GoDaddy Auction Seller Backing Out

[clarkemarketing]

Anyone ever won a GD auction just to have the seller claim they no longer own the domain? I won BlockchainLegal.com BlockchainTrust.com and BlockchainStack.com on GoDaddy a few weeks ago, paid, and then had the seller contact me to see if I received the domains yet (which I had not). I noticed that one of the domains was developed in the meantime, and wouldn't you know it today the seller contacts me to say he made a mistake and no longer owns all 3 of them. They are all still registered at GoDaddy btw (doesn't GD verify ownership of domains that are being auctioned?). Seems to me like I was "freerolled"... auction a name on GoDaddy, if it goes for a high amount sell it, if it doesn't just claim you no longer own the domain. Anyone have any thoughts on this? I've got to be one of the biggest buyers on GoDaddy auctions lately and other than never buying on that platform again I'm not sure what recourse I really have? I know people make mistakes, and I have overlooked such situations many times before, but this involves multiple names that quite frankly sold for significantly less than I was expecting to pay and now the seller is clearly trying to back out.

 

[wwwweb]

@wwwweb You should tell Joe the name so he can look into it and see why Huge Domains was allowed to do what you said they did.

WWWEB said:
I purchased a $2,700 domain thru godaddy auctions, that was owned by huge domains, huge domains claimed they repriced, and the update failed, and they wanted $3,300, godaddy said there was nothing they could do to get them to move the domain to me, even though I bought it at bin, and paid. They cannot force them to hand over the domain, they will either warn, or ban them. Not sure what you paid, but sure their inbox has some nice offers, so maybe some are sold, and the ones they still own they want to keep for a bigger payday. Given they own the foresight to own such names going back they must have some insight into the space.

Godaddy domains linked to the same selling account, are supposed to auto lock, and transfer once payment verification is completed. Your best is to get godaddy to contact them.

The domain was JJNX.com and I paid $2200 BIN for it actually now that I went back, and looked, it was during the chip run up, and HUGE DOMAINS got caught with their pants down, I guess they scrambled to update their short names, or what not. I was told they did a bulk price update, and maybe it overloaded their systems, and not everything was updated, and some prices were changed, and some were not. At some point during this process, I BIN'ed it, paid immediately via credit card, they sent Huge Domains request for auth code, but they never responded after a few weeks, and a look into the matter they refunded me as they said they can't make huge names transfer the name if they don't want to from namebright. My argument had no merit, and it was like hitting your head against a rock, wasn't going anywhere, so time to move on.

They still own the domain to this day, it is priced at $3,888, probably worth about half of what I bin'ed it at in 11-2015, instead that domain has sat dormant for 2.5 years, whereas they would have realized $2K from it, all good. Things were moving fast, many 4L chips got picked off quickly, but most people honored their deals, it's not like they were getting ripped off, I thought I paid a fair price. They just didn't want to honor a live sale, even though it was still owned by them, it would have been cool if godaddy banned them from the system, everyone would be saved from the huge domains auto bidder monster. A few weeks later they started putting that minimum bid of $97-$102 on any last 5 minute domain bid scramble, it was the beginning of the end for the common bidder.

 

[tonyk2000]

they will either warn, or ban them

GoDaddy banning hugedomains, this would be great

 

[MapleDots]

I could be wrong but it seems that he is advocating using our marketplace to locate domains and get an idea of the seller's pricing and then use that information to go outside our platform to complete the deal.
You as the seller if you have no idea of what is happening are not at fault.

You assume yours is the only marketplace we look at. Domains are often listed in numerous places and if I am an auction member at godaddy I would get banned for telling a domain owner they can save money on a private sale.

Many of your big sellers buy/sell in numerous places and they may download all of your inventory to draw inspiration. You don't ban them from auction because they are too big.

In the end though who really loses when godaddy bans?
GoDaddy loses the 20% but the domainer gets the domain.

Nothing to be scared of, there are a lot of marketplaces around including namepros. I see domains on godaddy all the time that I also see here. I'd better not ask to buy them though because just because they are also on godaddy I would risk getting banned!!

ie: I see it on namepros for 2k, I see it on godaddy for 2k
I come back and tell namepros member I should get it for 1.6k because there are no auction fees here.

Joe Styler reads the topic and the ban hammer comes down.

