GoDaddy - Won auction - Can I force the sale?

[MapleDots]

I bought a domain at GoDaddy auction at a " Buy Now " price and it has been paid for by credit card for quite a while now. It appears to me there is an abnormal delay in getting the delay into my account.

I checked WHOIS and the domain is actually registered at godaddy and should have been in my account relatively fast.

So what if the owner of the domain had second thoughts and decided not to sell, as in reneging on the deal. Because his domain is sitting at godaddy can I somehow force the deal?

I mean if his domain was a namesilo or something I know I would be up the creek without a paddle, but given that it's sitting at godaddy there should be a way to enforce the contract right?

Everyone please don't tag Joe from godaddy with this, he has enough on his plate without having to worry about my little problems.

 

[pokainc]

Happened more than once that the seller never honored their deal when purchasing on Godaddy Auctions...

-One was a buy now
-The last one even sent it to a 7 day auction, I was still the highest bidder as there was no other bids, but he never honored the deal..

Godaddy just refunds and bans the seller...

 

[MapleDots]

Now we're getting somewhere. You should have the domain then. GoDaddy does allow domains to be placed on it's auction platform that are at different registrars, but you said this domain is at GoDaddy.

With that said, I believe there may be a hitch. I would call GD for more information.

That's exactly what I figured.

I got this sweet sweet domain..... it's mine I tell ya, its mine all mine

 

[Silentptnr]

That's exactly what I figured.

I got this sweet sweet domain..... it's mine I tell ya, its mine all mine

 

[Name Trader]

I bought a domain through them recently at buy now and a few days later I received a message from GD saying they "had been informed by the seller that they weren't prepared to complete the transaction." Wish this couldn't happen but it does and unfortunately there's little we can do about it.

I think this reply is troubling. What it's saying is GoDaddy are accepting the words of the seller against a validly placed purchase. Without any penalty to the seller. If that is their policy, why would anybody waste their time searching for a domain on their platform, if the seller can just turn around and just say "I'm not prepared to complete this transaction". without penalty? They should be immediately banned from using the GoDaddy platform with such a weak excuse. This is troubling. IMHO.

 

[Nametree]

I think it maybe in the wrong account. If it was a godaddy to goaddy purchase, it is not a manual push, it would have pushed over on it's own.

There's also a chance that the name has changed hands and Godaddy was slow to remove the listing. Just like with Sedo continuing to list names quite a bit after they expire or change owners, if the name has sold at another marketplace and the seller forgot to remove it from Godaddy, the new owner wouldn't be bound to sell it to you.

I think this reply is troubling. What it's saying is GoDaddy are accepting the words of the seller against a validly placed purchase. Without any penalty to the seller. If that is their policy, why would anybody waste their time searching for a domain on their platform, if the seller can just turn around and just say "I'm not prepared to complete this transaction". without penalty? They should be immediately banned from using the GoDaddy platform with such a weak excuse. This is troubling. IMHO.

To be fair the full reply was:

We have been informed by the Seller of the domain name --- that they are not prepared to complete the transaction. As such we have canceled the auction and taken action against their account. We have also refunded your purchase price for the domain.

That being said, the more problematic thing for me is that at checkout they call the "product" Godaddy Transaction Assured - which I interpreted as a guarantee. When I confronted a rep about it, the reply was:

Our payment service is called GoDaddy Transaction Assurance.

... as if to say, hey, we don't actually offer any guarantees or assurance, it's just what our product is called.

But, alas, not to derail the topic...

 

[MapleDots]

There's also a chance that the name has changed hands and Godaddy was slow to remove the listing. Just like with Sedo continuing to list names quite a bit after they expire or change owners, if the name has sold at another marketplace and the seller forgot to remove it from Godaddy, the new owner wouldn't be bound to sell it to you.


To be fair the full reply was:

We have been informed by the Seller of the domain name --- that they are not prepared to complete the transaction. As such we have canceled the auction and taken action against their account. We have also refunded your purchase price for the domain.

