My 1st domain sale experience with Uniregistry.

[franka46]

My 1st domain sale experience with Uniregistry.

This is not about who is wrong or right ,maybe it's because this is my first domain sale at uniregistry .
But it left a negative impression on me ,so much so that I disabled all my 1240 domain being brokered by uniregistry from now .I also send 3 Tweets to Frank Schilling without getting a reply
I also will move any renewal domains away from uniregistry .
You make your own judgement on this or maybe you have simular story .
-----------------------------------------------------------
Here is why .
I recieved an email from Christopher Aguilar,from Unireg.
Offer of $100 for domain ....com
I countered with $300----The buyer agreed and i would get $255
This opportunity will be subject to our standard 15% commission. Please price your domain accordingly to include the commission as it will be deducted from the final purchase price.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Then I received another email from Chris .
Message from Christopher Aguilar at Uniregistry.com:
Buyers offer $400.00
Commission rate 15%
"""" Net price $340.00*""""
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Chris
I am just wondering why the buyer and i agreed on $300 for the domain in the first place
and you still tried to get a higher price ?I did NOT ask you to get a higher price !!!
He was just about to cancel the deal because of this .
----------------------------------------------------------
Message from Christopher Aguilar at Uniregistry.com:
Hi Frank,
The buyer is maxed out at 400. You would net 224.80.
What do you think?
Buyers offer $400.00
Commission rate 43.8%
"""""Net price $224.80*""""
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Congratulations! Your transaction to sell ....com is complete!
The domain has been transferred to the buyer and we've credited your account with your earnings from the sale. Should you have any further questions, please contact our support team. Thank you for using the Uniregistry Market!

Domain: .......com
Sale price: $400.00
Commission: $190.52
Earnings: $209.48
=======================================================
In all our 10 or so conversations the line " Brokers fee is $175 " has only been mentioned ONCE.
I also told Chris that i wanted to be paid via Paypal but they still used Credit Card ,because
I am being charged $25 fee.

 

[Arca]

Ive also heard similar of other sellers mentioning they have lost sales in the past because the brokers kept asking for more money even after a price had been agreed.

Happened to me too.

Most Uniregistry "brokers" - Extremely unprofessional and annoying.

If you make the unfortunate mistake of inquiring about a Uniregistry listed domain you're spammed senseless with follow up emails for years thereafter.

I've had poor experiences with their broker team both as a seller and a would-be buyer.

 

[jberryhill]

If you make the unfortunate mistake of inquiring about a Uniregistry listed domain you're spammed senseless with follow up emails for years thereafter.

Each of which has a functional link to prevent further followups.

Yes, Uniregistry will continue to follow up on leads until the lead specifically requests to discontinue negotiating.

 

[carob]

I made a comment here about my experience with DomainNameSales and Uniregistry, which are now the same company, but it was deleted as off topic - perhaps it was not clear it is the same company, and you can access the same sales and enquiries info via either interface. I have seen the agents stretch the truth to close a sale, but most salespeople do that. But I haven't seen any messages sent to customers in my account who unsubscribe, which I can see in the control panel. Unless emails that I can't see are sent later.

And yes the minimum commission was clear to me from the outset.

 

[Ategy]

1) I think this is one of those situations where there was a mix up on both sides in terms of the seller-broker interaction. If these were the last exact numbers and wording written in the broker's last email before the sale, then there is a problem for this specific transaction that can't really be hidden behind the terms of service (which say there must be a minimum of $175 commission).

Then I received another email from Chris .
Message from Christopher Aguilar at Uniregistry.com:
Buyers offer $400.00
Commission rate 15%
"""" Net price $340.00*""""

If that was in the email sent to you (the seller) then you most certainly are due $340. Uni should give you the difference. However if he just put $400 and you assumed the rest .. then it's what is in the TOS that counts.


2) As a very separate issue .. is the fact the broker lied to the seller on your behalf. If that is true then there is no excuse for that. It essentially goes against the fundamental ethics of being a broker. It not only looks bad for you as the seller .. and not only looks bad for Uniregistry .. but it looks bad for the entire domaining community. It's hard enough fighting people who think holding generics and keywords is cybersquatting .. but when stuff like this happens it really hurts us all.

