Please explain this to me - Shill bidding now at Namejet.com

[umask077]

Is shill bidding allowed at Namejet these days or am I missing something here?There's one name at auction right now... religion.tv
This name is owned by Jim Holleran (Ammar's partner at Legacy Fund LLC).Can someone explain why qfco (Quest Financial LLC) (www.questfinancialco.com) is bidding in the auction?For those who don't know,Quest Financial LLC is a company based in Laytonsville (Maryland) administered by Ammar Rangwala (Jim's partner) /This information is public and accessible to anyone on the internet/
He has placed a bid for $2,000. (highest bidder at the moment)

I guess they are trying to push the name up to hit the reserve(there's another user bidding very closely).

There're more of their names at auction right now (20.tv,30.tv,actor.tv,actress.tv,hu.tv...).If I were you I would think twice before placing any bid.

I'll be reporting this to the Namejet staff for sure.

 

[Jim Holleran]

This is Jim Holleran, I own Religion.tv. Ammar is not my partner in Religion.tv. I own that name myself and have so for many years. Ammar bids and buys many .tv names on Namejet. Ammar has bought names from me before. Ammar and I own many names together under Legacy Fund LLC. He also owns names himself under Quest. I own over 100 .tv names myself under Online Marketing Inc. Therefore, what is the problem here with Religion.tv? Also, why did you post Ammar public information without asking his permission. I suggest you take that down. I am also going to send me you phone # in a PM if you like to talk.

 

[Ammudamus]

Umask,
Thanks for posting your concern. A few items of clarification just so everyone is clear. I do not own or have any personal interest in Religion.tv. You can check by looking at the WHOIS or calling Namejet yourself. Secondly, Quest is owned by myself and Jim has no ownership. Jim is selling these names and they have been advertised in newsletters and on the Namejet site and I am allowed to bid. If I have a personal interest to buy the domain, am I not allowed to do that?

I have been pretty vocal about bad practice in the industry such as registrars holding names hostage, lack of transparency, etc, so it would not benefit me to engage in such practices. Hope this clarifies any misunderstanding.

Kind Regards,
A

 

[umask077]

Umask,
Thanks for posting your concern. A few items of clarification just so everyone is clear. I do not own or have any personal interest in Religion.tv. You can check by looking at the WHOIS or calling Namejet yourself. Secondly, Quest is owned by myself and Jim has no ownership. Jim is selling these names and they have been advertised in newsletters and on the Namejet site and I am allowed to bid. If I have a personal interest to buy the domain, am I not allowed to do that?

I have been pretty vocal about bad practice in the industry such as registrars holding names hostage, lack of transparency, etc, so it would not benefit me to engage in such practices. Hope this clarifies any misunderstanding.

Kind Regards,
A

Yes,I already knew that Quest Financial was owned by you.I've been very clear about that in my original post.But that doesn't change my mind.
There's an obvious conflict of interest in this case since you both are partners in Legacy Fund LLC.Of course you can trade names privately but in my opinion you shouldn't be allowed to participate in a public auction with names owned by you.Jim has partnered with Namejet.com to start a public auction to sell some of his names.I make you this question... do you see it right? because I don't.Even if this is a legit move (which could be the case here),it's unethical.And I'm 100% sure that this is against the T&C of most of the auction houses I know of.

Regards.

 

[Ammudamus]

Umask,
This was confirmed with Namejet that there was no violation of TOS. I think we should then police every individual that has a tie to anyone in other partnerships from bidding. I would be open to hearing your suggestions around this. Interestingly enough, I believe the conversation about "shill" bidding was mentioned with one of your names, Bolsa.tv at Sedo. Was there any clarification around that?

As I said, I want and will be as transparent as I can.

A

 

[Jim Holleran]

Umask AKA Jose Manuel Martinez Arias. Before you put your foot in your mouth, get your facts straight. Also, we all know about your history, at Allthings.tv regarding Bolsa.tv that Ammar mentioned.

 

[umask077]

Umask,
This was confirmed with Namejet that there was no violation of TOS. I think we should then police every individual that has a tie to anyone in other partnerships from bidding. I would be open to hearing your suggestions around this. Interestingly enough, I believe the conversation about "shill" bidding was mentioned with one of your names, Bolsa.tv at Sedo. Was there any clarification around that?

As I said, I want and will be as transparent as I can.

A

They reached out to me too,confirming me the common business interests between the parties and stating that they will monitor this very closely and eventually take any action (if needed).

I will leave it to the readers to decide whether this could be considered unethical and/or bad practice…

PD. I invite you to show any proof you may have regarding the auction of that .tv name,same way as I did.Otherwise,your words are just that… empty words.

Best regards.

 

[Ammudamus]

Jose,
In removing any doubt in other's folks mind, would it satisfy you if I request Namejet to remove my bid? More than happy to do that if it will appease your concern.

A

 

[sofiapartner]

I will leave it to the readers to decide whether this could be considered unethical and/or bad practice…

I think that @Ammudamus made his point. I believe him.

 

[umask077]

Umask AKA Jose Manuel Martinez Arias. Before you put your foot in your mouth, get your facts straight. Also, we all know about your history, at Allthings.tv regarding Bolsa.tv that Ammar mentioned.

Yes,that's me... I'm not hiding myself from anyone.I can give you my address too if you're planning to visit me here in Spain.
I hadn't expected it would hurt so much

 

[umask077]

Jose,
In removing any doubt in other's folks mind, would it satisfy you if I request Namejet to remove my bid? More than happy to do that if it will appease your concern.

