"Network Solutions a domain out of my registrar account without my authorization"

[Arca]

I have encountered a big problem with Network Solutions. They have taken a domain name out of my account, that is not going to expire until 2018, and sold it to someone else.

The buyer paid Network Solutions about $2500 directly by credit card for the domain (by mistake they sent me the receipt the buyer got, which is how I found out about this), and then they just took the domain name right out of my account. I wasn't asked to verify or authorize ownership transfer or anything. I just saw their reciept to the seller, and then checked my account and the domain name had disappeared.

At first I thought this sale might just be an outdated listing elsewhere, or maybe even my own sale, but when I discovered that the domain name has been removed out of my account without my approval, which ONLY Network Solutions can do, and the buyer paid them directly, it looks like they have simply sold my domain name, for their own profit.

WHOIS for the domain now reflects an end-user (they own the same domain in another extension). I really have no idea how Network Solutions can just sell MY domain name, that is not going to expire for nearly a year, for their own profit like this. I have reached out to their support, but they do not seem to understand or have access to what is going on at NetSol in a way that makes them able to solve this. It appears they do not have access to transactions and ownership changes and other details of that nature.

In short, two days ago this domain was in my account. Yesterday Network Solutions sold it for $2500 to someone, and just lifted it right out of my account without notifying me, and put it into their buyer's account.

Are there any Network Solutions representatives here at NamePros? Does anyone have an email address to anyone working at Network Solutions that has more authority/access than the customer support staff? I really hope this has just been a mistake or an error, and that I will be able to get the domain back, but based on my interaction with customer support so far, I fear that they may not be able to resolve this and help me retrieve the domain name. In which case, I would be out of the money I paid to acquire this domain name, and someone, likely Network Solutions themselves, would pocket $2500 for selling a domain name they do not own or have the right to sell. Again, I hope this has all just been a big mistake on their part.

If anyone here at NP has a contact at Network Solutions, it would be greatly appreciated if you could forward that contact to me (by PM if you don't want to post their email publicly) as I think if someone higher up could look into this, the chance of this getting resolved in the right way would be much higher.

To add to this mess, I have actually sold this domain myself 2 weeks ago through Afternic. And since then, I have attempted to transfer the domain to Afternic, but for some reason, Network Solutions have continued to block the internal transfer to Afternic. So at first, when this happened, I thought that maybe this was my Afternic sale. But the price Network Solutions sold the domain for is different than what I sold it for at Afternic, and most importantly, this domain name was NOT opted in to the premium network. An automatic transfer would be impossible. So did they keep blocking my internal account push because they were already working on selling this domain at that time? So not only have I, at least for now, lost my domain which I bought at NameJet, I'll maybe lose out on the funds from the sale of the domain too, and if I'm not able to get this domain back and fulfil my Afternic sale, the worst would be if they close my account because I don't deliver the domain I sold... And if this affects my Afternic account, that would be FAR worse than losing the domain and the funds I would have gotten from the sale. This whole thing is a big mess, and I just don't understand how Network Solutions can sell MY domain on their own behalf.

 

[Skinny]

Hi there,

Network Solutions can't or won't provide you access to speak with someone who can assist you? That sounds like terrible customer service.

Just playing with Network Solutions search it seems they include premium names from Huge Domains.

Was this a name that was previously owned by HD? I'm wondering if somehow that could have triggered the purchase due to an error (e.g the domain was incorrectly still in their system)

Does the email give any clue as to how the person bought the name?

The fact that the domain moved out of your account without any notice is unnerving. I hope you get this resolved soon.

 

[golan]

NWS is a mess. Just like any registrar Snapnames sends our domains to.

