discuss Scammed on GoDaddy auctions!!

[JudgeMind]

A month ag I won auctions for two LLLL .com domains on godaddy. These were both public auction. I paid for the auctions then I sent the sellers info for transfers. A week and a half went by and I did not hear from the sellers nor did I receive either domains into my godaddy acct. I sent messages to sellers two more times after that. At this point it had been 3 weeks and still no response. I sent an email to godaddy explaining what happened and that I needed their assistance getting my domains or getting a refund. Here is their response:

As we are a payment processing service rather than an escrow service, we hold the funds for a specified period of time, and must release the funds at the end of that period unless we as your agent receive a dispute. As a dispute had not been received during the 15 day period described in the agreement, your funds have already been released to the seller. Any request for return of the funds will need to be made directly to the seller. However, we cannot intervene further. Once the 15-day Transaction Assurance period is completed, the window of opportunity to dispute the transaction has closed and we are limited in ways to help.

 

[DomainGist]

Don't be concerned with GoDaddy being mad about a chargeback or being out $300 lol....they are a multi, multi-million dollar company with standard accounts to write off losses, much bigger than this, on a daily basis.

I doubt his concern is some sort of moral one, they will also be 'writing off' plenty of user accounts on a daily basis too, that will be his concern here... that Godaddy will consider HIM to be the scammer and zap his account if they see a chargeback.

That's an understandable concern, lossing the ability to trade on godaddy is a big deal for any domainer.

 

[forge]

GoDaddy does need to be more proactive in vetting domain listings on their Auctions platform. It's not such an impossible task. It's a widespread problem, that of unauthorized domain listings. I've not been aware of such problems on Sedo, for example, who seem to have pretty good vetting processes and standards.

Checking that Whois records/contacts match those of the "seller's" account -- how difficult is that?

 

[Beezy]

This is just a huge customer service fail.

Do you think Amazon says "too bad." to any customer?

Godaddy needs to either fire the reps that did nothing, or empower them if they don't have the power to do anything in these situations.

 

[NameOmnia]

I am sorry for what has happened to you but unfortunately, as someone else has said already, this is not a scam situation but simply GD applying their own rules/TOS.
We ( all of us ) should seriously learn how to read TOS& Co for all the companies we work with and probably cases like this one would be avoided more often.

As they clearly state they are not an Escrow service so they do not have to behave as such; do I like it? NO, but that's how it is. I have sold and bought many names on their platform and I have never had an issue but I agree that communication with them ( especially if you are not a US customer ) is a bit sh*t.

I was under the impression domains are automatically transfered from sellers?

Only if the domains for sale are with GD.

the issue i see with filing a credit card dispute is that then godaddy will be out the $300, theres only one person they will turn to to get it back. ME

They have insurances and if they don't..well..it's their problem as it is your full right to try to get your money back in all the possible ways you can. I hope you will resolve this very soon.

 

[Joe Styler]

Thanks for all the feedback. We will take care of this for the customer. We are actively working on a way to further reduce instances like this and continue to speed up the payment times for the seller. We do verify names via the whois. As I said, this is an edge case where the buyer didn't wind up with the domain but we are continuing to refine the process and make things even tighter.
We have been continually working towards a friction less aftermarket where people can buy and sell domains even more quickly and get paid just as quickly. Integrating with Afternic earlier was a part of this overarching goal and other plans are being implemented to improve the platform overall.

 

[NameOmnia]

Thanks for all the feedback. We will take care of this for the customer. We are actively working on a way to further reduce instances like this and continue to speed up the payment times for the seller. We do verify names via the whois. As I said, this is an edge case where the buyer didn't wind up with the domain but we are continuing to refine the process and make things even tighter.
We have been continually working towards a friction less aftermarket where people can buy and sell domains even more quickly and get paid just as quickly. Integrating with Afternic earlier was a part of this overarching goal and other plans are being implemented to improve the platform overall.

Thanks for taking the time to reply t this thread.
I would also suggest you to make things a bit easier for your customers who are not US residents and to have less standardized email replies. I have also noticed that some of your support team just doesn't have a clue and that there is too much bouncing back and forth when we email you ( you = GD ).
Normally there is a copy and past email then if the customer replies the issue ( I assume ) is assigned to a more prepared support person...Can we just avoid this? Why aren't requests and complaint immediately handled by people who A know what they are talking about and B can actively make decisions and solve the problem?
That would be great.
Thanks

 

[carob]

To my eyes the thread starter case is not a scam but GD followed their TOS.

