Removing Domains from Afternic

[BrandCougar]

Hi Everyone,

I recently was surprised when I received a notice from BrandBucket indicating that several of my published domains had been listed on the Afternic marketplace. I never added them there. Apparently the prior owner had added them and never removed the listings.

I submitted a service request 2 days ago to Afternic with no response or action taken yet by Afternic.

Unfortunately, I am no longer in contact with the person I purchased the domains.

A couple quick questions and appreciate your insight.

1) What is the most efficient way to get domains removed from the Afternic marketplace (that were listed previously by a prior owner)?

2) What is the typical timeline for domains to be removed? Meaning, how long does Afternic typically take to remove domains from the time you submit a request?

Thank you in advance for your feedback.

 

[xeroox]

I always send them an email and they respond after 4-5 days or don't respond at all.

 

[ben pedri]

they may mean the parking end of it,I have a tons of domains at parking crew that are still registered. and apparently all you have to do is submit the domain into your account and without investigation the old owner has to prove to get it back into their account. So as far as afternic they really suck and don't update their site ,basically the company is just throw a bunch of shit on the wall and hope it sticks

 

[BRANDERX]

In my experience with them, Usually they respond & act within a couple of days.

 

[ben pedri]

afternic is godaddy ,same employees,sanme office

 

[BrandCougar]

@xeroox @ben pedri @MS-Domains --- Thanks for the prompt responses!

So it's not uncommon to submit and not receive acknowledgement or action within the 1st 2-4 days.

Thanks. I will give them 4 days, before re-submitting my request or taking additional action..

Curious, if I don't receive a response (or removal) within 5 days, what would you recommend I do next to get them removed?

 

[xeroox]

@xeroox @ben pedri @MS-Domains --- Thanks for the prompt responses!

So it's not uncommon to submit and not receive acknowledgement or action within the 1st 2-4 days.

Thanks. I will give them 4 days, before re-submitting my request or taking additional action..

Curious, if I don't receive a response (or removal) within 5 days, what would you recommend I do next to get them removed?

I usually send another email and pray, i don't think there is another way to remove a listed domain

 

[urlurl]

same thing happened to me on a few names,

if you call and talk to someone they will take the name off in a few seconds - IMO

 

[creataweb]

Hi Everyone,

I recently was surprised when I received a notice from BrandBucket indicating that several of my published domains had been listed on the Afternic marketplace. I never added them there. Apparently the prior owner had added them and never removed the listings.

I submitted a service request 2 days ago to Afternic with no response or action taken yet by Afternic.

Unfortunately, I am no longer in contact with the person I purchased the domains.

A couple quick questions and appreciate your insight.

1) What is the most efficient way to get domains removed from the Afternic marketplace (that were listed previously by a prior owner)?

2) What is the typical timeline for domains to be removed? Meaning, how long does Afternic typically take to remove domains from the time you submit a request?

Thank you in advance for your feedback.

I'm surprised BB did that, never had it happen to me. I think Afternic will ask for proof of ownership before removal. They are slow via email. Sometimes they don't even respond at all.

 

[canswift]

I just received an auto-email from Afternic today, telling me to authorize my domain that had just been added to their Premium Network. This is a name I bought some weeks ago on GD closeouts, and I most definitely had not added it to my Afternic listings.

It's showing now on Afternic with a very low BIN price (put there by the previous owner), and I really hope no-one tries to buy it. Although I have not authorized this listing, and the name is "safely" in my GD account, I don't really trust this situation not to blow up on me if someone hits that BIN button...

I have emailed Afternic just now and will post back here how long it takes for this name to be removed.

 

[BrandCougar]

@xeroox - Thanks for the additional help. I initially submitted my REMOVE request via their site's Support Web Form, but will try the email route as my Phase 2 approach.

@urlurl - Thanks for letting me know they have a phone route, which if the email route doesn't work, I will try as Phase 3. Though I have to admit, the phone route is more direct and sounds like it also provides a more immediate response. I will try the other routes initially to see if those avenues work, if not then I'll make the call.

@creataweb - Thanks. Good point about needing "proof of ownership". It will be interesting to see what "proof" they will request. I will report back what they request (if they do).

@canswift - Thanks for your post. I find it a bit annoying that prior owners list these names on Afternic, but Afternic doesn't have some sort of timeout (auto-removal) on an annual basis. A couple of the names that BB identified had been listed by the prior owner a couple years ago. I had purchased the names last fall. If the (non-authorized) name is sold on Afternic, what happens in that situation? Do they auto-transfer without your consent?


