alert The fund can't be withdrawal from Epik.com via Masterbucks wallet

[enamebroker]

It happened on 23rd Aug 2022 and this matter lasted almost one month without any process. Masterbucks.com declined my fund withdrawal and disabled the button of fund withdrawal. And I contacted Epik.com and got no further action even if Rob Monster got involved in it for two weeks. All the time I was told in email by management review.

What is wrong with Epik.com? Do you think it is normal to disable fund withdrawal? How can I get back my fund from Epik.com? Thanks for your suggestion.

 

[bmugford]

If they need to sell assets to be able to cover that $91K debt they're in deeper trouble than I thought.

Looks like they owe millions when you add up all info posted here on nP, TP and SM.

They stopped (auto)renewing expired domains btw. Guess they can't afford to fund a renewal and get it back when/if the domain actually drops.

I suppose that's also why the nameliquidate domain expired.

It's a huge red flag so make sure to watch your expiring domains!

Well, the debt reportedly owed to Domain Empire alone is $1.5M. There are other reported debts of $300K, $70K, $55K, etc. The true total is probably a much higher number.

Brad

 

[bmugford]

I have a question. I have recently removed all but 3 names from Epik, and I have zero Masterbucks balance. I have all my names listed at Dan and Afternic, and realize that when someone searches for a name I own through the Afternic Reseller Network, the name is shown at my list price. Let's use my name TheUnitedStates.com as an example. I have it listed at $1M. I like price integrity and like any known source that is listing this to display my actual asking price. The Afternic Reseller Network registrars all list the name at $1M after a search. However if you go to Epik, it is listed at $1,150,000. I don't like this, nor would I agree to a sale at Epik especially using Epik Escrow. How can they do this? I assume the 15% addition is their commission? I haven't authorized this, and in the event they came with a buyer, I would insist on using Escrow.com but I am very uncomfortable doing anything with them right now with their Masterbucks issues. Thanks in advance for any answers or light you can shed for me.

Yeah, I have had a problem with this in the past and mentioned it before. Epik and a couple other registrars add their own commission to these. It is like they are trying to double dip on both sides commission wise.

Brad

 

[branding]

Well, the debt reportedly owed to Domain Empire alone is $1.5M. There are other reported debts of $300K, $70K, $55K, etc. The true total is probably a much higher number.

Brad

I doubt they have much tangible assets to sell to cover that.

I'd take terrahost off their hands but not for those numbers.

 

[branding]

And I doubt anybody is willing to write a decent cheque to acquire thedeadforum.com.

It hasn't been much for years but has been going nowhere but downhill since Epik took over.

 

[Derek Peterson]

Well, the debt reportedly owed to Domain Empire alone is $1.5M. There are other reported debts of $300K, $70K, $55K, etc. The true total is probably a much higher number.

Brad

Exactly, who really knows. It could be millions more. I promised not to say who and how much but I can say several more people have reached out to me in DMs privately, from pretty big name people experiencing same issues with masterbucks for several hundred thousand more.

 

[Derek Peterson]

And I doubt anybody is willing to write a decent cheque to acquire thedeadforum.com.

It hasn't been much for years but has been going nowhere but downhill since Epik took over.

This thread alone is more activity than they have had on whole site for several years combined.

 

[Derek Peterson]

I have a question. I have recently removed all but 3 names from Epik, and I have zero Masterbucks balance. I have all my names listed at Dan and Afternic, and realize that when someone searches for a name I own through the Afternic Reseller Network, the name is shown at my list price. Let's use my name TheUnitedStates.com as an example. I have it listed at $1M. I like price integrity and like any known source that is listing this to display my actual asking price. The Afternic Reseller Network registrars all list the name at $1M after a search. However if you go to Epik, it is listed at $1,150,000. I don't like this, nor would I agree to a sale at Epik especially using Epik Escrow. How can they do this? I assume the 15% addition is their commission? I haven't authorized this, and in the event they came with a buyer, I would insist on using Escrow.com but I am very uncomfortable doing anything with them right now with their Masterbucks issues. Thanks in advance for any answers or light you can shed for me.