The GD TOS may be a violation of the TOS that GD agree to with credit card companies - I would like to know. I hope in this situation someone does a chargeback and tells us so we'll know - very likely GD will then have to revise their TOS.

Claiming to be just a "payment processor" is not going to work and is a bit suspect - we all know that credit card companies do not accept that argument from Paypal and chargebacks of credit card payments to Paypal succeed.

You can't enforce an illegal contract, nor can you enforce unallowable TOS.

 

[DomainGist]

A 15 day protection period is very short, paypal is also a "payment processor" and theirs is 45 days.

Godaddy should consider looking at aliexpress, they have a countdown to the end of the buyer protection period in bright red letters, which makes it very clear how long is left to open a dispute.

And finally, the very worst thing about Godaddy's responses as seen is this thread is NOT that they refused a refund, but that they make no mention at all of their willingness to monitor the seller and take appropriate action, no mention at all about how they seek to keep their marketplace safe.

Godaddy really need to work on how the communicate to give those assurances. When I report a trading partner for bad practices on ebay I get a response which at least tells me that they will take appropriate action against the user, they don't specify what (can be as simple as a gentle email reminder, a black mark / policy violation strike, or an account suspension / termination).

It is obvious that they have to have a time limit on disputes (if clearly not long enough), but they could do a lot more to assure buyers that they take security seriously, as far as the OP is aware here the seller could still be busy on godaddy scamming others completely unnoticed by the platform!

 

[pablohc86]

I am sorry for what has happened to you but unfortunately, as someone else has said already, this is not a scam situation but simply GD applying their own rules/TOS.
We ( all of us ) should seriously learn how to read TOS& Co for all the companies we work with and probably cases like this one would be avoided more often.

Personally i'm tired about all those TOS with 532487582394758935734895738294 number of pages each.
Every thing we do in our life, before to join or apply, we should read and agree to all those 532487582394758935734895738294 number of pages.

Starting from a simple app download to our smartphone to a more complex tool we can need.

Do they really think we have a day with 2342432 hours?
If i read and understand at 100% all the TOS about everything I use, I think i'll never purchase an item on ebay coz i'll be still finishing to read the windows TOS when i'm launching it on my laptop..

This is not against godaddy but only to show another proof that customers have really low protection.

I neither mention that government can send out new laws and company may change contracts agreement only from their side, sure we can leave without to pay nothing but it is not a fair deal, IMO

 

[Skyvisum]

Dispute the payment with your credit card immediately. You have a very good chance of getting your money back. In fact your chances are close to 100%.

Regardless, this situation is inexcusable. I currently have two BIN purchases through GoDaddy that have gone nowhere, and I'm also waiting (and waiting more) to get my money back, over $1000.

This is an eye opener as I got my money back even after winning the names and would have been down $700 on 2 occassions.Lucky I got my refund back on my card .Bad service from Godaddy.

 

[Skyvisum]

Normally your credit card company is good for that. I was almost ripped off for a domain on eBay. The best credit card service that offers supreme services for reversing the charges is American Express.

I'm going to switch to them.Thanks.

 

[NameOmnia]

Personally i'm tired about all those TOS with 532487582394758935734895738294 number of pages each.
Every thing we do in our life, before to join or apply, we should read and agree to all those 532487582394758935734895738294 number of pages.

Starting from a simple app download to our smartphone to a more complex tool we can need.

Do they really think we have a day with 2342432 hours?
If i read and understand at 100% all the TOS about everything I use, I think i'll never purchase an item on ebay coz i'll be still finishing to read the windows TOS when i'm launching it on my laptop..

This is not against godaddy but only to show another proof that customers have really low protection.

I neither mention that government can send out new laws and company may change contracts agreement only from their side, sure we can leave without to pay nothing but it is not a fair deal, IMO

As they clearly state they are not an Escrow service so they do not have to behave as such; do I like it? NO, but that's how it is.