Yup, that's not too much power

 

[MapleDots]

Anyone ever won a GD auction just to have the seller claim they no longer own the domain? I won BlockchainLegal.com BlockchainTrust.com and BlockchainStack.com on GoDaddy a few weeks ago, paid, and then had the seller contact me to see if I received the domains yet (which I had not). I noticed that one of the domains was developed in the meantime, and wouldn't you know it today the seller contacts me to say he made a mistake and no longer owns all 3 of them. They are all still registered at GoDaddy btw (doesn't GD verify ownership of domains that are being auctioned?). Seems to me like I was "freerolled"... auction a name on GoDaddy, if it goes for a high amount sell it, if it doesn't just claim you no longer own the domain. Anyone have any thoughts on this? I've got to be one of the biggest buyers on GoDaddy auctions lately and other than never buying on that platform again I'm not sure what recourse I really have? I know people make mistakes, and I have overlooked such situations many times before, but this involves multiple names that quite frankly sold for significantly less than I was expecting to pay and now the seller is clearly trying to back out.

I bought a few domains in the 1k range and they ended not hitting my account.
It was a joke.

Now I just contact owners via whois and make my offer directly. It gives me an advantage over auctions because the seller saves the 20% auction fees.

Nothing says you can't look at auctions and make a few private deals with a couple of strategic whois inquiries.

As far as your situation goes..... if the domains have left the sellers hands there is very little you can do but move on. You have no recourse, godaddy has all the fine print stacked in their favor.

 

[equity78]

Anyone ever won a GD auction just to have the seller claim they no longer own the domain? I won BlockchainLegal.com BlockchainTrust.com and BlockchainStack.com on GoDaddy a few weeks ago, paid, and then had the seller contact me to see if I received the domains yet (which I had not). I noticed that one of the domains was developed in the meantime, and wouldn't you know it today the seller contacts me to say he made a mistake and no longer owns all 3 of them. They are all still registered at GoDaddy btw (doesn't GD verify ownership of domains that are being auctioned?). Seems to me like I was "freerolled"... auction a name on GoDaddy, if it goes for a high amount sell it, if it doesn't just claim you no longer own the domain. Anyone have any thoughts on this? I've got to be one of the biggest buyers on GoDaddy auctions lately and other than never buying on that platform again I'm not sure what recourse I really have? I know people make mistakes, and I have overlooked such situations many times before, but this involves multiple names that quite frankly sold for significantly less than I was expecting to pay and now the seller is clearly trying to back out.

These three names were all the names owned by Jane Both the lady who sadly passed away and a lot of her names were sold at GoDaddy auction, expiring.

BlockchainStack.com is in her name still
BlockchainLegal.com is owned by an Ira Rothken
BlockchainTrust.com under privacy

 

[MapleDots]

We say in our terms of service that if you find the domain on our auctions you cannot circumvent the auction. I am not a lawyer so I will refrain from saying what we can and cannot do and simply point you to the terms of service. https://www.godaddy.com/agreements/showdoc.aspx?pageid=dna_member
Specifically: Should GoDaddy determine (which determination shall be made by GoDaddy in its sole and absolute discretion) that you are circumventing the Services, GoDaddy reserves the right to terminate your account and cancel all of your listings.

This is different from finding a great name on your own and contacting the person directly. This is searching for and seeing names on our auction and then trying to cut us out of that auction which is sounds very much like Maple Dots is advocating in his comment. Find the name contact the owner directly and save them 20%. This behavior will get you banned. No one is saying you cannot find domains on your own and contact people as you please.

Go daddy auctions can be viewed by anyone so you cannot impose your TOS on the general public. If you publish it and don't wan't it to show up then put it behind a password protected barrier. One can go incognito, not signed in, and view all domains for sale.

Are you telling me I have less rights as a regular consumer if I am a member of your auction? If I have not bid and decide the domain is too expensive it is NOT my right as a consumer to contact who I see fit?

Just because you find out still should not give you the right to ban someone when they then want to place a bid on auction. It looks to me like godaddy wants to control the part of the aftermarket that does not even belong to them.

 

[Mr. Websites]

Any number of things could be happening here. We take things seriously if either the buyer fails to pay or the seller fails to deliver a domain.

@Joe Styler: You can give wishy-washy responses, but there aren't a "number of things".

