advice My $8.5k valued domain got sold for just $90

[Anees Ahmad]

Dear fellow domainers,

Today (Friday, 00:26 24/04/2020 - IST) I got an email that says one of my domains got sold from sedo marketplace. I was really surprised because I stopped using sedo long ago. I signed up there mainly for the parking service. To check how thing are there, I added some of my domains to the portfolio and parked them there. Overall it seemed a good website. But for some other reason, I found out it was not for me. I disabled the parking and nearly never went back there. But what I didn't know was I left some market place listing for ridiculously low price. In fact, I don't even remember listing them for sale. I thought I was only enabled the parking.

All those domains were either hand registered or bought at expired auction at low rate. Later at some point I sold most of them to buy more. But I saved some of my favorite for a bigger sale. One of them recently got listed at squadhelp for $8,499. I got some inbound offers for the same too. To my shock, when I checked the mail from sedo, it was the very same name got sold for less than $100. I may not be able to sell it for the squadhelp price. But the sale amount was definitely too low for a good 5L .com name like this one.

Since the buyer has already paid the amount, I know it was a breach of contract to not to transfer the name. But I didn't wanna loose that name. So I decided to not to answer any emails from them. Since I don't have any domains registered at sedo, and I don't have any amount due to receive or haven't even linked my payment details, at worst, all they can do is closing my account. I was already stopped using it anyway. There is no chance of any legal action for such a petty transaction too.

I searched online for similar incidents happened before. There were so many posts by buyers who got frustrated by waiting for a long time after payment. The support team would have been trying hard too. And it's not something happens only at sedo. I didn't want this to happen to anyone because of me. I immediately contacted sedo explaining my situation, within one and half hour of the purchase. I haven't received any confirmation yet, but I am confident that since I did reached out on time and assured this won't happen again, there won't be issue to do the refund for this time.

I shared my experience to remind you all the importance of cleaning up your old listing and posts. Just do a quick check now if your listings are up to date everywhere. And when you sell a name or changes the price in the future, always update it everywhere you've listed them. I really appreciate everyone to share their thoughts and suggestions. Also in case the buyer happens to read this, please contact me through DM.

Regards
Anees Ahmad

 

[gilescoley]

What you did was wrong, if you list a name at a price and it sells, you honor the sale. This was not the buyers fault, it was you who listed it at that price. What happened to being professional and doing business with integrity. Years ago I listed a name on Sedo for mid xxx (accidentally) and it sold. It was worth probably 5 or 10 times that. I took the hit and sold the name, a persons reputation is worth more than one domain sale.

Always honor deals in business, in any busines, not just domains. One day it will happen to you and you will remember this thread.

Sorry if its not what you wanted to hear, but we see similar scenarios like this on occassion and it leaves a bad mark on domainers and the industry in general.

 

[frank-germany]

Dear fellow domainers,

Today (Friday, 00:26 24/04/2020 - IST) I got an email that says one of my domains got sold from sedo marketplace. I was really surprised because I stopped using sedo long ago. I signed up there mainly for the parking service. To check how thing are there, I added some of my domains to the portfolio and parked them there. Overall it seemed a good website. But for some other reason, I found out it was not for me. I disabled the parking and nearly never went back there. But what I didn't know was I left some market place listing for ridiculously low price. In fact, I don't even remember listing them for sale. I thought I was only enabled the parking.

All those domains were either hand registered or bought at expired auction at low rate. Later at some point I sold most of them to buy more. But I saved some of my favorite for a bigger sale. One of them recently got listed at squadhelp for $8,499. I got some inbound offers for the same too. To my shock, when I checked the mail from sedo, it was the very same name got sold for less than $100. I may not be able to sell it for the squadhelp price. But the sale amount was definitely too low for a good 5L .com name like this one.

Since the buyer has already paid the amount, I know it was a breach of contract to not to transfer the name. But I didn't wanna loose that name. So I decided to not to answer any emails from them. Since I don't have any domains registered at sedo, and I don't have any amount due to receive or haven't even linked my payment details, at worst, all they can do is closing my account. I was already stopped using it anyway. There is no chance of any legal action for such a petty transaction too.