That being said, the more problematic thing for me is that at checkout they call the "product" Godaddy Transaction Assured - which I interpreted as a guarantee. When I confronted a rep about it, the reply was:

Our payment service is called GoDaddy Transaction Assurance.

... as if to say, hey, we don't actually offer any guarantees or assurance, it's just what our product is called.

But, alas, not to derail the topic...

HeHe.... they are assured to take your money and assured to give it back

Depends how you look at it.... is the money assured or the domain?

 

[wwwweb]

HeHe.... they are assured to take your money and assured to give it back

Depends how you look at it.... is the money assured or the domain?

is this a .ca domain?

 

[Name Trader]

To be fair the full reply was:

We have been informed by the Seller of the domain name --- that they are not prepared to complete the transaction. As such we have canceled the auction and taken action against their account. We have also refunded your purchase price for the domain.

Can you confirm the domain was at GoDaddy? If it was. They should have completed the transaction. But I can understand their problem, if it was not at GoDaddy. I just hope that the action they took against the account, was to ban it. However, this might suppress future sales/profits of this owners domains on their GoDaddy Platform. Which gives them an incentive to be lenient on the seller. I would expect this leniency to exist between all their preferred customers like NameBright. But it sucks, if that is actually the case.

 

[Name Trader]

HeHe.... they are assured to take your money and assured to give it back

Depends how you look at it.... is the money assured or the domain?

The money. Of course

 

[MapleDots]

is this a .ca domain?

Yes but a .ca using godaddy as the registrar, fully sitting at godaddy.

I don't see the process being different from a .com, it should still seamlessly move over. The seller has agreed to sell, the buyer has released funds, funds have cleared for almost a week. Technically godaddy has the authorization to move the domain.... I would hope.

When I push a .ca with go daddy it literally happens in a minute and the domain is in the other account. Same if it gets pushed in. Heck even with a transfer code it takes no more than 10 minutes. It sometimes takes days to get a .com with a transfer code but the process is way faster with a .ca. Everywhere you go a .ca transfer is almost instant.

 

[Captdocs]

Actually, their phone support is amazing, they also call me on accasion to see if they can assist me in any way. They are always asking me how they can earn the rest of my domains.

I always tell them the same thing.....

I can register cheaper than godaddy even with their domain discount club. I pay for the club and would still have to pay a buck extra per domain.

I truly do love godaddy, but when you have a ton of domains and they want a buck more I would do it because of the great service and convenience but the 60 month cost for the discount club is no benefit to me. Its a straight expense I don't need.

This. If Godaddy was a little bit cheaper I would move all my domains over to them.

 

[Name Trader]

This. If Godaddy was a little bit cheaper I would move all my domains over to them.

More fool you

 

[Vimal Kumar]

There is still a chance that the seller had second thoughts and decided not to sell. Godaddy would (should) theoretically close their account and refund you if that happens, but unfortunately the "buy now" purchase isn't actually a guarantee you'll get the domain.

I bought a domain through them recently at buy now and a few days later I received a message from GD saying they "had been informed by the seller that they weren't prepared to complete the transaction." Wish this couldn't happen but it does and unfortunately there's little we can do about it.

Hope you do get this one though! I would open a ticket and have them check on the status perhaps since it's been a week.

It's true. In my case, there were couple of times when I 'priced' a good domain quite 'low' just to close it quick. However, when I revist it a month later, I wonder why I priced it so low and, adjusted the price ( luckily no one had bought it).
However, if a sale had been initiated during this period, one should honor it.

 

[domeen]

No, You can`t.
And GoDaddy can`t do anything either.

 

[Daniel Owens]

@Joe Styler

 

[MapleDots]

Well I know there is a problem now

He had it similar price at sedo and I see it there buy now at 5x higher than what I bought for. He probably looked at his sale and decided no and adjusted up the sedo sale.

I am going to notify sedo that this domain is in dispute and I am going to launch a dispute on it. As far as I am concerned I have a legal contract.

 

[MapleDots]

I just sent this to sedo......

