Bidding on NameJet? Use caution....

[DotWeekly]

I wrote about this yesterday on blog. I had suspected that something was a bit fishy, as I was watching a domain that didn't look very popular, but was bid up very high right from the start. After doing a test, I proved my gut feeling and it's totally wrong if you ask me!

If you want to read my story please do so for your own protection.

Your bid you put in, is NOT a proxy bid. So if it costs $69 to get into an auction (backorder, etc) and you bid $500 as you intend this to be a proxy bid, your wrong! Even if you are the only bidder, the price goes right to your highest bid, $500 in this case. This is totally wrong, as your bid should only be as high as the starting bid, unless somebody outbids you and makes the price go higher!

Shame on you NameJet for stealing peoples money!!! :td:

 

[-REECE-]

Namejet -> NetSol -> complete utter scum.

Proud to say I'll never buy anything from them, including any domain name registered with them. I don't want anything to do with these scumbags... Just another line on their page long list of domainer unfriendly behavior over the last decade... :td:

I wrote about this yesterday on blog. I had suspected that something was a bit fishy, as I was watching a domain that didn't look very popular, but was bid up very high right from the start. After doing a test, I proved my gut feeling and it's totally wrong if you ask me!

If you want to read my story please do so for your own protection.

Your bid you put in, is NOT a proxy bid. So if it costs $69 to get into an auction (backorder, etc) and you bid $500 as you intend this to be a proxy bid, your wrong! Even if you are the only bidder, the price goes right to your highest bid, $500 in this case. This is totally wrong, as your bid should only be as high as the starting bid, unless somebody outbids you and makes the price go higher!

Shame on you NameJet for stealing peoples money!!! :td:

 

[BLazeD]

I can't comment if they are dishonest, but I can say they are utter idiots.

 

[duceman]

Humm..... I was wondering about that.

 

[bricio]

actually, they say it isnt a proxy bid

after you log in choose a name and bid on it but before bidding you can see below the button "Backoreder Now" is written "*This is not a proxy bid"

 

[Name Trader]

Jamie. What I see is it's telling me that the minimum bid is still $69 if I want to get into the auction. It's also telling me that the highest bid so far is $149. They state in the important notes on the right..

Backorders: Bids are not proxy bids. The amount you enter will be your minimum and maximum bid at auction start.

So when the auction starts your first bid will be entered as $149.

Now this may or may not be how other auction houses do things but, to me, there is full disclosure going on. So you should only ever bid the minimum bid on Pre-Release Domains.

 

[DotWeekly]

Jamie. What I see is it's telling me that the minimum bid is still $69 if I want to get into the auction. It's also telling me that the highest bid so far is $149. They state in the important notes on the right..


So when the auction starts your first bid will be entered as $149.

Now this may or may not be how other auction houses do things but, to me, there is full disclosure going on. So you should only ever bid the minimum bid on Pre-Release Domains.

All auction houses use a Proxy Bidding system. If the min price to be "in" the auction is $69, but I want a "proxy" bid of $149 because I will not be around when the auction ends, the price should not go instantly to $149 if that is my "high bid" with no other bidders.

The way I look at it is, NameJet is in the wrong here. AFTER you place your bid, it then states your bid is not a proxy bid. If anything, they need to state this WHEN you put in your first bid. No other auction service does this! If two people bid, then I can see the proxy taking place, but there is no reason if the backorder cost is $69 and I put $149 (as a proxy), NOTHING is driving my price up to my high bid.

NameJet is asking a price of $69 to get into the auction. If a person wants to put in a proxy bid, this should not instantly change the "starting" bid price with no other bidders. If bidder # 2 put's $151 and my proxy was $149, then the price should be $151.

The fact is.... do not bid more then the min price, or simply do not use NameJet! SnapNames uses proxy bids, eBay uses proxy bids, Sedo uses proxy bids and so does everybody except NameJet! :td:

 

[Name Trader]

I just went to bid on an unbidded Pre-Release Domain. It clearly states in the bid box and in the important notes that the bid is not a proxy bid. So they are telling you 2 times on the bid page including in the bid box, that your backorder is not a proxy bid, and in the right hand side important notes they explain how they are going to use your bid. They are not hiding anything. They are telling upfront exactly how the process goes. They don't have to copy how other backorder services run their businesses. Proxy bidding only starts after they capture the domain. So once the auction starts, you place your proxy bid, then go and do your thing.

