WOW...I am devastated...blank.com

[jasonmjt]

I've been buying alot of domains from ebay lately because you can pick up some catchy names for about $5 that can easily be resold here or other forums for 2-3 times the amount. Tonight I decided to try something different; I figured if I checked out the buy it now auctions starting from newest (most recently listed) I could potentially find a killer domain at a low buy it now price and pick it up before any other ebayers had the chance to buy it. All of a sudden I came accross an auction with the title:

.com Domain Name 26

This auction was set at Buy It Now for $2000.

Obviously interested, I decided to take a look to see what domain name they were selling for $2000 that they wouldn't put in their title. Then I saw it blank.com. Right away I know that it was worth well over the $2000 it was listed for, so I delved further into it by checking the searches in overture and wordtracker. Both showed good search volume. So, I checked out Alexa, it has an alexa ranking of around 1,500,000, which isn't bad for a domain with no content. Then I looked at the sellers Feedback and he was a Power Seller with nearly 300 positive feedback and all were positive. So, I did the Buy It now for $2000.

Right after I won the auction I sent the guy an email verifying that I had won the auction for blank.com for $2000 before I sent the money (didn't want to send the money before getting that written verification.) For the next 20 min my heart was racing; I knew I just bought a domain worth thousands more than what I had paid for it.

After calming down and grabbing a coke I went back to my computer and pulled up My Ebay. It said I had a new message! I was reading the words before I opened it, "Yes, you just won the domain name blank.com for $2000. Please make payment and I will push the domain to you." I clicked on the "1 New Message" link......

It said: Sorry, I will be fixing the listing soon. I don't own blank.com.

"uuuuuuuoooooooohhhhhhhuuuu"....I think is the sigh I let out.

I thought I found every domainers dream. This one will definitely become this domainers nightmare.

Thanks for letting me vent.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...MEWN:IT&viewitem=&item=260051048814&rd=1&rd=1

 

[IAmAllanShore]

No idea how the seller could have made that mistake; you have now experienced more of the roller-coaster ride that is high-hopes, sorry to hear it (they) didn't pan out.
Get a better explanation from the seller, imho.
-Allan

 

[RegFee]

I remember when I was a kid, I was collecting stamps. I thought I had one that was worth thousands of dollars, but it turns out I didn't. I didn't find this out for about a week though, so for that one week, I was the happiest kid alive. I was crushed when I learned the truth though, and ever since then I've taken this to heart: if it sounds too good to be true...it is.

This was a good lesson for you, because if that person HAD just said "send me the money" then you probably would've in your state, and would've been out $2000 too.

Good luck in the future,
Jorge

 

[paxton]

No idea how the seller could have made that mistake; you have now experienced more of the roller-coaster ride that is high-hopes, sorry to hear it (they) didn't pan out.
Get a better explanation from the seller, imho.
-Allan

Yes, that is not a fun ride to take. Sorry to hear.

As for an explanation, I think it's obvious. Looking at the sellers other ebay auctions it appears he uses the same template for his domain sales. He must use "BLANK.com" on the template (for the domain field) and he just forgot to enter the actual domain for sale in this auction listing.

 

[owntype]

Traffic.co.uk used to be in my domainsite account for more than 1 month, though it was a mistake and it never really belongs to me...

 

[mrfike]

Here's one still open that's the exact same listing you "bought" BAD SELLER!
ebaylisting

 

[Peter]

take a look at his listings he has a few auctions claiming to be blank.com (about 20 of them)

Here's one still open that's the exact same listing you "bought" BAD SELLER!
ebaylisting

that link points to an auction for a domain called PillGuy.com

 

[Spade]

Thats very irresponsible of a powerseller - I would absolutely complain. This situation could have turned into a nightmare - I would definetly pass this information along to ebay. Fortunately you didnt pay, your money could have been held up for some time. Although, when spending that kind of money you should definetly go through an escrow. Keep digging! youll find some gold soon.

 

[tipsfromthetop]

I concur report this guy to ebay.. As a powerseller he should know better and after the mistake with you he should of checked all his other auctions to make sure there were no similar errors. Obviously he doesnt care and is hoping someone sends the money first. Then as if by magic his ebay account will go Poof!!! and no one will see him again.

 

[scrsteven]

This may be because ebay just started 10 cent listings for today or yesterday only. He probably uploaded a ton of auctions with the same format with 'blank.com' in them and then when he had time he planned to go back and fix them to the correct domain names after the 10 cent listing special time period was over...and he just forgot to change that one. That's my guess.

 

[Earthian]

I don't know the seller but ...

- from the 298 feedback
- from the 100% positive
- from the number of active listings

... I think he just wanted to take advantage of the 10c BIN offer that was yesterday on , on eBay ...




He probably listed 60 BINs or so (check the end times) in time for the offer planning to change the titles , prices and contents later on to reflect the ones he is actually selling (it seems that he already updated 40 or so)

although the practice is quite usual for a small number of listings ... it is rather possible-problem-causing for such a large number of listings ... furthermore he should just leave it blank in the content or write something like ??????????.com instead of writing "blank.com"

I think a simple note to the seller should be enough ... from "seller profile" it seems that that he will understand his mistake ... I don't think a report to eBay is needed ...

 

[cache]

this is not the worst story. What if you bought the .com but it turned out to be a IDN, that would be the worst.

 

[paxton]

...He probably uploaded a ton of auctions with the same format with 'blank.com' in them...and he just forgot to change that one. That's my guess.

That was my guess too. ^^

 

[Kamloops]

Dont feel bad I bought Olive.com for 3000.00 nd it turned out to be stolen!