Another Non-Paying Sedo Buyer

[Neophyte]

I am SICK and TIRED of these Sedo deadbeat buyers thinking they can get away with their foolishness with impunity. Here is my latest Sedo deadbeat buyer story:

Read the series of communication between this deadbeat and I and let me know what you think. Feel free to add this "buyer's" information to your blogs/threads.

Here is the first email I sent after getting the buyer's contact information from Sedo aver waiting several weeks for payment that was never made:

Dear Mr. XXXX:

My name is xxxx, and I am the owner of xxxx. Sedo forwarded your contact information to me because you agreed in a legally binding contract to buy xxxx.com through Sedo, and you failed to pay for the domain name. While Sedo referred you to me for potential legal action for breach of contract, it is my hope that we can come to a resolution where both parties can be happy--you get the domain name, and I will receive payment as promised.

While looking at your website, it is evident that you could benefit from my domain name. The hyphen in your current domain is really dragging down your site's value, not to mention the lost traffic from people who forget to type that hyphen into their browsers. I am confident that you will recoup the cost of my domain name easily just from the new traffic you will receive. And you don't have to build another site. Just forward this domain to your existing site to capture that traffic.

So I am convinced that you NEED this domain, and not purchasing it would be a mistake. I will work with you, as long as you pay as agreed. I can also lease the domain to you (you make monthly installment payments) if price is an issue.

I need to hear from you ASAP so we can settle this matter. Thank you for your time and attention.

XXXX response:

I think money must be the issue on your end. I have never had anyone pursue $497.00 like it was the lotto prize before. I have many customers who are used to finding me with the hyphen. I simply changed my mind on this matter. There is nothing legally binding here so I would appreciate it if you and Sedo would quit harassing me.

Mr. XXXX

My response to this, with comments:

Dear Mr. XXXX:

My position on this matter is clear. The amount of money involved is not the issue. There is a principle here, and it is unfortunate that you as a business owner do not understand this. You made a commitment to buy the domain through the Sedo marketplace. Sedo lets buyers know that any offer made on their platform is legally binding, and you should not click "buy it now" if you are not in agreement with that. There is no "I changed my mind." That is not acceptable.

You can either pay what is owed willingly, or you will be forced to pay legally. That is up to you. I will give you 24 hours from the timestamp on this email to contact me to make payment arrangements and to submit payment to me. If payment is not made within the time period specified, the next communication you will receive will be a Summons for you to appear in small claims court concerning this matter.

Please keep in mind that amount I will be seeking from the Court will be far more than $497, and will include court costs, my travel expenses to your county in NC, and other remedies allowed by law. I also reserve the right to post your name, website, and contact information identifying you as a deadbeat Sedo buyer online until payment is made. My comments regarding the email you sent me are in bold, below.


I think money must be the issue on your end. (Why wouldn't money be an issue on my end? I am in business to make money, just as you are). I have never had anyone pursue $497.00 like it was the lotto prize before. (The amount really doesn't matter. The issue is that you made a commitment to buy through Sedo and reneged on that commitment. The same thing would happen if the purchase price was $60. I have had collection agencies come after me for $25 medical bills!) I have many customers who are used to finding me with the hyphen. (This may be true, but you, not I, went on Sedo to buy xxxx.com.) I simply changed my mind on this matter. (So commitment means nothing to you? I wonder if you are so generous as you expect me to be if a buyer makes a commitment via contract to pay for furniture and then decides to change his or her mind and not pay what is owed). There is nothing legally binding here (I would suggest reading your contract again) so I would appreciate it if you and Sedo would quit harassing me.(You are responsible for paying Sedo's commission, so they may continue to contact you or take whatever action they deem necessary to collect...I have no control over this.)


Final response from XXXX:

Do what you gotta do.

These deadbeats think they can get away with this because of the cost and inconvenience involved with pursuing them through the legal system.

