OUCH!

[Name Trader]

I just sold a domain at GoDaddy which I had dropped and it was picked up by HugeDomains. Had to go and buy the domain back from HugeDomains. Lost about $300 on the whole transaction. I'm usually super-careful about checking I still own the domain when negotiating a price at GoDaddy. This one seemed to have slipped thru the net. I actually went through the negotiations, accepted a counter-offer, went to Dynadot to transfer it back to GoDaddy, and found I didn't own it any longer. Gulp!

I was on my first and final warning from GoDaddy about this. I never actually sold another domain. I got the enquiry, checked the whois, made a counter offer of $1M and told them I didn't own the domain anymore. Please check the whois for the new owner. Seems the buyer didn't like the counter-offer and reported it to GoDaddy. So now if I get an offer on a domain I no longer own, I just let the offer expire, and then quietly delete the domain.

 

[Name Trader]

Wait Stub you said you countered at $1m ? After you accepted their first counter offer ?

No that was on the domain I didn't sell. I just countered with a ridiculous amount so they would not accept it. But I didn't consider they they might just report it to GoDaddy.

 

[Name Trader]

Hehe lot of confusion here.. Anyway stub at $300 it is a medium expensive learning experience. Take it like that and be sure to check if you own the name first and then start negotiating

I genuinely thought I had checked that I'd owned the domain before I countered

 

[Name Trader]

For those who are confused. My two paragraphs above are on unrelated domains. I had my first and final warning about trying to sell a domain I didn't own, maybe 18 moths before the current incident in the first paragraph.

 

[Name Trader]

There is no confusion.

Stub was just sighting that he honoured the deal at a $300 loss, because he had earlier been warned by GoDaddy over the same issue (listing an expired/ previously owned name), and the warning had come not even on a sale, but on an an offer over an expired name (which he forgot to remove from his listings), which he countered with a $1million offer, telling the potential buyer he did not own the name, but the buyer did not like it and complained with GoDaddy.

So, he honored this one even if it were to mean a $300 loss to him. I hope i got it right.:P

Correct. so not everyone were wearing their sunglasses

 

[Name Trader]

But why didn't you initially simply contact GD support and explain the mistake, request they cancel the sale? Too many unknown variables in your narrative IMO, which you might not wish to disclose.

Because if I'd done that, GoDaddy would have cancelled my auction account, if they followed thru on their warning. GoDaddy provides about half my sales in a year. So I could not afford to be barred by them.

 

[Name Trader]

Did you get a fee when it happened to you the first time?

Ever since then I never put BIN on my GD auctions.

No I didn't get a fee. Just a flat out warning that I would be banned if it happened again.

I never put a BIN anywhere. I probably lose some sales because of this. But it's tough to get it right on thousands of domains. And also most of my sales, the buyer has always bargain me down. I did sell one domain last year, where I told the buyer it was a firm price, and after about three rounds of negotiations I got my first asking price. It's also difficult to review/update thousands of domains if market conditions change.

 

[Name Trader]

Because he thought he could sell if for greater than $300


HugeDomains selling a domain to someone desperate for only $300 is the shocker here

I never said that. That was how much I lost between the difference in the purchase and sale price, plus Godaddy's commission. The price I negotiated was <$100 below the price I bought it from HugeDomains. so for you mathematicians out there, you can figure out approx how much the domain cost and sold for

 

[Name Trader]

Oh I see he set up a net losing transaction to try to keep Godaddy happy.

A one mil counter after first talking about 'normal' numbers will surely get complaints.

And then Godaddy says to themselves "Oh this is the guy that cant wait to transfer GD domains out of Godaddy"=Godaddy not being too friendly

Get in the habit of peeking at whois before any type of serious domain work . After a while you do it subconsciously.

This is way off base. See my comments above.

 

[Name Trader]

I had about 500 domains on GD auctions and after reading this I realized I have some in there that I needed to delete. So instead of going through the list one by one I decided to delete the whole list and then resubmit the list so that way all that I don't own anymore will automatically not be listed.

I have been meaning to do this too. But I was waiting for a break in my sales there before doing it because I was not sure how it would affect ongoing negotiations. At this time, I have 3 current uncompleted sales at GoDaddy and about 10 ongoing negotiations.

 

[Name Trader]

Wow! And I thought I'd explained it quite clearly Hats off to @Nitindomains who got it right first time He must be a twisted thinker, like me

 

[johname]

Goodluck

 

[Name Trader]

I am little confused here.. Did you go through with the sale or probable buyer who made an offer didnt like your counter offer and ran away?

