advice Is there a way to get my domain back?

[Spiraldom]

Recently I sold a domain to a small web design company in Boston.

The domain was registered at Namesilo,
so I told them that the easiest way of transfer is to push the domain to their Namesilo account.
They opened an account at Namesilo, I pushed the domain, they paid, everything went fine.

A few weeks later I get an email from PayPal
saying that the buyer has stated that they have not received the item and want a refund.
This was a message from the buyer:

„I purchased a domain name from Spiraldom on Jan 22 2nd who contacted me by email. He said, the domain is going to your hosting account shortly, the domain name was ONLY pushed but not transferred. I never got the domain transferred. Please cancel the transaction and need the $75 backThank you“

I responded that I never said that I'm going to transfer the domain to their hosting account
and that I pushed the domain to their Namesilo account
and if they want they can transfer it to any other registrar.

There was no response.

Finally, I refunded the money because Paypal asked me for transaction proof
and I didn't have any, and after all, it was just $75.

After that, I sent the buyer another email
asking to push the domain back to my Namesilo account.

No reply.

So, is there something I can do to get my domain back?

Thanks

 

[Spiraldom]

Do you think it would be wise to make the buyer aware of this thread?

 

[mr-x]

Which is a lot in lots of countries and worth a lot to a lot more people... Besides, there is also the principle of the matter and the domain itself. Don't be quick to dismiss issues faced by others, especially perhaps those not as experienced as you (or well off).

Assuming

 

[mr-x]

Do you think it would be wise to make the buyer aware of this thread?

Time to get your domain back was before you gave them the money. Stop beating around the bush, be honest and tell the domain, name of the person, company you think ripped you off.

 

[Spiraldom]

I gave them time until the end of the week to return the domain

 

[OmarVG]

few weeks later I get an email from PayPal

Rule # 1:
DONT USE PAYPAL when you DONT KNOW THE BUYER.
ALWAYS USE ANY ESCROW payment company or domain marketplace.

Rule # 2:
DONT TRUST ANYBODY IN THIS BUSINESS. It doesn't matter if the buyer was a big or small web design company, if you give them the chance to Rip you off, probably they will do it.

Once you pushed your domain to another account there is no turning back. There is no way you can get your domain back, unless you convince the buyer to push the domain back to you, but that's almost impossible.

My last advice to you, is to send to PayPal all the info you have to prove them you already gave the domain to the buyer, there is one last chance to get your money back, but not your domain, only if PayPal decide you are right and not the buyer... Good luck!

 

[wwwweb]

Rule # 1:
DONT USE PAYPAL when you DONT KNOW THE BUYER.
ALWAYS USE ANY ESCROW payment company or domain marketplace.

Rule # 2:
DONT TRUST ANYBODY IN THIS BUSINESS. It doesn't matter if the buyer was a big or small web design company, if you give them the chance to Rip you off, probably they will do it.

Once you pushed your domain to another account there is no turning back. There is no way you can get your domain back, unless you convince the buyer to push the domain back to you, but that's almost impossible.

My last advice to you, is to send to PayPal all the info you have to prove them you already gave the domain to the buyer, there is one last chance to get your money back, but not your domain, only if PayPal decide you are right and not the buyer... Good luck!

It's to late with paypal, if he refunded, that would consider it closed.

 

[wwwweb]

I gave them time until the end of the week to return the domain

Yes, the buyers reputation is worth more than $75, and if they chose to file a pp claim, rather than simply email you, then their intent is not very civil. I hope it works out, move on to the next one if it doesn't.

 

[ResoluteDomains]

Do you think it would be wise to make the buyer aware of this thread?

I think its time to come clean with all of us, post name, address, phone, email of buyer. They committed fraud. Paypal is complicit. If those, I will keep the choice adjectives to myself, customer service people at PayPal would just visit the domain name (instead of relying on what the buyer says) and see it goes directly to the buyers design agency site, they'd know there is a scam going on.

Of course I am assuming a lot here. I am taking your word on this. But that is all they need to do. If the domain goes nowhere then a bit more investigating needs to happen. I've had so many poor experiences with paypal, been scammed by buyers on ebay way back when a dozen years ago, as soon as I see paypay I run the other way. Looks like they've corrected nothing.

Look, you're not going to get your name back, its the last thing you can do - expose them.

Move on after that and learn from this. Sorry. Life lessons can be harsh.

 

[Spiraldom]

So, this just happened.
Me:
Hi Buyer,

I see that you are getting and opening my emails.
I wrote a post on one forum about this situation.

They all asked me to provide your info, your name,
the name of the company, address and the phone number
so that no one else gets scammed by you.

I told them I won't do it if you return the domain to my account by the end of the week.
Are you willing to risk your reputation online for just $75?

Please push the domain back to me so we can put this behind us.

Thanks,
Spiraldom

One hour and 20 minutes later:
Buyer:
Hi Spiraldom,
Sorry, I was away!
Can you let me know how to push the domain back? do you want me to unlock it and send you the authorization code?

So I got my domain back and the drama is over.
Thanks to all who participated, you can stop biting your nails, the scammer (or not)
lives another day!