However .. if he said he convinced you to let it go for $750 after you said ok at $400 first then that's fine. But if he said he was able to convince you down to $400 before any contact with you then this broker should be reprimanded if not outright fired. Especially if the only information he was going on was that you had $2000 as a minimum offer.


That being said .. it is 100% ok to lie to all "Hungry students who need your domain for a school project"! lol

 

[JB Lions]

What happened here:

Jeffrey M. Gabriel Account Auto-Closed

How does this broker stuff work at Uniregistry? I might understand using a broker if they have contacts or do outbound marketing for you. Is that what they do? Or is it more just responding to inquiries they get with domains you have with them? If it's that, why would you pay for something like that, since, they would basically just be relaying info to the potential buyer. Information you decide, price, etc. and you like that they follow up?

 

[RobM]

That's pretty bad. Basically a broker is putting your reputation on the line by asking for more money when you've already agreed a price. I wonder how many sales are lost or buyers reputations shredded by such activity.

 

[Ategy]

That's pretty bad. Basically a broker is putting your reputation on the line by asking for more money when you've already agreed a price. I wonder how many sales are lost or buyers reputations shredded by such activity.

While I have 2 huge potential problems with this transaction (mentioned above). I don't have a problem with this part. The broker went back and got the after commission price requested by the seller.

The problem was *IF* the broker wrote / sent this in it's entirely:

Then I received another email from Chris .
Message from Christopher Aguilar at Uniregistry.com:
Buyers offer $400.00
Commission rate 15%
"""" Net price $340.00*""""

If the broker sent that (specifically the part in red) to the seller then there is a communication error on the broker's side that should be corrected by giving the seller his $340 for the sale.

The increase from $300 to $400 clearly was done in good faith to get the seller what he wanted after commission. (although still a potential communication error that should be corrected, it's not all that serious a mistake since the $175 is written in the TOS).

Again though .. where I have another (2nd and separate) huge potential issue is on the broker's other change of price .. from $2000 down to $750 .. if that was done before the seller ok'ed either the $300 or $400 (or obviously $750) .. then that is an extremely serious breach of broker trust/ethics.

However .. if he simply said he "thinks" he can get the seller down to $750 .. then that's significantly less of a big deal.

I would seriously think it would be best to CLEARLY copy/paste ALL the emails in question (in their entirety) including headers with date/time stamps (just edit down the email addresses of the buyer) BEFORE really making a judgement either way on what happened here.

 

[jberryhill]

What happened here:

Jeffrey M. Gabriel Account Auto-Closed

What happened is that Jeff has a namepros account which he hasn't used in a long time, and does not remember what the login was. So for the purpose of replying in this thread, he created a new account. Detecting two accounts, Eric shut off the new one, instead of the old one.

@Eric Lyon - would it be possible to close the old unused account instead, so that Jeff can address the questions here?

 

[franka46]

Recieved $209 this morning via PP from Uni
If I run a business and i would read so much bad publicity about my company ,which reputation iis not the best at all times ,I would be in a hurry to correct it some how and contact the seller to make some sort of deal .
I would have certainly posted that if that would occur .
No replies from Frank S or anybody else

 

[franka46]

You have to provide this forum with the actual full facts before slating a business - if what @Jeffrey Gabriel is saying is the correct version of events.

I get that the OP is gutted because he sold the domain for way less than the asking price. But I would also add that if you set a 'minimum offer' then uni reg shouldn't be trying to sell so far below it.

Salesmen/women, will always ride the line of right and wrong - especially in a high pressure sales environment such as this. The lad at uni reg, Chris, is probably targeted with a certain number of sales each wk/mo and if he doesn't get them, he's out of a job!

My two cents

Hi
""I get that the OP is gutted because he sold the domain for way less than the asking price.""
I have over 1200 domains with Uni ,of which most will be transfered to EPIK.com when renewal time arrives,sometimes i just put a min asking price ,although the broker is not expected the know that is ,that ALL my domains have been handregistered,so i am definately not dissapointed at the price i recieved.

