news Epik continues to dig out from financial mess

[NameInbox]

Domain name registrar Epik continues to dig itself out of a financial hole, but new problems continue to pop up.

The registrar offers a type of store credit called Masterbucks along with an in-house escrow service. Epik was using money from both of these to fund its operations rather than keeping the funds in separate bank accounts. The company also didn’t have an escrow license.

It wasn’t apparent that the money was being used to fund operations (or otherwise unavailable) until customers became spooked that they wouldn’t be able to get their money back. That created what amounted to a run on the bank — and Epik didn’t have the funds to pay back all of its customers.
Epik brought in new management in September that is chipping away at these debts, but it doesn’t have the cash on hand to fund operations and make everyone whole today. It’s in triage mode, taking any new profits that come in and paying them out as available.

Recently, the company sent an email to some customers stating:

When new management took over Masterbucks, the balance was approximately 4.5 million dollars. Through our dedicated and expeditious efforts, the new management team has brought that number down to just over $800k and change.

But last week, a representative of domain seller DomainEmpire posted a review on TrustPilot saying it has a balance of $1.5 million in Masterbucks that it has not been able to withdraw. It accrued this money from domain sales, it stated.

According to DomainEmpire, former Epik CEO Rob Monster offered it 6% annual interest if it kept its money in Masterbucks.

I asked new CEO Brian Royce yesterday via email about DomainEmpire’s $1.5 million debt. He said the number was news to him. He also said that the $800k quoted in the email was no longer correct even without the DomainEmpire number, because he just became aware of another debt of over $300,000 that wasn’t in Masterbucks, bringing the total (without DomainEmpire) to $1.1 million.

It seems that there is no clear record-keeping for the new management, which adds to the challenge.

More details about the blowup at Epik this year are starting to trickle out. A former contract EVP of Operations for Epik sued the company this year, saying he has not been paid. The case was settled. In a court filing (pdf), an attorney for Epik wrote:

While working for Epik, the Plaintiff began working with one of Epik’s chief customers–JJE. JJE offered and invested into a plan for ownership in Epik. Within a few months, however, JJE changed its position and asked Epik if JJE could divest from their investment in Epik. As an agreement and negotiations between Epik and JJE progressed, JJE broke off from their original offer to Epik and negotiated for a settlement.

Monster had previously said the company received a $32 million investment. That investment didn’t fully come to fruition.


source: https://domainnamewire.com/2022/12/01/epik-continues-to-dig-out-from-financial-mess/

 

[Mister Funsky]

Epik continues to dig itself out of a financial hole

In my case, they have not attempted any 'digging out'.

Epik/Masterbucks still owes me xx,xxx.

 

[Chris Hydrick]

Just had a message from Brian . I think we have to give him some time get all the problems sorted out .
He just has to ''remove'' some dead wood,etc .
Also he is definately NOT a Rob Monster clone .

Can you elaborate?

 

[NameInbox]

Trustpilot:

Show attachment 227881
LOL !

or even less =)

 

[MasterOfMyDomains]

Remove some dead wood. Is he doing some pruning?
I work in orchards and we prune dead wood a lot.
In opening post actually first sentence you were angry and sad. Sounds like your feeling a little less blue.
We hope you werent bullied or forced into this change of heart.
You dont look like the type to be intimidated, intimate yes, intimidated, no
You big hunk of love, share all the details

 

[NYJimbo]

Co-mingling funds? Lol no. No No No. What is so difficult about that. What precisely were customer funds used for?

I wouldnt be surprised if they invested it in crypto and it all crashed.

 

[Chris Hydrick]

I am also pretty sure they are still not licensed to operate as an escrow agent in their home state of Washington.

*This service is not available to residents of Idaho, Texas and Washington.

 

[GoKaizen]

Royce claims paused Escrow.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1604987586086404096

 

[DNabc]

Epik changed expiration renewal days out of the blue, those that had grace periods of 35+ days (extended by being Namepros members or other reasons) just got defaulted to 30 days without warning.

 

[Michele Dinoia]

well, not only that to me, last week I renewed hundreds of .me domains, I was billed and I get the receipt about renewal, after 2 hours I get the email saying that the domain was deleted and if I want to restore I need to pay $ 90 for each domain, also they deleted 245 premium, aged .com domains with the joke of 30/35 grace period and now they are asking $ 39K to restore the domains, I discovered that some domains was already sold to other customer, and is not finished, this morning I discovered that 5 VERY PREMIUM domains left my account without not even arrived to expiration day, the domain was transferred to registrar key-systems.net , they are stolen domains that are not even get to the expiration day. the domain stolen has the following dns: NS1.NDSPLITTER.COM NS2.NDSPLITTER.COM NS3.NDSPLITTER.COM

 

[GoKaizen]

Was not aware of this change and it doesn't look like I ever got an email about it.

That last sentence shows that domain investors are an important customer base for Epik.

Got this by mail:
Epik has recently made a change to the grace renewal policy. As you are aware, Epik only gave a 15-day grace period. Well, we have listened and heard our customers. Our grace renewal period is now 30 days, which starts on the day of expiration. Please do note this 30-day grace period does not apply to all GLTDs/cctTLDs, so we encourage you to make sure you still log in and take note of the "renew by" date listed inside of your Epik account.

