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Domains sold by forum member repossessed by GoDaddy

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I bought two domains, 28924.com and 82742.com, that were advertised by Omer Doron on NamePros.

https://www.namepros.com/threads/82742-com-28924-com-350-each-sold.1101500/

I paid with PayPal and the domains were pushed to my GoDaddy account. Three weeks later, I was notified that the domains were repossessed by GoDaddy. They told me,

"The original purchases of the domains in question were charged to an invalid payment method, resulting in the repossession of products and subsequent refund for initial cost. If the seller reverses charges for the services they purchased on your behalf, we “repossess” the purchase meaning the products are removed from your account. The original price of the domains must be paid in full before they may be returned to your account. We offer you the option of purchasing the domains for the original price of $761.34. This price is the cost of the original receipts connected to these domains which has been refunded.".

The Seller is claiming that they bought the domains from someone, and they weren't the ones that paid with the invalid payment method or did the chargeback. The $761.34 GoDaddy wants is actually more than I paid for the domains. The Seller claims I'm trying to get a refund from the wrong person, because they didn't do anything wrong. I feel it's their responsibility, since they sold them to me. They should go after the person they claim they bought them from.

Originally he said he would give me a refund after he verified the information with GoDaddy. Then he said he wouldn't do it because he thought they were stolen. Then he asked me to post here anonymously and he would issue me a refund if he was convinced it was 100% the right thing to do. When I asked him what it would take to be 100% convinced, he wouldn't answer.

I opened a dispute with PayPal. He lied in the response, claiming GoDaddy told me there was something wrong with my account. GoDaddy never told me there was anything wrong with my account. They just gave me the option to buy the domains back from them. It's an option, not a debt I owe them.
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
Correct they changed it for GoDaddy names not some of their partners. But I think what you are saying is that Rick came out like that and they changed that one policy, so maybe some more heat they will change this one. But I think they said Rick had no effect on their decision about renewing and they seem to be more dug in on they will not have bidder id's, probably until someone sues or files a class action if they can find ways they were harmed, that's a real longshot IMO but who knows?
I don’t know if Rick has great timing with everything he does, but many bloggers, bidders, etc... have been gripping about that loophole for so many years, then Rick just ripped into it, and it got done real quick. I think they stated it was in the works already.

At this point many people were snipping the bids behind the scenes, and tipping off the losing registrants, so godaddy was losing out on that front, in the end the new policy is probably more profitable, and users got what they wanted so it all worked out.
 
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I don’t know if Rick has great timing with everything he does, but many bloggers, bidders, etc... have been gripping about that loophole for so many years, then Rick just ripped into it, and it got done real quick. I think they stated it was in the works already.

At this point many people were snipping the bids behind the scenes, and tipping off the losing registrants, so godaddy was losing out on that front, in the end the new policy is probably more profitable, and users got what they wanted so it all worked out.

I agree 100%
 
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As you can see in the Invoices I have attached in my post, I paid 550$ for both.

700$ is 150$ profit which is good for me.
You paid 550 for two 5N domains and seller paid % from them.
So the seller got much less than 250 for domain.
And you didnt adk yourself why the seller sold them so cheap?
 
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You paid 550 for two 5N domains and seller paid % from them.
So the seller got much less than 250 for domain.
And you didnt adk yourself why the seller sold them so cheap?
Liquid domains in the past few months in the non premium sense are selling at a discount. Sometimes people sell under market value if they are in need of fast cash rather than go thru an exchange and wait 2 weeks to get paid, and less 20%.

I don’t know the specifics for this case, but there is a scenario, and situation for every sale, and it is not always at full market value.
 
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This scene sucks for everyone.
Godaddy should bite the bullet for $700 and call it the price of doing business. I could understand if it was a million dollar transaction but $700 to Godaddy is nothing and shows goodwill. $700 to people on this board could be food and rent for a family.
@Joe Styler
 
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This scene sucks for everyone.
Godaddy should bite the bullet for $700 and call it the price of doing business. I could understand if it was a million dollar transaction but $700 to Godaddy is nothing and shows goodwill. $700 to people on this board could be food and rent for a family.
@Joe Styler

Shouldn't GD normally carry insurance against losses such as this?