For Reference (Domain Removal Avenues):

Web Form route: https://www.afternic.com/contact-afternic
Email route: [email protected]
Phone route: 866-351-9586 (US) or 781-839-7990 (worldwide)


Customer Service Hours (ref: FAQ Contact Assistance page):

"Customer service team Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. EST"

 

[xeroox]

Update: this time it took them only 8 days to reply and remove the domain

 

[MasterOfMyDomains]

Go into your control panel, and change listed to hidden. That way if you take them down from BB they are still in afternic control panel, but not showing for sale. System updates at midnight eastern time zone

 

[BrandCougar]

@xeroox - Thanks for your Update post. 8 days - Holy Crap!!

My status - I am 4 days since submitting my removal request to Afternic with NO RESPONSE. No email acknowledgement of the request, no communication, no deletion, no action period!

I will keep you updated.

@MasterOfMyDomains - Thanks for your post. Good point and a great suggestion for those who have an Afternic account, however, my situation is that I don't have an Afternic and it was the prior owner of the domains that had listed them a few years ago. So not only do I not have an account with them (Afternic), I currently own names that some other person who now no longer owns the domains has them listing on the site (dead listing).

Other potential problems:

1) I am curious... what happens if one of the domains actually sells on Afternic that is listed by a prior owner that no longer owns the domain? Anyone?

2) Also, does Afternic verify ownership prior to auto-transferring the domains? (especially concerning if the individual who has the domain listed no longer owns the domain)

 

[creataweb]

Joe Styler would know ^

 

[canswift]

The method described by @MasterOfMyDomains would only seem to work if the name in question was in one's Afternic account, and then you could make it "hidden" until it was sorted. Although I have an Afternic account, the name I am concerned about is not showing in my account.

However, it IS showing on Afternic, with a very low BIN price and I have received the GD email requesting ME to authorize this name for the Premium Network. This is clearly a legacy issue from the previous owner, even though I've owned the name for a few weeks now. I have yet to hear back from Afternic about removing it (I emailed them on Sunday).

 

[BrandCougar]

Hi @Joe Styler -

I am trying to better understand how Afternic's marketplace operates and was referred to you as a resource.

As per my Original Post, I am trying to remove domains from Afternic that were listed by the prior domain owner a couple years ago.

I have received great feedback from several NP members, but a couple questions remain.

1) What happens if one of the domains actually sells on Afternic that is a live listing that was listed by a prior owner that no longer owns the domain?

2) Does Afternic verify ownership prior to auto-transferring the domains at the time of the sale? (verifying at the time of the listing appears to be fruitless - especially concerning if the individual who has the domain listed on Afternic no longer owns the domain at the time of the sale)

Thank you in advance for any insight you could provide.

 

[BrandCougar]

@canswift - We appear to have a similar situation ( tho you with an Afternic account, me without ).

Our common situation is that a prior owner listed a domain on Afternic, no longer owns the domain, we do and would like it removed from the marketplace.

Please keep us posted this thread with how your situation transpires and I will also keep you updated on how my rodeo plays out. (thanks)

 

[Joe Styler]

Being in the West I like the idea of a good rodeo. I don't like hearing that you or anyone else is not getting an answer from support here. We have a pretty good team and they wouldn't not answer any incoming emails that is monitored. If anyone has any examples of emailing us and not getting an answer please PM me a copy of the email. I would also like to see the address it was emailed to. I can look into that and make sure something is not broken.
We have been a bit slower in responding in the last few weeks but that was resolved by hiring more staff and at no time would it have been anywhere near 8 days it would be 3 maybe 4 in worst case rather than 1-2 and most were still answered in the 1-2 day time frame.
As far as your questions.
1. If one of your domains sold on Afternic and you did not list it for sale there really isn't a way for us to give it to the buyer right? The name is not listed in your account as you said so we wouldn't have a way to fulfill the sale because the seller is not the owner. So we would say to the seller move the domain - they would say I can't and we would say ok then you are in trouble we are taking action against you for failure to fulfill a sale. This would not impact you as the current owner.
2. Yes - two ways depending on how the domain name is listed for sale. We cannot auto transfer a domain when it sells unless the current registrar contacts the current owner and asks them if it is ok to move the domain when the domain name sells. You would have had to have agreed to that email from your registrar saying you wanted to sell the domain on Afternic at X price and that you are ok with them automatically moving the domain when it sells. I am assuming you did not agree to this in which case we have no way to automatically move your domain if it sells.

 

[HotKey]

@BrandCougar , I've never had an issue having the listing removed by using the 1866 number you showed. You will get a live rep, he will verify the domain is no longer owned by the listee, and remove it promptly. Don't know if you live in U.S/Canada or not, but it is definitely the quickest route.