Last month we wrote about 7 legal domains that sold at auction at Sedo.com for almost $200K.
Sedo.com has now declared the Seller of the domain names in default as he has refused to transfer the domains.
The domains at issue are:
bankruptcylawyers.com
trademarklawyer.com
immigrationattorney.com
criminalattorneys.com
duilawyers.com
taxattorneys.com
bankruptcylawyers.net
According to a source, the Owner of the domains has not responded to Sedo demands that the domains be transferred to the winners of the auctions.
According to that same source, the owner of the domains is claiming he “made a mistake” in pushing the domains to auction, yet Sedo.com system puts up a confirmation screen in the process of pushing a domain to auction which ask “do you really want to do this”. Moreover the source tells me that the owner did not push all the domains to auction in one bulk transaction but rather did it over at least 4 separate transactions, meaning he had to agree to the terms and conditions on at least 4 separate occasions and go through the confirm screen at least 4 times. Finally I’m told that the owner did not notify Sedo of his “mistake” when the week long auction started, until the auctions were getting ready to close and the domains already had a substantial amount of bidders and bids totally in the six figures.
Sedo.com is now considering suing for its commission and attorney fees.
Each “buyer” will have to do the same.
Personally I won one of these auctions, for trademarklawyer.com and at this point feel I have an obligation to file suit.
I sent several e-mails to the owner of the domains to get his comment on the situation but I did not receive a response.
Looks like another case of someone trying to use ‘being an idiot’ as a bad excuse for poor ethics. The sooner these people realise they are involved in a business and not a hobby, the better. Hope you get a speedy and successful resolution.
That’s poor of the seller…..it’s usually the other way around with buyers jacking around sellers.
James
I don’t think the resolution its going to be speedy
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I hope Sedo publicizes his name so that the rest of us won’t have tio deal with him.
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His name is publicly available for you to see
The damage is done = seller’s reputation
whois
Sounds like a case where the seller didn’t get the price(s) expected at auction and now is trying to take the easy way out.
He may want to think twice, since “lawyer” type domains often get purchased by lawyers. As in your case Mike 😉
It will be interesting to see what the other Michael does….
Sedo’s TOS are cut and dry – as a buyer of one of the domains I certainly planning on taking legal action
Sedo and other auction houses have been pushing owners to auction the domains with little or no reserve claiming it will spur interest and higher sales. That may work in a small % of sales, however, it’s a sure way to get less than you expec tin the majority of these transactions. However, when you agree to it, you have a legal obligation to close the deal.
Larry
Agreed
Certainly there are a ton of choices when it comes to placing domain into an auction.
If you don’t want to risk your domain selling for $100 on one bid then don’t place it into a no reserve auction.
Of course in this case the domains didn’t sell for $100 they sold for a high as over $70K in one instance.
Mike,
If you won the case would they be required to transfer the domain or just pay the damages. I remember this happened to me at Sedo as well and as I recall a lawyer commented that while I may win judgement it would be difficult to get the domain transferred to me. Something about “specific performance”?
Hope it works out for you.
Best.
Steve
We would be suing for specific performance plus attorney fees
Buyers remorse. Sellers remorse.
All par for the course in the wild west of domainerland…
Eventually, to uphold auctioneers reputation & ensure sellers perform, auction venues will have to insist on domains first pushed to their domain a/c (Sedo has a/cs almost everywhere) before start of the auction, to prevent any potential funny business from seller.
Sounds like buyer has found a new buyer for more $$
the irony is breathtaking
Doug Madison,
RE: Sounds like buyer has found a new buyer for more $$
RE: Previous Post MHB: “All and all it seems like a $200K sale. Yet I have to wonder why the Sedo did not hold a special auction for this set of domains & market it to the domain and to the legal community. Maybe the Seller didn’t ask for one, but I think this set of domains deserved at lot more attention than it got. ”
Can SEDO auction the names. SEDO has special projects and contacts to makket the names. Perhaps SEDO should provide a special service in the situation like this. $200K is a worthwhile project. If the domais sell, their real value will be asserted, if not the current market feedback will be known, if more money is made, SEDO will benefit. SEDO provides evaluation services, it would be interesting to see what the SEDO’s evaluations of “legal” category is.
well he was getting ripped off.