I searched online for similar incidents happened before. There were so many posts by buyers who got frustrated by waiting for a long time after payment. The support team would have been trying hard too. And it's not something happens only at sedo. I didn't want this to happen to anyone because of me. I immediately contacted sedo explaining my situation, within one and half hour of the purchase. I haven't received any confirmation yet, but I am confident that since I did reached out on time and assured this won't happen again, there won't be issue to do the refund for this time.

I shared my experience to remind you all the importance of cleaning up your old listing and posts. Just do a quick check now if your listings are up to date everywhere. And when you sell a name or changes the price in the future, always update it everywhere you've listed them. I really appreciate everyone to share their thoughts and suggestions. Also in case the buyer happens to read this, please contact me through DM.

Regards
Anees Ahmad

if you don't honor the deal

this will happen:

[ ]

( nothing )

 

[HotKey]

I dunno dude.. I mean you sparked some conversation, and that's what creating a thread is all about. You never know what new insight may be gained, and may be invaluable to newcomers or those searching for a better way to manage their domaining.

So kudos to you Anees, and thanks for being so forthright AND thanks you for allowing us the opportunity to compare mindsets. You have proven to be humble, and that is a quality that many cannot grab the reins to. Don't stifle new input, rather embrace it my friend. I don't think anyone would fault disagreements, nor the way which you tackled the conundrum of just being human- in that regards we can all agree.

 

[uzver]

After reading this post, I realized I too might have some old listings elsewhere.

Just checked my Flippa account – yep, four domains were listed at 5K each while all of them are currently listed on other marketplaces for high four and low five figures. All deactivated

It's "good" that Flippa is dead, and no end-users could see those listings.

 

[BaileyUK]

And to get back to the thread starters question - Well your problems will be over for the future - Sedo will delete your account anyway if you don't close the sale.

Hopefully for you he is not an active domainer, otherwise expect some Public bitterness as well. I personally wouldn't be ignoring the attempts to contact you. I'd make at least an attempt to explain (thankfully I've never had to do that) - honoring the sale is always my priority, even cock-ups

 

[HotKey]

Oh, it's pretty black and white. The only gray area, is where we're not "keeping house". Keep your house clean, and everything else falls into place.

Otherwise, there's just no accountability and excuses like "I forgot to remove my listing" or "a private person is not the same as a business" will become your MO, and then your MO is as dirty as your unkept house. Just sayin', be responsible. People might be depending on it.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Personally I think that the purchase, even though listed long ago and by mistake in some sense, and not financially in the OP interest, nevertheless, it should have been honoured. The differing views from many respected members suggest that it is not clearcut as several have commented. I think @uzver nicely summed up the argument, and ended with

I certainly wouldn't want this to happen to me either. And I don't plan on doing this to anyone. But it's not black and white to me.

I agree with those who say honouring the sale is more important than the potential dollars, taken within the framework of your entire career.

honoring the sale is always my priority

the deals you honor are more important than the potential $$$

@Anees Ahmad asked

Isn't this ALMOST similar to declining an offer?

I guess it depends on meaning of almost , but I don't think so. If I go to a store, see something I want, take it to checkout ready to pay that, and then am told it is not for sale, or not at listed price at least, I would feel it different from I went to store and no prices listed but big sign says "make us an offer" and I do and they reject it.

Given the similar discussions happening right now re what is an offer and what is an obligated sale at an asking price, often the situation is not clear, even to very experienced domain investors. I have not gone through the Sedo ToS. @equity78 pointed out in a recent thread how confusing the Sedo terminology can be with respect to asking prices and offers (I realize a different point from the current).

Biggie brought up email notifications and Sedo. Now my last sale on that platform was at end of November, but, similar to experience of @BaileyUK, I got emails at each stage of the process, although I had to log into my Sedo account to get the full information and respond. That seems to me exactly how they should do it.

I'm not sure about that, I had that email from Sedo last month (sale went through OK 'Buy Now' at just shy of 2k) Though it did say to log-on for details.