A

Do whatever you want Ammar... You don't have to satisfy me in any fashion,I'm not bidding in those auctions...

 

[Jim Holleran]

Yes,that's me... I'm not hiding myself from anyone.I can give you my address too if you're planning to visit me here in Spain.
I hadn't expected it would hurt so much

I don't need to put your address on Namepro's. Spain is a great country, I own Spain.tv in fact. I starting buying spanish .com's in 1998 and spanish .tv's in 2000. Great market!

 

[Electric-Shadow]

Ammu offered to remove his bid. A true shill bidder wouldn't come here defend themselves and then offer to remove their bid.

 

[discobull]

If there's a reserve and ammar's bid is below the reserve then I would agree that even if there's no actual collusion, there is an appearance of possible impropriety since he's in a position to know how far to push up the bidding without running the risk of winning. Doesn't look good...

 

[Keith]

One would assume that business partners might consult one another before making decisions that could potentially affect the bottom line. What we have here are guys trying to make a buck with .tv. So much so, that they partner up to reduce competition and minimize expenses.

Now, one doesn't consult the other prior to selling a domain, in the very extension that they work so closely together to profit from? Not saying bids were deliberately placed but the detective in me asks why? Why didn't one partner just give the other partner first dibs? Why did one business partner have to bid in order to win a domain that his business partner already owns?

The defendants have to admit, it's a strange situation...

 

[Jim Holleran]

Ammar did nothing wrong, don't need to attack him. He has done nothing but good things in this industry, more so than anybody else in .tv. So lay off Ammar, if people have a problem than come to me. Ammar is the most honest and standup guy I have met in this industry. The more success people have the more people try to attack them, I understand this, but remember nothing was done wrong here.

 

[Jim Holleran]

One would assume that business partners might consult one another before making decisions that could potentially affect the bottom line. What we have here are guys trying to make a buck with .tv. So much so, that they partner up to reduce competition and minimize expenses.

Now, one doesn't consult the other prior to selling a domain, in the very extension that they work so closely together to profit from? Not saying bids were deliberately placed but the detective in me asks why? Why didn't one partner just give the other partner first dibs? Why did one business partner have to bid in order to win a domain that his business partner already owns?

The defendants have to admit, it's a strange situation...

Yes, I could sold Religion.tv to Ammar before the Auction because he did have an interest to purchase the name from me. However, I had lot's of interest on the name in the past, so I decided to instead test the waters at Namejet and to tell Ammar and other's who have interest in the name they can become bidders at the Auction like everybody else.
I own Religion.tv 100%, Ammar was interested in the name, he put in a bid, like other's have put in a bid. There is no "conflict of interest" of Religion.tv, I am looking to sell the name to the highest bidder, bottom line.

 

[discobull]

Ammar did nothing wrong, don't need to attack him. He has done nothing but good things in this industry, more so than anybody else in .tv. So lay off Ammar, if people have a problem than come to me. Ammar is the most honest and standup guy I have met in this industry. The more success people have the more people try to attack them, I understand this, but remember nothing was done wrong here.

Anyone who has his own partner bidding on his auction where there is a reserve should anticipate that questions will be asked. I'm pretty sure you would be suspicious if you were involved in an auction where a partner of the seller was bidding against you. Or maybe I'm wrong... Maybe you'd just take their word for it if they told you that everything was above board???

When it comes to business, people usually understand that it's not good enough to just assure everyone that nothing dishonest is going on and that they have to conduct themselves in a manner that doesn't invite suspicion in the first place. Under the circumstances the right thing to do might be to just remove the reserve.

 

[Jim Holleran]

Anyone who has his own partner bidding on his auction where there is a reserve should anticipate that questions will be asked. I'm pretty sure you would be suspicious if you were involved in an auction where a partner of the seller was bidding against you. Or maybe I'm wrong... Maybe you'd just take their word for it if they told you that everything was above board???

When it comes to business, people usually understand that it's not good enough to just assure everyone that nothing dishonest is going on and that they have to conduct themselves in a manner that doesn't invite suspicion in the first place. Under the circumstances the right thing to do might be to just remove the reserve.

I been in this industry since 1998, and have an excellent record, Ammar been in this business since 2006 and has an excellent record. People are suspicious because lot's of crap goes on in this business, I seen it over and over since 1998. So I understand where your coming from, and even though Ammar and I have done nothing wrong, Ammar offered to remove his bid, and I told him to go ahead and do so, it's not worth the headache.

 

[discobull]

I been in this industry since 1998, and have an excellent record, Ammar been in this business since 2006 and has an excellent record. People are suspicious because lot's of crap goes on in this business, I seen it over and over since 1998. So I understand where your coming from, and even though Ammar and I have done nothing wrong, Ammar offered to remove his bid, and I told him to go ahead and do so, it's not worth the headache.

I've never heard of anyone being able to retract a bid. Is that even possible?

 

[Jim Holleran]

I've never heard of anyone being able to retract a bid. Is that even possible?

I've never heard of anyone being able to retract a bid. Is that even possible?

I will talk to Ammar and we handle it tomorrow morning, it's 8:30PM PST in USA now. Need to put my 7 year old twin daughters to bed now, any questions feel free to PM me and I will answer you in tomorrow morning. You guys have a great night!

 

[ulterios]

Right or wrong, if there was something knowingly going on or if there wasn't, I don't know and don't care. Only you 2 know the truth and no matter what some people are going to think bad because of your close business relationship. You had to have thought about how it might look if someone realized that.

25+ years of combined experience in the industry and you guys never thought that people might think: