Premium Listing Sold on GoDaddy for $99,999.00, My list Price, GoDaddy Nonresponsive

[heartsforhemp]

I am current domain holder of over 1300 domains in a certain industry. One I know like the back of my hand. I received notification that a domain I had listed on premium listing was transferred out of my account. I then contacted GoDaddy to see if it had sold. I was told yes it had sold. The domain was listed at $99,999.00 the maximum I could list on GoDaddy. I received a receipt from GoDaddy saying "Congratulations on selling your premium domain at listed price $99,999.00". This is life changing for me, who invests everything back into programs for people and the less fortunate. Thinking I finally caught a break.

Since then I have received no response from GoDaddy support team regarding the sale of my domain. The most unfortunate part is typically when I receive these emails I am always paid the amount minus commissions. I began immediately paying off some large debts I have incurred being in the industry I am in. I am now concerned of financial discourse to my family because GoDaddy doesn't want to cough up my money.

What do I do? I've called, emailed, and contacted to no avail.

Please Help @Joe Styler

 

[heartsforhemp]

And to help, there are budding sectors in the Hemp Industry, as I have already acquired the ones want I am gladly sharing with those who do not know the industry too well.

Opening Sectors
Bonding and Insurance ( Hemp Handlers and Farmers are required to carry bonding on material per their license to protect all large transactions, farms from labs that misreport CBD Content in plant matter, and large transports)

Land Sales (Just like real estate, lots of irrigated land is highly sought after)

Legal (There are lots of legal documents involved in the transactions, lawyertolawyer escrow, payments, contracts, Proof of Life)

Branding (well you know this just comes with the territory)

Procurement (large companies pay procurement specialists to procure hemp products)

Licensing (Various states need assistance in the licensing sector, seasoned specialists are needed to assist farms in licensing permits)

Tolling (Tolling is the process of procuring hemp, and doing a split with a lab on end use product i.e distillate, CBD Isolate, Crude Oil)

Ancillary Equipment ( labs materials used to process hemp)

Nutrients & Fertilizers (it's in the name )

Transportation & Logistics (it's in the name )

Genetics (hemp genetics are extremely important to this industry)

Greenhouses (I have personally seen very large greenhouse deals occur from companies found online)

Various Cannabinoids of Hemp (CBD is not all that hemp produces there are various other cannabinoids present that people are itching to get their hands on i.e CBC, CBG, CBN, CBDA and so forth)

Hygiene (from basic items to beauty supply, this sector is set to boom)

and many others any questions ever feel free to reach out.

 

[Paul Nicks]

Team will arrive in the office soon and will discuss with them. I strongly caution against spending any money from a sale before it is actually in your account, this is a large sale and will go through more scrutiny than smaller sales do, so the payout timeline will be longer. I sincerely hope this sale processes smoothly and both buyer and seller are happy with the result, but it is not a done deal yet.

 

[gilescoley]

I hope it works out for you, nice sale.

Some advice, never start wiping debts until you have the funds in the bank, and that applies to any industry, not just domaining.

 

[Paul Nicks]

A $100k sale to me is a lot but to a billionaire it’s peanuts. Just as a $999 sale to me is peanuts, it’s a ton to others. Point is, all sales should be handled in the same manner.

I disagree, with increased value comes increased risk and increased scrutiny. I'll be handling this directly from here on with the seller.

 

[heartsforhemp]

Unfortunately as much as it hurts me to discuss the outcome, it was a malfunction on GDaddys software, and was sold at an undisclosed previously listed price , not $99,999.00 . I have decided to let it go at it's previously listed price, however in future, these guys should be more responsive, and not send sales emails that are incorrect... wo is me, and now begins the reversal of excitement and backtracking all that I have told including my kids, god their faces when I told them.

 

[Dave]

Make GoDaddy liable and pay up what they owe you. I'm serious, take them to court.

In any other line of business an invoice/receipt/payment for x amount HAS to be that amount, no matter what.

Far too many mistakes, bugs and shenanigans in this industry. Don't let it happen.

In saying that, I bet their TOS has some bull covering them on these mistakes.

GoDaddy, why don't you hire some competent software developers who actually know what they're doing? Have seen far too many bugs on your system over the years and registrants have to pay the price for it time and time again.

I'm a long time GoDaddy customer but it's this sort of nonsense that means I don't have all my domains at GoDaddy.

 

[Joe Styler]

WTF WTF WTF

This is REALLY serious.

Because I previously asked Godaddy what happens if I update a listing price and the old price is still displayed on GD (it often is for 48 hours). They said that if a customer put it in their cart at the old price, the system would refuse the sale. I regularly change prices - up - in response to events and trends.