It's pretty clear cut:

1. Seller accepted an offer (which obviously met their reserve and "minimum offer" to do so)
2. Transaction was approved, legally-binding the seller to transfer within 10 days (as per GoDaddy's own ToS)
3. GoDaddy claims seller accepted by mistake, and nonchalantly suggests paying 10x more
4. Domain is still listed on Afternic/GoDaddy at a higher price

Just so you don't feel I am hiding behind a keyboard, the case number is 01997886 to support all of the above.

Which implies:

1. GoDaddy doesn't care about enforcing its ToS
2. Your threats about pursuing buyers is laughable, because again, GoDaddy doesn't enforce its ToS
3. Afternic/GoDaddy is not a credible marketplace to perform transactions

 

[wwwweb]

I don't think they are in the owners account at godaddy, as they would auto lock with payment verification, and godaddy will transfer automatically, so most likely they are not in the same account that listed them for sale.

 

[BrandMart]

@Joe Styler
We would like to hear from GD itself. Isn't the seller liable to honor the deal?

 

[equity78]

So I can put my Namesilo and Namecheap domain into Godaddy auction?

Yes you can auction names not registered at GoDaddy, Premium Listings must be at GoDaddy.

 

[MapleDots]

Sedo has plenty of 3L.coms listed that are not owned by that seller account anymore.

I just listed 555 domains on sedo and a ton of them were already listed there by the previous owner. So yes the auctions do not verify ownership because those domains obviously belong to me and I had not listed them.

I'll be listing another 500 in the next few days because I'm really liking Sedo.

I'll have to keep an eye open to see if I get as many domains not hitting my account when I purchase them. I got some serious offers there right now.

I intend to do a full Sedo vs Godaddy review in the near future.

 

[wwwweb]

Yes but Sedo is a sales platform not register! These domains are registered at GoDaddy!!! How can you allow someone to sell a domain name on your auction platform, that is registered at your company, and then allow them to break the agreement because the final price was too low? It just seems ridiculous!

Names might have been added when they owned them, at somepoint they moved, and were never removed by the owner. The one still in her name, if in the same matching account should have a lock, and move when payment verification is completed. Unless they were pushed into a different account.

I purchased a $2,700 domain thru godaddy auctions, that was owned by huge domains, huge domains claimed they repriced, and the update failed, and they wanted $3,300, godaddy said there was nothing they could do to get them to move the domain to me, even though I bought it at bin, and paid. They cannot force them to hand over the domain, they will either warn, or ban them. Not sure what you paid, but sure their inbox has some nice offers, so maybe some are sold, and the ones they still own they want to keep for a bigger payday. Given they own the foresight to own such names going back they must have some insight into the space.

Godaddy domains linked to the same selling account, are supposed to auto lock, and transfer once payment verification is completed. Your best is to get godaddy to contact them.

 

[wwwweb]

GoDaddy banning hugedomains, this would be great

They got a mulligan, and then some.

It was amazing, supposedly they did a big price update, and it did not go as planned, I guess maybe it was slow, or delayed, but over a few hundred bucks, they wouldn't honor a sale on a name they had maybe a few hundred into. The value of their relationship must be into 8 figures by now. In terms of auction buying, and commission on their listed inventory.

They effectively found a cop out for not allowing them to honor a listed BIN purchase, it was a thing of beauty.

 

[MapleDots]

Joe GoDaddy has no authority to say someone can't contact another domain owner, some people use whois and would never check GoDaddy anyway. @MapleDots wasn't talking about expired domains, he was talking about someone having domains listed at GoDaddy.

@equity78 You've got it exactly right but that falls on deaf ears at godaddy, they seem to think they own the domains as soon as someone lists with them.

Person A lists a domain and it has no bids.

Person B decides the domain is too expensive but the minimum bid is 5k. Person B contacts via whois and says 4k direct is like 5k at auction. They make the deal, the auction was never involved.

Person B gets banned if godaddy finds out.

 

[MapleDots]

I think that @Joe Styler does not actively monitor Namepros member-to-member sales...There are too many sales promoted here, but Joe still has time to respond in GD/Afternic related threads (thanks Joe).

I was speaking hypothetically tony, I'm pretty sure you are right on that but if he did read the topic he would be required by godaddy policy to ban the user.

I am in no way attacking Joe, I think he does the best he can representing godaddy but that does not mean I cannot critique godaddy policies.