 

[korganian]

I self negotiated with a buyer for 8 months for one of my domains listed at Uniregistry. I never requested to use a broker and the buyer did not request a broker. I went ahead and listed it with a BIN price of the agreed $1,000 and told the buyer to complete her purchase using the BIN button. Uniregistry assigned a broker to collect a commission for the sale without my permission. When I contacted them about it, they told me that they will always automatically assign every BIN sale to a broker, regardless of the wishes of the seller.

 

[Ategy]

I self negotiated with a buyer for 8 months for one of my domains listed at Uniregistry. I never requested to use a broker and the buyer did not request a broker. I went ahead and listed it with a BIN price of the agreed $1,000 and told the buyer to complete her purchase using the BIN button. Uniregistry assigned a broker to collect a commission for the sale without my permission. When I contacted them about it, they told me that they will always automatically assign every BIN sale to a broker, regardless of the wishes of the seller.

Was the commission any different than it would have been? Seems there's still a base commission for selling via their platform? (asks the bad domainer who still doesn't have his domains listed everywhere possible .. lol)

 

[MapleDots]

Oh man, uniregistry set my alarm bells off from day one. Please transfer your domains to the cayman islands!! Really, you want me to do that?

Seriously guys and gals.... I always say, no good can come of that. In the long run they are untouchable and I wonder how long it will be until we read about a big domain loss or somethin at uniregistry.

 

[wwwweb]

This is a pretty intense thread.

So Uniregistry market has various fees which are getting confused. I guess we just need to get the facts straight.

So there is a broker charge of 15% or min $175.

Then if they process you thru Uniregistry market you are going to have to pay the market fees less if they pay via wire, and more if they pay via credit card 3.88%, and 3% market fee.

So he should have probably processed you thru escrow where he could have assigned the fees to the seller.

It is kind of double edged sword, I think if a broker is going to take 15 percent they should cover the processing fees in that charge much like sedo, and godaddy do.

Something Uniregistry might have to look at.

But those are the facts, and that is what happend. I don’t think they tried to take you for $30 as they process some big sales over there, it is more of a communication breakdown if anything that is all.

As well from what I know all old leads get followed up after 60 days I believe.

If I mistated something maybe others can correct me, but from my understanding this is what occurred. Don’t take it to personal, I’m sure they would return the small charge if you spoke to them.

 

[carob]

Seems there's still a base commission for selling via their platform?

I think in theory if you self-broker a sale then there is no commission, but people keep saying they are charged anyway.

I just wonder if people who are signing up via Uniregistry now are treated differently from people who originally signed up via DomainNameSales.com, which was selective.

Can anyone list domains for sale on Uniregistry?

 

[wwwweb]

I think in theory if you self-broker a sale then there is no commission, but people keep saying they are charged anyway.

I just wonder if people who are signing up via Uniregistry now are treated differently from people who originally signed up via DomainNameSales.com, which was selective.

Can anyone list domains for sale on Uniregistry?

You have still have to pay a fee for using their market checkout, and there are two different fee rates less for wire, and 3.88% for credit card, or PayPal.

So I guess the confusion is the market fees on top of the broker fees where others charge one fee, or assign all other fees to the buying party.

 

[franka46]

Frank,


My name is Jeffrey Gabriel I am the Vice President of Sales at Uniregistry. I read what you have been writing, and I have to say I am taken back by all of this.


On February 4 we received the inquiry and made you the offer. On February 5th, Chris wrote to you, "We have a $300 confirmed offer. Keep in mind; we have a minimum $175 for our commission when brokering deals. How would you like to proceed?"


You responded to Chris: "Hi Chirs
If I will recieve $255.00* nett ,,please go ahead and sell it .

Hi Jeff
Thanks for your reply .
I was happy with $300 ,no need to hassle the buyer again ,because i had a budget and only raised the offer to $400
I did not ask anybody to get me a higher price because i was told to recieve $300 minus 15% = $255
End of story ,no need for ''brokering '' this was an inbound enquiry and then to charge
$175 is crazy and it will turn a lot of people off .
Prior to this post i informed Chris that I would go social with this and also informed Frank S about this issue ..none o fthem bothered to reply ,hence my posts on NP ,Twitter Linkedin G+ ,Domain groups at FB .
This might be a small amount to some but it's big for me ,being on a pension .
I am a very reasonable man and if anybody would have contacted me and offered me some sort of reasonable settlement ,still UNI getting a fee ,I would not have posted this and even if someone contacts me with some refund .I will certainly let everybody know about it .
The result is now that most of my 1200 domains will go to EPIK.com because i am convinced this would never happen there ,if renewal time comes along and i also have disabled the ''brokered by uni'' settings .
Best Regards .




paypal prefered "


That told Chris that you needed to NET 255 USD. That is a counteroffer.


