Rant to Brandbucket

[JudgeMind]

Heres a rant to brand bucket and to Michael krell (brandbucket ambassador) for declining names I've submitted to list with them and then when I did not renew it Michael picks up the name and lists it on BB..

Poor form sir

 

[johname]

The post above was changed so I edit out my reply.


A middle of the road method: Dont list your good stuff with them that one could imagine someone actually landing on the domain,

 

[urlurl]

100% agree, some names would only sell on brand market places (there are more than just BB) and some hold their own and will sell on their own... just make them available and they will sell

 

[offthehandle]

Maybe if everyone takes their names off and there is an alternative classifieds brandables marketplace where domainers control it is created. Why isnt a complete listing of all alternatives including everyones efty or personal sites all aggregated into one?

 

[12345]

To update everyone on this thread, I’ve spoken directly with @JudgeMind. There was a domain that he submitted in October of 2015 that was rejected at that time, and he dropped the domain about a year after. I picked it up in the drops in December of 2016, and submitted it to BrandBucket in February of this year, and it was accepted by the submission review team.

I’ve apologized for any misunderstanding, and I’ll continue to work directly with him to repair any lingering mistrust.

I’ve also been in touch with @Zoltan P. , and to clarify his post, he has had names drop that were picked up by a variety of sellers that were later resubmitted successfully.

 

[offthehandle]

Boycott insider trading.

 

[margotb]

To follow up on Michael's post above:
We have many long-time sellers who have been around to see our acceptance rates go from very strict, to more open, back to strict. We understand that this can be frustrating, which is why we created the rule that all domains may be resubmitted for appraisal after 9 months — just in case anything has changed with the marketplace or buyer trends. We want our sellers to be able to get our opinion on a name at least twice within the first year of owning the name.

As Keith pointed out, dropping a name and then seeing it sold (on BrandBucket or anywhere else) after the fact is painful. Feeling that a marketplace is intentionally taking advantage of you is even more painful. My primary takeaway from this thread is that we at BrandBucket are currently doing a very poor job at keeping an open door for communication — the fact that this thread had to be a “Rant TO BrandBucket”, not ABOUT BrandBucket, shows me that David wasn’t presented with a more obvious or better option other than a public forum for getting in touch with someone at BrandBucket about his concern.

One of my primary goals for BrandBucket in 2017 is increased communication and transparency with our seller base. Please keep an eye out for changes, but also please jot down these lines of communication:

* For issues like the one in this thread, or any issue with a fellow seller: [email protected] (comes directly to me).
* For reconsideration requests or repricing requests: [email protected] (this will soon be more automated)
* My direct email: [email protected]

Finally, in the matter of seller relations, we are making a change behind the scenes at BrandBucket. For a long time now, Michael and I as sellers on the platform have submitted our names through the same process as everyone else, and are looked at blindly by the domain submission team. As "regular" sellers, we have also been privy to the “resubmit after 9 months” rule. However, I feel in some cases we need to hold ourselves to a higher level of strictness than the rest of the seller community. Starting immediately, any member of BrandBucket's staff that is also a seller (now or in the future) will no longer be allowed to submit anything that has ever been rejected by the domain submission review team -- not nine months, not 1.5 years like the scenario in this thread, not 10 years down the line. To be clear, neither Michael or I look at lists of rejected names (this has NEVER been allowed), but as you all know Michael is very active catching dropped domains, and at times he may pick up something that has passed through our system at some point. This may still happen, but that domain will not have the privilege to be listed at BrandBucket.

Thank you to our sellers who continue to push us to be a better marketplace, and who hold us to a high standard because they believe in the value of brandable marketplaces as an important part of the domain aftermarket ecosystem.

 

[BrandVenue]

For a long time now, Michael and I as sellers on the platform have submitted our names through the same process as everyone else, and are looked at blindly by the domain submission team.

Once I requested a name for reconsider to Michael and he immediately accepted it, so it's clear that Michael (or you as a matter of fact) has power to overrule the decisions of domain review team anf accept a rejected name.

