When is a Sale not a Sale...@ Sedo

[JH1961]

Just a little rant after receiving my Sedo email stating that a sale has been cancelled.....Again!
It seems I keep racking up these xxxx. and xxxxx. domain sales, only to have them canceled again and again.
So this makes it the third time since Feb that a domain has been bought, taken off " for sale" status for any other potential buyer just because Sedo has no vetting process for buyers.
They might say they do, but they really don't. not in the modern secure, ability to pay way. So you can set up phony accounts and just " buy" names for what ever reason you have. Be it amusement, for taking the name off the market to shop the name around for a week, or to possible trick an unlock/false payment steal.
How is there "source of payment" vetted before being able to buy anything on the platform? Seems like the whole system is antiquated.
Has Sedo become a broken useless system?
I've spent a good amount of money on their platform, now I see it is not worth it anymore. They need to fix their systems , its not rocket science. time to remove my 75+ names .

 

[biggie]

Has Sedo become a broken useless system?

Hi

i'd say no.
still getting sales and making a few dollars w/ppc, so it still works for me.

the number of successful transactions heavily outweigh the non-paying bidders.

imo....

 

[Sedo]

Just a little rant after receiving my Sedo email stating that a sale has been cancelled.....Again!
It seems I keep racking up these xxxx. and xxxxx. domain sales, only to have them canceled again and again.
So this makes it the third time since Feb that a domain has been bought, taken off " for sale" status for any other potential buyer just because Sedo has no vetting process for buyers.
They might say they do, but they really don't. not in the modern secure, ability to pay way. So you can set up phony accounts and just " buy" names for what ever reason you have. Be it amusement, for taking the name off the market to shop the name around for a week, or to possible trick an unlock/false payment steal.
How is there "source of payment" vetted before being able to buy anything on the platform? Seems like the whole system is antiquated.
Has Sedo become a broken useless system?
I've spent a good amount of money on their platform, now I see it is not worth it anymore. They need to fix their systems , its not rocket science. time to remove my 75+ names .

Hi JH1961,

Thanks for your comment.

Sorry to read that you have had some domain transfer cancellations. Just to respond to your message with regards to vetting buyers. Sedo does indeed check new buyers accounts, we have a dedicated security team doing this. More often than not we catch most fake accounts early upon creation and suspend them until they provide proof of their identity. In fact you can see on this very forum, that some buyers complain their account has been suspended shortly after setting up the account with Sedo because we need to clarify that they are a real person. This itself is proof that we are actively tackling this. It can be that some may still slip through the net after account creation but then we catch them at the Transfer stage which seems to be what has happened to you without seeing your transfers directly. We are constantly striving to improve our security measures to prevent exactly the type of incident you have experienced and to ensure that we provide a safe and trustworthy trading platform. Unfortunately, at this time we cannot offer any other solution to prevent such incidents.

Just note that Sedo also does not want to make it so difficult for buyers to purchase domains that it has a detrimental effect on the people trying to sell domains on our platform.

Fakers and Scammers are always finding new ways to scam people, which is why Sedo can assist you in protecting you from such. As in the transfers you mentioned even though they didn’t result in a successful sale and transfer, Sedo did protect you by stopping the transfer as soon as it was apparent that the buyer was not legit and this is fundamentally what Sedo is for.

If you have any more questions please feel free to PM me.

All the best Chris

 

[JH1961]

Thanks Chris,
I do appreciate the security you have put into place on the platform. but what stops a person from "buying" a domain name and within the transfer time frame try to sell it to another party? the name is withdrawn from the for sale listing for appx 1 week, enough time to possible line up potential buyers before payment is due. If the person cant "resell" it in time, then just abandon the sale between Sedo and the original listing person. Perhaps a deposit could be collected to keep the name off the current for sale lists.
Otherwise keep the domain listed for sale and if any third party is approached they will see the name is still available for the lower price on your platform and if interested could acquire it leaving out the fake middleman bidders higher "resale price.

 

[Sedo]

Hi JH1961,

Thanks for your reply.

I think you are simply overthinking this, your example is extremely unlikely. The fact is that when you are selling domains, this will happen from time to time, whether its on our marketplace or elsewhere. Sometimes transfers breakdown and there are some people for whatever reason, will set up accounts and not follow through with payments. However, as biggie pointed out in a previous response, the number of successful transactions heavily outweigh the non-paying bidders.

All the best
Chris

 

[BaileyUK]

Well I too am at 5 notified sales, with 3 non-payers and just two completed. If there is a couple of us complaining then it's definitely a bigger problem than Sedo care to admit. Somethings going amiss, never had this big a problem before or with any other platform. Maybe Sedos own resilience to fake accounts is being tested. Seems to me it wouldn't take much of a step-up to discredit the whole platform.

Personally I can't understand why sales of lets say $1000 plus can't be subject to a 10% verified deposit for those requesting payment by invoice with no history with Sedo. Maybe just additional work and damaging to your pending sales outlook. The alternative solution would be to leave the domain showing as ''For Sale' with a statement of 'Intended Purchase in progress' and stop all this so called 'Enforceable contract Bollocks' Everybody already knows that's a joke

Anyway I'm also moving my domains out - I'll just up the price a little to compensate for the additional commission charged by other platforms.

