GoDaddy / Afternic Auction Scam (Must Read)

[DomainAuction]

Bought a domain on GoDaddy Auctions on November 25, 2017 for $420, the seller communicated thorougly knowing the selling price but was taking a longgg time to simply call GoDaddy to finalize the transfer. GoDaddy would tell me they are awaiting his call, I let the seller know and he replies saying "I forwarded your email to Afternic, they should take care of it for you" ...

It's now December 11, 2017 and after indirectly emailing the seller telling his lazy ass to call GoDaddy to get the ball rolling I get an almost immediate reply from an Afternic broker claiming the listing on GoDaddy was fom the domain's previous owner and the current owner's asking price is $1,800.

Here's what happened...

A) Broker wanted more and convinced buyer to sell for more ... OR ...

B) Buyer backed out, contacted the broker and seeked advice to sell for more ..

I am going to purse legal action if I am not fully refunded my money with 48 hours (I don't care if they need to wire it; they have policies, but so do I ...) OR they put the domain in my account at the price I purchased in for nearly 3 weeks ago. If this is not resolved within 48 hours they will be sued for money laundering, financial damages, and illegal business practices.

 

[bmugford]

I have no idea what happened here, but the reality is a lawsuit is going to likely cost tens of thousands of dollars in an actual court regardless of the merits. Does that really make sense for a $420 domain?

If they are not willing to resolve this to your satisfaction, a more realistic option is to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. You will certainly get more than some canned customer service response to that.

Brad

 

[Kpett]

Many times I have picked up a domain name on the dropped list - then try to put on GoDaddy as a premium listing - but I get an error saying the domain is already listed on GoDaddy auctions. I contact their auctions folks, they remove the old one, then I can put mine on at my price. If I didn't ever go to GoDaddy to list the domain name I picked up on the dropped list, it would remain in GoDaddy auctions for someone (like you) to try and buy. Only then would they find out it was an old listing from someone who let the name drop. Happens a lot.

 

[erchaman]

Since month ago I stopped giving a penny to a godaddy corporation. That’s all. Despite the amount of money they spend o Seo, they have the worst customer service ever. I am moving my best domains to other registrars. In a few I won’t have anything there I hope.
Best wishes mate and wish it will be solved soon. Keep on going.

 

[Mr.company]

godaddy itself is a scam.
Domain: BHABIE.COM
Date Sold: 03 September 2017
Listing Price: $99.00
I sold this domain on godaddy and never got paid for,contact few times,and they never answer.

 

[Name Trader]

@omelet - You should never put your hosting with the same company that registers the domain. There have been numerous incidents, where Registrars (ie GoDaddy) have blocked the traffic to a domain, because in their wisdom, they were of the opinion there was something fishy going on. And they always block about 4pm Arizona time when their department which deals with this goes home for the weekend. They are a very aggressive bunch of individuals. You should definitely NOT host at GoDaddy (at all) but particularly when your domains are at GoDaddy. My recommendation would be to get a non-GoDaddy host, IMMEDIATELY.

If you get into a dispute over hosting, they will block the transfer of domain to another registrar. Guaranteed.

 

[omelet]

If i decide to sue (if they dont do EXACTLY what I say); join me. The more people who feel scammed, the better.

Even I know that history will prove Godaddy gonna have no future, however, I still doubt you would win in this battle.

Large corporation like Godaddy would not give our grass root customers a "something not smells good".

 

[DomainAuction]

They have 0% chance with me. No need to explain why and/or how. They have 48 hours to prevent being sued.

 

[omelet]

Since month ago I stopped giving a penny to a godaddy corporation. That’s all. Despite the amount of money they spend o Seo, they have the worst customer service ever. I am moving my best domains to other registrars. In a few I won’t have anything there I hope.
Best wishes mate and wish it will be solved soon. Keep on going.

I m moving 2-3 names per day away from godaddy recent days...I m planning to move 95% of names away.