 

[Skinny]

Afternic can promote Fast Transfer domains through registrars to put the names in front of more people. Was your domain set as a Fast Transfer domain?

https://www.afternic.com/domain-reseller-network

Network Solutions can also promote domains to Afternic, BuyDomains, etc through Premium Promotion.

http://www.networksolutions.com/support/domain-sales-process/

Interestingly:

Domains Sold at Network Solutions

Domains participating in the Afternic Premium Promotion will be listed for sale in the Network Solutions search results when they match one of the domain name search terms entered by a potential buyer. The buyer will be prompted through the steps to purchase the domain. Once the purchase is complete the domain is automatically transferred from the seller’s account at their current registrar to the buyer’s account at Network Solutions®. Afternic notifies the seller that the domain has sold and mails payment to the seller for the sale amount minus a sale fee, as well as any optional fees, such as a wire transfer fee.

I've added bold and italics in the quote above. Are you certain that your buyer bought it from Afternic website and the name was not sold through Network Solutions?

 

[Arca]

Hi there,

Network Solutions can't or won't provide you access to speak with someone who can assist you? That sounds like terrible customer service.

Just playing with Network Solutions search it seems they include premium names from Huge Domains.

Was this a name that was previously owned by HD? I'm wondering if somehow that could have triggered the purchase due to an error (e.g the domain was incorrectly still in their system)

Does the email give any clue as to how the person bought the name?

The fact that the domain moved out of your account without any notice is unnerving. I hope you get this resolved soon.

Currently there is a ticket for this, and customer support is looking into it, but I don't feel entirely confident that they will manage to solve this, as they do not seem to have access to what is going on "behind the scenes" at netsol. At first they suggested that I let the domain name expire, and that somebody else bought it. But actually I bought it when the former owner let it expire, and now NetSol have somehow gone ahead and sold it for their own profit, even though I had renewed the domain until 2018.

Customer support seemed pretty surprised by the whole thing, and when I mentioned that I got the receipt of the sale, where they provided me with sales price, name and company name of buyer, account info of buyer, partial credit card info etc. The initial response from chat support was something along the lines of, you shouldn't have seen/received that.

I haven't reached out to the person who bought it yet, because they might double-down and fight back if netsol tries to give me the domain back right way if they find out their purchase might be cancelled. I did consider to contact them to ask how they bought the domain, but I figured it might hurt my chances of getting it back.

I've also thought about the issue of an outdated listing, as you mentioned, but the point is, the domain was not opted in to any auto-transfer systems after I took ownership of it, so there is no way any external platform could have gotten the domain moved like this. Outdated listings are normal, but it is indeed unnerving how this domain was just lifted out of my account by netsol. Since buyer paid them directly by credit card, and since they moved the domain name to the buyer, it looks like this was some kind of Network Solutions sale.

From what I recall when buying it, this was not a domainer-owned domain prior to me buying it. I think it was an end-user who let it expire. Not entirely sure about it's history though, but in the past it just showed an error page (rather than sales/parking page).

 

[Arca]

Afternic can promote Fast Transfer domains through registrars to put the names in front of more people. Was your domain set as a Fast Transfer domain?

https://www.afternic.com/domain-reseller-network

Network Solutions can also promote domains to Afternic, BuyDomains, etc through Premium Promotion.

http://www.networksolutions.com/support/domain-sales-process/

Interestingly:



I've added bold and italics in the quote above. Are you certain that your buyer bought it from Afternic website and the name was not sold through Network Solutions?

No, this domain name was NOT opted in to Afternic fast-transfer.

So I sold this domain nearly 2 weeks ago through afternic, and I've been working with them to transfer the domain (wouldn't have been necessary had it been fast transfer enabled). Afternic have tried to pull this domain to their account 3 times, but netsol kept blocking them from doing it, which I never understood why, as I have not had that happen before.

Then, yesterday, I suddenly received a receipt that Network Solutions have sold this domain for $2500, and they have just moved the domain right into buyer's account. I wasn't even asked to authorize the ownership change by clicking a link in an email. It was just gone.

Now these two sales appear to be different. The funds for my Afternic sale were confirmed in early April. While the person who currently has the domain name, bought through Network Solutions, paid for it yesterday, and they just took it right out of my account, even though it is not fast transfer enabled... So there is nothing that indicates that it is my Afternic sale, and it seems like they have sold my domain separately to another buyer.