 

[gilescoley]

Danny Keck is not going to buy anything from you,that's not gonna happen.I'm sure he's laughing his ass off at this thread.So please,move on with your life.

..and If I was the OP, I would not want to sell it to him now, he had his chance, threads like this will damage his rep even more, which I think he deserves. If he is laughing, he's an idiot and all this serves him right, I would be posting it everywhere to teach him a damn lesson....sorry, I have no sympathy for dishonest people like him.....

 

[GiftedDomains]

Meanwhile i think even much sadder than danny boy are all these self acclaimed "domainers" who obviously have no clue how one should behave in business relationships and now even defend this guy one way or another.

Just shows once again that the domain "biz" is full of ......

 

[umask077]

Meanwhile i think even much sadder than danny boy are all these self acclaimed "domainers" who obviously have no clue how one should behave in business relationships and now even defend this guy one way or another.

Just shows once again that the domain "biz" is full of ......

I think the ones that have no clue how to behave in business relationships are people like you who defend the actions of the OP.When there's a breach of contract or a dispute,there's only one way to proceed if you call yourself a business man,and this brings you through the legal path.
That's what a business man would do,what a business man would never do is to open a thread in a public forum,sharing all sort of personal info. (including email correspondence).


Edit: [To the OP] You can add as many stupid tags as you like,those things do little more than reinforce Danny Keck's words.You turned out to be pretty inmature IMO.

 

[johname]

..

 

[Havela]

Some really wonderful advice by discobull in this thread (rep'ed). I'll try to remember it for the next time I feel self-righteous and want to set a demanding customer straight

You also have to be clear to yourself about whether your top priority is to obtain emotional satisfaction or to get money, because pursuing the former will often prevent you from obtaining the latter.

When you are in the middle of negotiations and you feel that you are in the right, it can be very difficult to let go of principles and focus on what has to be done to close the deal. However, it is those who manage to stay detached and focus on the money who succeed. :imho:

Having said that, sometimes the emotional satisfaction may be worth screwing up the deal. This was the OP's choice and fellow domainers should at least be able to sympathise with his situation. We've all been there, right? It is annoying when a buyer does not pay. A few months ago I asked Bido to ban a non-paying buyer of mine and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I don't want non-paying buyers on Bido and Sedo. They waste my time.

 

[Neophyte]

I think the ones that have no clue how to behave in business relationships are people like you who defend the actions of the OP.When there's a breach of contract or a dispute,there's only one way to proceed if you call yourself a business man,and this brings you through the legal path.
That's what a business man would do,what a business man would never do is to open a thread in a public forum,sharing all sort of personal info. (including email correspondence).

You read stuff like this and man, it is discouraging. You question whether naming and shaming the buyer was the right thing to do. You would expect fellow domainers to understand your plight, but quickly learn that not all do. Your own integrity and intentions get questioned.

Then I read Rick Schwartz's blog entry on Reverse Domain Name Hijacking, and after reading this statement, I nearly fell out the chair.

"...Well, it's not PROFESSIONAL to call them (the thieves) names." Say some. Fine when PROFESSIONALS stop LYING and trying to STEAL, I'll stop calling them FU*****! How's that?

Am I harsh? Hell no! When companies and other folks try to steal from me and others, it would not surprise me if we were not the only folks they did it to. Just a common sense wild guess that I am sure has no merit at all. Right?

And believe me, as harsh as I have been, wait til you see what happens to the next FU**** that tries and overstep their legal, moral and every other rights in hopes they can get something on the cheap that they have no RIGHTS to. They put their entire company and everyone working there in jeopardy when they mess with me. When they mess with you too. When they try and steal a domain."

Now Mr. Schwartz is referring to a company that apparently tried to manipulate the legal system to get a domain name instead of paying for it, but the principle here is the same. When professional businessmen stop clicking on buy it now buttons and honor their commitments and pay for what they bought then I will be professional and not expose them as deadbeat buyers.