Note , the actual time for a domain to return to its original 'for sale' status is Two weeks, Not one

 

[Sedo]

Dear BaileyUK

Thanks for your comment.

With the greatest of respect intended, Sedo has more than 2 million accounts. A couple of complaints does not suggest a bigger problem as you suggested. On average we successfully transfer around 3500 domains a month, if we truly had such an issue with this then we would be inundated with these type of cases which is not the case. Although we do recognise that it is a problem for sellers as we pointed out above, obviously the less of these cases that take place the better. Can you please reach out to me with a PM and provide me with your Sedo account details so I can take a look at your account.

All the best
Chris

 

[BaileyUK]

Thank you for your quick reply Chris, However we have been down this viewing of account several times before. While I appreciate your politeness. We both know it gives rise to the same standard response of concern and best wishes for future sales. Plus of course identifying these so-called buyers as no previous buying history. I am pleased for Sedo that you don't see it as a problem, only you know if the percentage of non-payers is creeping-up. I am sure many of us would like to see the historical percentage. Equally I would have thought it forthcoming if it showed a static or declining trend. (percentage of sales completed) Given your account verification processes.

The number of specialised seller platforms has increased over recent years with many reporting excellent sales, While Sedo has its Category Search for buyers. It's probably past-time for domain sellers to differentiate and categorise their own portfolios as appropriate for each platform. My failed to complete sales at Sedo have just awoken a sense that maybe I can to do more to get my domains onto the pre-approved platforms with a higher completion rate. I have previously stalled at their sole-promotion/listing criteria.

Of course I won't be ignoring Sedo but I will view it as a more suitable for run-of-the-mill, lower value domains. Yes, those mid $x,xxx payment failures are beginning to take their toll. Over 26 years in domains has accustomed me to some payment failures, I'm just not going to subject myself to what feels like growing trend if I can take action, where the sales platform won't

 

[Sedo]

Hey BaileyUK ,

Thanks for your reply,

I understand that you are frustrated with Sedo, I have seen it in this post and the others you make on Namepros, and I am sure you have you own reasons to be so. Please understand, that if you having such problems using Sedo and feel you have no choice but to post on a forum about it, as no one is listening within Sedo, then surely you would be willing to share your account info with me, so that I can take a look at whats gone on and confirm this. I am offering to help you and will provide any assistance even if it does just results in an explanation. This is the only way Sedo is going to be able to confirm any larger issues that you say you and others have had, as I can assure you at this time, this is not considered an issue within Sedo itself as explained in my last response we are not inundated with canceling transfers and chasing people who dont exist, our transfer team contains just 9 people we do not have the resources to do this. I am currently responsible for checking on the forums and trying to resolve issues, but I am in direct contact with our business development team and suggest any technical changes for future updates to them to make working with Sedo easier for customers. I will do my best to help or at least try and action a change internally if a problem is recognised.

All the best
Chris

 

[BaileyUK]

Well thanks again, hopefully in your viewing of posts role you would have equally seen the many Positive posts I have made about Sedo over the years. I could easily estimate the Positives as 10 to 1. Far too many previous good sales over the years to ignore. I truly do wonder if in these times of wider internet access, If there may be a motive for some nations inhabitants to drive an increase in what I'll describe as intentions rather than a commitment. Chris you and your team have all the stats to-hand so I would accept if you say 'There is absolutely no increase in sales failing to complete' either percentage wise or geographically over a reasonable say 5 years. It would be nice to get that assurance. Then I would accept it was a run of poor luck, given two did complete

But if something appears to be rearing its head above and beyond expectations then I'll raise my concerns (Or thanks) I appreciate criticism doesn't sit well with any of us and of course it's all down to personal experience. I don't wish to prolong this thread any further. Two of us have spoken-up and I'm sure the thread will soon drop into history if no one else has concerns

 

[Garet]

Well thanks again, hopefully in your viewing of posts role you would have equally seen the many Positive posts I have made about Sedo over the years. I could easily estimate the Positives as 10 to 1. Far too many previous good sales over the years to ignore. I truly do wonder if in these times of wider internet access, If there may be a motive for some nations inhabitants to drive an increase in what I'll describe as intentions rather than a commitment. Chris you and your team have all the stats to-hand so I would accept if you say 'There is absolutely no increase in sales failing to complete' either percentage wise or geographically over a reasonable say 5 years. It would be nice to get that assurance. Then I would accept it was a run of poor luck, given two did complete

But if something appears to be rearing its head above and beyond expectations then I'll raise my concerns (Or thanks) I appreciate criticism doesn't sit well with any of us and of course it's all down to personal experience. I don't wish to prolong this thread any further. Two of us have spoken-up and I'm sure the thread will soon drop into history if no one else has concerns

A "sale" isn't a sale until it is paid. In the past, BaileyUK, I've also been frustrated with names being taken offline at Sedo because they were in sold status even though no payment had been received and in many cases never was made.

My percentage of sales at Sedo is far lower than it used to be but when I was highly active there I saw many of these and never liked it.

In some cases, my escrow agent would be able to tell me that the buyer actually seemed to be actively working to complete payment and was communicating. If the "buyer," though, has gone radio silent, I want the name to remain available to the first person who actually makes payment.