End-user cheating me...what would you do?

[lincolndsp]

In December 2009 I sold a .com domain (first name, last name) to the .net owner for $2xx. I proposed (as I usually do for such amounts with end-user sales)that he pay by wire transfer after I transfer the domain to his GD account. He agreed. I pushed the domain to him, and then weird things come up. My bank gets the transfer but cannot apply the payment to my bank account because there're some small errors in transfer details (omitted number in the account or no account details). So the bank's intermediary account with a US bank are correct - so my bank gets the payments, but the details of my bank account are with errors so my bank can't apply the funds to my account.

So the payment returned to the buyer, and we retried a couple of times - all times I couldn't receive the payment. He blamed everything on my bank - though I've had many transfers using this method - and all were OK. My bank is the largest in my country and has a very solid reputation and it assured me that all troubles are caused by the sending party.

I could never imagine he was scamming me. But the later developments made me strongly believe I won't receive money for my domain. In March 2010 I proposed that he send me a check. He agreed. It's May 2010 and I haven't received any check from him. though he stated that "it's in the mail" long time ago. Normally checks from the U.S to Ukraine travel no more than 2 weeks. Now I understand he is not willing to pay me. I contacted him about his paying me so many times, that it now appears I'm begging for my money. My trust in end-users has been shaken a bit - now only Escrow on $200+ sales.

maybe there's something I could do about this?

 

[mosilager]

See if you can file a protest with GD and see if they can transfer the domain back to you is all I can think off!

 

[John Baron]

i am sure godaddy wont do nothing about it , its your word against him , and he is an american .
i am sure that at this point you understand never to give the domain before you get paid for it and if its a real deal breaker - always make the outer party sign a sale agreement .

imo , there is not much i think you can do about it ,you are from the Ukraine right ? start hiring lawyers and such will cost you much more then the $200 , not to mention all the time you will have to waste for it .

why you dont just ask him to pay you via paypal ? its only $200

 

[lincolndsp]

as for paypal, it simply does not work for Ukraine, Russia... (I know about pp's ability to get your cash back:=)
as for lawyers, I don't even consider them.
as for GD, i understand they can do nothing about this.

you know, the buyer is not poor lol. He is the owner of Home-account.com business. Perhaps he would never pay me because he hates domainers because he couldn't get HomeAccount.com from Frank S. But this is my speculation only, as i can see no other reason why a wealthy man can't pay $2xx for the domain he bought.

 

[John Baron]

as for paypal, it simply does not work for Ukraine, Russia... (I know about pp's ability to get your cash back:=)

as for lawyers, I don't even consider them.

as for GD, i understand they can do nothing about this.

i see.

how big is he ? if he got a big company so its very unlikely for him to start scamming people and ruining his name for $200

 

[lincolndsp]

i see.

how big is he ? if he got a big company so its very unlikely for him to start scamming people and ruining his name for $200

I also thought like that. But you never know.

he has wealth admins, lawyers and so on. Besides he says that he has done everything OK, he does not admit it's his fault. And he knows I can't prove he's wrong because all deal was based on my trust to him - not vice versa. I know I should blame myself for this but I never expected such a situation with such a big fish.

 

[John Baron]

I also thought like that. But you never know.

he has wealth admins, lawyers and so on. Besides he says that he has done everything OK, he does not admit it's his fault. And he knows I can't prove he's wrong because all deal was based on my trust to him - not vice versa. I know I should blame myself for this but I never expected such a situation with such a big fish.

yeah , it sucks dude . i guess that when the domain is on his hands so the pressure to pay is not that strong , i am sure that his effort level of trying to get you the money would have increase dramatically if he would not had control over the name .

i think what you should do is this , send him an email asking for the name back - tell him 'ok - you cant pay for it ? no problem bring it back - i will find someone who can '

explain to him that a domain name is like any product - and holding on to the name without paying for it is simply act of stealing .

 

[.jd.]

So I'm curious to what type of answer you were hoping for? This is entirely your fault for not doing due diligence and relying on your buyer to pay after a name was sold. Learn from your mistake and move on.

.Jd.

 

[glaxxon]

I just don't seem to get why did you even give the domain before payment.
It's not a forum that you know or can trust another member. A domain is like a product and no product is given away before money is received.
Anyways there's nothing much you can do now. Take it as a lesson...
The only thing you can do is try convincing him or try 2checkout.com to receive money through paypal.

 

[lincolndsp]

thank you guys for your input.

 

[DnEbook]

live and learn friend , use escrow for your larger sales or sedo from now on , good luck

 

[lincolndsp]

yep, i think it's a good lesson since i will be more careful now. it will save me much more in the future.

 

[Ms Domainer]

*

It does no good to keep scolding lincolndsp. What is done is done, and we all take lessons from our mistakes.

Now for a concrete suggestion:

Tell the thief that he has one week to pay, and if he doesn't, you're going to splash his name and contact details on namepros and other forums. If he's so wealthy and famous, this is the best punishment, to have one's name sullied all over the internet. In his case, it will be deserved.

If that doesn't work, then, yes, it will be time to move on.

I'm rooting for you!

*

 

[Soofi]

I would have done the same if I was in your shoes.. so umm you havent doen anything wrong here.. just that circumstances havent made it easy for both of you.

Try giving him a week or two to send funds over to you or as ms domainer has already suggested, warn him of making the deal public and letting every one know of how him & his company operate.

good luck!

 

[lincolndsp]

thank you for your suggestions. will keep all updated about further developments.

 

[DubDubDubDot]

It's possible that fixing a $200 payment issue isn't a priority for him. From your perspective this looks like a scam. From his it looks like he is being given the run around between the failed wires and now a potentially lost check.

I'm sure you'll get paid, and I wouldn't be too aggressive about it yet.

 

[lincolndsp]

It's possible that fixing a $200 payment issue isn't a priority for him. From your perspective this looks like a scam. From his it looks like he is being given the run around between the failed wires and now a potentially lost check.

I'm sure you'll get paid, and I wouldn't be too aggressive about it yet.

as for the failed wires, he had almost half a year. I use the same info for my escrow.com wire transfers and so on - and all payments arrive quickly and without any problems.

i try not to be agressive at all. after all, we all live under the same sun, so i believe that if one screws another he will get what he deserves. so, no particularly intense worries or aggression because of this sum of money. i was just curious what my fellow NP'ers would do in such circumstances.

 

[wot]

*

It does no good to keep scolding lincolndsp. What is done is done, and we all take lessons from our mistakes.

Now for a concrete suggestion:

Tell the thief that he has one week to pay, and if he doesn't, you're going to splash his name and contact details on namepros and other forums. If he's so wealthy and famous, this is the best punishment, to have one's name sullied all over the internet. In his case, it will be deserved.

If that doesn't work, then, yes, it will be time to move on.

I'm rooting for you!

*

Point him to this thread to start with!

 

[werty]

When this happens, I usually just give them a call. It has never failed. There is not a single payment I have not been able to collect. Just call and be respectful.