And Michael has told on one of domainsherpa episode about his sale of domain ultracast dot com where he was asked by Michael Cyger what was the reason behind pricing ultracast at nearly $15K his exact answer was "" I don’t know if I can explain it very well. I think it’s just one of those kind of gut feeling, you know, with the name.""

So it's clear that he can price his domains whatever price his guts tells him to.

So Michael has power to approve rejected names and he has power to price his domains, how are you really telling us that you and him both follow submission steps like normal sellers??? Is it really believable?

 

[Recons.Com]

To follow up on Michael's post above:
We have many long-time sellers who have been around to see our acceptance rates go from very strict, to more open, back to strict. We understand that this can be frustrating, which is why we created the rule that all domains may be resubmitted for appraisal after 9 months — just in case anything has changed with the marketplace or buyer trends. We want our sellers to be able to get our opinion on a name at least twice within the first year of owning the name.

As Keith pointed out, dropping a name and then seeing it sold (on BrandBucket or anywhere else) after the fact is painful. Feeling that a marketplace is intentionally taking advantage of you is even more painful. My primary takeaway from this thread is that we at BrandBucket are currently doing a very poor job at keeping an open door for communication — the fact that this thread had to be a “Rant TO BrandBucket”, not ABOUT BrandBucket, shows me that David wasn’t presented with a more obvious or better option other than a public forum for getting in touch with someone at BrandBucket about his concern.

One of my primary goals for BrandBucket in 2017 is increased communication and transparency with our seller base. Please keep an eye out for changes, but also please jot down these lines of communication:

* For issues like the one in this thread, or any issue with a fellow seller: [email protected] (comes directly to me).
* For reconsideration requests or repricing requests: [email protected] (this will soon be more automated)
* My direct email: [email protected]

Finally, in the matter of seller relations, we are making a change behind the scenes at BrandBucket. For a long time now, Michael and I as sellers on the platform have submitted our names through the same process as everyone else, and are looked at blindly by the domain submission team. As "regular" sellers, we have also been privy to the “resubmit after 9 months” rule. However, I feel in some cases we need to hold ourselves to a higher level of strictness than the rest of the seller community. Starting immediately, any member of BrandBucket's staff that is also a seller (now or in the future) will no longer be allowed to submit anything that has ever been rejected by the domain submission review team -- not nine months, not 1.5 years like the scenario in this thread, not 10 years down the line. To be clear, neither Michael or I look at lists of rejected names (this has NEVER been allowed), but as you all know Michael is very active catching dropped domains, and at times he may pick up something that has passed through our system at some point. This may still happen, but that domain will not have the privilege to be listed at BrandBucket.

Thank you to our sellers who continue to push us to be a better marketplace, and who hold us to a high standard because they believe in the value of brandable marketplaces as an important part of the domain aftermarket ecosystem.

Margot, could you please also comment on status of seller Matmor with BB?

Both on Slack and here, he attacks anyone with concerns, criticism or uneasy question to BB and pretty much every time that is the ONLY response with BB basically silently agreeing to what he writes. Are you condoning this type of behavior?

If I were a marketplace owner, I'd never let anyone with any affiliation to my platform to speak this way to my stakeholders!

 

[Justin Matmor]

Margot, could you please also comment on status of seller Matmor with BB?

Both on Slack and here, he attacks anyone with concerns, criticism or uneasy question to BB and pretty much every time that is the ONLY response with BB basically silently agreeing to what he writes. Are you condoning this type of behavior?

If I were a marketplace owner, I'd never let anyone with any affiliation to my platform to speak this way to my stakeholders!

If I were a marketplace owner, I'd never let anyone with any affiliation to my platform criticize or tarnish my company's reputation.

 

[Hypersot]

...Starting immediately, any member of BrandBucket's staff that is also a seller (now or in the future) will no longer be allowed to submit anything that has ever been rejected by the domain submission review team...

With all due respect, isn't that somewhat counter productive?
I mean, if the name has the potential to sell why block it from selling?
It's like curing one-eye blindness by blinding both eyes!

