Sedo should be middleman in registrar transfers

[SlimPickins]

just venting, but with my last 2 sales on SEDO the buyers both wanted transfers out (from Godaddy). i can understand and respect that.... but really find it irritating, less "secure" feeling as seller and more of a hassle to finalize the sale without sedo acting as middleman.

to illustrate: in sale 1 i was informed by my transfer agent that the buyer wanted to transfer the domain and I should unlock it and enter the authorization code within the special box in the transfer center. did all that and received the tranfer request from some unknown registrar that i was supposed to approve. i did.... but really didn't feel so certain about it like when authorizing a transfer directly with a seller (where i know who they are, send them the code directly and often know beforehand what the receiving registrar should be). i recognize that anyone wanting to successfully transfer the domain would need the provided auth code but it opened up the chance imo for theft if someone had access to the buyers sedo account or email perhaps and was quicker to initiate a transfer elsewhere.

in the 2nd sale it went the same way... EXCEPT in this case the seller unfortunately opted to transfer the domain keeping MY contact data! i pointed out to the transfer agent that it HAD been approved for transfer out immediately like is possible at godaddy rather than the 3-7 day wait (as could be seen via whois, with the new registrar listed for everything except the admin contact which still had my info by mistake). now dont get me wrong, i can certainly understand (and expect nothing less) that sedo wouldnt see a registrar change as "proof" of ownership change. what got me is that the transfer agent replied "we have informed the buyer to update the whois contact details"..... that got me wondering: why on earth would they put so much emphasis on the contact info and not simply a clear confirmation from the buyer that the domain was received? in this case it took a WEEK of following up and, ultimately, ME contacting the buyer directly myself since they were ALREADY using the domain and prodding them to update the contact info and verify they received the domain in the transfer center to get 'er done. frustrating and really left me scratching my head wondering what exactly sedo as a sales facilitator had done for their 15%..... and got me thinking that it would be a MUCH more simple, safe and transparent process if SEDO would simply be the middleman for registar transfers like they are for account changes within a registrar. all they would have to do is charge the buyer for the transfer fee on top of the purchase price (which all in all makes liittle difference to the buyer since they would pay likely the same or close enough to initiate the transfer themselves). then sedo would initiate the transfer to gaining registrar and are absolutely clear when it has been received and can push to the buyer. no confusion, no uncertainty, no seller doing their part left waiting at the mercy of a buyers confirmation/contact data update to get paid. maybe there are "reasons" like some registrars i am not familiar with not allowing account changes shortly after receiving a domain etc but, even then, seems like would be an improvement in many cases and could be determined if possible based on what gaining registrar the buyer selects. and if the reason is "would be too much additional work for transfer agents" then i would be seriously disappointed, since shouldnt be much more than faciliating an account change and sure seems reasonable for the 15%.

anywho, interested in hearing from others with similar stories, or feedback that see it completely differently etc.....

 

[Name Trader]

I've got exactly the same situation as your #2 scenario with an Escrow.com transaction. Somebody put a transfer in at eNom. Now either they created an account using my whois info, or eNom use the current registrant info in the transfer. Low and behold, when the domain transferred, it had my contact info. Escrow.com have asked the buyer to update their whois records and to confirm they have received the domain. This whole scenario is fraught with risk, imho. This has happened as I type. I just got off an email to Escrow.com.

 

[cdboard]

if you make a change to the registrant info at godaddy, they will prevent transfer for 60 days.

use that to reduce your transfer risk. (push to buyer's account)

Escrow.com have asked the buyer to update their whois records and to confirm they have received the domain.

have you considered changing the whois info before transfer/push? I had an escrow sale where the buyer sent me his info, but it differed sightly from the escrow.com supplied buyer info. I changed it to the escrow.com supplied buyer info

 

[Name Trader]

That doesn't work if the receiving registrar changes the whois info to the buyer, and the buyer has set up an account using your whois info.

 

[SlimPickins]

thanks for input guys and sorry to hear you are experiencing a "similar" experience using escrow.com stub but this thread is about SEDO... who acts as transfer faciliator (but currently unfortunately in a less involvec role for transfers than it does for account changes) whereas escrow is simply holding money until 2 parties do the transfer stuff themselves and confirm the deal was done...

cdboard, i fail to see how your idea would have helped here... if i change the admin contact info myself before transfer i shoot myself in the foot and have to wait 2 months to complete the transaction! the issue here is that sedo is not involved when a buyer WANTS to transfer rather than receive at current registrar.

 

[Name Trader]

@SlimPickins - you were asking for people with similar stories. My story is essentially exactly the same as yours. You never said the story had to be exclusive to Sedo. So I'm sorry if I busted in on your thread. The story behind both our stories, is that we should use a Sales/Escrow service which takes control of the domain and the funds (like Moniker used to).