Chris took that information and went for $750.00 to get you to the number you wanted. Then he responded to you on February 8th:


"Hi Frank,

The buyer is maxed out at 400. You would net 224.80.

What do you think? "


Frank, we charge a minimum commission of $175.00. It is on our site, and you agreed to it when you agreed to our terms and conditions. I think Chris did a great job getting the buyer to a higher price so you could net the amount you wanted.


In the future, you can contact me directly Jeff at Uniregistry.com or call me 1-949-416-2555 x6261. Tweeting the CEO of a 150 person company is not the best way of going about submitting complaints, or customer service tickets.


It would be great if you could call me today so we can find a way for our team to work better with you in the future, or I can connect you with the proper people to help you move your domains to another registrar. Before you make any rash decisions I think you should read over the communications between yourself, and Chris again. Perhaps you will realize there was not any malicious intent, poor service, or anything else you allude to. At best it was a miscommunication between you and him.


Have a great day. Thank you for the opportunity.

 

[Ategy]

@franka46 .. you really aren't helping your case at all by not posting clearly.

I wasn't sure what the point of the above point was? Just quoting a previous post without commenting on it. Then I saw I think you inserted your response to Jeff within his quote. You simply cannot do that .. I'm guessing it was a genuine mistake, but it completely misrepresents the other person.

Same as in your earliest posts, it isn't very clear what is quoted from the original emails and what is your opinion/commentary.

PLEASE clearly re-post ALL COMPLETE email exchanges with Uni and the Buyer in chronological order and be sure to include the portions of the header that contain the date/time. Insert each email into separate quote tags .. even put the email content in italics as well. Most importantly DO NOT COMMENT INSIDE THE QUOTES.

There are potentially some serious issues here that domainers should be aware of .. while at the same time this could be a misunderstanding on your side and Uni really didn't do anything wrong. Unless you clearly present the facts in their entirety then it really isn't fair to make accusations.

Note that I am in no way saying that I don't believe you were wronged .. from the looks of things there was a misunderstanding possibly caused by the broker explicitly writing and showing the calculation $400 - 15% commision rate = $340, but given the way you post it isn't clear to me if the broker actually wrote that, or if that is your comment .. a fact that changes this accusation 100% .. so I (and hopefully everyone else) really need to see all the facts/evidence before making a fair judgement.

 

[franka46]

Hi Jeff ,thanks for your invitation for a phone chat but firstly I live in Indonesia and only have a mobile phone and sceondly i do not see what we could discuss what allready has been discussed here .
I have proof all everything i said ,emails and screenshots and anybody at Uni can check my account or the whole story .
I have recieved $209,48 from Uni and the deal has been done .
I have no more issues with Uni and whatever happenes there internally is not my business .
I just take my business somewhere else [I allready registered 22 new domains with EPIK.com yesterday .
ps
Late email recieved :

Uniregistry Market: Message about animojii.com
Message from Martin Cote at Uniregistry.com:

Hello Frank,
I will reach out with the list price you mentioned and let you know of any returned offers we receive. I wanted to confirm that our minimum commission is $175.
All the best and looking forward to working together on this name and many in the future,

I replied to Martin saying that i am asking $999 and if he would succeed ,I would pay him $175
But all my domains are negotiable


My Efty Domain Sales Page
http://www.secretfbifiles.com

 

[franka46]

@franka46 .. you really aren't helping your case at all by not posting clearly.

I wasn't sure what the point of the above point was? Just quoting a previous post without commenting on it. Then I saw I think you inserted your response to Jeff within his quote. You simply cannot do that .. I'm guessing it was a genuine mistake, but it completely misrepresents the other person.

Same as in your earliest posts, it isn't very clear what is quoted from the original emails and what is your opinion/commentary.