The 'cure' here is to train your team to recognise potentially quality names that can be set to sale for $4000 (like the name being talked in this thread did) instead of rejecting them.

The problem as I see it is that lots of good names are getting unfairly rejected not that Mr Krell got a previously dropped name (which should be his privilege to do)

 

[Chris Hydrick]

My primary takeaway from this thread is that we at BrandBucket are currently doing a very poor job at keeping an open door for communication — the fact that this thread had to be a “Rant TO BrandBucket”, not ABOUT BrandBucket, shows me that David wasn’t presented with a more obvious or better option other than a public forum for getting in touch with someone at BrandBucket about his concern.

One of my primary goals for BrandBucket in 2017 is increased communication and transparency with our seller base.

You'd get a lot more takeaway if you read / responded to the BrandBucket experience thread. Rather then staying off NamePros for over a year.

June 8th, 2016 was the last time the managing director added content to NamePros. The owner last logged on to NP May 25th, 2016.

You'll find some vocal sellers like Matmor struggling to defend sellers concerns. It's not his job to be a company spokes person (or is it?) The total and complete silence from bb staff on NamePros has contributed to this transparency collapse.

Not to make this political but the Trump administration is doing a better job communicating than y'all have been; similar wording / communication tactics though.

(I sincerely hope ((for the good of the brandable domain ecosystem)) to be proved wrong by seeing another response by you or MK within a month)

 

[Chris Hydrick]

To update everyone on this thread, I’ve spoken directly with @JudgeMind. There was a domain that he submitted in October of 2015 that was rejected at that time, and he dropped the domain about a year after. I picked it up in the drops in December of 2016, and submitted it to BrandBucket in February of this year, and it was accepted by the submission review team.

I’ve apologized for any misunderstanding, and I’ll continue to work directly with him to repair any lingering mistrust.

How about running a bulk scan of all rejected domains > isolate ALL domains registered by brandbucket staff / ambassadors confirmed via bulk WHOIS > then work directly with ALL effected sellers in efforts to repair lingering mistrust throughout?

It's not like this is a one off event. Not everyone will run a bulk WHOIS of their rejected domains to see if they're a victim. This is where brandbucket as a company has the opportunity to take the high road and run the bulk rejected scan to remedy all effected.

It's not like this domain even hit the drops. Assuming based off my WHOIS creation date that it was picked up at expiring auction. -- not even allowing me to re-register with coupon...

@margotb -It was reported that you moved some of your domains to privacy. So I'm not sure if some of my rejected domains under privacy such as the example below.

EDIT (ADDED)

I’ve also been in touch with @Zoltan P. , and to clarify his post, he has had names drop that were picked up by a variety of sellers that were later resubmitted successfully.

By running a bulk nameserver scan of all rejected domains and isolating all brandbucket nameservers, you will be able to isolate all rejected domains that are now published. This give you the opportunity to get in touch with all victims.

All were once rejects:

Zenably is a funny one. It now redirects to @Brandroot and is owned by Michael Rader. (though it's still live on BrandBuckets site)

If Rader wanted to (though I doubt he wants to cause issues) he could BUY NOW Zenably.com off brandbucket, and watch brandbucket not being able to deliver. A situation similar to what @DomainingCom publicized when they purchased a domain from BrandRoot that BR couldn't deliver.

 

[Recons.Com]

I guess next visit of BB staff can be expected June 2018, until then, ladies and gentlemen, I give you Mr Spicer, sorry, Mr Matmor...

 

[Chris Hydrick]

I guess next visit of BB staff can be expected June 2018, until then, ladies and gentlemen, I give you Mr Spicer, sorry, Mr Matmor...

Nah, margot's online now; Just viewing an old thread that hasn't been updated since 2014.

Rather than reviewing TONS of invaluable feedback on the BrandBucket Experience Thread as suggested.