Some of you may call me harsh, unreasonable, immature, unprofessional, a discredit to domainers, or whatever else you can think of. If any buyer makes a commitment to buy a domain on Sedo and reneges on that commitment, I will contact him or her. Now I will take some of the constructive criticism offered here and be kinder in my communications, at least initially. But if that buyer says, in essence, "screw you," I will make it public. Their name, address, name of business, email address, ect. will be posted for all to see. They will be branded as DEADBEAT BUYERS, and my wrath against that deadbeat buyer will be unrelenting until he either pays up or his business is adversely affected.

Some of you are expecting Sedo to do the dirty work that you can do yourselves. If every domainer would unite and make it clear to buyers that if they do not pay, the minimum consequence would be naming and shaming, and the maximum would be a lawsuit, we would have fewer deadbeats. We have deadbeats now because we don't want to hold them accountable. Several postings in this thread indicate that! Here is the final quote from Rick's blog that I would like to reference:

"They put their entire company and everyone working there in jeopardy when they mess with me. When they mess with you too. When they try and steal a domain."

This is so true. Like the domain-stealing company, Mr. xxxxx is not only jeopardizing his own reputation, but the reputation of his company and the livelihood of his employees (if he has any). When he failed to pay for that domain, that was an affront to not just me, but to all domainers. When someone tries to weasel out of a legally binding contract with no legitimate reason for doing so and gets away with it, guess what? The deadbeat buyer is emboldened, and you could be the next seller victimized. Most of you have had to deal with these deadbeats before and thought you had no other recourse than to let it go. Now you know you do have options.

Do what you like. At least we are talking about an issue that is important to us. I have made it clear: If you buy one of my names and fail to pay, you'd better use fake information, because you will be found out and exposed publicly.

I don't know Mr. Schwartz, and I am not saying that he would agree with my methods, but it is good to know that there are people willing to do the hard work, and risk being misunderstood or called names for pointing out a wrong, for calling a thief a thief, and for calling a deadbeat a deadbeat.

 

[umask077]

What Danny Keck did was unprofessional,he breached contract by non paying for the domain.But he was not the only one being unprofessional.
What you did is illegal and subject to legal prosecution.You could have done either of these two things:

A) Contact Sedo in order to sort things out... or even ask them to ban him from using its marketplace (delete his account).

B) Hire a lawyer,bring him to court and ask for damages. (Not a feasible option since the amount discussed here is insignificant).

But what can't be done is to publish personal data on the web.I'm telling you this because he could sue you if he really wanted.

I don't know Mr. Schwartz, and I am not saying that he would agree with my methods, but it is good to know that there are people willing to do the hard work, and risk being misunderstood or called names for pointing a wrong, for calling a thief a thief, and for calling a deadbeat a deadbeat.

 

[Bannen]

When there's a breach of contract or a dispute,there's only one way to proceed if you call yourself a business man,and this brings you through the legal path.

That is an ideal and it doesn't work in these cases. First, your average lawyer charges between $250 - 450 per hour, and a case like this would cost you a minimum of $15 - 25K, and easily more. And you don't get to just pay that as you go along, a reputable lawyer must have the retainer first, so you must pay them a huge lump sum before they even start to work for you. And remember that even if you send a simple question or 2 to your lawyer, for them to read it and reply might take 15 or 20 mins - which they bill you for - and that simple email will cost you over $100. So even the simple stuff like that can add up to thousands quite quickly, and then add on the research, investigation, and other legal tasks the lawyer must spend hours or days doing, on the phone and with paperwork...
For the kind of cases we're talking about, it's not worth going the 'legal route' even if your buyer had agreed to a price of 15 or 20K. You'll still lose money, and a lot of time out of your life.
In an ideal world legal systems would make it easier for those being screwed to get justice, but in the real world if you can't afford to pay tens of thousands $$ up front to a lawyer, then you won't get justice for this kind of matter.
And small claims court only works jurisdictionally; if you live in the same area as the buyer, small claims court might be a viable alternative (although domain deals are mostly far beyond the ken of most judges who will be overseeing your case, they'd have to do much research to clarify the things you'll be telling them, about Sedo and their TOS, domain trading, cybersquatting vs generic words, etc). But if you live in different countries, small claims won't work. Even if you live in different states, are you going to spend 1 or 2K and a few days of your time traveling to another state, hotel and food costs, time away from your job... to small claims court to settle a $500 non-payer?

