Can Sedo steal a domain you bought?

[GoWeb]

Few days back, on 02/May (Saturday), I saw SuperDrones.com listed at Sedo for a BIN of $250.

Checked out WHOIS, the seller was the domain registrar WebFusion and they listed the domain name on Sedo as it was "expired" and probably unrecoverable to the original owner. I didn't waste a second more and hit the BIN and paid immediately.

I waited through the whole of last week for an auth code but was not supplied one. The transfer agent "Steve Opadeji", allocated to my transfer, was very unresponsive and uncommunicative, as in another previous transaction. I put a message on the transfer center wall for some other transfer agent to handle this case as I was not happy with this Steve Opadeji guy. (I have bought many domains at Sedo, I find most other transfer agents quite cooperative)

Now today I find that SuperDrones.com has been transferred to GoDaddy and a guy Jeff Thomas of Stokegear.com is the new owner. Assuming a transfer takes 5-6 days to finish, it's not improbable to think that the transfer to GoDaddy most likely started after the domain was sold at Sedo. Could Sedo have facilitated this transfer by using the auth code meant for me?

When I highlighted this to Sedo today, they cancelled the transfer immediately and started refund. This is their response to my concern:

The domain was not transferred to another individual through our marketplace as the seller never provided us with the auth code. It was probably deleted from his account and the new owner back ordered and got it registered through his godaddy account. We have now cancelled the transfer and refunded you the full amount.​

I have also emailed the new owner and waiting for his reply. The whole thing looks very fishy to me. Hence, the big questions:

Can a Sedo transfer agent steal the domain you bought by paying the seller from his pocket and giving the auth code to someone else with whom he/she may have a profit arrangement?

How do we ascertain if the auth code was indeed supplied by the seller to Sedo or not? I am assuming any information posted by Seller or Buyer in the transfer center is only visible to the transfer agent and the transfer agent then manually copies that information to the side that requires it.

Has anyone else ever felt the same on buying a great domain at Sedo for small change? SuperDrones.com was quite a steal at $250 had the transaction completed successfully.

Would greatly appreciate all similar experiences. Please do share.

 

[Keith]

Maybe the original owner sold it and transferred to the new owner at godaddy.

 

[johnn]

People listed name for sale on Sedo and other venues but do not remove the name when the name is sold some where else.

 

[gilescoley]

Yeah,its happened a few time with me, the owner might have it listed at Sedo for years with a BIN of $250

He has received a better offer from someone and sold it, he should have removed the listing from Sedo. I think every domainer who has been around a while has sold a name and not removed it from every marketplace they had it listed

You beat me to it John

 

[Electric-Shadow]

It's not out with Sedo's capability to monitor for a change in registrant and automatically set not for sale status when it doesn't reflect the account holder's details. It's as much Sedo's responsibility as it is the domain owners. Would like to see this additional security measure in place.

At least they refunded you though, always a good thing. I hope you griped about your useless agent too, if not you should as they'll investigate to see if he's pulling his weight.

 

[GoWeb]

Maybe the original owner sold it and transferred to the new owner at godaddy.

Yes, that's a possibility. But WebFusion (a domain registrar) lists domains with Sedo when they get past redemption. Can you still transfer a domain away after redemption when your registrar has it listed for sale? IMO, the registrar is capable of denying such transfers.

People listed name for sale on Sedo and other venues but do not remove the name when the name is sold some where else.

That is not the problem, the domain was listed for sale only 1 day back on May 01.

The question that's bothering me: Has anyone found Sedo or its transfer agents indulging in stealing a really good domain going for cheap?

 

[Domain Lead Finder]

It could be a rouge agent, acting on his own and with no knowledge from SEDO but there is so many other things that may have happened, if SEDO wanted to keep the domain they would have not listed it in the first place. I doubt SEDO would get involved in underhand stuff like this, but then again, so many other big players have been caught with their hands in the cookie jar...

 

[RapidNames.com]

i deal with "Steve Opadeji". he never answered my questions during the transfer. i hate him personally but i believe sedo agents don't have the rights to register / transfer. If seller submitted transfer code it is available for your view and they can't hide it. they are licensed and very big company.

@gilescoley answer might be happened.