I can understand you wanting to let it go and that probably is the best for you and the name, but there is a huge issue here with GD systems and policies. They need to either change prices in real time or state in the ToS that price change take up to x hours to take effect.

Is the only way to protect yourself to delete the listing???

@Joe Styler and @Paul Nicks can you tell us Godaddy's policy and procedures on price changes?

We do state it clearly in the TOS it has been there for many years. The prices cannot update in real time because of several factors including the amount of sites and places that need to be updated, the amount of domains changing at any given time, etc.
It is found here https://www.godaddy.com/legal/agreements/domain-name-registration-agreement under the premium domain selling section.
I spoke with the OP on the phone and confirmed this with him. It is certainly disappointing news but I will do what I can to help him with his account.

 

[Dave]

Wait I missed that. You're honestly telling everyone that due to technical reasons the prices take 24 - 48 hours to update. That's the most laughable thing I've heard all year. You can't be serious.

Something like a domains price should ALWAYS be reflected near enough instantly.

Unbelievable. Sounds like a bad joke.

 

[Paul Nicks]

ok, didn't see the name in the follow-on posts... will have the team take a look

 

[Keith]

this is a large sale keith, these people are answerable to the government. They have to be careful. Let them do their job as it is expected of them based on challenges they face behind closed doors.

I’d bet the farm that godaddy makes more on domains less than $1k than they do on 5 figure sales, if looking at the totality of auctions.

Anyhow, if this were me I’d demand the domain back. I know the OP got a price he can live with but I’d not be so easy.

The assumption is that once you change the price, that’s the price! There shouldn’t be a lag time as a few have pointed out already. Simply bad business...

 

[Keith]

Hence why I stated I have begun and others should ...If you still wish to sell on GD ....ONLY List in Afternic

Never list at afternic. A rep there went into my account and changed a bin price. I’d never list anything for sale at either platform.

They have enough control over our domains, don’t give them more by providing a bin price!

 

[Keith]

this is a large sale and will go through more scrutiny than smaller sales do, so the payout timeline will be longer.

A $100k sale to me is a lot but to a billionaire it’s peanuts. Just as a $999 sale to me is peanuts, it’s a ton to others. Point is, all sales should be handled in the same manner.

 

[ramkumaritrvs]

interesting thread to watch

 

[Joe Styler]

My biggest fear is that I will never know what it really sold for, for all I know it did sell big, and GoDaddy didn't want a flux in peoples list pricing because one thought to not sell at high value did at a record. I mean when they accept money in they should know if there is an error or not, immediately. In addition one of the reps on a recorded line said it sold for more than what GDaddy offered me. Regardless I'm heartbroken and don't know if I have faith in these guys anymore considering they have not shown one ounce of evidence, sh*tty domain or not, of what it physically sold for and whom it sold to. Now even after it sold I was searching it on google and this is what was shown (screenshot), until it disappeared completely.

I sent you an email with the price the customer paid and told you over the phone. I told you I cannot send you a receipt from the other customer's account because that contains personal information as I explained to you on the phone. I cannot lie to you via email or over the phone as a representative of the company that would have some serious ramifications. I did do as much as I could do to verify the price paid.

 

[heartsforhemp]

I purchase domains knowing the hemp industry thoroughly, I've had clients range from NASA (Rick Presley) first man to grow plants underneath the Sea, RJ Reynolds, to GW Pharmaceuticals so my range covers sectors thought of and growing. Reason for the list price is I am aware of various sectors merging to share medical information on cannabinoids globally and large networks that they are comprised of.

The Domain is GLOBALHEMPSOCIETY.COM

 

[Ategy]

VERY IMPORTANT:
The other question that really must be asked is WHERE the domain actually sold?
*IF* it was at another 3rd party registrar, and the price update had propagated at Afternic, GoDaddy, and some (but not all) of their registrar aftermarket sales network, then we have a HUGE potential problem. Effectively someone can scan large catalogues of aftermarket domains and search for price changes. In most cases domainers change pricing for arbitrary reasons, but in some cases they could want to drastically increase a price because of an event or news headline. In such a case the person scanning for price increases can look at each domain and judge for themselves if the domain's value has justifiably increased. If the answer is yes, AND if they know which partner registrars are the slowest to update, then they would actually now have 24(+?) hours in which to cheat the system and get the domain at a huge discount!

Example:
Let's say there's a very rare virus called Xyzira, and you own Xyzira.com and XyziraVaccine.com .. then suddenly there is a huge Xyzira outbreak infecting hundreds of millions of people. You rush to your computer to adjust your prices from $2000 to $200k thinking there's obviously some pharma company who will pay for it. But then the person who is tracking domain price changes gets an alert that your domains increased in price (at GoDaddy). Based on the domains and the news, the person immediately recognises the value and goes to a slow-updating partner registrar 23 hours later and buys the domains for the old $2000 price!