As I understand this case, it was not related to notification, anyway. Now, what if the name had sold two places almost simultaneously? That would have been a different question, i.e. had he got the Sedo notification one hour and SH later the same hour.

I shared my experience to remind you all the importance of cleaning up your old listing and posts. Just do a quick check now if your listings are up to date everywhere. And when you sell a name or changes the price in the future, always update it everywhere you've listed them.

This is the most important message for the rest of us, and I thank @Anees Ahmad for his openness and reminding us of this. Yes, every time a name sells, drops or you change prices, make sure to update. Dofo may be a helpful way to see where your names are currently listed for sale and the prices.

Bob

 

[uzver]

Yeah, big companies make mistakes too and they should honor their deals if the do, just like anyone should. Its the same thing, just on a bigger scale but its all relevant.

I really dont care whether you are Apple, Microsoft or a Uni student living on 2 minutes noodles, if you make a deal, you stick to it, a man is only as good as his word. You mess up, you man up and take it on the chin, thats how you learn from your mistakes. You back out of a deal and dont take the loss, you wont learn anything.

Yes, they should. And yet, they not always do.

And how many people stopped buying domains from Uniregistry due to the issue I mentioned (linked) above? I doubt that many.

NetSol is a different story. Their reputation is bad (amongst domainers) due to a myriad of other reasons.

The domain was only listed at Sedo according to the OP, so this was just a case of he forgot about a name he had listed and then when it sold, he backed out the deal., its plain and simple.

OK, let's forget about domains for a moment, so that we remove the aspect of "Just remember what it feels like when you buy a name you really want one day", as I find it irrelevant to this discussion.

People sell assets (goods, cars, realty) and list them on various platforms for exposure, e.g. classifieds ads websites, niche websites, forums. They not always update their listing and may not even remember where they have listed them. It happens that I reach out to the buyer just to find out the item has been sold, or its price/description has changed.

Admittedly, I'm irritated when this happens, but it would be ridiculous to scream at the seller "You should honour the deal". The deal implies two parties agree onto something. There was no deal. It's the seller's prerogative to change his mind.

It's not the same if the seller represents a business. Of course, when you visit some e-commerce store, you should expect the item you see is available for the price you see. But I don't have the same demands for a private person.

Now back to domains.

Sedo makes it clear that the inventory on their website doesn't belong to them. The domains are owned by sellers and sellers can change their minds for whatever reason and whenever they like. Sedo will ban them for this. So the seller can choose.

Each to their own I guess. I just wouldnt even consider it, a persons reputation is eveything and I certainly wouldnt want anyone doing that to me. Just remember what it feels like when you buy a name you really want one day, and you pay and ask the owner to transfer the domain and they just ignore you until you go away.

When comes to honoring a deal, it is all pretty black and white

I don't endorse what OP did. I certainly wouldn't want this to happen to me either. And I don't plan on doing this to anyone. But it's not black and white to me.

 

[HotKey]

Well I'm not sure if you can put up a car with a "bin" on a classified ad, usually there is some sort of communications back and forth first. But you do what you can given the circumstances. My answer is, don't give yourself the future option of "simply forgot". Have a mindset of housekeeping your domain listings, whether they be in the hundreds or thousands, and apply it in real-time.

I mean, yep poop happens and it happens to us all, but circumstances that change should be that which is out of our control, not that which is our business to maintain.

 

[NameShiba]

I’m not necessarily believe that you put your money where your mouth is, but thanks for replying.

Of course -- and you do not have to.

If you notice -- I have one negative review on my profile.

This was because when I was starting out -- I made a major mistake.
I was a faithless auctioneer -- and fell in love with my domains and posted a no reserve posting for [INERTIAL.NET] back in 2016. The listing sold for 1$

I was new to the industry -- and did not reply to efforts to securing the domain or for the person asking my Paypal to submit payment.

I received a negative mark and trade review for my very first trade here on NamePros -- which has changed my view on trading domains forever.

Integrity and reputation behind each sale is vital and important. I was an amateur at that time, and have made sure that every single sale in the future on here and other platforms have been honest, transparent, and fast.