 

[BrandClub.com]

How about running a bulk scan of all rejected domains > isolate ALL domains registered by brandbucket staff / ambassadors confirmed via bulk WHOIS > then work directly with ALL effected sellers in efforts to repair lingering mistrust throughout?

It's not like this is a one off event. Not everyone will run a bulk WHOIS of their rejected domains to see if they're a victim. This is where brandbucket as a company has the opportunity to take the high road and run the bulk rejected scan to remedy all effected.

Show attachment 62069

Show attachment 62072

Show attachment 62070
It's not like this domain even hit the drops. Assuming based off my WHOIS creation date that it was picked up at expiring auction. -- not even allowing me to re-register with coupon...

@margotb -It was reported that you moved some of your domains to privacy. So I'm not sure if some of my rejected domains under privacy such as the example below.

Show attachment 62074
Show attachment 62073
EDIT (ADDED)



By running a bulk nameserver scan of all rejected domains and isolating all brandbucket nameservers, you will be able to isolate all rejected domains that are now published. This give you the opportunity to get in touch with all victims.

All were once rejects:

Show attachment 62075

Zenably is a funny one. It now redirects to @Brandroot and is owned by Michael Rader. (though it's still live on BrandBuckets site)

Show attachment 62076
If Rader wanted to (though I doubt he wants to cause issues) he could BUY NOW Zenably.com off brandbucket, and watch brandbucket not being able to deliver. A situation similar to what @DomainingCom publicized when they purchased a domain from BrandRoot that BR couldn't deliver.

Well said @Grilled

They believe people are stupid ...

 

[Chris Hydrick]

A situation similar to what @DomainingCom publicized when they purchased a domain from BrandRoot that BR couldn't deliver.

NamePros Link to the above mentioned heated discussion: HERE

 

[Chris Hydrick]

I guess next visit of BB staff can be expected June 2018, until then, ladies and gentlemen, I give you Mr Spicer, sorry, Mr Matmor...

Great example! I meant to add a -- Hahaha.

Please accept the below 5 minutes best hits of Sean Spicer.

 

[Justin Matmor]

How about running a bulk scan of all rejected domains > isolate ALL domains registered by brandbucket staff / ambassadors confirmed via bulk WHOIS > then work directly with ALL effected sellers in efforts to repair lingering mistrust throughout?

It's not like this is a one off event. Not everyone will run a bulk WHOIS of their rejected domains to see if they're a victim. This is where brandbucket as a company has the opportunity to take the high road and run the bulk rejected scan to remedy all effected.

Show attachment 62069

Show attachment 62072

Show attachment 62070
It's not like this domain even hit the drops. Assuming based off my WHOIS creation date that it was picked up at expiring auction. -- not even allowing me to re-register with coupon...

@margotb -It was reported that you moved some of your domains to privacy. So I'm not sure if some of my rejected domains under privacy such as the example below.

Show attachment 62074
Show attachment 62073
EDIT (ADDED)



By running a bulk nameserver scan of all rejected domains and isolating all brandbucket nameservers, you will be able to isolate all rejected domains that are now published. This give you the opportunity to get in touch with all victims.

All were once rejects:

Show attachment 62075

Zenably is a funny one. It now redirects to @Brandroot and is owned by Michael Rader. (though it's still live on BrandBuckets site)

Show attachment 62076
If Rader wanted to (though I doubt he wants to cause issues) he could BUY NOW Zenably.com off brandbucket, and watch brandbucket not being able to deliver. A situation similar to what @DomainingCom publicized when they purchased a domain from BrandRoot that BR couldn't deliver.

zenably has nothing to do with brandroot. Do you verify before you publish errors?

Edit: But if I was an end user and wanted to buy zenably I could buy it cheaper from namerific. Wonder if that is possible??

 

[Chris Hydrick]

zenably has nothing to do with brandroot. Do you verify before you publish errors?

.....!!!

Thanks for catching my brain fart!

The domain now on brandroot (owned by MR) previously rejected by bb for me but accepted on BB for another seller on BB is Joyably.com

Joyably BIN is removed from bb. Thus, no possible repeat of the Qoni.com mishap.