I suppose they can do whatever they want based on ToS. But, I would expect "brokers" to be honest in dealing with seller and buyer and not try to play some kind of arbitrage game. I would certainly not put it past Monster to do something like that. Nor would it surprise me if he showed various domains under Epik brokerage or even the escrow funds that actually belong to others as his own to pad Epik numbers to trick investors.

 

[Chris Hydrick]

I doubt they have much tangible assets to sell to cover that.

What about epik owned domain names? Any idea how to seperate what is/was a Rob Monster owned domain, vs whats an epik owned domain?

Take HardDrives.com for example. In 2009, DomainGang.com reported this domain selling for $207k. Rob Monster had commented in 2009 that epik was not the buyer, that they were the broker. However, in 2020, Rob had tweeted that "epikdotcom does own the domain HardDrives.com". 2014 domainIQ WHOIS for HardDrives.com shows the registrant as [email protected]. Notably other epik 2014 epik owned domains such as BC30.com had showed a [email protected] email. Both HardDrives and BC30 2014 WHOIS had listed Rob Monster, not Epik as the registrant admin.

HardDrives.com, and other domains that previously had a WHOIS email of [email protected] and/or [email protected] now (more recently) resolve to generic parked pages with links, and a for sale banner that leads to a make offer page on SawBrokers.com from Saw.com. Somebody in 2020 tweeted HardDrives.com had a $175k BIN. > A 2021 archive.org entry shows HardDrives.com using epik landers with a $300k BIN....

... It looks (unconfirmed) as if Rob or Epik owned domain names are no longer using epiks in house landing pages, and have opted to use Saw.com as a portfolio broker? Does that also mean epik stopped using their in house escrow to masterbuck rob/epik owned domain sales?

Somebody with a more premium subscription to DomainIQ or other reverse whois services might be able to pull a larger list of [email protected] / [email protected] domain names to better determine if the quality of domain name assets represent more of a liquid position or renewal liability. Meaning, once [email protected] domains such as BlackberryTea.com are assumed more liquid than domains like StarChryslerJeepDodge.com which seems to an be illiquid renewal liability.

And I doubt anybody is willing to write a decent cheque to acquire thedeadforum.com.

Depending, and unknowing if those domains are Rob or Epiks assets, theDeadforum being put up for sale is chillingly familiar to the troubles of its previous owner. When it was revealed the deadForums previous owner owed lots of domainers money, there was a lot of discussion wonder if the sale of Rams.com or other premium domains owned by the deadForums then owner could make those owed money whole again, although that doesn't appear to have happened. #Dicker(Not)TheKicker

 

[NicTraders]

I have a question. I have recently removed all but 3 names from Epik, and I have zero Masterbucks balance. I have all my names listed at Dan and Afternic, and realize that when someone searches for a name I own through the Afternic Reseller Network, the name is shown at my list price. Let's use my name TheUnitedStates.com as an example. I have it listed at $1M. I like price integrity and like any known source that is listing this to display my actual asking price. The Afternic Reseller Network registrars all list the name at $1M after a search. However if you go to Epik, it is listed at $1,150,000. I don't like this, nor would I agree to a sale at Epik especially using Epik Escrow. How can they do this? I assume the 15% addition is their commission? I haven't authorized this, and in the event they came with a buyer, I would insist on using Escrow.com but I am very uncomfortable doing anything with them right now with their Masterbucks issues. Thanks in advance for any answers or light you can shed for me.

For a heap more info on this, check out @Bob Hawkes excellent article here.

 

[Chris Hydrick]

For a heap more info on this, check out @Bob Hawkes excellent article here.

So not only is epik not fast transfered enabled at afternic, but they're completely out of their network?