That's what a business man would do,what a business man would never do is to open a thread in a public forum,sharing all sort of personal info. (including email correspondence).

You have an idealistic and unrealistic construction in your mind of what a 'businessman' is or does. There's no such thing as some mold called a businessman. There are just people, of all ages, genders, cultures, and personalities, doing business.
Some business people just scrape by month to month, barely paying their bills, and other business people are billionaires.
If you have no money to put towards a legal battle for a non-payer, what other recourse do you have? You have 3:
- forget it, let it go, move on and try sell the domain to someone else, and don't waste any more of your life energy on the failed transaction (focus is only on maintaining your inner peace and moving ahead to better possibilities, ha ha).
- stay polite and see if there's anything you can do with the non-payer, any way to salvage the deal with them using further negotiations (focus is only on the deal, salvaging what you can, maintaining open lines and good feelings just in case the buyer changes their mind again a month or year down the road and decides they actually do want the domain).
- put pressure on the non-buyer using free, guerrilla tactics like 'outing' them publicly. Even if this doesn't get you any money, it might help someone else not get screwed by them (focus is on justice, trying to enforce a contract and if that's not working then publicly outing the dishonesty of the buyer).

Many factors decide which (or all) of the above things you decide to go with. But one thing we all have in common: if someone screws up but they admit it, apologize, do what they can to make it right (even if that just means a sincere apology and promise to do better next time), we are likely to be patient and forgiving with them;
But as we see so often nowadays with the 'anonymous' users on the internet, so many young people (and some older ones) are learning they can blatantly and arrogantly screw someone and then often pay no consequences. Honesty and virtue are bulls**t to so many people now. And we hate being screwed over by someone who does it carelessly, arrogantly, delusionally, consistently, and then does their best to make we, the 'screwees', out to be the bad guys for trying to stop them.
Is it not important to also stand up to that?
Sometimes you just need to move on and let it all go behind you.
Sometimes you just need to concentrate on the deal and block the rest out.
Sometimes you just gotta fight for justice, fight against being casually screwed by people who just don't care, and use whatever free (and legal) means you can.

Guess it just depends what you're feeling like today.
Birds chirping, sun shining, maybe you let things go and walk outside in the field, smelling the flowers, forget all about the non buyer and wish them the best; got hemorrhoids and a headache and you're out of clean underwear, maybe it's time to nail the bastard. I've felt both ways, so who am I to tell you which is the right way to go, for you, right now?

:lol:

 

[Ms Domainer]

*

For lower-end domains, naming and shaming may be the best option.

Why should this numpty "buyer" enjoy a good reputation, and, quite probably, screw over someone else? Shouldn't we be warning others about this person's bad business ethics/practices?

Don't get me wrong: I do believe in being patient and allowing some rope in situations like this, but then there comes a time when the knives must come out.

Buyers and sellers who make commitments (for example, entering a contract with Sedo or some other sales venue) need to realize that these contracts are enforceable.

Perhaps OP was a bit strong in his emails--I would have started with a little sugar, only resorting to vinegar if sugar didn't work, but I can understand OP's frustration.

By the way, according to OP, XXXX did NOT just place an offer, he clicked on a "Buy it Now" button, thus kicking in the contract immediately, so we need to get the terminology correct.