For those of you who might have had your grace renewal period altered in the past, your grace period is set to 30 days as well.

Epik is here to support all types of end-user or domain investors. We greatly appreciate your business. Have a wonderful week ahead.

 

[Embrand]

Was not aware of this change and it doesn't look like I ever got an email about it.

That last sentence shows that domain investors are an important customer base for Epik.

I haven't received it either.

 

[bmugford]

Icann can offer a prompt support regarding domains illegitimately stolen/locked/not renewed from the registrar Just submit your complaint here by specifying exactly the involved names, registrar, account id and by providing screenshots to proof what you're asserting is true:
https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/complaints-2013-03-22-en

You'll get a reply within few days after that they'll give a deadline of 5 days to the registrar to release your names/fix the related issues.

Multiple complaints will soon result in the lost of their Icann accreditation.
I saw this happening a couple of times several years back with small non cooperative registrars though I can't recall to the mind the involved registrar names ...

@DomainEmpire.com You reported what I believe is, by far, the largest amount owed to a customer by Epik.

Has Epik done anything since you reported that to try and resolve this?

Just curious.

Brad

 

[Kai W.]

EPIK's initial success could not have been achieved without you.

 

[Kai W.]

With the Great Recession market, any registrar could be in a similar situation, no one can be sure. Maybe only Cheap and Daddy can laugh at this time

Their situation is of their own making, not the making of a recession market.

I'm not putting in a good word for epik, I'm trying to make the point that we should be sensitive to every registrar. You need to be vigilant for your property and not just follow KOI.
It may be epik now, but perhaps someday soon another registrar will be in a similar situation due to the Great Recession environment? We should be so vigilant that once we notice something unusual in the details, we should react to protect our assets.

 

[branding]

I hope you weren't bullied, manipulated, or intimidated into changing your tune.

They're not shy trying to silence people so who knows.

Try asking some critical stuff at thedeadforum.com and see what happens.

E has a rotten core.

 

[domainer111]

Co-mingling funds? Lol no. No No No. What is so difficult about that. What precisely were customer funds used for?

 

[kool1]

Not trying to draw any sort of correlation here, but I'd never heard the term 'commingled funds' before this week.

1st instance: SBF in prison. https: //cointelegraph.com/news/bankman-fried-claims-i-unknowingly-commingled-funds-at-dealbook-summit

2nd instance: resolution pending

 

[bmugford]

Ah ,Now we know ,Domainers are NOT important for Epik.com

Nice attitude.

That explains why they are still offering "escrow" services while sticking domain owners AKA suckers with Masterbucks that can't be withdrawn.

I am also pretty sure they are still not licensed to operate as an escrow agent in their home state of Washington.

Brad

 

[NameInbox]

ALL names away from Epik
as @D Haynes wrote
It's sounds like a motto.
ALL names away from Epik

p.s. #beepik.com is for sale on HD =)

 

[GoKaizen]

How Epik's new CEO views Domain Investors.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1604175243740078082

Hattip @bmugford

 

[DNabc]

Yes, they sent that many hours after the change, I personally inquired how such a thing could happen without informing us. I still have an issue and I'm waiting for resolution.

 

[Michele Dinoia]

Was not aware of this change and it doesn't look like I ever got an email about it.

That last sentence shows that domain investors are an important customer base for Epik.

I was not aware too, when I received the email saying that my domains was dropped, I immediately contacted Mr Sufyan that told me that they sent the email about the change to all customer and he can see on his system that I received the email (never received) and that I read the email, lol, I searched everywhere and I didn't saw the email, they refused to restore the domains and after that I find from other people that they did not received the emai and that the change was made the same hours they say that they sent the email out.

 

[Kai W.]

Any data privacy-conscious user logging in through EPIK's SSO system will notice that this is an unusual way to use data. Then, when the attentive user withdraws the first funds via MB, he should also notice what kind of payment gateway would allow cross-domain processing of transactions(For me, selling through nameliquidate and withdrawals through MB), which does not meet the criteria for automated transactions. Although the amount was very small, after completing my first withdrawal, I left there.

The root of the problem is not the cost of running EPIK, but how they treat users' assets (domains, sales revenue and personal data). Shouldn't decision makers be limited to corporate revenues when considering how to dispose of profits? (for EPIK, their revenues are limited to domain registrations, renewals, aftermarket commissions and other business revenues). But now, it's tapping into users' funds, which could face very serious charges.

 

[Kai W.]

With the Great Recession market, any registrar could be in a similar situation, no one can be sure. Maybe only Cheap and Daddy can laugh at this time

I just tried to express it in a shorter description, and I didn't expect it to generate so much disagreement

 

[marijuanadomain]

When an individual steals money, s/he goes to jail
When a company steals money from their employees( not giving back the tips)/customers, or the company products are defective and caused accidents(Boeing), the CEO blames their managers and admits not wrongdoing !
and the company gets a minor fine. and the CEO gets more money!