Non-paying Sedo buyer contacted me and offered me less...

[RegFee]

I know there are a ton of Non-paying Sedo buyer threads (since Sedo continues to pay absolutely no attention to the problem) but I thought I'd share this one with you all since this guy was nice enough to contact me and offer me less.

I posted a question to the members of the forum where the person contacted me, but apparently the problem wasn't significant enough, because now they've made me out to be a cry baby.

http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?p=4064440

Why anyone would feel it is ok to back out of a contract is beyond me. The general consensus seems to be "there was no money exchanged, so no problem, move on". That's the problem though, people just accept the fact that they are at the mercy of the buyer on Sedo.

So, I posted the same question there, but I would like to see what people with a little more experience in the matter have to say.

1. Buyer makes offer on my name at Sedo.
2. I accept offer.
3. Buyer contacts me on DP and says "name was appraised much less. I offer $50."
4. I remind buyer of his contract with Sedo.
5. Buyer agrees, says he's mad at himself for not checking the name out first, but he'll pay once the money is transferred from bank account to paypal.
6. Buyer continues to make excuses as to why payment has not arrived.
7. Sedo cancels transaction without asking me first because he kept ignoring their emails.
8. Buyer continues to ignore my PM's.

What would YOU do? Is posting his contact details really slandering?

 

[Devil_Dog]

Crock of bull if you ask me. I'd out that clown.

"Appraised much less" haha, likely excuse.

Oh an di just read that thread and totally disagree with the amateurish comments about your situation. Has nothing to do with what forum the incident happened on but should have something to do with that indvidual's business ethics.

I'd say who it is and wouldn't care if they banned me or not.

 

[mwzd]

RegFee, doesn't SEDO take $60 from you for a domain sale?

this way you'd end up with $10 more nett imho.

While I also agree that the attitude sucks, it takes all kinds... good luck

 

[RegFee]

mwzd, the name was parked with sedo, so fee was only $10.

Devil Dog, thanks

 

[clocker24]

The Digital Point folks seemed to miss the point, perhaps because they are not domainers or don't understand the concept of auctions. You should have just named the guy in your first post, exposed his poor business ethics, then moved on.

In the end, though, I feel Sedo is to blame here. They should require a valid credit card from all bidders and bill them automatically when the auction ends. That would put a stop to this.

With that said, I don't see any point in continuing to pursue the non-payer. You're just wasting more of your time and the likelihood of any satisfying result is small.

 

[DotWeekly]

In the end, though, I feel Sedo is to blame here. They should require a valid credit card from all bidders and bill them automatically when the auction ends. That would put a stop to this.

Chargeback! So no it wouldn't put a stop to it!

Domainspade and I were talking about this today..... and this is what we seemed might be best.

When a buyer places a bid and the seller accepts or win an auction, the buyer would be charged X% of the winning amount, automatically via Credit Card. This X% will be Non-Refundable!

Sedo will need to update there buyer user agreement and add something like this "when a buyer purchases a domain thru sedo, via auction or direct from a seller, X% of the purchase will be automatically withdrawn from the credit card on file. The X% is Non-Refundable. When full payment is made, the X% will be applied to the amount due. A 10-14 day time frame to make full-payment. If the buyer does not pay, sedo and the seller would split the non-refundable amount, and the buyer would be banned from sedo."

Example:
1.) Buyer purchases a Domain for $1,000.00 usd.
2.) Buyer is Charged $100.00 instantly at end of auction or when seller accepts offer.
3.) When buyer pays in full, the invoice would show the $100.00 as a Credit and the total amount owed would be $900.00
4.) If payment is not made with in a set determined time frame (10-14 days) the transaction is closed and the buyer would lose the $100.00.
5.) Sedo would split the X% amount with Seller and transaction is closed. I think a 50/50 split is fair.

Your thoughts would help and if everybody thinks this is fair, I will call up sedo and propose it to them. Also, CC companies would not be able to do a chargeback, due to the agreement on the Non-refundable fee.

 

[AdoptableDomains]

What would YOU do? Is posting his contact details really slandering?

If they made an offer to buy on sedo and then tried to circumvent the system, I'd double the price, or at least figure extra for the cost of my wasted time and time that it was not available for sale to another potential buyer. Worst case, you are probably still technically in a contract with sedo since they brought you the buyer. If you then dealt outside that contract, you technically still owe them the commission even if paid direct by the buyer. Figure that cost as still due sedo and add it to any transaction. I have had buyers contact me directly after a sedo or afternic offer and have refused at that point to sell outside that transaction. One buyer even sent me payment with paypal after a sedo offer was accepted. I refunded it and insisted the transaction go through sedo since it was started there. If they can't be trusted to finish a contract, I want the security of sedo for the escrow.

Posting their details on her is probably not slander, as slander is verbal. Libel is written. However, both libel and slander are only if the statement is not true. If you can PROVE what you write or say, it is not slander or libel. However, if you are wrong, it could be. Even so, legal or not, sometimes public posting of things like this can cause retribution which you may not want to deal with right or wrong.