By not insisting on kept promises and commitments, we actually disrespect ourselves and others in our field, sending the negative message that we deserve to be ripped off and dismissed by non-domainers (end users?) in other areas of business.

I am an honest business person who follows through on her commitments, and I expect the people who do business with me to follow through on theirs.

*

 

[DU]

Technically according to Sedo:

The Seller guarantees that they are the owner of the aforementioned Purchase Object and may freely dispose of said Purchase Object. Furthermore, Seller warrant that the Purchase Object is not encumbered by the rights of third parties and that to date, they have not received any warnings of potential litigation or preliminary injunctions against the Purchase Object that have not been disclosed to Buyer.

To be annoying, Danny could simply write to OP from a lawyer saying that he operates as a business "Carolina Discount Furniture" and has entitlements to the name.. and then everything falls apart on the sales contract anyway unless you want to acknowledge that and all the issues that come with that. Would he do that? No. It would be stupid.

Buyer and Seller shall be liable to each other only for damages that are based upon their failure to perform the necessary steps to complete this transaction, intentional wrongdoing or gross negligence and shall not be liable for claims seeking consequential or punitive damages.

What damages are there? There's no consequential or punitive damage. OP has lost nothing in reality. If he sells it for less in the future maybe he could sue for the difference? Not likely. But he can't recover his COSTS for legal help is what I understand

There is a contract but it's not up to much. It's nothing more than a handshake really - everything's wishy washy and takes Sedo out of it (except their right to commission). The contract does not provide for specific performance.

The simple solution is. Don't use Sedo. Because they abstain from being in any way involved and take a portion of what you sell - they could chase after the deadbeat for commission totally independently of the seller!

$17,000 sale - they may chase after the $3,500 commission and not give 1 second thought to the $13,500 that makes up your part.

Create your OWN contract (approved by a lawyer) and use that. If the name is valuable you could ask for a deposit of serious intent or any other thing you wanted - you could even make a nothing sale look like a monster sale for DN Journal!

I would love to know how many domainers are "deadbeat" payers when it comes to announcing their profits at tax time....

 

[BullS]

You should be going after SEDO as they are the one facilitating the business exchange.

If not, what the point of parking/selling at SEDO?

As for me, I sell all at voddoo and do my own escrow.

 

[Ms Domainer]

*

I have done well with Sedo.

Quirky? Yes.

Slow? Sometimes.

But, on the other hand, Sedo is patient when transfer glitches occur--just as long as you keep your transfer specialist in the loop.

To me, a contract, whether a handshake or a 30 page document, should be honored; if nothing else, it keeps one's reputation intact, which is priceless in business.

Had the "buyer" had a problem with the domain, he should have gone through proper channels to get it via UDRP--although the domain seems generic to me. "XXXX XXXX XXXX" is descriptive of what the business does (sells discount furniture) and where it happens. It is my understanding that you can't TM a term that describes the actual business (Indeed, I found no trademarks for this term on USTPO).

In this case, just following through with this commitment would have made sense.

*

 

[equity78]

There would be no UDRP attemp at a cost of at least a minimum 3 times the buy it now price of $497.

 

[umask077]

That is an ideal and it doesn't work in these cases. First, your average lawyer charges between $250 - 450 per hour, and a case like this would cost you a minimum of $15 - 25K, and easily more. And you don't get to just pay that as you go along, a reputable lawyer must have the retainer first, so you must pay them a huge lump sum before they even start to work for you. And remember that even if you send a simple question or 2 to your lawyer, for them to read it and reply might take 15 or 20 mins - which they bill you for - and that simple email will cost you over $100. So even the simple stuff like that can add up to thousands quite quickly, and then add on the research, investigation, and other legal tasks the lawyer must spend hours or days doing, on the phone and with paperwork...
...

You're not telling me anything that I did not already know.I made it clear in my post.I said that was not an option because of the insignificant amount of money involved.It would make sense probably for sales over $10,000.