Regardless of your belief in where I would hold up the situation in a different manner, what remains is the same.

I have made my share of mistakes that I have learned from and subsequently received numerous positive trade reviews not just on here but on other platforms where I started to do business.

I take integrity -- very professionally in my trades now. If I promised a price that was lower than what an end-user asked for; I would ensure that it would go to the original sale originally agreed upon.

I will not risk losing something far more important in this community and industry than the $$$$ that could potentially be made.

The integrity behind the deals you make.

I have since reached out to the person involved in that trade from 2016 and had offered the domain to him immediately for free a week later after the auction ended -- after the bad trade review was written and will stay on my profile permanently.


It is a reminder to me -- that the deals you honor are more important than the potential $$$ you can make in your investments.

It personally is a reminder to me, that holding the opinions as I have shown above is important to me and everyone else in this industry.

Link to my faithless auction:
https://www.namepros.com/threads/inertial-net.970696/#post-5724369

 

[Abdullah Abdullah]

Sedo always do things like closing people's accounts without even informing them so while if you had it there and knew about it and now you are backing out is not good, I can also understand if the buyer saw the listing on Squad Help and then tried to get it on the cheap there. Many people do this, domainers or no domainers.

 

[uzver]

What you did was wrong, if you list a name at a price and it sells, you honor the sale. This was not the buyers fault, it was you who listed it at that price. What happened to being professional and doing business with integrity. Ive forgotten about a domain on Sedo Years ago I listed for mid xxx (accidentally) and it sold. I took the hit and sold the name, a persons reputation is worth more than one domain sale.

Always honor deals in business, in any busines, not just domains. One day it will happen to you and you will remember this thread.

Sorry if its not what you wanted to hear, but we see similar scenarios like this on occassion and it leaves a bad mark on domainers and the industry in general.

While I agree with you, I also believe that not everything is black and white in life. It depends on the circumstances.

Uniregistry makes mistakes, NetworkSolutions makes mistakes, so why can't ordinary people make mistakes too?

If the domain was listed everywhere at a high price and only at Sedo for a fraction of that, plus the seller hasn't logged in at his Sedo account for ages, I think it's safe to assume the mistake was genuine (for the record, I'm not sure this was the case here). The seller could also contact Sedo, explain the situation, and offer a solution that would suit all parties involved.

 

[BaileyUK]

sedo stopped sending "you have an offer" or "your domain has sold" type of email notifications some time ago, to prevent phishing.

I'm not sure about that, I had that email from Sedo last month (sale went through OK 'Buy Now' at just shy of 2k) Though it did say to log-on for details. The email did state the domain but no pricing or link to the account.
I can't see how Sedo could work without emails - most don't log on to their accounts every week, My last time of logging on there was probably three months ago as Dan seem to doing most of my sales.

I think what you probably meant to say - the emails are sparse (rightly so) on details or links.

Correction 2 sales and two emails, the other at $650 through Sedo, I mention this one also because surprisingly he's a member here for 12 years but has never posted. He did try to DM me here but i'd been away from NP for sometime

 

[Anees Ahmad]

- Please do not post anything after this post -

Let me know your response only through like-dislike or agree-disagree buttons or by DM. Because I want this post to be seen by everyone who comes to this thread. If you accidentally posted something, please edit it to something short like a dot. I hope you will cooperate.​

Hi everyone,

I think it’s time to close this thread. Please have the courtesy to read this entire post patiently. I must say I can’t completely agree with most of you.

We all do outbound offers. Technically they are the same as fixed price listings. You pre-agreed the price and are responsible to proceed if the buyer accepts it. If a reply accepting the offer received after the name is sold elsewhere, there isn’t much for us to do apart from saying “Sorry the domain is sold”. This is one reason why honoring every sale regardless of the circumstances isn’t technically possible.

If you argue that you don’t have anything else to do, let me explain another scenario. How many of you did specify an expiration time with every outbound offer you’ve sent? How will you respond to someone who accepts an offer you send them 10 years back? Maybe you can neglect the renewal charges. But this is where monetary inflation comes in to the scene.