Otherwise it make them like Netsol, a platform where you should never leave a name - either transfer out asap or even refuse to buy until owner has transferred out to a safe platform.

If they are saying a seller did not get payment, surely they should just restore the domain to the original seller only and stay out of any further selling?
 
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This can happen to anyone here as we all purchase secondary domains. Every business has some sort of bad debt account. Now is it that any domain we purchase thru the secondary market we need an auth code to transfer out to protect ourselves from them just helping themselves to whatever they want in our account, without having to give any explanation or reasoning why.

The next time it could be a $2-3K purchase, or what not. That is a powerful set of TOS that gives them over reach to repo a domain. I mean if someone purchased a tv at Costco, and they used a fake credit card, and sold it to you on craigslist, imagine Costco knocking down your door 3 months later walking into your house and just snatching it back.

I know many here don’t like anything being removed from their account, without any due course, or explanation. I totally get they need to make themselves whole, but they need to do a better job of screening auction participants to make sure copycats like this don’t happen. Good chance this person will try this again, or up their game for a higher potential name.

I mean some people here buy 4 figure names just based on quick payment, or flip, there is no way to screen for this. Maybe godaddy can sell repo insurance with every domain. There has to be a systematic approach to removing names from accounts giving current owners no matter past circumstance some due process.
 
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There are several ways that Godaddy could handle this without creating more victims. It seems the entire issue started on their platform. Wrestling the domains from an innocent victim really seems like a dishonest thing to do, whether it is in their ToS or not.

Most small and large companies can tell you of a time when they got burned. They had to eat it. It is a cost of doing business. Godaddy should suck it up, learn from it and do what they can so it doesn't happen again. Instead, they have ensnarled more victims into the mess that started on their platform.
 
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Undeveloped has a Buyer Protection Program.

https://undeveloped.com/help/trust-and-safety

Omer should take advantage of it. I can't. I didn't buy from them. And Undeveloped can't say anymore that no transaction has turned into a nightmare.

Hi Draco & Omer,

I'm sorry to see that the problem still hasn't been resolved.

Undeveloped provides buyer and seller protection to all customers that perform escrow at Undeveloped for the transaction conducted on our platform regardless of the payment or payout source.

Here's a summary of the situation from our perspective and why Undeveloped can't offer it's buyer protection program in this case as the liability shouldn't be placed with us:

1: The original Godaddy auctions user had bought the two domains using a credit card

2: The original Godaddy user receives the domains and sells them via Undeveloped to another person (Omer)

3: Omer receives the domain from us in his Godaddy account (transaction closed at Undeveloped)

4: Draco then acquired the domain directly from Omer

5: Godaddy shortly after puts a block on the domains and tries to recover a chargeback initiated by the first auction user from the new owner of the domain

If the original auction buyer had bought the domain at Undeveloped and performed a chargeback with us, we would have never even notified the seller of it and handled it ourselves. All Undeveloped users are protected from chargebacks and what not performed at Undeveloped but not on other platforms.

That's why in this case our buyer protection program isn't relevant because the disputed payment and escalation all happened outside our Marketplace.

Kind regards,

Reza
Undeveloped.com
 
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Good point where is your buyer protection plan @Undeveloped? Because you paid by Bitcoin why should that affect a buyer who never agreed that you do that. If you know crypto you know it can't be reversed, is this another parameter for all members, specify, I will not buy from your marketplace if you will pay the seller in crypto.

Equity, read the post before this one from me first.

That the seller is paid out in BTC has nothing to do with us not being able to cover this transaction under our own buyer protection program.

Our buyer protection program isn't designed as a insurance for when other platforms fail to put it out bluntly.

If the payment was initially made on our platform and a chargeback had been recorded, we wouldn't have tried to recover the funds from our seller and never have done that in the past.
 