The best thing to do in these circumstances is to forget about the sale,accept the "loss" and move on,not messing around with something that could hurt you in some way (legally speaking).This thread could get you in trouble,in big trouble actually.You are sharing with the public email correspondence (which is private) and some other details which may be private as well (the address you published is not the business address so we're not talking about public data here.
Aside from this,you're damaging the image of his business by posting these messages and he can bring you to court for this,even though you have the law in your favour.Is this all worth it?I don't think so.

 

[Dave_Z]

You should be going after SEDO as they are the one facilitating the business exchange.

Like anyone, Sedo can only do so much. They can remind the buyer, but they can't really force him/her to follow through on the commitment short of suing in court.

As mentioned earlier, unfortunately, it may not be worthwhile to pay $5,000, $10,000 or even more in legal costs over an almost $500 transaction. Some may be willing to fight for the principle, while others prefer to do something more...productive.

Whatever principle is worth fighting for or not depends on each person.

Aside from this,you're damaging the image of his business by posting these messages and he can bring you to court for this,even though you have the law in your favour.Is this all worth it?I don't think so.

If the OP is RAW (Ready, Able, Willing) to defend against such a legal action (i.e. libel), then I suppose that shouldn't be a problem. It's nice to share and voice out that concern, though.

OTOH, if the OP is also able to back up his statements without necessarily bordering into - say - libel, then he should be fine as well. Should be, anyway.

Besides, if Keck pursues such an action, he also risks bringing more unnecessary attention to himself (i.e. Streisand Effect). With this thing out in the 'Net, coupled with those unfavorable reviews, it can work against him as well.

I think everyone here agrees with the reality that there are deadbeat buyers. What to do about them is where some understandably disagree, yet doing something is sometimes better than nothing.

If anything, at least put some kind of "constructive notice" out there to let others know what happened, then move along.

 

[Ms Domainer]

*

Dave Zan,

You are always so reasonable!

Yes, at some point, OP (and others who deal with deadbeats) must move on.

XXXX's business is considered a public entity and, by association, he's a local public figure, so as long as OP tells the truth, XXXX can't sue for libel because the truth is a complete defense.

The best way to handle this is to keep one's tone factual, devoid of name calling, for the facts speak for themselves. Added with the negative Yelp reviews, the facts do paint a very telling portrait of this business man.



*

 

[eurorealtor]

Mr Keck, you have a nerve coming on here, show some class would you and just pay the for the domain you bought, this little thread does a lot more damage to your reputation than that domain price ever will...and then you abuse people on here to ruin your image even more, I wouldn't even buy a hotdog from you!!

How about that... I do co-operate with a company located in High Point, Mr. Keck's business area. Driving there a lot, how small is the world.

Kudos to Mr. Keck to come here, but so far hasn't fix much of his mess (yet?)

Good luck to OP, I hope Mr. Keck will get smarter to clean it up.

 

[WGS_Thunder]

How about that... I do co-operate with a company located in High Point, Mr. Keck's business area. Driving there a lot, how small is the world.

Kudos to Mr. Keck to come here, but so far hasn't fix much of his mess (yet?)

Good luck to OP, I hope Mr. Keck will get smarter to clean it up.

Mr Keck could view this as a veiled threat.

 

[DU]

Just FYI:

Solicitation of an offsite sale

Sedo works hard to provide the Internet’s #1 domain marketplace. Soliciting domain sales outside of the Sedo marketplace for the purpose of circumventing fees that would otherwise be due to Sedo is strictly prohibited. This includes using user contact information obtained from Sedo or using any of Sedo's services or features to offer to sell any listed domains outside of the Sedo marketplace or sending unsolicited commercial email offers to bidders that have bid on your domains, or any domains listed on the Sedo marketplace.

I'm sure after selling the domain you were going to provide Sedo with their commission right? To avoid being a dead beat seller. Otherwise we'd have to start a thread on how you suck as a domainer and all that..