 

[Arca]

And to add to that, Afternic haven't told me which registrar the buyer wants the domain at, but after the internal push was blocked by NetSol, they have been asking me to provide the authorization code - which indicates that they were going to transfer it away from Netsol, another sign that Netsol have sold my domain on their own..

I have reached out to Afternic, but still haven't heard back. The day before NetSol took my domain out of my account, Afternic were still working with me on manually doing the transfer to the Afternic buyer, so I find it difficult to believe that the transfer is struggling to move forward, and then suddenly the next day they have the ability to just pull names out of netsol registrar accounts. It's looking more like netsol sold this name separately, by themselves.

 

[Michael]

Sent you a PM with some good contacts for NSI. Good luck getting this sorted.

 

[DomainVP]

Currently there is a ticket for this, and customer support is looking into it, but I don't feel entirely confident that they will manage to solve this, as they do not seem to have access to what is going on "behind the scenes" at netsol. At first they suggested that I let the domain name expire, and that somebody else bought it. But actually I bought it when the former owner let it expire, and now NetSol have somehow gone ahead and sold it for their own profit, even though I had renewed the domain until 2018.

This is how they respond to anything.

I had a netsol domain just spontaneously change nameservers and point to their spammy ZTOMY nameservers. I couldn't change it, it was just stuck.

I spoke to two reps and both weren't even sure what our current planet of residence is. After insisting that there was a problem, and getting very aggravated, all of the sudden they were able to 'find the issue' and fix my nameservers.

Raise hell, protect your property. Good luck.

 

[Emmy101]

You said you were in the process of selling the domain and transferring to Afternic , my guess is that you don't own the domain anymore and the new owner from Afternic sale sold it for $2500.

 

[Arca]

Thanks everyone for your advice and help. I will provide an update when I find out exactly what has happened.

Network Solutions have told me it looks like its an afternic sale, but they said they cannot provide any details beyond that. But I have NOT opted this domain name in to the Afternic fast transfer network, and I have NOT approved the domain to be transferred after I sold it (I haven't even been asked by netsol to approve it). Also, the domain sold in early April, and funds were cleared right away. Why did Afternic keep trying to get the domain from me by a pull, and then by authorization code, and then suddenly yesterday, the name was just lifted out of my account by Network Solutions without any authorization on my part? Fast transfer happen automatically right after funds are cleared.

If automatic transfer was opted in to, why didn't they just use that right away? The scary part is, fast transfer was not enabled by me, so anyone could have listed this domain for sale on Afternic and have stolen/"sold" it out of my netsol account if no authorization or opting in first is required, before it disappears with a fast transfer.

And it's really strange how this domain was suddenly "fast transferred" without being opted into fast transfer at all, more than a week of struggling to get this transaction moving forward by manual transfer. Fast-transfer domains move out of your account immediately after funds are cleared. So how this domain was just moved out of my account without any kind of authorization on my part remains a big mystery.

Afternic have been working with me to move move forward the transfer manually, both through a pull to their holding account, and by asking me to give them the authorization code, which I have been working on with them on since early April, but Net Sol have inexplicably blocked all attempts at changing the ownership, which is something I have not experienced before. Then yesterday, the domain was just moved right out of my account automatically, even though I have not authorized anything or opted in anything since then, and I was not even notified (besides wrongly receiving the receipt the buyer got).

I really do hope this domain name was moved out of my account as a result of my sale of the domain, but the fact that the domain name was not fast-transfer enabled, and the transfer was not authorized by me in any form, was sold for a different price, and netsol customer support initially told me it looks like I lost this domain due to letting it expire, and Afternic has not acknowledged the transfer, makes me wonder exactly what has happened here.

Even if the name has somehow been fast-transferred, the Afternic system has yet to reflect that, and the last update from Afternic to me is that they are still working on the pull (even though the domain is in the network solutions buyer account now).

 

[Name Trader]

Not good news at all. Weren't NetSol involved with the original theft of SEX.COM, and probably many others.

 

[voiceofreason]

Thanks everyone for your advice and help. I will provide an update when I find out exactly what has happened.