Thus, @FredMercaldo example of epik listing his domain for $1m may have nothing to do with afternic? Since Epik appears to be in the sedo network, and since TheUnitedStates(.)com is listed on sedo with a 1M BIN, this may reflective of Sedo and may have nothing to do with Afternic. Looks like masterbuck-to-afternic payouts aren't possible, but in theory a masterbuck-to-sedo (minus sedo fee+epikUpcharge fees) cashout may be possible?

 

[NicTraders]

What about epik owned domain names? Any idea how to seperate what is/was a Rob Monster owned domain, vs whats an epik owned domain?

Take HardDrives.com for example. In 2009, DomainGang.com reported this domain selling for $207k. Rob Monster had commented in 2009 that epik was not the buyer, that they were the broker. However, in 2020, Rob had tweeted that "epikdotcom does own the domain HardDrives.com". 2014 domainIQ WHOIS for HardDrives.com shows the registrant as [email protected]. Notably other epik 2014 epik owned domains such as BC30.com had showed a [email protected] email. Both HardDrives and BC30 2014 WHOIS had listed Rob Monster, not Epik as the registrant admin.

HardDrives.com, and other domains that previously had a WHOIS email of [email protected] and/or [email protected] now (more recently) resolve to generic parked pages with links, and a for sale banner that leads to a make offer page on SawBrokers.com from Saw.com. Somebody in 2020 tweeted HardDrives.com had a $175k BIN. > A 2021 archive.org entry shows HardDrives.com using epik landers with a $300k BIN.... It looks (unconfirmed) as if Rob or Epik owned domain names are no longer using epiks in house landing pages, and have opted to use Saw.com as a portfolio broker? Does that also mean epik stopped using their in house escrow to masterbuck rob/epik owned domain sales?

Somebody with a more premium subscription to DomainIQ or other reverse whois services might be able to pull a larger list of [email protected] / [email protected] domain names to better determine if the quality of domain name assets represent more of a liquid position or renewal liability. Meaning, once [email protected] domains such as BlackberryTea.com are assumed more liquid than domains like StarChryslerJeepDodge.com which seems to an be illiquid renewal liability.



Depending, and unknowing if those domains are Rob or Epiks assets, theDeadforum being put up for sale is chillingly familiar to the troubles of its previous owner. When it was revealed the deadForums previous owner owed lots of domainers money, there was a lot of discussion wonder if the sale of Rams.com or other premium domains owned by the deadForums then owner could make those owed money whole again, although that doesn't appear to have happened. #Dicker(Not)TheKicker

I don't know if we would ever be able to work out what was Rob's and what was Epik's. In fact, I wonder if Rob himself even knew... E.g. the recent AMA from Bill Hartzer seemed to indicate a bunch of discrepancies as to who owned the service he now runs, with Rob indicating it was an Epik service at times gone by, but from memory Bill says it's all him now, and it's nothing to do with Epik.
I faintly remember other instances where Rob/Epik seemed to be terms that were used interchangeably as to who was buying a domain, or similar...

 

[NicTraders]

So not only is epik not fast transfered enabled at afternic, but they're completely out of their network?

Thus, @FredMercaldo example of epik listing his domain for $1m may have nothing to do with afternic? Since Epik appears to be in the sedo network, and since TheUnitedStates(.)com is listed on sedo with a 1M BIN, this may have nothing to do with Afternic. Looks like masterbuck-to-afternic payouts aren't possible, but in theory a masterbuck-to-sedo (minus sedo fee+epikUpcharge fees) cashout may be possible?

Yep, it seems more likely this domain is listed on Epik thanks to its Sedo listing, not Afternic.

 

[Derek Peterson]

I don't know if we would ever be able to work out what was Rob's and what was Epik's. In fact, I wonder if Rob himself even knew... E.g. the recent AMA from Bill Hartzer seemed to indicate a bunch of discrepancies as to who owned the service he now runs, with Rob indicating it was an Epik service at times gone by, but from memory Bill says it's all him now, and it's nothing to do with Epik.
I faintly remember other instances where Rob/Epik seemed to be terms that were used interchangeably as to who was buying a domain, or similar...