Your thoughts would help and if everybody thinks this is fair, I will call up sedo and propose it to them. Also, CC companies would not be able to do a chargeback, due to the agreement on the Non-refundable fee.

I think that sounds like a super idea. Basically it's the same as an "earnest fee" when making an offer on real estate. it shows you are a serious buyer. You follow through and it's applied to the sale, You don't, and those effected get paid for their time and efforts and potential lost other sales.

 

[Domagon]

Sedo, Afternic, Ebay, etc are NOT what they seem...

All of the above are on shaky legal ground in regards to enforcing domain deals (basically they can't) and thus they retreat to the safe harbor of merely being advertising venues to promote one's domains for sale.

So it comes down to buyer / seller trust; reputation is key to ensuring a deal gets done, and stays done.

Lawsuits, etc, while occasionally effective for a handful of people, in general are a waste of time and money.

Trying to force a deal through rarely works - doesn't hurt to put a little pressure on, but realistically, once a buyer / seller pulls out, there's usually little one can do other than name names, though that tactic can backfire.

Ultimately, it's often easier to just forget it and move on in such situations - one can't get blood from a stone.

Ron

 

[c4smok]

I got stiffed on a major transaction on Sedo the other day, he is also a DNF/namepros member.

even deals in the $XX,XXX range are not safe at Sedo..

 

[Kaleidozone]

I like the idea of the "earnest money" non-refundable deposit being taken out when an offer is accepted or an auction ends. That could go far re discouraging buyers / bidders who might not pay. And really, it's fair because the seller is kept from marketing the domain for a time period.

Andrea

 

[kev]

I got another cancelled transaction today....what makes it even more infuriating, apart from $2,000 lost, is that a member offered $1.8k before i put it to auction and i would have ended up with more if i sold it to him instead of waiting for a non-paying buyer....sedo is getting beyond the joke for this sort of thing and one day they will come a cropper

 

[Domagon]

It's been my experience that if a buyer doesn't pay within a few days max, the deal isn't happening...

On a related note, once a buyer resorts to excuses (or simply stops communicating) about needing more time to pay, one should just figure it's a no deal and move on.

Deposits (ie. earnest money) is good in theory, but in practice, it's unlikely to help - many buyers will simply go elsewhere, which would hurt Sedo, Afternic, Ebay, etc far more ... also such services likely don't want the added responsibility; government licensing.

In my view, Afternic is likely best positioned to provide a "trusted" trade venue for buyers and sellers, if they chose to. Sedo could too, but I doubt it, since their emphasis is primarily on parking; potential conflict of interest, since many listed names there likely yield Sedo more in parking revenues over time than they would in sale commissions.

Ron

 

[Kaleidozone]

It's been my experience that if a buyer doesn't pay within a few days max, the deal isn't happening...


Deposits (ie. earnest money) is good in theory, but in practice, it's unlikely to help - many buyers will simply go elsewhere, which would hurt Sedo, Afternic, Ebay, etc far more ... also such services likely don't want the added responsibility; government licensing.

Ron

IMO those buyers who might go elsewhere because of a deposit are likely buyers who might not pay, so let them go elsewhere if they balk at a mere deposit to show their seriousness and good intentions (and this deposit would only apply to offers accepted and winning bidders) I've had a 75% success rate at Sedo so far re buyers paying, but the one who didn't was really a headache and I've read too many stories of non-paying buyers, so it is a problem. Re the licensing, etc. I'm sure Sedo already has to do that re the escrow account, etc.

Andrea

 

[Len]

Crock of bull if you ask me. I'd out that clown.

"Appraised much less" haha, likely excuse.

Oh an di just read that thread and totally disagree with the amateurish comments about your situation. Has nothing to do with what forum the incident happened on but should have something to do with that indvidual's business ethics.

I'd say who it is and wouldn't care if they banned me or not.

Having read the thread on Digital Point I would be wary of doing business with any of those guy's in that post! With attitudes like this it is no wonder there are problem's with people paying up after bidding!!

 

[labrocca]

If this guy was exposed here he would have his account banned most likely. DP however doesn't do jack. And if you tried to expose this person they would probably ban you. DP is a terrible place to conduct business or even participate at.

3. Buyer contacts me on DP and says "name was appraised much less. I offer $50."

Make a thread here at Namepros..we will make sure you get a GOOD appraisal you can throw back in his face.

What was the sale price. I am sure your domain is worth twice that.

 

[RegFee]

Thanks for all the support everyone. It makes me feel like all my complaining was justified, even if it's not getting me anywhere in the end. Looks like my DP thread was closed. I definitely didn't want to turn this into a forum bashing thread (isn't that against the rules anyway ), I just thought it was strange that a forum that large didn't care about a member's shady acts. Oh well, time to stop posting available names lists there

Once again, thanks for the support. If you ever sell a name on Sedo and someone with a "snake-like" username contacts you and changes their mind, let me know!

 

[Ronald Regging]

I've had a 100% track record of deadbeat buyers on Sedo. This was only from 2-3 transactions, but still, it is very discouraging.

Also, when posting domains for sale on DP, I've had instances where someone claimed the domain at BIN, then tried to negotiate a better price, or completely ignored me when I PMed them for the exchange...