Network Solutions have told me it looks like its an afternic sale, but they said they cannot provide any details beyond that. But I have NOT opted this domain name in to the Afternic fast transfer network, and I have NOT approved the domain to be transferred after I sold it (I haven't even been asked by netsol to approve it). Also, the domain sold in early April, and funds were cleared right away. Why did Afternic keep trying to get the domain from me by a pull, and then by authorization code, and then suddenly yesterday, the name was just lifted out of my account by Network Solutions without any authorization on my part? Fast transfer happen automatically right after funds are cleared.

If automatic transfer was opted in to, why didn't they just use that right away? The scary part is, fast transfer was not enabled by me, so anyone could have listed this domain for sale on Afternic and have stolen/"sold" it out of my netsol account if no authorization or opting in first is required, before it disappears with a fast transfer.

And it's really strange how this domain was suddenly "fast transferred" without being opted into fast transfer at all, more than a week of struggling to get this transaction moving forward by manual transfer. Fast-transfer domains move out of your account immediately after funds are cleared. So how this domain was just moved out of my account without any kind of authorization on my part remains a big mystery.

Afternic have been working with me to move move forward the transfer manually, both through a pull to their holding account, and by asking me to give them the authorization code, which I have been working on with them on since early April, but Net Sol have inexplicably blocked all attempts at changing the ownership, which is something I have not experienced before. Then yesterday, the domain was just moved right out of my account automatically, even though I have not authorized anything or opted in anything since then, and I was not even notified (besides wrongly receiving the receipt the buyer got).

I really do hope this domain name was moved out of my account as a result of my sale of the domain, but the fact that the domain name was not fast-transfer enabled, and the transfer was not authorized by me in any form, was sold for a different price, and netsol customer support initially told me it looks like I lost this domain due to letting it expire, and Afternic has not acknowledged the transfer, makes me wonder exactly what has happened here.

Even if the name has somehow been fast-transferred, the Afternic system has yet to reflect that, and the last update from Afternic to me is that they are still working on the pull (even though the domain is in the network solutions buyer account now).

Wait so you sold the domain yourself, so it wasn't your name anymore and someone flipped it after buying it from you ? Is that the result ? It is odd how you called it your domain and then say you already sold it before network solutions sold it. If you sold it to someone and they don't have the domain , why aren't they asking where it is ? Or did they turn out to have sold it. Be interested to know, because I am about to move my names away from GoDaddy to another registrar. Have good offer from Network Solutions and want to make sure everything is safe there.
Thanks.

 

[Name Trader]

Wait so you sold the domain yourself, so it wasn't your name anymore and someone flipped it after buying it from you ? Is that the result ? It is odd how you called it your domain and then say you already sold it before network solutions sold it. If you sold it to someone and they don't have the domain , why aren't they asking where it is ? Or did they turn out to have sold it. Be interested to know, because I am about to move my names away from GoDaddy to another registrar. Have good offer from Network Solutions and want to make sure everything is safe there.
Thanks.

One word of advice. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES TRANSFER YOUR DOMAINS TO NETSOL. They are one of the worst Registrar's on the planet. Much worse than GoDaddy. Without knowing your requirements of a Registrar, I would suggest NAMESILO.COM. They have a good offering where all extras are included in the one price, at no extra cost.

If you would prefer to discuss your options further. Please PM me.

 

[Arca]

Wait so you sold the domain yourself, so it wasn't your name anymore and someone flipped it after buying it from you ? Is that the result ? It is odd how you called it your domain and then say you already sold it before network solutions sold it. If you sold it to someone and they don't have the domain , why aren't they asking where it is ? Or did they turn out to have sold it. Be interested to know, because I am about to move my names away from GoDaddy to another registrar. Have good offer from Network Solutions and want to make sure everything is safe there.
Thanks.

I’m still trying to get an explanation of what happened here, so that’s why I haven’t updated the thread yet.

The issue at present boils down to Network Solutions moving a domain out of my account, without any kind of authorization, to fulfill a third party marketplace sale (Afternic).