That is what you should all be worried about .. ACTUAL loopholes and bad logic that could cost us big money if someone was positioned to take advantage of the sloppy and lazy logic.

So in this case, the delay certainly is an issue .. but also the delta in time between when the price changes at GoDaddy and when it actually changes at the slowest updating registrar is also a potentially serious issue.

This isn't the situation because of evilness at GoDaddy .. it's a problem because platform logic and algorithm design has time and time again proven to be an extreme problem at GoDaddy.

Again though .. you could most certainly make claims that at some point all these errors add up to an obvious negligence on their part that they very well could or should be responsible for. But they are not deliberately creating these loop-holes to be actively exploited. They are good people working in a huge machine that is obviously lacking at the very critical heart of their platform .. which is logic verification and auditing of how each part and element of the network are related to and affected by each other (automated emails included).

In all fairness, the scope of their multi-segment platform is truly immense and significantly more complex and inter-related than almost anything else out there. It's unthinkable to assume everything would always be perfect and glitch-free right from the start. But again .. a multi-billion dollar company really should be doing a better job at this point.

 

[Joe Styler]

Why do prices take 24 - 48 hours to update @Joe Styler?

Various reasons depending on the platform it sells on and how you list it. But across the board there are a couple main reasons.
There are a lot of systems that need to be updated, and various websites. This is not like running a wordpress site where you click a publish button and things update. This is a multinational global operation when talking about GoDaddy when expanding this to Afternic it is even more complex with various companies all with varying resources and laws etc.
Fraud- when a domain "sells" when someone buys it we check the buyer's funds. A lot of times this can be done very quickly, in minutes. Sometimes the fraud check takes much longer as in hours. We have manual verification with actual people looking it over in some cases.
We do not notify you as the seller that the domain sold until we know the money is real and not say a stolen credit card or identity theft etc, there's a bunch of stuff we need to check. Also with partner registrars they have to do their own checks. Once the sale is cleared we sell the domain and let you know it is sold. We put the name on hold while we are doing this so it doesn't double sell.
There are various things that go on behind the scenes of a sale that take time sometimes that is why we give ourselves that window. We are working on shortening it further. It used to be 48 hours so we have cut it back from that already.

 

[Embrand]

Congratulations! Incredible for a name that is less than one year old

 

[Keith]

I disagree, with increased value comes increased risk and increased scrutiny. I'll be handling this directly from here on with the seller.

It’s a question of relativity. The sales process should be universal, despite the actual price.

At any rate, thank you for personally looking into it!

 

[Nametree]

Interested to hear the official GoDaddy take here. If the domain sold for a different listing price, why send an email saying "listing price: $99,999?"

Seems like a pretty egregious "glitch", methinks.

 

[carob]

I updated a price on Afternic today and the displayed price on Godaddy updated in real time, or within five minutes - it was less than five minutes before I checked and the change had appeared at GD.

 

[BaileyUK]

So I would not worry at this point, there is a good chance things will still go as planned.

Erm your about 30 minutes too late with your post. I know you started to respond, then went and made lunch, done it myself

 

[carob]

Unfortunately as much as it hurts me to discuss the outcome, it was a malfunction on GDaddys software, and was sold at an undisclosed previously listed price , not $99,999.00 . I have decided to let it go at it's previously listed price, however in future, these guys should be more responsive, and not send sales emails that are incorrect...

WTF WTF WTF

This is REALLY serious.

Because I previously asked Godaddy what happens if I update a listing price and the old price is still displayed on GD (it often is for 48 hours). They said that if a customer put it in their cart at the old price, the system would refuse the sale. I regularly change prices - up - in response to events and trends.

I can understand you wanting to let it go and that probably is the best for you and the name, but there is a huge issue here with GD systems and policies. They need to either change prices in real time or state in the ToS that price change take up to x hours to take effect.

Is the only way to protect yourself to delete the listing???

@Joe Styler and @Paul Nicks can you tell us Godaddy's policy and procedures on price changes?

 

[carob]

Okay! let me put in my two cents worth here. If you have say an Afternic BIN of 5500 and a floor of 4500 , and the domain ends up sold for 5000, they will go in after the fact and change the BIN to 5000. Just the way they do it. I don't know if they do it this way every time, but I noticed it once or twice.

Good point. I can confirm this happens.

I'll say it again, it is a good idea to export a list of all your prices and listings from each platform so you can check stuff like this.