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.

 

[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.

 

[equity78]

It is the same as I said, the original listing party no longer owns that domain.

Whois shows it was created in 2014, and the same owner owns it since.

 

[equity78]

No you do not have any way to know if the buyer is coming because they saw your domain listed on the auction. You would not be at fault.
I am simply saying that what Maple Dots is advocating is against our terms of service, finding domains on the auction and after looking for them for the purpose of buying and then going outside our marketplace to complete the transaction.
His comments seem to indicate this as he quotes our commission and stated that there are names he found there and then went to the owner directly.
So for instance a name he saw listed for sale for $20k and then went to the owner to get for $16k seemingly to save himself the $4k by not buying it on the marketplace.
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.

To be fair there is no way you would know any of this unless the person specifically said, "Hi I am ****** I see your name on GoDaddy, want to sell it privately?" And that person contacts you.

I am sure there are plenty of emails sent to owners where the name is also listed at GoDaddy but the person never checked GoDaddy. Without someone putting that qualifier in there that they found you on GoDaddy there is no way to prove anything or ban anyone.

 

[equity78]

That depends. I don't know what happened here. I don't have a domain to look at. Normally yes unless we are at fault or something technical caused an error there is action taken against the seller.

@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.

 

[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.

 

[Name Trader]

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...

1st Offense: $10 fine, 2nd Offense: $50 fine, 3rd Offense: Banned for life (also applies if you don't pay fines)

 

[Name Trader]

GoDaddy banning hugedomains, this would be great

Perhaps it's their 1st Offense ? But c'mon. If you or I pulled this kind of stunt it, just saying we repriced the domain and hadn't got around to correcting our price on GoDaddy. There would be a different result. @Joe Styler

 

[Name Trader]

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.

I'd appreciate some links too.

 

[anantj]

If you are advocating that people use our auction marketplace to find potential domains to purchase and then purchase them outside of the auction that is a problem.

Does that extend to expired domains as well? Say I see an expired domain on auction and decide I'd like to wait for it to drop and hand register it. By your logic (and ToS, IANAL), I'm in violation of GD's ToS since I did discover the domain on GD Auctions

 

[anantj]

No you do not have any way to know if the buyer is coming because they saw your domain listed on the auction. You would not be at fault.
I am simply saying that what Maple Dots is advocating is against our terms of service, finding domains on the auction and after looking for them for the purpose of buying and then going outside our marketplace to complete the transaction.
His comments seem to indicate this as he quotes our commission and stated that there are names he found there and then went to the owner directly.
So for instance a name he saw listed for sale for $20k and then went to the owner to get for $16k seemingly to save himself the $4k by not buying it on the marketplace.
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.

I have domains listed on several marketplaces (Afternic, GD Auctions, Sedo, Undeveloped etc). Now if I receive an inquiry which I decline and then the buyer goes and purchases the domain on another marketplace where say I had a lower offer price or BIN, am I in violation of GD's ToS?

 

[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]

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

 

[Name Trader]

I have domains listed on several marketplaces (Afternic, GD Auctions, Sedo, Undeveloped etc). Now if I receive an inquiry which I decline and then the buyer goes and purchases the domain on another marketplace where say I had a lower offer price or BIN, am I in violation of GD's ToS?

Apparently not. Since this is what GoDaddy allowed HugeDomains to do.

 

[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.

 

[Name Trader]

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.

Could you define the words "our auctions"? Are fixed priced listings are/are not covered by the same policy?

 

[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?

 

[anantj]

Apparently not. Since this is what GoDaddy allowed HugeDomains to do.

I think HD situation was different. HD'd domain was purchased on GD but they backed out stating a pricing error. Here, there are two different marketplaces in play

 

[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.

 

[anantj]

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.

It would be if all registrars decided not to play nice with other registrars to display whois like GD does.... Oh so ironic it would be!

 

[Name Trader]

I think HD situation was different. HD'd domain was purchased on GD but they backed out stating a pricing error. Here, there are two different marketplaces in play

Aren't there 2 marketplaces in play here also? GoDaddy Auctions and HugeDomains?

 

[Name Trader]

It would be if all registrars decided not to play nice with other registrars to display whois like GD does.... Oh so ironic it would be!

I'm sorry. But I don't get your point. If a domain hits a GoDaddy account, they should check to see if it is listed on Godaddy Auctions, and if it is, GoDaddy should delete the GoDaddy Auction Listing, because it wasn't listed by the current owner. That has nothing to do with whois info.

 

[anantj]

Aren't there 2 marketplaces in play here also? GoDaddy Auctions and HugeDomains?

No. In this case, HD is just the seller and not a marketplace.

 

[anantj]

I'm sorry. But I don't get your point. If a domain hits a GoDaddy account, they should check to see if it is listed on Godaddy Auctions, and if it is, GoDaddy should delete the GoDaddy Auction Listing, because it wasn't listed by the current owner. That has nothing to do with whois info.

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).

 

[wwwweb]

@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?

[email protected]

 

[Name Trader]

No. In this case, HD is just the seller and not a marketplace.

Well. I think that is kinda splitting hairs when they are listing millions of domains But I get your point.