I was not sent any email akin to “click this link to authorize the ownership transfer”, nor did I authorize it prior to selling the domain.

It was me who sold the domain, but there was a delay in my delivery of the domain to the third party platform. So the third party sales platform that sold the domain just asked Network Solutions to hand over my domain to them, and Network Solutions apparently complied with that request, without asking me for authorization to move a domain out of my account.

This is a worrying issue because the owner of the domain always has to approve that a domain can be moved out of their ownership before that can happen, because seller and owner is not always the same. It is very easy to list other people's domains for sale by faking ownership verificaton screenshots, and people “sell” domains they don't own every day. But they are not able to deliver those domains. Because when the rightful owner then does not authorize the transaction, it should break down.

But in this situation, Network Solutions did not seek my approval to take the domain out of my account to fulfill a third party sale. I was not even asked by them whether that third party sale was actually my listing (could have been listed for sale by somebody else, or could have been an outdated listing). Which is one of the reasons I thought the domain was stolen when it first disappeared…

To reflect that, I have asked the mods to change the title of this thread to “Please help: Network Solutions have moved my non-expired domain out of my account without my authorization”

So far neither the registrar nor the third party marketplace platform are willing to explain what happened here (I guess because what has taken place it’s against ICANN’s rules). Responses are very elusive and they are basically pointing fingers at each other (netsol say I have to work it out with Afternic, and Afternic does not reply to messages about it, so I’m still working on trying to get an explanation of what happened).

There are also a host of issues that have not been addressed by either party yet, such as the disparity in pricing, and the lack of any kind of communication or authorization request by NetSol before taking a domain out of my account. Will update the thread further when I get more answers.

 

[voiceofreason]

I’m still trying to get an explanation of what happened here, so that’s why I haven’t updated the thread yet.

The issue at present boils down to Network Solutions moving a domain out of my account, without any kind of authorization, to fulfill a third party marketplace sale (Afternic).

I was not sent any email akin to “click this link to authorize the ownership transfer”, nor did I authorize it prior to selling the domain.

It was me who sold the domain, but there was a delay in my delivery of the domain to the third party platform. So the third party sales platform that sold the domain just asked Network Solutions to hand over my domain to them, and Network Solutions apparently complied with that request, without asking me for authorization to move a domain out of my account.

This is a worrying issue because the owner of the domain always has to approve that a domain can be moved out of their ownership before that can happen, because seller and owner is not always the same. It is very easy to list other people's domains for sale by faking ownership verificaton screenshots, and people “sell” domains they don't own every day. But they are not able to deliver those domains. Because when the rightful owner then does not authorize the transaction, it should break down.

But in this situation, Network Solutions did not seek my approval to take the domain out of my account to fulfill a third party sale. I was not even asked by them whether that third party sale was actually my listing (could have been listed for sale by somebody else, or could have been an outdated listing). Which is one of the reasons I thought the domain was stolen when it first disappeared…

To reflect that, I have asked the mods to change the title of this thread to “Please help: Network Solutions have moved my non-expired domain out of my account without my authorization”

So far neither the registrar nor the third party marketplace platform are willing to explain what happened here (I guess because what has taken place it’s against ICANN’s rules). Responses are very elusive and they are basically pointing fingers at each other (netsol say I have to work it out with Afternic, and Afternic does not reply to messages about it, so I’m still working on trying to get an explanation of what happened).

There are also a host of issues that have not been addressed by either party yet, such as the disparity in pricing, and the lack of any kind of communication or authorization request by NetSol before taking a domain out of my account. Will update the thread further when I get more answers.

Thank you for your thoughtful and complete reply.
I am guessing there is something buried deep in TOS for Network Solutions that says when you sell a domain, that it might virtually still show in your account with Network Solutions, but since you no longer own it you wouldn't be in a position to authorize what happens to it.
I guess what I am still wondering is what about the person you sold the domain to ?
Aren't they wondering where their domain is ?

