I bought a name on Afternic but the lister doesn't own it

[fogfever]

Does Afternic allow anyone to list any name or do they have a process like Sedo that checks the WHOIS?
I saw a 3-letter .com with a buy it now price of $4,000 and a couple other domains with good prices so I bought all 3 of them. Afternic charged my credit card but it appears that these domains are owned by large companies and that someone just listed them for sale for fun.
Does Afternic have any verification process? Seems strange that Afternic would allow anyone to list names on their home page without any verification.

 

[RapidNames.com]

You'll get full refund, That's all Afternic support will say

 

[Addison]

Afternic only checks conflicted domain names to verify ownership: ones that exist in another user's account. Many domains remain in user accounts at Afternic long after they have been sold, expired, and no longer belong to the user. Once an issue occurs, like yours, then they remove them, but not before then.

They don't do a DNS prune like Sedo to remove unregistered domains from a user's account either.

They're garbage.

 

[fogfever]

I just spent 30 minutes on the phone with Afternic mostly on hold. What a terrible company they are. They initially suspended my account because they thought it was suspicious that I created an account the same day I purchased the domains. Since they suspended my account the transactions were deleted from their system and the customer service team couldn't even find the transactions and had to talk to their escrow department. The whole deal costs me a few hours and about $15,000 charged to my credit card that will take a couple of weeks to receive credit for. What a waste of time. Afternic sucks.

 

[NameAcquisitions]

I purchased a domain on NetworkSolutions, that was apparently listed on Afternic (affiliate sale for netsol). It was under $3000. I paid. They transferred to me a few days later.

It was an impulse BIN purchase for me. I only learned later that it was the PRIMARY ACTIVE DOMAIN FOR A MULTIBILLION DOLLAR Investment Firm. You read that correctly. I had full control of their domain, DNS settings etc. for about 30 days until the bank realized and had it reversed through NetSol.

I got a refund, but only after following up. NetSol IMO was NOT fun to deal with through the whole thing. I'll post the full story at some time in the future when I'm not so busy.

Still not 100% sure what happened, but guessing it was still listed there by the person they bought it from, and all of the machinery that was supposed to catch this missed it. So many problems here. Should never have happened.

I learned 3 lessons.

1. Many domain listings are old/inactive. Don't get too excited by a low BIN price.
2. NetSol IMO is a mess. I will not keep high value domains there. I barely keep anything there.
3. If you are a billion dollar bank, DON'T LEAVE YOUR DOMAINS IN REGISTRARS THAT HAVE INSTANT TRANSFER.

 

[RU]

the same with DomainNameSales.com/Uniregistry.com .. someone listed my EUROPE.NINJA on DNS and Uniregistry.

scammers everywhere...

 

[fogfever]

When listing a name for sale on Flippa, they send a confirmation email to the WHOIS to verify ownership. Pretty obvious process that works well. I think that Sedo does the same. Afternic told me that they sometimes look at the WHOIS to make sure it matches the lister of the domain. One of the domains I purchased was in use by a large corporation. The customer service rep also told me that their system isn't 'fail proof'. That is an understatement! It seems that their verification system is to list everything and then to figure it out later if a transaction goes bad. This is a huge hassle for buyers. Spend time reading through their garbage domains. Finally find some good deals and it turns out to be illegitimate.

 

[johnn]

3 letter for $4,000 - does it raise a red flag???

 

[wwwweb]

the same with DomainNameSales.com/Uniregistry.com .. someone listed my EUROPE.NINJA on DNS and Uniregistry.

scammers everywhere...

Show attachment 39679

Show attachment 39680

It could be the previous owner who dropped it, scammer is a strong word, as it would never pass escrow

 

[ZapNano]

I have had similar issues. Afternic and Uniregistry listed my domain for SALE on their sites UNAUTHORIZED. It's obvious they don't care the Who's owner. I suggest domainers needs to check theirs domains. People making money of your properties via all kinds of sources, this is super "Unethical Behavior". And of course once you find out this kind of activities, they will come up wiTH all kinds of lame excuses. DO NOT TRUST, Check who's and ASK question about the domain legitimately before giving them a.$

Excuses such as, previous owner might have been listed it for sale; how long it supposed to be listed for sale from the previous owner. How about the current owner of the domain. How about a system that can delete previous owner listing of this domain. Making money of others people properties unauthorized is UNACCEPTABLE AND UNETHICAL BUSINESS PARCTICE.

 

[biggie]

i saw a 3-letter .com with a buy it now price of $4,000 and a couple other domains with good prices so I bought all 3 of them.

might be true, if you used the way-back machine

http://www.srossi.net/2011/01/mr-peabody.jpg

 

[hookbox]

Ok, so I find a name I like that you own that is listed at Godaddy. I then list your name for sale on Afternic for a lowball price. I proceed to buy the name and instantly it is fast transferred into my account. I now own your domain for pennies on the dollar.

Is this what you're saying is possible? I find this to be totally insane if true.

 

[NameAcquisitions]

More like this:

1. Seller lists DOMAIN on several platforms, including Afternic.
2. Buyer A purchases DOMAIN from seller somewhere else. Put it to use.
3. Seller never removes Afternic listing. DOMAIN is still listed for sale.
4. Buyer B comes along and purchases DOMAIN at Afternic or through Afternic affiliate.
5. Buyer B is Instantly given Buyer A's new name, as Afternic misses the checks necessary to assure Seller still owns asset.

 

[NameAcquisitions]

Several of these registrars participate in "Instant Transfer" for market listings.

Knowing what happened in my case, this scares the hell out of me.

 

[hookbox]

Several of these registrars participate in "Instant Transfer" for market listings.

Knowing what happened in my case, this scares the hell out of me.

This is fucking insane. Even more the reason to have two step verification on your account. At least you would know what is happening before it happens.

 

[domeen]

This is f*cking insane. Even more the reason to have two step verification on your account. At least you would know what is happening before it happens.

How will two step protect you from this?

 

[Skyvisum]

I deleted my names from flippa as I kept getting a whois verification and name on their name to confirm whois wasn't even mine.I wrote to them and told them about it and they said'maybe previous owner forgot to delete names.Name that I have listed for more than a month and got a whois verification email.Couldnt stand the BS and just deleted all my domains there.Name of lister was 'Frank Asare' ,whoever that was.

 

[hookbox]

How will two step protect you from this?

Fast transfer won't happen without them calling me and me giving them my authorization. If they don't get that first then the fast transfer can't happen.

 

[domeen]

Fast transfer won't happen without them calling me and me giving them my authorization. If they don't get that first then the fast transfer can't happen.

I think Thats not how it works! If you have fast transfer on, they still transfer it

 

[fogfever]

3 letter for $4,000 - does it raise a red flag???

Sometimes the sellers do not know about current wholesale minimum prices, etc. I've purchased 3 and 4 letter domains on Sedo below their wholesale minimum value and the sellers followed through on the sale. Good deals happen all the time. Would you not buy a 3 letter for $4,000 if you saw it listed on a large site like Sedo or Afternic?