 

[Name Trader]

Well, considering I've bought domains off NP and other platforms then found out someone had them up for auction at GD (even though they hit my account) your problem doesn't shock me. Most likely they sold the domain and godaddy didn't end an auction, they probably had on there 30+ days and maybe even forgot. There is a reason many domainers say remove it from all platforms, that is so buyers like you don't win a domain only to find out they can't get it!

How hard would it be for GoDaddy to delete ANY auction listing at the time the domain hit's another account at GoDaddy. It should be a simple procedure.

 

[Daniel Owens]

@anantj @stub I'm pretty sure listing a domain that is on GD Auctions on sedo or another marketplace is against there TOS.

 

[tonyk2000]

@Joe Styler : On various occasions I received solicitations from various parties to purchase domains which:

- I sold some time ago

- Buyer received the domain name into their GD/Tucows/123reg account (or transferred it in)

- Buyer did not renew, so it was included into GD expiring auctions lists, which are deeply analysed by various parties

- Whois is either private OR "Go Daddy Redemption Services" so they can only look into historical whois and find... my email /among others in some cases/, as I indeed owned the domain in question some time ago.

These spammers are sending me emails as the result of analysing godaddys expiring auctions lists. They ask me to renew and sell it to them. Of course they are spamming outdated email - I do not own the domain(s) anymore, they were sold.

In some cases, emails were coming for domains with bids (not yet finished auctions), in other cases the domains were already listed but did not yet receive bids.

I beleive it is an exact case of what you called "circumventing the Services". Should I report such spam, and, if so, how / to what department?

 

[Name Trader]

@stub I guess it is a rather difficult process or it would be implemented @Joe Styler am I right?

I don't think it is a big programming problem to check any new domain in an account to see if it is listed in the aftermarket, and if it is, to delete it. The big problem only comes with the will-power to implement it.

 

[Name Trader]

Okay, I misunderstood your initial comment. Apologies for that. But this would also be problematic in cases where the domain changes accounts but the whois does not change (which it should not for changes in account owned by the same entitiy/owner. AFAIK, you are allowed to have more than one account at GD).

I'd have to bow to a higher authority than me about that @Joe Styler. But this could be handled by a secondary check on the account contact info against the GoDaddy Auctions whois info. And if they are identical then to keep the GoDaddy listing. But how many times does a customer push a domain with the exact same contact information to another account with exactly the same account contact info? What would be the point? I'd still go for the single rule, if the domain lands into any GoDaddy Account, then all previous Auction Listings should be deleted. I'm a simple man

 

[pokainc]

I was very annoyed by this plague on Godaddy also.. several times I bought a domain (buy now's in my case), was asked to pay, then to not get any response, then to have the same type of response by Godaddy that unfortunately the seller doesn't own the domain or didn't have the rights to sell it..

Another was an offer I had made, the "owner" sent it to 7 a day auction.. I won it.. and he never answered, then Godaddy notified me saying they will cancel the transaction and that they will supposedly take action or wtv...

 

[equity78]

I don't think they are in the owners account at godaddy, as they would auto lock with payment verification, and godaddy will transfer automatically, so most likely they are not in the same account that listed them for sale.

Wasn't that name being mentioned here, like checkout NameJet for Blockchainbet.com?

 

[MapleDots]

Depends on the price imho. If I have lets say 3 figures fixed BIN price on afternic/sedo/GD, I'll normally set instant transfer, and, if I am asked to sell directly or using other channels - I will, but the price will be higher - not 20% lower, as staff time (manual pushes, tracking payments etc) is costly. In other words, in some cases it is cheaper to outsource sale processing to marketplaces.

Maybe but on a 20k transaction there is 4k worth of wiggle room when dealing directly. That allowed me to get one of my best domains. That 4k made all the difference, the owner got the same price he wanted and I got what I wanted. Previously the domain was for sale for a number of years and the owner had a price in his head that he wanted. I told him his yield after commission was what I was offering. The deal was done and both of us are happy.

So I understand your point on administration and such but I'm sure on a 20k transaction you would not mind the little extra work to do it manually.

 

[MapleDots]

GoDaddy banning hugedomains, this would be great

Not a chance, trust me they are in bed together.

If I get time I'll pm you some links to read about all the shenanigans.