 

[discobull]

Just FYI:



I'm sure after selling the domain you were going to provide Sedo with their commission right? To avoid being a dead beat seller. Otherwise we'd have to start a thread on how you suck as a domainer and all that..

Your comment is completely off base. That quote from Sedo's site is only valid up until the buyer defaults on the sale. Once that happens, Sedo cancels the transaction and they give you the buyer's information so that you can contact them directly. Sedo does not expect you to collect their commission, they pursue the buyer for it themselves whether he ends up buying the domain or not. They won't try to collect the full amount of the sale for you, and they don't expect you to collect the commission for them. Whatever you collect is yours to keep free and clear.

 

[Neophyte]

Just FYI:



I'm sure after selling the domain you were going to provide Sedo with their commission right? To avoid being a dead beat seller. Otherwise we'd have to start a thread on how you suck as a domainer and all that..

Let's not put the cart before the horse! We will cross that bridge should we ever get to it! I have not collected any money from Mr. xxxx, but if he does decide to pay, I have no problem paying Sedo's commission and will do so once I receive the money.

And some here have already said I suck as a domainer!

 

[Kenny]

Name and shame on every available media and move on.


You will feel better.

^^Exactly^^

The sale is dead and stinkin', bury it already.
Relist it.

Dont get me wrong... I think what happened totally sux for you, but this thread isnt going to start a grassroots movement against sedo/dannyk48/deadbeats in general.

Nobody here is taking the buyers side, we understand how emotional it gets, it's just that some already know from prior experience that you are just burning up mojo that could be used in some other, positive endeavor.

Check out the posts from Bannen, FX, wot, Havela... all big shooters with impressive sales records.
NP is a place to learn... Think about it.

Peace,
Cy

 

[Domainace]

Let's not put the cart before the horse! We will cross that bridge should we ever get to it! I have not collected any money from Mr. Keck, but if he does decide to pay, I have no problem paying Sedo's commission and will do so once I receive the money.

And some here have already said I suck as a domainer!

"When Sedo notified me that I had a buyer for the domain, not one time did I think. "That's Danny Keck!" He's the secret buyer. Now I can rip him off! I had no idea who the buyer was. If I did, it would have been easy for me to negotiate with him directly to avoid paying Sedo's commission, but everything went through Sedo."

I understood DU's post to be referencing this comment you made. Unless I misread it, it does appear to undermine your position somewhat.

 

[Neophyte]

"When Sedo notified me that I had a buyer for the domain, not one time did I think. "That's xxxxx!" He's the secret buyer. Now I can rip him off! I had no idea who the buyer was. If I did, it would have been easy for me to negotiate with him directly to avoid paying Sedo's commission, but everything went through Sedo."

I understood DU's post to be referencing this comment you made. Unless I misread it, it does appear to undermine your position somewhat.

I said that in response to another poster who asserted that I regged the domain in question for the sole purpose of selling it to Mr. xxxxx. I pointed out that there are at least seven furniture companies either listed under or paying advertising costs for the terms "C...." If that was true (that I regged it solely for Mr. xxxxx), and it was not, then there was no need for me to list it on Sedo, nor go through the Sedo transfer process if I knew it was Mr. xxxxx buying. I could have negotiated with him directly and avoided paying a commission. Everything, though, was aboveboard, and the only reason why Sedo didn't get their commission is because xxxxx backed out of the deal, not because I was trying to cheat Sedo out of a commission.

 

[Apex Domains]

As far as I know, Google will not remove defamation or slanderous remarks that appear in the search results, unless a court orders them to do so.

So, are you really willing to sabotage his identity, and potentially destroy his business, over $497.00? Now think about what that says about you.

I am not defending him. Yes, he is wrong. Yes, you have every right to be upset. But posting his personally identifiable information for the entire world to see is just as bad, if not worse, than what he did to you.