Now. Do I like how they run their backordering and auctions? Nope. Do I like Namejet, NS & eNom. Nope. Do I think Namjet are crazy? More than a little. But if we want the names they have, then we have to learn about their foibles. One of these is that you should bid the minimum price on Pre-Release Domain backorders and place your proxy bid once it's at auction. That is unless your auction strategy is to bid high initially to scare everybody else away.

 

[bricio]

this is what stub and me are talking about
they say before you bid it isnt a proxy bid

 

[estibot.com]

Yes, I agree with Yofie that their system is confusing, but once I figured it out it seems to have worked fine. I think they have improved on a thing or two in their UI since they started.

Always bid minimum on your backorder! Unless, as Stub said, you want to go with the scare tactic and bid all-in right away....Of course, if you bid higher, the name will move higher on the front page, drawing more eyeballs, which is bad. Only enter your proxy bid once the auction has started.

They say that the higher your initial backorder amount, the more resources they put in to acquire the name. However, I've won every single name I've backordered even with the lowest possible bids.

Like Stub said, if you want Netsol/eNom names, it looks like Namejet is your best shot..

 

[DotWeekly]

this is what stub and me are talking about
they say before you bid it isnt a proxy bid

Ok, I see what you are talking about.

Now, to see what I am talking about....

Do not Click the domain, but put a check mark next to the domain. Then click the Backorder Selected Domains. The "Backorder List" page says nothing about proxy bids and the only disclaimer talks about TM domains. You enter in your bid... let's say $69 and hit Backorder Now, You then get a pop-up warning window that you are placing a bid for X amount, and if you want to continue. Once you click OK, your "Bid Amount" is entered!

That is how I backordered the domain, and doing it that way, the system says Nothing about your bid not being a proxy bid.

 

[bricio]

Ok, I see what you are talking about.

Now, to see what I am talking about....

Do not Click the domain, but put a check mark next to the domain. Then click the Backorder Selected Domains. The "Backorder List" page says nothing about proxy bids and the only disclaimer talks about TM domains. You enter in your bid... let's say $69 and hit Backorder Now, You then get a pop-up warning window that you are placing a bid for X amount, and if you want to continue. Once you click OK, your "Bid Amount" is entered!

That is how I backordered the domain, and doing it that way, the system says Nothing about your bid not being a proxy bid.

i see how you do it Yofie
shame on you Namejet!!! :td:
we dont backoreder names the same way

 

[Name Trader]

I see where you're coming from now, Jamie. I'd never backordered a domain that way. Anyhow. I then went in search for this info in other places. I couldn't find any explanation EXCEPT the one when you click on the Pre-Release Domain name directly. This is just one of the many crap features they need to fix.

 

[DotWeekly]

I see where you're coming from now, Jamie. I'd never backordered a domain that way. Anyhow. I then went in search for this info in other places. I couldn't find any explanation EXCEPT the one when you click on the Pre-Release Domain name directly. This is just one of the many crap features they need to fix.

I sent NameJet an email, so we will see when and what they reply.

It's also crafty that if you backorder at the min price, you can cancel your backorder, but anything over the min, it's locked and you can not remove the backorder. :yell: :talk:

 

[TheBulldog]

Hasn't this been talked about before?

NameJet is associated with Enom. Either owned or operated under, can't recall which. This really isn't surprising that pricing would be confusing/not quite plain.

 

[brackis]

My biggest gripe is the 10 bids/day until I send in my ID and credit card fax.

 

[PowerUp]

Namejet is a scam. They preach 1 thing while practice another.
I received an email from them regarding their updates. They say they revised the minimum bid to $29. But everytime I want to place a backorder, it says "your bid is below the $69 minimum bid"

 

[1901gt]

I prefer the old Enom. NameJet sucks.

 

[estibot.com]

It's also crafty that if you backorder at the min price, you can cancel your backorder, but anything over the min, it's locked and you can not remove the backorder. :yell: :talk:

I made that mistake too at the beginning, and it annoyed the hell out of me....now I always backorder at minimum price to avoid all these problems

Namejet is a scam.

Even though I'm no fan of Netsol, I wouldn't quite call it a scam, to avoid inflation of the term.. I've backordered domains from them, they took my money, but I got the domains so I wouldn't call it a scam.

I do agree that their system is not transparent and there is much to improve.

