Urgent! Received a bid on an expired domain?

[Premiere]

Today I logged into Sedo to see I have received a bid on an expired domain. The original list price was $1,000 and the minimum bid price was $500. I received an offer at full asking price. However, this domain is about 7 weeks post-expired but remains in my eNom account.

Enom will charge $160 for me to renew this domain name. I have been away for a few days so I didn't get to see how this item fared on Namejet, if at all. The name in question is OK but nothing incredible. To be honest, it raises my suspicions immediately. Would an account manager or registrar really do such a thing as to bid on a expired name just to get me to pay the $160 fee? Has anyone has similar unusual bids on Sedo or has reason to suspect some type of scam? Or received full asking bids from buyers with Sedo membership from 2005 but no activity in 3 years?

Also, does anyone know what the difference is between these two types of status and why one incurs an additional 'renewal' fee, even though they are both expired?
Domain Redemption (Extended RGP) $160.00
Domain Redemption (RGP) $160.00 Renew $29.95

thanks!
Wire

 

[Spade]

Its certainly a roll of the dice. But if it was me, probably one I would take.

 

[DotWeekly]

That's a tough one. Have I heard of people making BS offers before.. yep. Have I got offers on domain names that have expired, no but ones that I had sold already and forgot to remove from Sedo.

I think only one of those offers, I was able to turn into a sale.

You could try to catch it on the drop unless you are sure it got a bid on NameJet. May be cheaper then paying the $160.

 

[Premiere]

Thanks for the suggestions. I called Sedo and they said since they received the money there is very little opportunity for the seller to back out of escrow. I paid the awful fee. Apparently ERGP (as opposed to normal RGP) is an indicator that ENOM has interest in holding the name indefinitely rather than letting it expire due to search volume or other metrics. So essentially, ENOM was able to sell this domain through its channels when I couldn't.

So let's see what happens in a few days. After looking around for similar scenarios I found that this actually does happen occassionally so it's worth a shot.

 

[Spade]

Thanks for the suggestions. I called Sedo and they said since they received the money there is very little opportunity for the seller to back out of escrow. I paid the awful fee. Apparently ERGP (as opposed to normal RGP) is an indicator that ENOM has interest in holding the name indefinitely rather than letting it expire due to search volume or other metrics. So essentially, ENOM was able to sell this domain through its channels when I couldn't.

So let's see what happens in a few days. After looking around for similar scenarios I found that this actually does happen occassionally so it's worth a shot.

Keep us updated!

 

[Domagon]

There's no such thing as extended RGP at the registry level. I presume these are at eNom?

The domain shown in extended RGP is not actually in RGP at all - yes, really ... check the registry, and the status for it will show as "OK". It's already been renewed and paid for by the registrar ... furthermore, "extended RGP" pricing is very negotiable as in half price or even less, because it's not really in RGP.

On a related topic, why some eNom domains don't go to RGP is a mystery to me - perhaps eNom sometimes wait too long to issue the delete command to the registry and gets stuck with it. Another possibility, which is most likely, is eNom is purposedly doing it on some expired domains for which they have a reasonable belief the registrant will change their mind several months afterwards and seek to recover it and/or for future resale purposes.

Ron

 

[Premiere]

Sedo: July 20, 2009
Credit note created
The domain has been transferred and we will release the payment immediately.

Well, minus the $100 sedo fee and $160 enom reclaim fee I am up $740, so not bad at all for a domain I dropped.
Wish I would have known the 'extended rgp' was negotiable - I certainly would have called my account rep to try to cut it in half.

Either way a very surprising and ultimately worthwhile experience.

Rep to all!
Ed Muller / Wire

 

[shane mac]

Nice result.What was the domain called?pm me if you want.

 

[Premiere]

Funds have been deposited into my Paypal account. That's a nice sale.
max-vir-tual -. com (remove dashes and spaces) was the domain in question. Doesn't look like a domainer per se.

 

[HuntingMoon]

all's well that ends well, nice recovery and sale

 

[DnEbook]

a win for the domainer

 

[ssamriga]

nice

 

[Brands]

Congratulations Nice Sale.

 

[gemstar]

No risk. No reward

Same thing happened to me on an exp domain. Was emailed and told.Hey your domain is exp! I will buy it!
I paid reg fee only, so you never know.