SnapNames not honoring a domain sale after soliciting me to purchase it

[Hyphen]

On February 8, 2024, I received an email from SnapNames stating that a domain I had previously ordered was available for purchase at a BIN auction for $25,000. Hours later, I purchased the domain.

A few hours later, I was told the payment failed to complete—not sure why, as I had the funds. Nonetheless, I used a different payment method, loaded $25,000 into my SnapNames account, and then paid off the domain that way. This payment was accepted, and I was congratulated for purchasing the domain.

Am I wrong in believing that at this point, SnapNames and I have entered a written contract where I must purchase and they must sell the domain?

Over the next several days, I reach out to SnapNames about this transaction. I am told that the domain was listed with one of their sales partners, and that I will be contacted soon about completing the transfer of the domain. I continue to push the person I am speaking with to verify with me that my payment was accepted. I am told the following:

Yes, I see the $25k in your account, the domain name was listed for sale via one of our registrar partners, which means our system will initiate a transfer from their registrar to ours, Network Solutions. Once the transfer is complete, the system will stuff the domain name into a Network Solutions account. At that point, you will receive an email with instructions on how to access the account and will have full access to the domain name.

The whole process can take a few days to complete, and I will keep an eye on the transaction to ensure it completes.

Yesterday, I continued to push and was told the following:

The transaction is still processing, specifically the transfer of the domain name. I will continue to monitor and let you know when we have any updates.

Today, I received the following email:

I have just received unfortunate news from our partner, the listing for [redacted] was not a legitimate listing and the transaction will need to be canceled. Not sure if you’re aware, but we partner with Afternic and SEDO and their inventory is listed for sale on our site. They are experiencing a wave of listings that are not legitimate, and unfortunately this domain is one of those.

They also stated that I would be refunded.

This is very unusual to me. How are domains being fraudulently listed? Do they not need to be ownership-verified using DNS records or some other method? This explanation is very shallow to me. Additionally, after entering written contract to buy the domain, I've made investment and credit decisions that are now very consequential that they are not honoring the sale.

Is this normal practice? Is this something I should reach out to an attorney about?

 

[branding]

Domains are being fraudulently listed on AN all the time.

Paying (and tying up) 25K I would be mad as F.

https://www.namepros.com/threads/th...-of-other-peoples-domain-on-afternic.1293584/

And there's more...

 

[Hyphen]

Domains are being fraudulently listed on AN all the time.

Paying (and tying up) 25K I would be mad as F.

https://www.namepros.com/threads/th...-of-other-peoples-domain-on-afternic.1293584/

And there's more...

Thank you for the context. I've asked my main question related to that in that thread just now.

I think that makes this look even worse for SN. It seems to be public knowledge that AN does not have a legitimate listing process, yet SN still pulls from their listings to solicit customers over email with offers. In my experience with a similar case in the past, they've entered a legally binding contract to sell the domain once they have asked for and received funds for the domain.

 

[branding]

Thank you for the context. I've asked my main question related to that in that thread just now.

I think that makes this look even worse for SN. It seems to be public knowledge that AN does not have a legitimate listing process, yet SN still pulls from their listings to solicit customers over email with offers. In my experience with a similar case in the past, they've entered a legally binding contract to sell the domain once they have asked for and received funds for the domain.

They did , unfortunately they cannot sell what they dont own. It sucks but there's probably little you can do. Besides naming and shaming SN.

 

[Constantin S]

Sadly, there are indeed many illegitimate listings out there atm. Hope you'll get your money back to your bank account soon.

 

[tld4me]

Is this normal practice? Is this something I should reach out to an attorney about?

@GoDaddy / @DAN.COM / Afternic and this BS is why I joined this forum. Looking at the post linked by @branding you can find my posts towards the end. I submitted a report recently to the FTC. I encourage you to do the same.

This is GoDaddy's fault. They are fully aware of these issues and have been for years. They created the problem and they are the only solution to the problem they created. I'm surprised all the other registrars aren't furious with GoDaddy. It's making everyone in the registrar industry look bad, making domain owners potentially lose sales (and lose domains!!), and making customers (and potential customers) angry!

All so GoDaddy can find out who owns every domain out there.... If this isn't illegal, it should be.

Edit to add this: I've been buying domains here and there for a long time. Until recently, never tried to buy in quantity, and never tried to sell. Now that I'm getting into this world, I'm amazed at how poorly this industry is run. Things function at registrars like it's 1998, not 2024. And man... the shady aspects of all of it. This forum is a gold mine for info about everything - good and bad.

 

[Cush]

I had very similar situations a number of years ago. I found through a number of marketplaces quite a few domains, not premium one word, but desirable 2 word domains at really good prices. I added to cart, paid, and received confirmation. I didn't not receive a single domain, as the listings were either old, fake, or the one, the owner must have messed up their price, as they refused to sell, yet offered a free name from their list.