Just FYI, This is not exactly what happened in my case. My listing was not old enough for inflation to make a significant change in the value of $8.5k*. I have checked my listing date at sedo and it was on 2019-11-28*. Almost when I started using namepros and started to think seriously about investing in domains (Yes I am new here). I think I had registered at namepros before that but almost never used it*. All my first domain purchases were for a venture I planned to start by myself. In fact that is how I came to domaining.

Also how many of you will proceed with a sale that will lose you 8k because you mistyped the price or it was posted when you didn’t know much about how much domains are worth, as in my case? Maybe you will, if you somehow can’t deal with the consequences. But I don’t see any integrity if that is the case. You can still continue arguing, but please be actually honest rather than faking how honest you are. If you are one of the most honest 1%, congrats. I’m proud of you. But you can’t blame people for backing out from such deals.

At the same time I agree there are many things which a domainer shouldn’t do. As I mentioned earlier, I sold some cheap names in a non reserved auction. I was expecting at least $10 for each. But two ended up at $1. I spent around $26 each. I was really frustrated but contacted the bidder and transferred the name. Because backing out on such a deal is clearly not cool at all. Similarly it would be a bad move if I didn’t respond to sedo’s emails which will make the buyer wait weeks without refund or response from sedo. Or if I lie to sedo that the domain is sold. But I contacted them instead. Within hours. I did explain everything. Maybe you still won't agree with me. I can understand that. Let's agree to disagree.

Humble thanks to everyone for participating, regardless of whether you talked in favour or against me . Always update your listings. Happy domaining.

*check attachments

- Please do not post anything after this post -

Let me know your response only through like-dislike or agree-disagree buttons or by DM. Because I want this post to be seen by everyone who comes to this thread. If you accidentally posted something, please edit it to something short like a dot. I hope you will cooperate.​

 

[biggie]

Hi

sedo stopped sending "you have an offer" or "your domain has sold" type of email notifications some time ago, to prevent phishing.

at least this is how it has been working, since I got that notification
where you have to login, to see if any sales activity has occurred.

so, OP, if you did get such email recently and others are too, then maybe it's just me
but if others aren't and you did, then check the properties/header of it.

imo….

 

[gilescoley]

Uniregistry makes mistakes, NetworkSolutions makes mistakes, so why can't ordinary people make mistakes too?

Yeah, big companies make mistakes too and they should honor their deals if the do, just like anyone should. Its the same thing, just on a bigger scale but its all relevant.

I really dont care whether you are Apple, Microsoft or a Uni student living on 2 minutes noodles, if you make a deal, you stick to it, a man is only as good as his word. You mess up, you man up and take it on the chin, thats how you learn from your mistakes. You back out of a deal and dont take the loss, you wont learn anything.

If the domain was listed everywhere at a high price and only at Sedo for a fraction of that, plus the seller hasn't logged in at his Sedo account for ages, I think it's safe to assume the mistake was genuine

The domain was only listed at Sedo according to the OP, so this was just a case of he forgot about a name he had listed and then when it sold, he backed out the deal., its plain and simple.

I'm not so sure that if I were to receive such an email from Flippa (and I really could care less about Flippa and my profile there), where my last log in was years back, my decision might be different.

Each to their own I guess. I just wouldnt even consider it, a persons reputation is eveything and I certainly wouldnt want anyone doing that to me. Just remember what it feels like when you buy a name you really want one day, and you pay and ask the owner to transfer the domain and they just ignore you until you go away.

When comes to honoring a deal, it is all pretty black and white

The listing was something I consider as by mistake and I didn't know it was active for all these days.

It makes no difference if it was a mistake, you honor the deal regardless. Imagine eveyone that back out of a deal on Sedo, Godaddy, Afternic or here just said "Sprry, it was mistake" or "I forgot to add those two "00" to the price". If you could get away with that, every 2nd person would be trying it.

I never said that. This was no ones fault. They will get a refund.

