GoDaddy Expiring Auctions... Do you think this is fair?

[zurc.net]

Okay, I was involved in an auction that ended this past Tuesday. Long story short, I lost, but this is how it went down.

• First day of Auction, Bidder 1 is winning with inital bid of $10.
• I outbid him by putting in a proxy bid of $102, I am now the current high bidder at $15.
• Two days before auction ends, my bid is ran up to $72, I am still high bidder.
• Last day of auction my bid is ran up and I lose to Bidder 3 (Only three of us were participating, Bidder 1 with only the initial bid, myself and Bidder 3).
• Bidder 3 decides he doesn't want the domain anymore, so they offer it to me on Saturday and tell me I have 24 hours to pay $72 for the domain + $15 for the .net renewal + ICANN fee's, comes out to $87.17.

But why do I have to pay $72 when if Bidder 3 never came into the picture, I would of won the domain for $15 ? Sounds a bit shady doesn't it? So my bid is ran up and of course the winner doesn't pay and now they want me to pay an inflated price for the domain which only got to that point because this Bidder 3 ran up the price?

Can someone please explain this to me? I called Godaddy on two different occasions to get an explanation, was on the phone each time for more than a half an hour (mostly waiting while they talked between themselves about this matter) and never got a clear answer. Only telling me You can pay the $72 + additional fee's, or you do not have to buy the name. Those are your choices.

Really?

What do you all think? Is there someone who can explain to me thoroughly as to why I should pay the $72? If someone can, I will happily pay for the domain at this price, but as of right now I have a bad taste in my mouth over this situation and I don't want to touch it.

Thanks,
-Mike C.

 

[Name Trader]

Well it's not fair. So do you want the domain or not?

 

[zurc.net]

Ah. Then I agree with you. They should strip away all his bids and offer it to you for $15. Did you mention that to them? If there was a fourth bidder they should be offering it to them, not you.

I just checked your first post. You said the buyer offered it to you. Not GoDaddy.

No, I said "they", "they" as in godaddy. Everyone else seemed to understand completely well, but its all good...

 

[DomainAvalanche]

I don't think that makes much sense either. I try to stay away from GoDaddy anymore as they have a lot of shady business practices in my opinion.

 

[Name Trader]

That was not clear to me that you meant GoDaddy. You were talking about the buyer. But no problem that is clarified.

 

[zurc.net]

Well it's not fair. So do you want the domain or not?

I obviously do and at this point considering I am not getting any responses to my emails, I am going to end up paying $87.14 for it after fee's just not to lose it. Does getting the name make me happy? Yeah. But having to pay an inflated price due to a non-paying bidder that only has the intention of raising the prices, then not receiving responses to my (three) emails now to godaddy, does not make me feel very comfortable with my purchase, nor using them ever again.

My only argument here at this point is the principle of this situation, but it seems people are comfortable about getting ripped off, I for one, are not.

 

[Name Trader]

I'm not comfortable with being ripped off. I agree that they should be offering it to you at $15, or the fourth bidder at $72. If I was in your shoes, I probably wouldn't buy it, even though I was prepared to pay $102 for it. Have you asked for the issue to be escalated?

Aren't these offers from Godaddy only valid for 24hrs? It's now past that since you first posted.

 

[zurc.net]

I'm not comfortable with being ripped off. I agree that they should be offering it to you at $15, or the fourth bidder at $72. If I was in your shoes, I probably wouldn't buy it, even though I was prepared to pay $102 for it. Have you asked for the issue to be escalated?

The only way to escalate it is to email [email protected] which I have done, on saturday and have yet to receive a response other than the automated email letting me know my email has been received.

 

[Name Trader]

You haven't asked anyone to have "a higher up" look at it?

 

[zurc.net]

You haven't asked anyone to have "a higher up" look at it?

of course, but their managers just say the same thing, email [email protected] - apparently you cannot get on the phone with tdnam, they only do emails.

 

[Name Trader]

OK. Then I think you have lost the domain. Pick it up on the drop.

 

[zurc.net]

It's still in my account to purchase if I want to at the inflated price. On the phone with them again for the 6th time to see if I can at least get a response to my emails.

---------- Post added at 06:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:20 PM ----------

Lol, this is funny. Still on the phone with them, they say they can't display "Bidder 4" on the bid history, but the girl goes on to tell me everyones name in the auction... "Mike (me), Andre, Steve and Peter. So "Bidder 4" is a security issue, but there real names are not? C'mon godaddy... requesting to speak to a super visor now, on hold.

---------- Post added at 06:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:33 PM ----------

I have been nothing but professional and respectful on the phone with Godaddy about this situation, I was put on the phone with a "Kendall B." (this is a man, err should say boy), and he was incredibly ignorant and arrogant about the situation.

This is what I was told by him:

"You can pay the $72 or we will move onto the next buyer. We do not have to give you any information about bidding history or why we are charging you this amount. You can call 6 more times and the price is NOT going to change, keep sending emails and you may get a response."

How unprofessional and shady is that? Everyone who I have spoken to at Godaddy, no matter how clueless they were, never treated me like that and knowing this is coming from a "Manager" I am completely disgusted.

I have 27 domains set to renew at godaddy alone this month and you can be sure as hell I will be transferring them out to Moniker instead, that goes for the couple hundred other names I have with them too.

Congratulations Kendall B. and Godaddy, you just lost a 6-year loyal customer and not because I have to pay $72 for this name, but because of the way I was just treated on the phone.

 

[GiftedDomains]

"You can pay the $72 or we will move onto the next buyer. We do not have to give you any information about bidding history or why we are charging you this amount. You can call 6 more times and the price is NOT going to change, keep sending emails and you may get a response."

well, this is really not professional.

but you know, with millions of customers and while business is more than good, this is always breeding ground for arrogance, specially for some young unexperienced fellows.

i remember (in my main business, not domains) at the time while we had the financial crisis, some of those arrogant sellers/suppliers were calling me on a daily basis and suddenly they were so professional and friendly and kind of begged me to buy something.
(now they are arrogant again lol)

won't happen with domain biz though i guess.

 

[Channing]

I ran an auction on Flippa for one of my domains, and Bidder 2 would have won the auction for $100 if scammer Bidder 3 had not drove it up to $125, making Bidder 2 go to $150 and then get beat by scammer dude for $200.

He didn't pay, so I offered Bidder 2 the domain for $100 instead of $150 and he bought it. Seemed only fair to me.

 

[glaxxon]

Okay can someone please tell me Godaddy, Sedo, etc atleast cancel the non-paying bidder's account?
Otherwise anyone can just drive up prices as they wish. This is unfair...

 

[DN_Hunter]

I obviously do and at this point considering I am not getting any responses to my emails, I am going to end up paying $87.14 for it after fee's just not to lose it.

Don't forget to apply a good renewal code to bring it down a little bit (on the renewal fee).

gdbb776 might work

p.s. I understand what happened (see my earlier post) if there was another bidder at 67.

Regards,
DN

 

[bulkdomainz]

I understand how you feel, zurc.net.

It is not fair that an anonymous 'fraud' ran up the prices and did not pay. All of the looney bidder's bids should have been removed! If you really want the name, pay for it or else it'll go to the person who bid lower than you. After you get your name, you can pay them back for how they treated you!

There's all sorts of nonsense going on in the domain world!