I think I clearly stated I am not happy with the circumstances.
That in this capitalistic world customers do not have enough protections it's a well known fact so apart from going on stating the obvious what do we want to do about that?
The best thing we can do for ourselves is to be informed. Take it or leave it

 

[Skyvisum]

Sorry to hear this Judgemind and I hope along the line it gets resolved .

 

[Ms Domainer]

Another glitch to watch.

Sometimes when you win an expiring domain auction and pay for it, occasionally the former registrant renews it.

I have had one instance when (1) I wasn't notified with the usual "Your auction has ended" notice, (2) the domain disappeared from my "won" list, (3) it never made the "didn't win" list, and (4) I never received my refund.

In my case, I got in touch with my rep, and he took care of it.

I keep good records (with estimated acquire dates) -- that is key.

I keep my purchase receipts in a dedicated folder, so finding them is easy.

I have won only one public auction -- back in 2007.

I get better bargains on the expiring ones.

 

[forge]

This is an eye opener as I got my money back even after winning the names and would have been down $700 on 2 occassions.Lucky I got my refund back on my card .Bad service from Godaddy.

You got the domains for free? How does that work?

 

[Suraj Soni]

I was going through the same situation when seller did't transfer domain but fortunately at 14th day i contacted to godaddy dispute and other customer service email id and explain them about the situation and they keep the sellers account on temporary suspended mode for few days after that seller transfer domain to my id.

If anyone don't receive domain within 7-10 days they should immediately contact to GoDaddy customer care and GoDaddy Dispute.

You seems to be experience domainer how can you missed that.

 

[MarketingArchi]

But what company has such low prices, and I bet bullsh** happens from any and every company

Are you sure ? I think your the victim here, so they have to improve their services...

 

[JudgeMind]

Update!!

Thanks to the help @JoeStyler I was able to get reimbursed for my purchases. The individual who took payment without sending the domain names to me has been suspended from godaddy.

Thanks all for the help with this. Hope to never deal with this again.

 

[Nile Patel]

Update!!

Thanks to the help @JoeStyler I was able to get reimbursed for my purchases. The individual who took payment without sending the domain names to me has been suspended from godaddy.

Thanks all for the help with this. Hope to never deal with this again.

So finally you got your problem solved , by the way all your signature link is for godaddy and wish it stay as it is for future.

 

[Joe Styler]

Thanks for taking the time to reply t this thread.
I would also suggest you to make things a bit easier for your customers who are not US residents and to have less standardized email replies. I have also noticed that some of your support team just doesn't have a clue and that there is too much bouncing back and forth when we email you ( you = GD ).
Normally there is a copy and past email then if the customer replies the issue ( I assume ) is assigned to a more prepared support person...Can we just avoid this? Why aren't requests and complaint immediately handled by people who A know what they are talking about and B can actively make decisions and solve the problem?
That would be great.
Thanks

You can email auctions at godaddy dot com to get to the auctions support team. This is only for auction related issues and if you send in stuff on say hosting, they won't be able to help.

 

[Joe Styler]

You can email auctions at godaddy dot com to get to the auctions support team. This is only for auction related issues and if you send in stuff on say hosting, they won't be able to help.

And of course you can always reach out to me on here if you are not getting an answer quickly enough.

 

[Ms Domainer]

And of course you can always reach out to me on here if you are not getting an answer quickly enough.

Go Daddy seems to be funky today. Slow to load and my panel is all messed up and I can't seem to access individual names to manage them.

Also, it looks as though two pages have merged into one -- the copyright band from the sign in page appears in my panel.

I may be missing an auction as well because I can't load the page.

At first, I thought it was an issue on my end, but everything else is working fine for me.

????

 

[Joe Styler]

I haven't seen any alerts on anything and I am on the list for all the issues. I am not sure what is going on with your panel. I just checked on mine as well and it seems ok.

 

[Ms Domainer]

I haven't seen any alerts on anything and I am on the list for all the issues. I am not sure what is going on with your panel. I just checked on mine as well and it seems ok.

Just saw this:

Network September 24, 2015 at 10:30 AM
We're aware that some customers on certain ISPs are having issues reaching our services. Our engineers are investigating now, we apologize for any inconvenience.

https://support.godaddy.com/system-alerts/​

So, evidently, it's not everyone.

 

[Joe Styler]

I was thinking it could be an ISP issue but I didn't want to cast any blame outside of us.