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Actually, part of your buyer protection program states, "If the seller doesn’t deliver on their part for whatever reason, we refund you within 12 hours. No questions asked.". Key words there are FOR WHATEVER REASON. Omer bought the domains on your platform. They were taken back because they weren't legally the Seller's to sell because of a fraudulent chargeback or stolen credit card. So, the Seller didn't deliver.


Equity, read the above post from me first. That the seller is paid out in BTC has nothing to do with us not being able to cover this transaction under our buyer protection program.

Our buyer protection program isn't designed as a insurance for when other platforms fail to put it out bluntly.
 
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If the original auction buyer had bought the domain at Undeveloped and performed a chargeback with us, we would have never even notified the seller of it and handled it ourselves. All Undeveloped users are protected from chargebacks and what not performed at Undeveloped but not on other platforms.

That is the maturity I am seeking from Godaddy and other platforms.
Kudos to Undeveloped.
 
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So, the Seller didn't deliver.
The seller delivered. Very much delivered. A broker can only ensure guaranteed payment and guaranteed delivery of correct item.
Broker can not guarantee a good history of the item. The domain can very well be stolen. No broker in the world can guarantee that.
 
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Equity, read the above post from me first. That the seller is paid out in BTC has nothing to do with us not being able to cover this transaction under our buyer protection program.

Our buyer protection program isn't designed as a insurance for when other platforms fail to put it out bluntly.
The buyer protection is misleading. Obviously you don’t release funds until buyer confirms, you are using false advertising to label a buyer protection program. In order for the label to be present the transaction has to be completed so the buyer can be labelled an actual buyer. If nothing pushes the transaction is invalid, and no buyer exists.

Buyer protection in most cases covers buyers with a limited warranty after purchase. Your program simply refunds if no purchase is created. Aka probably meant for people who don’t take their domains off once they sell or drop them who used bin parking pages.
 
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The original chargeback is called a card not present (CNP) transaction, meaning that the cardholder is not physically present with the credit card for the merchant to examine at the time of the order. Without the standard security measures, such as checking identification, an online transaction is deemed far less secure. Given the riskiness of accepting an online transaction, the liability of accepting a fraudulent transaction rests with the merchant (Godaddy) themselves.
 
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It seems Godaddy is doing this:


Person A sold domain to Person B on Godaddy for Price1.

Person B sold domain to Person C via another escrow platform but domain remained registered at Godaddy, for Price2. Both parties signed off on escrow process.

Original payment to Person A at Godday failed, with delay.

Godaddy took domain from Person C and asked them to pay Godaddy Price1 to get the domains.



Why is Godaddy not pursuing Person B? Are they also offering the domain to Person B, and if so at Price1?

Does Person A actually agree to accept Price1 at this point? Does Person A still actually own/control the domain?


I can't see what authority or role Godaddy have to offer the domain to Person C or to set a price. Surely the original Godaddy transaction was just cancelled?
 
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The buyer protection is misleading. Obviously you don’t release funds until buyer confirms, you are using false advertising to label a buyer protection program. In order for the label to be present the transaction has to be completed so the buyer can be labelled an actual buyer. If nothing pushes the transaction is invalid, and no buyer exists.

Buyer protection in most cases covers buyers with a limited warranty after purchase. Your program simply refunds if no purchase is created. Aka probably meant for people who don’t take their domains off once they sell or drop them who used bin parking pages.

Unfortunately, that's not correct. We're not talking about releasing funds until the buyer confirms. Re-read back my earlier post for the details.

In essence, we safeguard our buyers and seller for payments performed AT undeveloped but not on other platforms. As I mentioned earlier, otherwise Undeveloped becomes the insurance company of all other platforms.

We will and have 100% safeguarded our sellers for payments conducted at Undeveloped so be careful with making hard statements that aren't accurate as other forum members might only read your comment and now ours.
 
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Actually, part of your buyer protection program states, "If the seller doesn’t deliver on their part for whatever reason, we refund you within 12 hours. No questions asked.". Key words there are FOR WHATEVER REASON. Omer bought the domains on your platform. They were taken back because they weren't legally the Seller's to sell because of a fraudulent chargeback or stolen credit card. So, the Seller didn't deliver.