Well if it is that hard to tell then that means there is no corporate veil and that means they are all Epik's and could be used to repay all.

 

[Derek Peterson]

Value dropping daily.

 

[eternaldomains]

So to be clear, previously, domains registered at Epik were instantaneous and whois would also update instantaneously?

That is correct. At most there would only be a few seconds delay. Now the delays are by the hours.

Anyway that last name is now regged.

Does anyone have a list of all the companies/apps that Epik purchased over the last few years? I know of Terrahost, that cursed forums site, Bitmitigate, Kobalt media. Are there others?

I remember seeing a service called Sybil when I used the chat support sometime back. Not sure if it's the same with Terrahost because I saw a major website using it, but now even that website don't mention Sybil anymore. And now E's chat system changed so not sure if they'll still mention it.

 

[Derek Peterson]

That is correct. At most there would only be a few seconds delay. Now the delays are by the hours.

Anyway that last name is now regged.



I remember seeing a service called Sybil when I used the chat support sometime back. Not sure if it's the same with Terrahost because I saw a major website using it, but now even that website don't mention Sybil anymore. And now E's chat system changed so not sure if they'll still mention it.

I really don't know much about Terrahost, yet, but Sybil was a total joke. Can't really call it a hosting company or any kind of company but Monster pumped it up like it was a big deal. It was literally 3 teenagers, LITERAL teenagers, that had rented a couple servers and were reselling space on them. All their customers were lolicon and much hyper realistic cp creators and resellers and Gab. Total revenues for all of Sybil was less than $2,500/month and $1,000 of that was Gab. $1,000 server/bandwidth running mastodon equals about 2-4K users. Mastodon sucks for scaling.

I'm obviously not a fan of hatewatch but they got some things right in this story and hilariously got one of those kids to talk. The guy who wrote this story got all his info and leads from the content we were putting out about gab and Torba and Monster.
https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2019/02/14/no-way-gab-has-800000-users-web-host-says

 

[Recons.Com]

I really don't know much about Terrahost, yet, but Sybil was a total joke. Can't really call it a hosting company or any kind of company but Monster pumped it up like it was a big deal. It was literally 3 teenagers, LITERAL teenagers, that had rented a couple servers and were reselling space on them. All their customers were lolicon and much hyper realistic cp creators and resellers and Gab. Total revenues for all of Sybil was less than $2,500/month and $1,000 of that was Gab. $1,000 server/bandwidth running mastodon equals about 2-4K users. Mastodon sucks for scaling.

I'm obviously not a fan of hatewatch but they got some things right in this story and hilariously got one of those kids to talk. The guy who wrote this story got all his info and leads from the content we were putting out about gab and Torba and Monster.
https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2019/02/14/no-way-gab-has-800000-users-web-host-says

Kapul said that one would expect a website with 800,000 active users to have tens of thousands of active users per day and about 20,000 to 30,000 active users in a given hour. “That’s probably at least five to 10 times what I expect [the Gab] site could handle,” she said.

I am not sure Kapul knows what she is talking about. 800k active users, might mean that half of that is visiting on any given month. That makes about 400k/month. From my experience based on my own websites, monthly number is roughly 12x-20x of daily if you count each visitor just once (both for the day and for the month). So that would mean about 20k-30k/day.

I could host that on just one powerful server. Yet, Kapul says they are providing 5 servers to them. And why is a hosting company rep even commenting info like that? I'd be pissed off if my hoster would be engaged on commenting and providing private info to media.

 

[Derek Peterson]

I am not sure Kapul knows what she is talking about. 800k active users, might mean that half of that is visiting on any given month. That makes about 400k/month. From my experience based on my own websites, monthly number is roughly 12x-20x of daily if you count each visitor just once (both for the day and for the month). So that would mean about 20k-30k/day.

