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/

 

[franka46]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1604233037809520640

 

[Grilled]

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.

 

[franka46]

Happy Hanukkah!​ We are wishing you and yours peace and light this holiday season.​

 

[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

 

[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.

 

[frank-germany]

No.

This is what happens when you act as a "self-governing" escrow agent and thumb your nose at proper licensing and regulations.

Brian Royce already said that under Rob's leadership these funds were "commingled". That is a massive no-no in business.

People in professional fields like law, finance, real estate, etc. would lose their licenses or face even more serious consequences for these type of actions.

Brad

don't forget it's "the Lord's Registrar"
so help will come for sure

by the way
rob.monster is for sale

 

[dirk]

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.

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.

 

[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.

 

[NameInbox]

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.

What kind of issue ?

 

[frank-germany]

I am not posting anything to do with Epik anymore .
I hope everything works out for everybody .
Remember ;
Rob is praying every day for all of you and even for his enemies LOL

I really wish he stops praying
at least for me

the german word is "Heuchler"

 

[DNabc]

@NameInbox an issue of a domain that was past the 30 days but before the 35 days per my old agreement. They removed the domain before the change was announced and said they can't return it.

 

[dirk]

@NameInbox an issue of a domain that was past the 30 days but before the 35 days per my old agreement. They removed the domain before the change was announced and said they can't return it.

Check the domain status with a whois lookup. That should let you know whether or not the domain can be returned.

As it's probably still in redemption or grace they can and should return it, even if it would mean they'd have to eat the redemption fee themselves.

If they won't, file an Icann complaint if you have any proof of the promised extended grace period.

 

[dnlucky]

Does anyone know of any domain attorneys who are representing people with regard to Epik?

 

[bhartzer]

Does anyone know of any domain attorneys who are representing people with regard to Epik?

If you send me a PM I can recommend a few I know about.

 

[Michele Dinoia]

Hi, about this: "If you send me a PM I can recommend a few I know about." can you please help me and give me some email address of lawyer, I'M having very big problems with Epik that are stolen my domains

 

[NameBuyer.com]

Hi, about this: "If you send me a PM I can recommend a few I know about." can you please help me and give me some email address of lawyer, I'M having very big problems with Epik that are stolen my domains

Several of us are having the same issue. Stolen domains then using extortion to collect $99-$199 for domains that were taken with no notice of the policy change and no one-time grace restoration offered as would have been under Rob.

In my case, it was about 20 domains, so they wanted me to pay $1,980-$3,980 to restore those domains even though there was zero notice before they changed their policy for me from 35 to 30 days.

 

[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

 

[frank-germany]

Does anyone know of any domain attorneys who are representing people with regard to Epik?

rob.monster

( domain name )
for sale