However, this is the case with most major businesses involved in domain registration, parking, and resale.

Take GoDaddy, for instance. I set some of my .tv names to "manual" renew because I did not want to renew them anymore.

Well, what they did was they renewed my "business registration", i.e. private registration for these domains, (but NOT the domain itself), several days before the expiration date, and then sent me an email that my domains are about to expire.

I emailed them that I did not want to renew the domains and why had they charged my credit card for the "business" registration. They said those are two different things.

So in effect, they sneakily renew the extras BEFORE the domain expires, then send an email saying, fine, don't renew this domain but we've already charged your credit card for the extras for this domain.

Almost tempted to call that one a scam!

Anyway, this sort of thing happens across the board, and while Namejet is not exemplary, I feel they are just the same as everyone else.

 

[PowerUp]

I made that mistake too at the beginning, and it annoyed the hell out of me....now I always backorder at minimum price to avoid all these problems




Even though I'm no fan of Netsol, I wouldn't quite call it a scam, to avoid inflation of the term.. I've backordered domains from them, they took my money, but I got the domains so I wouldn't call it a scam.

I do agree that their system is not transparent and there is much to improve.

However, this is the case with most major businesses involved in domain registration, parking, and resale.

Take GoDaddy, for instance. I set some of my .tv names to "manual" renew because I did not want to renew them anymore.

Well, what they did was they renewed my "business registration", i.e. private registration for these domains, (but NOT the domain itself), several days before the expiration date, and then sent me an email that my domains are about to expire.

I emailed them that I did not want to renew the domains and why had they charged my credit card for the "business" registration. They said those are two different things.

So in effect, they sneakily renew the extras BEFORE the domain expires, then send an email saying, fine, don't renew this domain but we've already charged your credit card for the extras for this domain.

Almost tempted to call that one a scam!

Anyway, this sort of thing happens across the board, and while Namejet is not exemplary, I feel they are just the same as everyone else.

I'm interpreting what you're saying as....."this industry is full of scammers."
How can you say its not a scam when they SAY the minimum bid is $29, but when you actually do place a bid, the systems forbids you to make a $29 bid, and forces you to place a minimum bid of $69.

 

[bricio]

Take GoDaddy, for instance. I set some of my .tv names to "manual" renew because I did not want to renew them anymore.

Well, what they did was they renewed my "business registration", i.e. private registration for these domains, (but NOT the domain itself), several days before the expiration date, and then sent me an email that my domains are about to expire.

I emailed them that I did not want to renew the domains and why had they charged my credit card for the "business" registration. They said those are two different things.

So in effect, they sneakily renew the extras BEFORE the domain expires, then send an email saying, fine, don't renew this domain but we've already charged your credit card for the extras for this domain

they do everything for money... you have to be careful and see the service you canceled has other stuff atached to it

i am always very careful when i am doing transactions but i have made mistakes before but i was lucky and everything was solved

 

[NP02139]

I'm interpreting what you're saying as....."this industry is full of scammers."
How can you say its not a scam when they SAY the minimum bid is $29, but when you actually do place a bid, the systems forbids you to make a $29 bid, and forces you to place a minimum bid of $69.

Some names have a minimum of $29, others don't. Go back and read the email NameJet sent out about the change, it explains in detail.

 

[Seabass]

I can't stand their system. I used to spend a bloody fortune with SnapNames and when NameJet came up with their new and oh-so-fun system, I quit buying. I probably only have spent about $500 since they opened their doors.

They took all the fun out of auctions ! They are so, so stupid.

 

[canswift]

Not fun any more..

I can't stand their system. I used to spend a bloody fortune with SnapNames and when NameJet came up with their new and oh-so-fun system, I quit buying. I probably only have spent about $500 since they opened their doors.

They took all the fun out of auctions ! They are so, so stupid.

I certainly spent on Snapnames too, but not a fortune (bloody or otherwise). I haven't bought anything on Namejet as I got bogged down in their user-unfriendly interface. Like Seabass, I used to enjoy the Snapnames auctions when you could see who else was in the auction with you. "Oh, bleep it's Vaxis and BonkersTwo, I don't stand a chance..". However, I can still recall the thrill of being mano y mano with only two of us in an auction, me and BonkersTwo and I got it! Namejet, Lamejet, not fun any more...

 

[1901gt]

BonkersTwo only bring up the price.