'Halvarez' at Snapnames auctions uncovered

[prague7]

Ooer - this one's going to run for a while... :O

From DomainNameNews:
SnapNames User Name “Halvarez” Was Nelson Brady, VP of Engineering Bidding on Domain Names [Updated]

[Updated] According to a statement from Oversee.net’s SnapNames, an employee was found to have bid in 5% of their auctions since 2005 and in some cases arranged for a partial refund of the sales price after winning an auction. DNN also confirmed the bidder as Nelson Brady, the VP of Engineering. He was bidding under the username “halvarez”.

From Snapnames:
SnapNames User Name “Halvarez” Was Employee Bidding on Domain Names

To avoid any question about whether the company benefited from this conduct, SnapNames will offer a rebate to impacted customers, including 5.22% interest (the highest applicable federal rate during the affected time period), of the difference between the prices they paid in winning auctions, and the prices they would have paid had the employee not bid in the auctions. Impacted customers will be notified by SnapNames or its representative with instructions for the offer of a rebate.

SnapNames also has taken further action to ensure its policies regarding auctions are followed, and the company remains committed to taking whatever action is necessary to protect the integrity of its auction platform.

SnapNames deeply regrets this situation and is committed to addressing its customers’ needs quickly and fairly.

There's also a FAQ page at Snapnames

 

[StargateCapital]

We should be able to get names we lost to "halvarez". 5% is a start, but what about lost ppc revenue over that duration? Hard to calculate for sure. I've been curious as to who "halvarez" was for a long time...

 

[Jaco]

Ugh. In the process of reading the email now...

Although, I must admit, it is hilariously naive to see the faith and trust people put in 'online institutions' when enormous sums of money are involved.
Any fellow online poker players here? Hell, we've already worn out this path with Ultimate Bet/Absolute Poker.

 

[Ms Domainer]

*

It's obvious that this crap has been going on for years, and I suspect that dear Halvarez is just the tip of the iceberg.

And not just at Snapnames.

There needs to be some kind of oversight.

The bad boys of domaining are running amok, and no one is babysitting them.

*

 

[adinfinite]

hahaha....hey dongsman, whats with the new avatar? looks like someone getting "donged"....lol...lol

 

[prague7]

link added

The plot thickens; a VP - incredible!

From DNN.com:
11|04|2009 12:51 pm EDT
SnapNames User Name “Halvarez” Was Nelson Brady, VP of Engineering Bidding on Domain Names

 

[adinfinite]

btw. real shame whats happening at SN. I find it hard to believe that an emplyee had so much latitude. I dont know, but it just seems to me that he wasn't acting alone or that if he was acting alone it was with the implicit blessing of others. Just my thoughts. I could be wrong.

 

[has2hands]

HALVEREZ aka:

Nelson Brady, VP of Operations
SnapNames.com, Inc.
1600 SW 4th Ave
Suite 400
Portland,�* OR�* 97201
tel:�*�*�* 503-219-9990 x223
direct: 503-459-5723
cell: 360-903-8844
fax:�* 503-274-9749
[email protected]
Domain name auctions to purchase quality expired and deleting names

 

[deleted984054565403]

The plot thickens, VP - incredible!

From DNN.com:
11|04|2009 12:51 pm EDT
SnapNames User Name “Halvarez” Was Nelson Brady, VP of Engineering Bidding on Domain Names

I suppose that's an appropriate job title.

 

[Steven]

I'm now going to avoid SN

 

[bmugford]

There have been reports the person responsible is Nelson Brady.

If it was Nelson Brady, that is 100x worse than some rogue employee.

Nelson Brady
Title and Company: VP Engineering at Snapnames

Brad

 

[telking]

Hey guys check out this old post on namepros...

Its an email HALVAREZ 'Nelson Brady' wrote to someone

http://www.namepros.com/domain-name-discussion/177994-jeniferlopez-com-snapnames-mail-you-must.html

INSANE!

 

[cmason]

Hey guys check out this old post on namepros...

Its an email HALVAREZ 'Nelson Brady' wrote to someone

http://www.namepros.com/domain-name-discussion/177994-jeniferlopez-com-snapnames-mail-you-must.html

INSANE!

Wow - that is absolutely ridiculous. A complete act of fraud and a lot of NP members call out the fact that he is not from customer service. I reckon that Nelson will be having some legal issues in the coming days.

 

[deb]

It was Halvarez!!!!! Damn am i due for some cash Back.

 

[GF]

Could this put SnapNames out of business?

 

[Jaco]

I reckon that Nelson will be having some legal issues in the coming days.

And possibly, oversee.net. There is a lot of demonstrable loss here and I don't know if trusting them to 'do the right thing' is the best MO. I'm sure the impacted parties will have a lot more faith in a formal discovery process.

 

[bmugford]

Well, when you have a VP shill bidding for 4+ years it sure makes you question what else is going on.

It also pretty much flushes their credibility down the drain.

I am sure they will lose a lot of business.

Brad

Could this put SnapNames out of business?

 

[Ms Domainer]

Could this put SnapNames out of business?

*

I think it's possible.

No matter what, they will be under intense scrutiny.

And the possible lawsuits!

Hello, Court TV.

Seriously, this is just another blight on an industry that has basically been running amok for years.

Sad.

*

 

[wellmanneredsquirrel]

I'm pretty sure Snap will sue the guy, perhaps seize assets (i.e. domains?)

 

[Jaco]

Well, when you have a VP shill bidding for 4+ years it sure makes you question what else is going on.

Poker players have 'btdt' already. The overall patterns of management behavior are remarkably similar.

It always starts with them laughing and denying, but ends up with a grand public mea-culpa in the hopes that people will view it as them 'stepping up and doing the right thing' (when there was no other option available) in what is really a cynical public relations maneuver.

I'm pretty much at the point where online institution + large sums of money = zero faith in integrity. Someone, somewhere in the organization will be cheating. We saw it at godaddy with premium dropping names, we're seeing it here in a much uglier, directly impactive way with snap. Whether or not it's a 'rogue employee' is immaterial to the fact that the auctioning institution itself was grossly negligent in ensuring basic protocols to protect their customers from fraud were followed.

 

[telking]

i think a good newspaper headline should read..

" AWWWW SNAP! " :hehe:

 

[SpareDomains]

i think a good newspaper headline should read..

" AWWWW SNAP! " :hehe:

"DDOOUUBBLLEE SNAP!" sounds better cause you paid at least double for everything. :hehe:

sad day in domainland, time for namepros to bust out the hall of shame

 

[deb]

are they sending a cheque or is it snapmoney as a refund?

 

[jollyroaders]

I don't participate that often, but that name looks familiar. How could one person even put a dent into snapnames sales? 1% seems high to me and actually bidding on 5% of the auctions seems like a lot. I'd like to see the list of the names he was involved in. If he was also reimbursing himself through snapnames, I really think they should sue him and try to take ownership of those names again. He acquired them in a fraudulent manner, so I don't see why he should keep them.
Seems like a lot of time to spend shill bidding; wonder if he had a bot to do it for him too.

 

[fred88]

This is just the domain auction business. It took you 4 years to finally paint someone relevant into a corner. Nelson Brady will be the goat this time for an entire industry built on corruption and secrets. (Wait until dirt about the parking biz comes to light!!)

 

[deb]

What if he is Not The Only One or he had Multiple Aliases? He's been doing this to us for 4 years.

I met him at domainfest to...

Any other suspect bidders working at snapnames? Was he working alone?

He has got me for more than US$15,000+ this year alone in Over Bidding against him...the Crook.