Causing a 60 day hold for changing the Registrant, is peculiar almost exclusively to GoDaddy. Whilst I can see their reasoning for doing this, because they presumably have more scams/thefts than other registrars. It doesn't work for me. Although I don't agree with cdboard's reasoning, because the receiving registrar will change the whois to the new account holder.

 

[SlimPickins]

sorry stub, yeah was looking for similar stories but, since i have never myself sold a domain through escrow.com but only using escrow via sedo, moniker etc, it didn't "seem" similar at first since isnt a matter of escrow not doing their primary service which it feels like is the case with sedo, who "is"/should be doing more than just holding the money on the sidelines. but i see your point and agree that there is a general escrow + registrar change issue.... so, my bad and thanks for sharing your situation. hope it gets sorted.

regarding cdboards idea, again while it may be useful info for other registrars and PRIVATE sales, the issue posted was regarding sales on sedo where i as seller do not KNOW the buyers info to change in advance... and can imagine that sedo would not be interersted in providing that since could make "faking" a transfer even easier in addition to the general privacy concerns etc.

 

[Kate]

if you make a change to the registrant info at godaddy, they will prevent transfer for 60 days.

Exactly. And Sedo have to deal with the peculiarities of each registrar. So the procedure will vary accordingly. It's your fault if you use Nodaddy. It just makes things more complicated. It's one more reason why they are not domainer-friendly. If you sell domains on a regular basis, you have to deal with that kind of unnecessary annoyance.

There is no such problem with domains registered at Dynadot for example, I push the domain to Sedo, then they pay us the same day while they coordinate with the buyer for the rest of the transfer. We don't have to wait for the transfer to fully complete.

 

[SlimPickins]

thanks for that info... i definitely did not realize that sedos hands-off approach was specific to domains at godaddy! i thought this "provide the auth code for buyer to initiate transfer" approach was standard and cant recall with previous sales where domains were at moniker etc if was ever preferred to be transferred out by buyer or only pushed.

that would definitely shift my view on the whole issue and sedos role if it indeed only is unique to godaddy domains gulp.

 

[garptrader]

There was a time when quite often SEDO would allow a push to their Godaddy account and then they would handle the transfer to buyer themselves. I never felt comfortable with external transfers because the transfer request doesn't state the buyer's contact info - only the registrar. It also entails agreeing to a document full of legalese which can run many pages. What are we really agreeing to here? If the new registrar is foreign, you have to go down to the section in English but feel uneasy agreeing to a foreign-language legal document. I just want to get paid for a sale and if the deal is less than $500 it should not be so involved. It should also be clear the domain is being transferred to the person who has paid for the domain.

While I am not of fan of 30% commissions for Godaddy Premium Listings, the advantage is that the transfer is automatic. The domain is automatically transferred to the buyer's account without manual intervention on the seller's part. Godaddy does its own fraud checks and delays payment to the seller several days as a security measure.

In the last year more than half my portfolio has had offer page views at SEDO but buyers are practically nonexistent. SEDO is no longer a meaningful source of revenue so I have begun to allow better pricing at Goddaddy except on high-priced domains where that 30% vs 15% commission differential is significant.

 

[cdboard]

garptrader, automatic 'moves' are available with standard auction listings, too. (for low priced domains)

very convenient!

godaddy quote: "NOTE: For transactions of $999.99 or less, we attempt to initiate the account change on behalf of the seller

 

[discobull]

Exactly. And Sedo have to deal with the peculiarities of each registrar. So the procedure will vary accordingly. It's your fault if you use Nodaddy. It just makes things more complicated. It's one more reason why they are not domainer-friendly. If you sell domains on a regular basis, you have to deal with that kind of unnecessary annoyance.

There is no such problem with domains registered at Dynadot for example, I push the domain to Sedo, then they pay us the same day while they coordinate with the buyer for the rest of the transfer. We don't have to wait for the transfer to fully complete.

There really is nothing preventing the same thing from being done with a GoDaddy domain. In fact, I recently sold a domain using DN.com for escrow where I sold a GoDaddy domain and had dn.com take possession of the domain. DN.com knew to ask that I push the domain into their GD account but NOT change the whois info. That's all it takes. Once the domain was in DN.com's GD account, they changed the email address in the whois record ( doesn't trigger a 60 day lock. You have to change the registrant NAME for that to happen. ) to their own and the domain was transferred out to the buyer by the next day. It only took a whole day because of the time difference between me and China, otherwise the push plus the transfer would probably have completed in a matter of hours.

 

[discobull]

While I am not of fan of 30% commissions for Godaddy Premium Listings, the advantage is that the transfer is automatic. The domain is automatically transferred to the buyer's account without manual intervention on the seller's part. Godaddy does its own fraud checks and delays payment to the seller several days as a security measure.