I think I have clarified this with my above posts. If not, just ask.

 

[cdboard]

sounds like a good reason to have a second account.

use one for selling only - the other for buying only.

until one gets nuked. then use the survivor for everything.

 

[Name Trader]

Goodluck

Thanks. It not over yet. The domain is still "Funds received - authorization pending" at GoDaddy, and the domain has a 60 day transfer lock at NameBright.

HugeDomains really pissed me off about the lock. They told me I would get transfer instructions within 24hrs on their website, but in their email confirmation that had already stretched to 48hrs. But I never got any instructions. Instead I got a link to a new account at NameBright. Of course after I passed all their checks and logged in, the domain was locked for 60 days. This is totally unnecessary. So now I have to inform the buyer to open up a NameBright account, and I push the domain there. Luckily I never mentioned any registrar to the buyer. And I guess he just assumed the domain was at GoDaddy (like all the buyers do). So I expect some headaches are still to come.

 

[Name Trader]

sounds like a good reason to have a second account.

use one for selling only - the other for buying only.

until one gets nuked. then use the survivor for everything.

That's an interesting idea. I already have 2 accounts. 1 for buying and 1 for everything else. Why not a 3rd for selling, which of course means another $5/year auction membership. And if 1 gets nuked, then why not open another? But don't you think if GoDaddy lock you account, the domains will still be in that auction account, so you wouldn't be able to list them again?

 

[forge]

Tell the buyer you will gladly handle the registrar transfer for... wait for it...

ONE MILLION DOLLARS!

 

[Name Trader]

Tell the buyer you will gladly handle the registrar transfer for... wait for it...

ONE MILLION DOLLARS!

I'm not sure if this was a joke or if you still do not understand that the $1M was for the domain which didn't sell, and invoked the first and final warning from GoDaddy.

 

[Cheryl Arbury]

I'm a total beginner and I understood- clearly- your first post.

 

[Beezy]

What kind of spreadsheets do you guys keep to keep track of your domains, where it's for sale, etc?

I should probably start a new thread for this, but I'd love to know how people are keeping track of their domain business.

 

[Name Trader]

I don't use any spreadsheets for that because all my domains are listed at all my sales venues. So don't waste my time following that. Yes you should open a new thread and not to disrupt somebody else's thread.

 

[thekiller]

I hand reg a domain and found out that the domain is listed on GD auctions. :P

 

[Domainace]

Thanks, Stu. This is dangerous territory, and reminded me to look again. I have had people inquire about names simply because they see their domain name (which they probably bought from me) is listed for sale and want to stir up some trouble.

I, too, don't understand why the various auction houses don't scan the whois for changes and remove names automatically. In fact, I would love a piece of software that compares my portfolio with my listed names at various venues, and alerts me when I am listing a name I no longer own.

It's bad enough getting a serious offer on a domain you've dropped and can't recover without worrying about this other stuff.

 

[domainhacks-931385]

HugeDomains is very very sneaky. There was a domain on my expiring auction watchlist. I was thinking at picking it up. It dropped below $5 on expiring auctions (no one picked it up). HugeDomains snapped it at pending delete and now lists it at $2395.

That's domaining in a nutshell.

No one wants to pick it up at $5 freaking dollars.

Then two weeks later its no less than $2395.

 

[forge]

HugeDomains is very very sneaky. There was a domain on my expiring auction watchlist. I was thinking at picking it up. It dropped below $5 on expiring auctions (no one picked it up). HugeDomains snapped it at pending delete and now lists it at $2395

Which is why I simply cannot fathom purchasing a name from them only to recover it, not to mention lose money in the process. I'd prefer to be banned from GoDaddy. But I know Stu's situation is a lot different than my own.

By the way, I have nothing against HugeDomains specifically. It's how this stupid game is played all across the board. I have had names drop by error or otherwise and been up against having to pay thousands of dollars to recover it. No thanks.

 

[DU]

Because if I'd done that, GoDaddy would have cancelled my auction account, if they followed thru on their warning. GoDaddy provides about half my sales in a year. So I could not afford to be barred by them.

This is what proxies and multiple accounts are for...

I don't know whether to commend you for your good character or condemn you for giving every scammer a new way to scam (I've suggested it before though...) I would probably have walked away, truth be told. Over low $ it's not worth anyone's effort and non-payment isn't exactly unusual

But i guess you are of higher moral character than me.