 

[urlurl]

i had to contact afternic and sedo on several cases to remove listing from previous owners, it happens

 

[Haroon Basha]

Don't worry, Godaddy will refund your money 100%. It is possible that the previous owner did not remove the listing, it happens to many. There is no life in your case if Godaddy prove that the listing was from the previous owner. Better wait a few days, and get back your money.

 

[DomainAuction]

godaddy itself is a scam.
Domain: BHABIE.COM
Date Sold: 03 September 2017
Listing Price: $99.00
I sold this domain on godaddy and never got paid for,contact few times,and they never answer.

No worries, if their legal team feels superior and/or takes my demands lightly I will form an alliance with everyone they've done wrong within a matter of days and we will all get our money back + more.

 

[Mr.company]

I will be happy to form an alliance,even if i have to build a website list for it.
People are losing money out of their pockets because of their incompetence.

 

[Mr.company]

I have a domain - dairi.es that i want to list,but cant list because its allready listed by someone doesnt even own it.
Godaddy a multi-million company business doesnt do a domain clean check up,sedo.com does,why is that really.

 

[erchaman]

I have a domain - dairi.es that i want to list,but cant list because its allready listed by someone doesnt even own it.
Godaddy a multi-million company business doesnt do a domain clean check up,sedo.com does,why is that really.

Simple:
Godaddy = Afternic
Afternic= Godaddy
The incompetence on ones it’s the incompetence of the other.

 

[gilescoley]

This is pretty common. I have purchased names with a BIN at Sedo before only to be told by a Sedo rep that the old owner had not removed the listing after selling the name.

You might wan to read the fine print in their T&C before even thinking about a lawsuit, Im sure they would have themselves covered.

Good luck though, it can be frustrating.

 

[omelet]

Yes. Godaddy is a company not so cares about small details. Lots of unhappy things happened btw me and them.

 

[DomainAuction]

If i decide to sue (if they dont do EXACTLY what I say); join me. The more people who feel scammed, the better.

 

[Domains Ted]

I think afternic/ godaddy people are correct .. dont sue them..
same thing happen with me for my domain.. previous owner's price was appearing on afternic..
personally i need to contact customer care of afternic and removed old price.
later on i kept new price...

 

[tonyk2000]

Honestly, I do not think that GoDaddy or Afternic would have knowinlgly risked their reputation (or spend any noticeable human time or efforts) to potentially gain higher commission from $1800 sale vs $420 sale. In either case their commission amount for such a sale is not even a "pocket money" for such a big company, it is _irrelevant_ amount for the company profits. So it is likely that the problem is not with GD or Afternic, but with the seller who elected to increase price, or, possibly, duplicate outdated listings.

 

[stewmath]

What i dont understand is the fact it was a godaddy auction, which means somebody had to submit it to auction, then it gets reviewed before it goes live. So i would presume ownership verification would be checked prior to the auction starting

 

[pablohc86]

Don't worry, Godaddy will refund your money 100%. It is possible that the previous owner did not remove the listing, it happens to many. There is no life in your case if Godaddy prove that the listing was from the previous owner. Better wait a few days, and get back your money.

I agree.. I've already found a domain name that I own listed for sale at afternic from a precedent owner.. What they said it may be true

 

[Haroon Basha]

What i dont understand is the fact it was a godaddy auction, which means somebody had to submit it to auction, then it gets reviewed before it goes live. So i would presume ownership verification would be checked prior to the auction starting

Afternic check ownership verification before they include in the listing. The problem comes only when the old owner failed to remove the listing from Afternic.

 

[erchaman]

Afternic check ownership verification before they include in the listing. The problem comes only when the old owner failed to remove the listing from Afternic.

So they don’t do nothing to encourage the old owner to do their work properly. Just cashhhh

 

[xynames]

"Lisi" from GoDaddy replied to my Twitter rant; here's my reply...

You managed to write all that on TWTR? I counted 1664 characters in your reply.