PLEASE clearly re-post ALL COMPLETE email exchanges with Uni and the Buyer in chronological order and be sure to include the portions of the header that contain the date/time. Insert each email into separate quote tags .. even put the email content in italics as well. Most importantly DO NOT COMMENT INSIDE THE QUOTES.

There are potentially some serious issues here that domainers should be aware of .. while at the same time this could be a misunderstanding on your side and Uni really didn't do anything wrong. Unless you clearly present the facts in their entirety then it really isn't fair to make accusations.

Note that I am in no way saying that I don't believe you were wronged .. from the looks of things there was a misunderstanding possibly caused by the broker explicitly writing and showing the calculation $400 - 15% commision rate = $340, but given the way you post it isn't clear to me if the broker actually wrote that, or if that is your comment .. a fact that changes this accusation 100% .. so I (and hopefully everyone else) really need to see all the facts/evidence before making a fair judgement.

Then I received another email from Chris .
Message from Christopher Aguilar at Uniregistry.com:
Buyers offer $400.00
Commission rate 15%
Net price $340.00

I have a screenshot of this

 

[franka46]

Then I received another email from Chris .
Message from Christopher Aguilar at Uniregistry.com:
Buyers offer $400.00
Commission rate 15%
Net price $340.00

I have a screenshot of this

I am not an expert in posting these comments and it is my first and last experience with UNI
So for me this case is closed ,I dont expect any favours from Uni no matter how long this thread keeps going on .

 

[wwwweb]

I think in theory if you self-broker a sale then there is no commission, but people keep saying they are charged anyway.

I just wonder if people who are signing up via Uniregistry now are treated differently from people who originally signed up via DomainNameSales.com, which was selective.

Can anyone list domains for sale on Uniregistry?

Domainnamesales is now Uniregistry, that company has morphed under 1 umbrella.

Everyone gets charged the same, if you are selling the majority of your domains for under $500, you will have to quote brokers higher to boost your minimums to cover that $175, if you want more. If you ask them to process a small sale via Uniregistry market odds are buyer pays via cc or PayPal, and you are charged 3.88% payment processing fees, plus 3% for the right for the use of their platform checkout. So added 6.88% added to your min $175, if you don’t ask the broker to go thru escrew, and charge the buyer. Escrow would not require a higher tier verification for the buyer in most cases $500, or under so you should be ok in that department also.

 

[Ategy]

I would still like to see all emails in their entirety .. however .. looking at that screen shot .. it appears like it's the Uniregistry template that is deceptive and unclear. Reading that if I had to choose one way or the other, I would indeed think that the minimum commission is indeed included and that you were due $340.

That being said .. the sentence they use in that email is horribly confusing and is irresponsibly ambiguous and unclear. Usually the law stipulates in cases where agreements/contracts are unclear (your email exchanges are a form of contract), then a judge will usually side with the user/client (in this case that is you because they are charging you a commission to use their system).

However .. you are in Indonesia and they are in Caymen Islands .. for ~$100, it most certainly isn't worth the effort .. but I certainly do recommend that if Uni wants to be fair .. then they should send you the difference (to total $340).

I still would be most comfortable seeing all the emails in their entirety.


Also let me be clear .. to be fair .. this is not just a Uni thing .. GoDaddy has quite possibly the most horrendously inaccurate and unclear sets of auto-generated emails humanly possible. I'm only guessing there are other registrars who don't properly audit their automated emails to make sure they continue to make sense after years of upgrade/changes/etc.

In most cases (including likely this one with Uni) it's probably just sloppy copy writing as opposed to anything intentional. Still they should take responsibility for it .. and hire a better writer who actually understands their business platform and payment models.

 

[NoBS]

Don't forget, no other broker will touch four figure leads. Normally inquiries from whatever country is forwarded to the Uni broker who speaks their language. They do phone or skype calls whenever the buyer leaves a number, and they keep calling and pestering until they get an answer. They buyer also has their number to get in touch with whenever they want. Ok so they're not *real* brokers who do research and outbound, and they represent way too many names, but your only other option is self brokerage. In most cases I never understood why anyone would self broker, and what they're potentially losing. hint: way more than 15 or even 20%!

 

[franka46]

One thing puzzles me ,but maybe i dont understand the procedures .
Money was sent to my Paypal account as requested but I still had to pay $15,52 Credit Card fee.