I could host that on just one powerful server. Yet, Kapul says they are providing 5 servers to them. And why is a hosting company rep even commenting info like that? I'd be pissed off if my hoster would be engaged on commenting and providing private info to media.

Just a kid so he talked. Hilarious they got the little punk pervert to talk. He was cut from company shortly after this article.

Anyway, what you are talking about is called MAU (monthly active users) and DAU (daily active users) but what really matters in terms of server size is concurrent users. It is not even close to possible to have a MAU of 800K on a server that can only handle 2k concurrent users. That is not how social networking traffic works. Gab's MAU was about 5k and daily was about 2-3k. I will spare the explanation of how activitypub works and how and why mastodon is so inefficient but trust me, it is terrible (search for yourself if curious).

Anyway, I don't want to go too far into the weeds talking about gab's traffic, there is much more to it that I am saying and it does involve Monster actually and it is funny but it doesn't matter. The point is that Sybil was a joke "company" doing about $30K/yr in total revenues with no tech or assets and Monster talked about it like it was digital ocean. The reason I know all this is for some weird reason Monster sent me Sybil's P&Ls before he purchased to discuss.

 

[tonyk2000]

They stopped (auto)renewing expired domains btw. Guess they can't afford to fund a renewal and get it back when/if the domain actually drops.

It is very interesting. Afaik, expired domains are supposed to be renewed instantly by the registry. Registrars need to send domain deletion request to receive the renewal fee back (and the domain will move to redemptionperiod then). So, what happens if the registrar does not have enough balance? What exact registry dates / statuses did you see?

Afternic listings offered by Epik is a mystery. We know that they lost afternic partner status long time ago, and there were no reports that afternic is back @ Epik. So, it must be either: sedo listings, local marketplace listings, or maybe epik is offering afternic domains via another registrar (such as Namecheap, Epik already (re)sells ssl certificates from namecheap, what if they added aftermarket domains to existing reselling contract...)?

 

[tonyk2000]

Btw, Epik price markup for aftermarket domains, be those sedo or afternic, is somewhat logical at this time. Indeed, folks who cannot withdraw are looking for ways to receive their $$$, so somebody might try the following: 1) list own domain @ sedo for $10K for example. 2) purchase it via Epik using masterbucks balance as a payment method. 3) receive $8K (-20%) from Sedo. Epik would pay Sedo no doubts, as they do not want to lose this partner. Without markup, such a scheme would mean 20% "withdrawal commission", which may be acceptable for some in current situation. However, with 15% markup, the real commission would be too high...

 

[branding]

It is very interesting. Afaik, expired domains are supposed to be renewed instantly by the registry. Registrars need to send domain deletion request to receive the renewal fee back (and the domain will move to redemptionperiod then). So, what happens if the registrar does not have enough balance? What exact registry dates / statuses did you see?

I was negotiating a purchase when I noticed it so randomly checked a dataset of domains on their drop list.

Status after expiration was: ok

So they can be be transferred, renewed, or altered.

Haven't checked more into detail, maybe someone with more time on their hands want to go through their expiration list, try their daily diamonds.

 

[Mister Funsky]

try their daily diamonds

DD's are still working fine...picked up a couple last week and transfer to my account was completed within minutes.

 

[jberryhill]

All of the linked authorities posted are practically useless to those outside the US. I tried making a complaint at both state AG and BBB and it was a resounding failure. Either I'm blocked (as in the case of the BBB) or I'm asked to provide info I don't have.

Charlice, can you be specific about the "info i don't have"? If you need help with the reporting forms for the State of Washington, I would be happy to help you.

 

[Igor Gabrielan]

Is it possible to find a sample addressed to the attorney and other state organizations on the Internet?

 

[Igor Gabrielan]

They write about some cryptocurrencies, tokens, internal money in vain. Epik and Masterbucks do not think so themselves and do not write about it anywhere, at least in modern texts. These are ordinary dollars and euros, which are in the accounts of the company Epik and displayed on the website masterbucks.com .