 

[Abdullah Abdullah]

This is very interesting. There was a time I asked why name(s) that were mine and rejected are on the market. I was told by BB that trends change and we are sorry. Case closed lol.

 

[Chris Hydrick]

Edit: But if I was an end user and wanted to buy zenably I could buy it cheaper from namerific. Wonder if that is possible??

Theoretically, yes but it would be against bb TOS unless the seller requested removal and waited 30 days to sell.

I know of at least two Namerific sales that occurred while the domain was live on BrandBucket for more. One time the seller waited 30 days to remove and the other time the seller just transferred the domain to a secondary bb account.

 

[offthehandle]

By employees, partners or insiders of a company listing their own inventory for sale is next to impossible to consider fair.

Nah, margot's online now; Just viewing an old thread that hasn't been updated since 2014.

Rather than reviewing TONS of invaluable feedback on the BrandBucket Experience Thread as suggested.

Show attachment 62078

It is impossible. I don't believe these people have ever taken business ethics 101, based on what has been posted in this thread. This situation about favoring their own "house account" listed domains in the search means every sale they are competing against you and they have no reason to sell your domains. Why should they?

This situation is not unusual, as I have been involved for 35 years with many sales people and reps and distributor contracts where such conflicts of interest existed. I have sales people friends who got screwed out of really large commissions. Like: $xxx,xxx. So this is chump change really and you are dealing with a mickey mouse operation. The only solution and answer when you get screwed is walking away. Take your losses and create a competing situation. The barrier to entry is not huge.

Especially after reading that patronizing BS about transparency. The only way to receive trust is to earn it. Open up their last 5 years sales records by an independent auditor to prove they are not competing, but that will never happen. They have used you all you domainers for their own growth and market intelligence, all at your expense. I think its foolish to believe anything will change. If I owned this company, I would never have let this mess get this far with their "evangelist" and the owner selling their own domains. If they had respect for you guys, they would voluntary recuse themselves from the market, now.

They have free valuable SEO because of the 40000 domains owned by others, and inside information about how and what to buy based on the free market research that you guys give them by listing your domains.

Take all your domains off and create your own coop market and see what happens.

 

[Justin Matmor]

By employees, partners or insiders of a company listing their own inventory for sale is next to impossible to consider fair.


It is impossible. I don't believe these people have ever taken business ethics 101, based on what has been posted in this thread. This situation about favoring their own "house account" listed domains in the search means every sale they are competing against you and they have no reason to sell your domains. Why should they?

This situation is not unusual, as I have been involved for 35 years with many sales people and reps and distributor contracts where such conflicts of interest existed. I have sales people friends who got screwed out of really large commissions. Like: $xxx,xxx. So this is chump change really and you are dealing with a mickey mouse operation. The only solution and answer when you get screwed is walking away. Take your losses and create a competing situation. The barrier to entry is not huge.

Especially after reading that patronizing BS about transparency. The only way to receive trust is to earn it. Open up their last 5 years sales records by an independent auditor to prove they are not competing, but that will never happen. They have used you all you domainers for their own growth and market intelligence, all at your expense. I think its foolish to believe anything will change. If I owned this company, I would never have let this mess get this far with their "evangelist" and the owner selling their own domains. If they had respect for you guys, they would voluntary recuse themselves from the market, now.

They have free valuable SEO because of the 40000 domains owned by others, and inside information about how and what to buy based on the free market research that you guys give them by listing your domains.

Take all your domains off and create your own coop market and see what happens.

Don't you think sellers have tried to set up their own marketplaces only to fail big time?
This is why sellers are basing their hopes on BB.

If you can't compete with them - join them.

 

[offthehandle]

If you can't compete with them - join them.

Smart business people once they discover they are getting shafted continually, end doing business with unethical people.

 

[Moosan]

LOL, isn't that everyone does? For Example GameReviews.io got selected Editor's Choice on Flippa and Very next day someone Came up with GameReview.io? i will be judging my self first if that person was me. Ehhhhhhh