Now that Afternic is owned by GD, you can accomplish the same thing for 20% by listing your domain as an Afternic premium listing instead of listing it as a GD Premium.

 

[carob]

just venting, but with my last 2 sales on SEDO the buyers both wanted transfers out (from Godaddy). i can understand and respect that.... but really find it irritating, less "secure" feeling as seller and more of a hassle to finalize the sale without sedo acting as middleman.

What happened when you told the Sedo transfer agent that you would only push the domain to Sedo's account at Godaddy?

 

[equity78]

Exactly. And Sedo have to deal with the peculiarities of each registrar. So the procedure will vary accordingly. It's your fault if you use Nodaddy. It just makes things more complicated. It's one more reason why they are not domainer-friendly. If you sell domains on a regular basis, you have to deal with that kind of unnecessary annoyance.

There is no such problem with domains registered at Dynadot for example, I push the domain to Sedo, then they pay us the same day while they coordinate with the buyer for the rest of the transfer. We don't have to wait for the transfer to fully complete.

Kate I honestly don't think you can say that is true about Go Daddy all the time. I have done business with companies big and small and the name being at Go Daddy was a requirement. Sometimes to the point of forget the deal. I was brokering one where the buyer and seller were both clients, the seller had the name at Enom and wanted me to stress how big they were, the buyer said, " It's Go Daddy or tell your client to shove it, we will not spend one second transferring the name, if he wants our money, its Go Daddy or nothing"

To the point of Sedo I one time told them I will push it to you and then you work with them on the transfer or I will not do the deal, next day, they told me to push to their account.

 

[equity78]

Now that Afternic is owned by GD, you can accomplish the same thing for 20% by listing your domain as an Afternic premium listing instead of listing it as a GD Premium.

Exactly no one should pay 30% anymore, remove all premium listings and list at Afternic, you are in the registrar path for 20% you have to specify premium promotion.

 

[SlimPickins]

Great info here y'all, thanks!

I simply complied with the instructions from the sedo agent, did not realize that they "should" still be able to accept a gd push and do the transfer themselves. I can imagine they avoid encouraging that process due to the risk of sellers updating the info incorrectly and winding up with a domain unable to transfer for 2 months (although come to think about it they still win since the money already paid collects interest while on hold).

Interesting that you said either push to them for transfer or you don't do the deal... I would not do that personally since I would not want to NOT honor the transaction. And, in this case, I was pleased with the sale price of $2K on a domain that I wasn't able to sell here on np for under $50 and had actually already offered to the buyer twice over the years for a Considerably lower price, so definitely did not want to sabotage the deal due to difficulties with a transfer. I was just frustrated that although I did my part, and the buyer not only HAD the domain but had moved their entire business over to it already, since the Whois info was not correct I kept getting canned replies from the transfer agent about "we have asked the buyer to initiate transfer" and "asked the buyer to update the contact details" when they were already using the domain and it took me contacting them directly to get them on it to update the info and notify sedo.... Made we wonder what options I would have had if the buyer had NOT been so easy to identify and contact myself and were apparently for over a week not replying to sedo transfer agent emails.

Now that I know this issue with Sedo is indeed unique to domains at GD I will definitely suggest this alternative push with my info option to the transfer rep instead!

 

[carob]

Interesting that you said either push to them for transfer or you don't do the deal... I would not do that personally since I would not want to NOT honor the transaction.

I have quoted their own TOS to them that state that they offer free escrow on every purchase. That means the domain cannot go direct to the buyer - it must go into Sedo's account. It's improper and unsafe for Sedo to request direct transfer to a buyer - if they do that, it is Sedo not honouring the deal, not you.

The Godaddy transfer prob is a Godaddy issue and it is Sedo's responsibility to explain that to the customer, not mine. The buyer has already paid, at worst they might have to create a Godaddy account and transfer out after 60 days - they can use the domain immediately.

After every transaction now you get to send feedback on the transfer process - if they improperly suggest a direct transfer to the buyer you can report that there.

I have always pushed direct to Sedo, and have refused all requests they made for direct transfer to customers.

BTW lately they are a lot faster - 24 hours from buy to push to funds received in my account.

 

[onebrand.co]

There is always 2 side. We can look at it as good and bad at the same time. For a small amount, pushing directly might be a good choice since Sedo love to ask people to take screenshot as "proof". For larger amounts, perhaps it is wiser to push the work to Sedo, since they would have earned the commission. It also helps to mitigate any risk or dispute that might rise in an unlikely event between the buyer and seller.

Then again, if the buyer is just fooling around with no intention to purchase, then all these would be redundant. Sadly these cases do happen although we might never know the number of times it really happens

Happy New Year to all