The seller delivered the domain to us and we delivered it to the seller. I'm familiar with our rules.

When our seller delivered the domain to us the original auction buyer hadn't performed a chargeback yet at Godaddy and the domain had changed owners 3 times.

Again, I understand that this is a very bad situation for all parties involved but we're now targetted while none of the actual problems are instigated or caused by us.

For what it's worth, we've given our full attention at trying to solve this problem for the both of you and also offered to give Godaddy a call ourselves to clarify that both you and Omer weren't involved in fraud but Godaddy's initial auction bidder did.
 
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I'm totally shocked by that story. My trust level to Godaddy just dropped to 0%. And I just made the decission to move my entire portfolio out of Godaddy as soon as possible, and I had been a "premier service" client for years. That is totally outrageous! A registrar grabs a valuable domain of a client who bought it legally and legitimatelly from another seller in good faith? A registrar covers for their loss incured by third party by stealing from unsuspecting client? A registrar tries to extort a fee from a legal owner of a domain? I would inform the Interpol and have all the culprits at the registrar legally persecuted for criminal offence if it happened to me.
 
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The seller delivered the domain to us and we delivered it to the seller. I'm familiar with our rules.

When our seller delivered the domain to us the original auction buyer hadn't performed a chargeback yet at Godaddy and the domain had changed owners 3 times.

Again, I understand that this is a very bad situation for all parties involved but we're now targetted while none of the actual problems are instigated or caused by us.

For what it's worth, we've given our full attention at trying to solve this problem for the both of you and also offered to give Godaddy a call ourselves to clarify that both you and Omer weren't involved in fraud but Godaddy's initial auction bidder did.

Totally unrelated, but I wanted to know what would happen in the case of a stolen domain? If a buyer purchases a name from Undeveloped lander, completes the transaction and 3 months later the buyer has the name taken back from them due to a stolen domain situation, does the buyer get a refund?
 
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Totally unrelated, but I wanted to know what would happen in the case of a stolen domain?

And I would like to clarify whether a domain that is subject to a payment dispute is classified as stolen. Namely this:

A valuable painting is stolen. It is resold several times through various dealers and middlemen. I buy it from a reputable dealer. Then the owner finds I have it and I have to give it back, because it is stolen goods. No argument there.

But lets say instead the owner had sold it to a dealer A, who sold it on to Dealer B, then a whole chain of dealers before it reached me. But then it turns out Dealer A's payment to the original owner failed - stolen card, cheque bounced (some international cheque scams work because they take over 4 weeks to bounce and banks wrongly give you the funds before that), or chargeback. Now is the painting I bought technically stolen goods, or is it legitimately mine - and the original seller just has a payments problem and has to try to recover funds from Dealer A?

I wonder if @jberryhill can advise?
 
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The million dollar question is:
Would Godaddy take responsibility if the original scammer sold the domains through "Godaddy auction" platform instead of "undeveloped" and the (subsequent)buyer basically paid to godaddy for the "Stolen" domain??
@Joe Styler
Yes we do which is why you should use a platform like ours. So if you use us and sell a domain and it clears our checks we pay you. But scammers beware if you are trying to sell stolen goods on the auctions you are stealing from us and we will pursue it via other payments you have or the local authorities. We have a local presence in many countries and work with local law enforcement around the world.
 
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No we can't. We cannot give non public information.

But you can take their domain names? guess the op should file suit to at least get the name and know who caused them the $700 loss.
 
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Yes we do which is why you should use a platform like ours. So if you use us and sell a domain and it clears our checks we pay you. But scammers beware if you are trying to sell stolen goods on the auctions you are stealing from us and we will pursue it via other payments you have or the local authorities. We have a local presence in many countries and work with local law enforcement around the world.

Well how did you guys get scammed for $740, what checks were in place to make sure the payment was good. Because you did not take domains back from the person who scammed you, you took it from someone two steps later.
 
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