 

[canswift]

Glad you got your domain back, and it's interesting that the buyer is now cheerfully acknowledging he has the domain name, as he's asking how to transfer it back to you. A bit different from the story he (apparently) pitched to Paypal, which resulted in you having to refund the original purchase price...

 

[Spiraldom]

Yes, that's true, and I was thinking, maybe he didn't try to scam me, but then I saw that the domain was already forwarded to another website,
so he certainly knew what he was doing.

 

[anantj]

So, this just happened.
Me:
Hi Buyer,

I see that you are getting and opening my emails.
I wrote a post on one forum about this situation.

They all asked me to provide your info, your name,
the name of the company, address and the phone number
so that no one else gets scammed by you.

I told them I won't do it if you return the domain to my account by the end of the week.
Are you willing to risk your reputation online for just $75?

Please push the domain back to me so we can put this behind us.

Thanks,
Spiraldom

One hour and 20 minutes later:
Buyer:
Hi Spiraldom,
Sorry, I was away!
Can you let me know how to push the domain back? do you want me to unlock it and send you the authorization code?

So I got my domain back and the drama is over.
Thanks to all who participated, you can stop biting your nails, the scammer (or not)
lives another day!

Good to hear you got your domain back. Just thinking about the original issue, it would be highly concerning that a web dev agency does not understand a domain push. I mean, they are literally in the business of web development and this is pretty basic knowledge that I would assume they have. Further, if they did redirect the domain to another website, it does indicate bad faith on their part.

 

[Arca]

Hello - just saw this thread... @Kuffy is correct, we do maintain a log as shown in the reply above.

We really hate to hear things like this happen, and I would encourage the OP to look into our Marketplace since we handle all aspects of the transaction (payment collection, delivering the domain to the buyer, etc.).

Please implement push receipts sent to the losing registrant. This feature already exists at a lot of registrars and is very beneficial when you, as a seller, need to prove that you have pushed a domain to someone.

Just a simple email confirming the to person pushing the domain or list of domains have successfully been pushed to "xxxxx" (account username of receiving registrant).

Currently your system sends out an email to the person receiving a push, but the losing registrant/person pushing the domain(s) get nothing. You just confirm the push in your domain manager and the domains "vanish" without any tangible/permanent confirmation. Sending out an email push receipt to the losing registrant would make it easy for domain sellers to prove that a domain has been pushed to "xxxx" account in situations of dispute where you need to provide evidence that you have indeed pushed a domain.

 

[Niraj Kumar]

Why you have not escalated case via paypal, you should have escalated it , instead of paying it. Also you could have contacted the support, that you transferred domain to buyer's nameshilo account already, you haven't agreed to transfer it two times. Pushed or transferred it's all the same.Also once you transfer domain to their nameshilo account, you no longer in an ownership of that domain, so asking for transfering to other account is meaningless.I think still you would be able to contact paypal.they are very serious support.Tell buyer did a fraud with you.Explain everything, send snapshots.

 

[Olinda]

Hi,
I had a couple similar situations before. as I said, paypal is not stupid and knows people can take advntage of digital good transfers. which is why they now protect people against digital goods fraud too.

 

[namesilo]

Please implement push receipts sent to the losing registrant. This feature already exists at a lot of registrars and is very beneficial when you, as a seller, need to prove that you have pushed a domain to someone.

Just a simple email confirming the to person pushing the domain or list of domains have successfully been pushed to "xxxxx" (account username of receiving registrant).

Currently your system sends out an email to the person receiving a push, but the losing registrant/person pushing the domain(s) get nothing. You just confirm the push in your domain manager and the domains "vanish" without any tangible/permanent confirmation. Sending out an email push receipt to the losing registrant would make it easy for domain sellers to prove that a domain has been pushed to "xxxx" account in situations of dispute where you need to provide evidence that you have indeed pushed a domain.

We have just added an additional email that our system will send when pushing domains. Please note that we do show a log via the Domain History page and, if using Domain Defender, an email and/or text message is already sent as well. Hope this helps!

 

[Spiraldom]

Great news, Thanks! @namesilo

 

[OmarVG]

Are you willing to risk your reputation online for just $75?

Please push the domain back to me so we can put this behind us.

Good job! I really hope the buyer reconsider his bad actions and return the domain back to you.
If not, you can Expose the Scammer and their small web design website here and all over the Internet, and believe me, they will get pissed off later... lol

 

[Dynadot]

I don't think you can get the domain back, outside of the buyer returning it voluntarily. And really, there is probably nothing you could have provided to PayPal that would have stopped them from refunding the money to the buyer, a domain is a digital product and their policies, aren't the most, digital product friendly.

I think, if this happens again, you should just keep trying to communicate with the buyer, rather than refunding. Like, explain how they can log into their NameSilo account, unlock the domain, and the steps to start a transfer to their Registrar. Basically, babystep them through the process and hope they close their dispute.

 

[Daniel Owens]

I learned a lot from you @Dynadot I'm glad @Spiraldom was brave enough to share his experience with us. The domain community is better off because of it. I assume he could have done a sale page at dynadot, and that would have been similar to escrow if the buyer bought through that. Thanks.

 

[Olinda]

I sent a response to PayPal that I can provide the proof from Namesilo as I contacted Namesilo support and they responded very quickly.