If you really believe that nobody is at fault here, then thats a problem in itself and no amount of discussion with change your view on that. JUst remrber the feeling ig you e

Good luck

 

[branding]

Hi

sedo stopped sending "you have an offer" or "your domain has sold" type of email notifications some time ago, to prevent phishing.

at least this is how it has been working, since I got that notification
where you have to login, to see if any sales activity has occurred.

so, OP, if you did get such email recently and others are too, then maybe it's just me
but if others aren't and you did, then check the properties/header of it.

imo….

I sold a name a couple of days ago. Got the email as usual. Maybe i'm just lucky

 

[sharastar]

I shared my experience to remind you all the importance of cleaning up your old listing and posts. Just do a quick check now if your listings are up to date everywhere. And when you sell a name or changes the price in the future, always update it everywhere you've listed them. I really appreciate everyone to share their thoughts and suggestions. Also in case the buyer happens to read this, please contact me through DM.

It's good that you learned a lot and are positive and alert about this atleast now.

Yes it is a Breach of Contract for sure but atleast you learned from it and I even like how Honest you are by saying that if buyer is in NP then to Contact you.I see Honesty here.

Be Alert from now on and All the best for your Domain Sales.

 

[NameShiba]

I'm of the opinion of honoring the sale regardless of the listing result. It would of been my mistake.

However -- that is the opinionated point of the thread.

The true conversation that would be productive behind this thread is the discussion behind checking your domain listings regularly.

I highly recommend every domainer keeping a google sheets document with relevant information about your domains on sheets.google.com. This service is free and works similarly to Microsoft Excel to promote the organization behind where you list your domains so that you will never have to question where else you have the names listed.

Free resources are available! Make good use of them to promote organization within your portfolio.

Cheers.

 

[WGS_Thunder]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrity
Integrity is the practice of being honest and showing a consistent and uncompromising adherence to strong moral and ethical principles and values In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one's actions. Integrity can stand in opposition to hypocrisy, in that judging with the standards of integrity involves regarding internal consistency as a virtue, and suggests that parties holding within themselves apparently conflicting values should account for the discrepancy or alter their beliefs.


Opposite:
dishonesty

 

[Anees Ahmad]

Sedo always do things like closing people's accounts without even informing them so while if you had it there and knew about it and now you are backing out is not good, I can also understand if the buyer saw the listing on Squad Help and then tried to get it on the cheap there. Many people do this, domainers or no domainers.

Thank you @Abdullah Abdullah for the reply.
The listing was there but like I mentioned, I didn't know it was still there. In fact I don't even remember listing them for sale. I thought I was only enabled the parking which I disabled later when I decided to stop using sedo. But somehow I must have missed the listing. I was unaware that it was still there until it get sold. If I'd any clue I would have disable it.

 

[Anees Ahmad]

Thank you @gilescoley for the reply.

Always honor deals in business, in any busines, not just domains. One day it will happen to you and you will remember this thread.

I always try to be honest and straight forward as much as I possibly can. I didn't think twice to transfer two of my names at my last auction for $1 each regardless I spent $26 (not the exact number) for each and I never expected the auction will end that low. But this is a different situation. The listing was something I consider as by mistake and I didn't know it was active for all these days.

This was not the buyers fault

I never said that. This was no ones fault. They will get a refund.

Sorry if its not what you wanted to hear

No problem. I really appreciate you for being honest.

 

[alcy]

yeah.. long live makeoffer only listings
things can get VERY hard to manage in terms of bin prices across various markets, especially for few 100 or few 1000 folio holders.

as for op, well, you can do what you want, tons of sellers do not sell their names, and tons of buyers x 100 never pay for domains they buy. however, ejecting yourself from markets, if you intend to remain domainer and sell names, is just shoot yourself in the foot... i mean its okay to get banned from bido, domainagents or some other things like this that rarely sell. but sedo, gd auctions, afternic... well........just don't... else you hurt no one but you.

 

[Anees Ahmad]

Thanks @biggie

so, OP, if you did get such email recently and others are too, then maybe it's just me
but if others aren't and you did, then check the properties/header of it.

The mail I received was genuine. I can see the sale at my account dashboard.