 

[Arca]

Thank you for your thoughtful and complete reply.
I am guessing there is something buried deep in TOS for Network Solutions that says when you sell a domain, that it might virtually still show in your account with Network Solutions, but since you no longer own it you wouldn't be in a position to authorize what happens to it.
I guess what I am still wondering is what about the person you sold the domain to ?
Aren't they wondering where their domain is ?

It looks like you have misunderstood my explanation of what has happened. There was only one buyer. I was unable to deliver the domain to the buyer for around 10 days due to technical issues at NetSol (there are LOTS of them, which often slows down sales). I tried to facilitate the transfer, but the NetSol system was too buggy and kept making it impossible. So Afternic, the third party marketplace, simply asked Network Solutions to give them the domain (they didn’t notify me that they were going to do this). Network Solutions then did not check whether I (the Network Solutions registrar account holder/domain owner) am also the Afternic seller. They did not send me a request for authorization to see whether it is okay for them to move the domain out of my account. They simply pulled the domain right of my registrar account and handed it to Afternic. This is problematic because anyone could have listed it for sale at Afternic (they don't do ownership verification checks). If Network Solutions complied with all such requests, I could list YOUR Network Solutions registered domain for sale via Afternic, and when it sells, Afternic could just ask Network Solutions to give them YOUR domain to fulfill MY sale. This time around, I was both the owner or seller. Network Solutions never attempted to establish this connection or ask the domain owner for transfer authorization. So when Network Solutions just pulled the domain out of my account without any kind of authorization, I misunderstood this as the domain being stolen, because it's illegal for a registrar to do that (according to ICANN rules). And because NetSol accidentally sent me a document that showed that the domain had sold on a different date, at another sales venue, and for more than my asking price and other factors, I was further led to believe that this was not my sale. There are still a lot of things that don't add up about this whole situation, but both registrar and marketplace are being very elusive and unwilling to explain anything, so I am still not sure about what happened behind the scenes.

 

[voiceofreason]

It looks like you have misunderstood my explanation of what has happened. There was only one buyer. I was unable to deliver the domain to the buyer for around 10 days due to technical issues at NetSol (there are LOTS of them, which often slows down sales). I tried to facilitate the transfer, but the NetSol system was too buggy and kept making it impossible. So Afternic, the third party marketplace, simply asked Network Solutions to give them the domain (they didn’t notify me that they were going to do this). Network Solutions then did not check whether I (the Network Solutions registrar account holder/domain owner) am also the Afternic seller. They did not send me a request for authorization to see whether it is okay for them to move the domain out of my account. They simply pulled the domain right of my registrar account and handed it to Afternic. This is problematic because anyone could have listed it for sale at Afternic (they don't do ownership verification checks). If Network Solutions complied with all such requests, I could list YOUR Network Solutions registered domain for sale via Afternic, and when it sells, Afternic could just ask Network Solutions to give them YOUR domain to fulfill MY sale. This time around, I was both the owner or seller. Network Solutions never attempted to establish this connection or ask the domain owner for transfer authorization. So when Network Solutions just pulled the domain out of my account without any kind of authorization, I misunderstood this as the domain being stolen, because it's illegal for a registrar to do that (according to ICANN rules). And because NetSol accidentally sent me a document that showed that the domain had sold on a different date, at another sales venue, and for more than my asking price and other factors, I was further led to believe that this was not my sale. There are still a lot of things that don't add up about this whole situation, but both registrar and marketplace are being very elusive and unwilling to explain anything, so I am still not sure about what happened behind the scenes.

Is your verified email and info on file with Afternic the same as the Network Solutions information ?
That might explain bypassing things.
So you were never paid for your domain in the end ?

 

[Arca]

Is your verified email and info on file with Afternic the same as the Network Solutions information ?
That might explain bypassing things.
So you were never paid for your domain in the end ?

Afternic account info and NetSol info did not match, and regardless of whether it matched, WHOIS info can be outdated/inaccurate (dozens of names I have sold still show my info in WHOIS). I was eventually paid for the domain according to my Afternic listed price minus commission. The buyer paid 25% more than my listing price for the domain, but I don't know where those funds went.