Hello

You have a listing on sedo for domain name XXXX

I wanted to let you know that this name was sold on godaddy and the owner is legally obligated to move the domain to my account. My funds have been released and I have a bill of sale for this domain. The previous owner does not have the right to sell this domain on sedo and I will be challenging ownership thereof.

Please find attached my bill of sale from godaddy.

I will be also be notifying the previous owner and sending it to my legal department.

 

[BRANDERX]

what a mess. sorry it happened to you.

Did you reach out to GD at all? what did they have to say?

 

[MapleDots]

I did call godaddy and they said I had to wait for a response from the seller.

Its a waiting game now

I sent that email to sedo, does anyone think I should contact the seller?

I have his email address and am thinking about letting him know this will go to legal.

 

[MapleDots]

I now also have a case number from sedo and they have been officially notified.

If they sell the domain I am going to name them in legal.

This will be interesting because I am going to take this one all the way. I'm going to show these wanna be temporary domainers that you don't mess with a sale.

If you're going to list at auction and you get a sale you better honor your deal.

I'm not going to fool around on this one, I'm going to take it to the end, he will not sell this domain because any buyer will see a dispute and open legal case.

 

[DanSanchez]

Force is ineffective, you can't tell if the owner is the same person listed on the WHOIS record. Move on.

Afternic allows anyone to add any domain for any price. I had someone list hundreds of my names for $18,988+ hoping someone would hit BIN and then they would try to get the name for less to keep the difference.

 

[BRANDERX]

I really think you should drop them an email.
They wouldn't care about it going to legal, those types who do such things. BUT you should, try to talk them(seller) into respecting the commitment they've made. sometimes it works. hope it does

 

[MapleDots]

Force is ineffective, you can't tell if the owner is the same person listed on the WHOIS record. Move on.

Afternic allows anyone to add any domain for any price. I had someone list hundreds of my names for $18,988+ hoping someone would hit BIN and then they would try to get the name for less to keep the difference.

Same owner for a long time, so I disagree with you on this one.

I'm actually quite calm, and this will be an interesting case for me. I will wait a few more days and then contact the owner directly and tell him of his obligations. If I get no resolution I will send it to legal. It's a business deduction and it will be interesting to see what comes of it.

I will obviously not be disclosing ANY details here because that would be silly but I may post the outcome.

All in all I think the owner may reconsider when he gets a letter from the lawyer.

All that said, I will wait a few more days, it's just the buy now at sedo that worries me.
I'm hopeful they will shut the auction down now that I have sent them a letter showing the domain has been sold on another platform. I can deal with the owner, that is what legal is for, but it will get messy if another party gets involved.

 

[DanSanchez]

Afternic allows anyone (non-owners!) to add domains on their behalf without a single check, they don't even check the WHOIS record. This means Godaddy syndicates the domain with BIN prices without the owner knowing. Did you buy the name from TDNAM or a regular Godaddy search?

Not telling you what to do, but the "legal" obligation to sell anything is simply not there. You're wasting your time and advertising your reactions for other sellers to see how you operate should things go sour.

"but it will get messy if another party gets involved." You mean an unwilling/unaware party?

Yikes, that's worrying, and it's the reason nobody should be listing anything with Godaddy/Afternic. You can't compel the sale by force (legal) and you will most likely waste precious time and resources chasing it. Good luck!

 

[MapleDots]

There is no advertising here, other than the fact that I wish to enforce a contract.
It was a godaddy auction, no afternic nothing like that. Straight godaddy auction

I respect your advice @DanSanchez but dropping it does not teach the other person that he has an obligation to follow through on. It would be premature for me to write this one off without following it through to the seller.

As far as what I have said here..... nothing I will not be saying to the seller.... we have a deal, please honor your sale. The platforms usually inform the owner of the domain that the person selling/buying still may pursue legal action even if the platform cancels the deal due to fact the buyer/seller does not follow through.

You're wasting your time and advertising your reactions for other sellers to see how you operate should things go sour.

I operate within the law, the only thing I am showing the seller, if he sees this, is that he will be challenged legally. I certainly hope he sees how I operate