for my mistake - not renewing promptly)

UPDATE:
The buyer still need a couple of days to create the namecheap account and give details for the push.

Dear peers, any thoughts on the story?

 

[cache]

1. you probably noticed that most successful domainers don't sell names at NP.
2. I am still confused, do you have the domain in your account now?

 

[DU]

Taking an offer on an already sold domain? Unethical.
Selling a domain you don't own? That's cool?

 

[HiFiNames.com]

I got the domain in my account & its clear in 6 hours. (Great work by namecheap)

At sale, i'm not aware its expired. Its nothing on purpose. I have got payment and the moment i realise, the domain is not with me, i informed and arranged to return my money. In the mean time i was surprised to see it was at name jet pre-release in a day. But i bidded and it didn't happen. Within 6 hours namecheap did it for me.

The buyer is very nice and accepted it. I'm still waiting about a week for his namecheap account to push the domain. He simply replied, he will try to create and send in a day or two. He is not in a hurry. don't worry!

I'm open to my buyer. I shared this story only to avoid any such thing.

 

[abdussamad]

Taking an offer on an expired domain? Unethical.
Selling a domain you don't own? That's cool?

What about baseless accusations? Are those cool?

He was quite clear when he said he didn't know the domain had expired.

What I don't get is how the buyer didn't know that? Surely they checked the whois records to find out who owned the domain name? Also it's not safe to do such large transactions with paypal. You might end up with a chargeback and then you'd loose the $200 you spent on getting the domain back.

 

[HiFiNames.com]

Hi abdussamad,

I have made a mistake & I want to rectify it at my best. The 209$ is not a matter when compared to my commitment. Also the buyer is not a domainer. So it is difficult to make him understand. So i did my best.

Paypal i'm using for 9 years & monthly approx 5K transactions. Money is always safe. But poor support / understanding & very late

 

[krdthewall]

To be honest, you were a bit too casual in not being aware that the domain was expired. Anyways, I am glad that you were able to actually recover the domain (at the cost that was too much).
On a lighter note, did you ever give a thought about the following scenario:
1. Buyer paid you $999
2. You tried recovering the domain, but failed
3. In the meanwhile, you tell the truth to the buyer that you are not in possession of the domain
4. Now buyer asks for refund
5. You make a full refund (paying Paypal fees from your pocket)
6. Buyer starts to negotiate with Namecheap and gets the domain for $209.69
7. You are left with nothing but a loss worth some pennies

 

[DnEbook]

I do try to monitor my domain expiries regardless of notifications, and i also try to use as little regestras as possible

I do think it's great you saved face and got the deal done, it's amazing how some things can go pear shaped so quickly

 

[HiFiNames.com]

As said its my big mistake. I'm lucky to have such buyer. He said "I'm new to this. I will be happy to get the domain as already confirmed"

 

[cache]

If I were the buyer, I would do the same thing as your buyer did. It is better to secure a domain you really want than risking a certainty of getting a cheaper one.