So he walked.
Happens all the time in domaining.
Welcome to the wild west.
Sedo’s process of sending domains to auction is 100% clear. I can’t imagine how someone could misunderstand what was happening not once but multiple times.
I agree with slots – irony given the names.
Any lawyers want to chime in on liability here? From surface, it seems Sedo would be entitled to recoup their fees. But what could the high bidders claim on?
Steve how was he getting ripped off ? Disappointed maybe but ripped off ? Not to sure about that.
Which country is the seller at?
I like your pick from the bunch.
NM, I saw they are based in Florida.
Unfortunate when sellers balk at honoring their commitments; even though much less prevalent than buyers not performing.
Sounds however like there’s still time for the owner/s to complete these sales w/out incurring legal costs which could potentially exceed what the buyers agreed to pay for the domains.
As with real estate sales, generally far easier to gain performance from sellers of the asset/s than the money from walk-away buyers.
Relatedly; and though not posted on our site; we do have a couple of legal domains in what’s arguably the 2nd most desirable extension for such uses; .org: AdoptionLawyer & AdoptionAttorney.
And we honor our commitments.
Dont blame the seller. Blame SEDO.
Sedo built a culture of allowing sellers to default. We’ve been involved in several such cases over the years and SEDO has done nothing about it.
What does eBay do about them?
those are nice domain, he probably could of sold them 200k each. He probably just had to promote it to lawyers. Auctions are never good for high profile domains.
The sold names should be pushed. However, with that said, Sedo, Moniker and others often push sellers real hard for low reserves and may imply no need to worry since it will attract more higher price bids and more buyers. They also sometimes indicate they will not accept the name at an auction event unless the reserve is set low.
Therefore, sellers tend to believe the sales pitch for no or low reserves and may then get cold feet when the prices are deemed too low but they are obligated to honor the sale. This very well could be the case here. That is a reason I never list any names for sale at those venues on that basis.
FX: I am not sure how Sedo is at fault? I would love to hear about these deals that supposedly happened to you…There is no marketplace that is fool-proof.
Dave: If you read the article Sedo’s sales people did not put this in auction, or convince the seller to do so in anyway. He did it on his own, and by receiving a bid for those domains set his own reserve by himself. There are no cold feet caused by a sales pitch.
RL: Sedo re-auctioning the names would be unfair to the bidders that have already won. It would completely kill the credibility of the marketplace. How can you win an auction then the auction house says, “You passed reserve, you performed by paying the money in the allotted period of time, but we want to take them from you to make ourselves more money.” As for the appraisals I think the appraisers have pretty good comps… The sales that just occurred. They are worth exactly what everyone paid for them. The market/bidders clearly set the value.
I too suffered a seller default at Sedo when I purchased the domain name mobilephones.co.uk for £91,500 at an auction in March this year.
The case is still unresolved and will now go legal.
The MobilePhones.co.uk Story
If the buyers of the 7 domain names get in touch with me (find my email address at ANY-Domains.com) I will happily share information about the legal aspects involved.
I too suffered a seller default at Sedo when I purchased the domain name mobilephones.co.uk for £91,500 at an auction in March this year.
The case is still unresolved and will now go legal.
The MobilePhones.co.uk Story
If the buyers of the 7 domain names get in touch with me (find my email address at ANY-Domains.com) I will happily share information about the legal aspects involved.
Something I’m wondering about here:
Sedo doesn’t allow asking prices of over $10,000 without an appraisal. Would a big solution to the auction issue going forward be that for a domain with a minimum reserve only be placed on active auction after the domain has been transferred to Sedo?
Considering pushing an offer to auction means the sale HAS to go through – couldn’t this help speed the process up and help ensure the integrity of Sedo auctions?
The only problem I’d see with this is that if the domain were somewhere like Godaddy that has a lock down of 60 days after whois info has been updated (ie where the domain could not be transferred out if the buyer wanted it elsewhere).
The seller may be drunk at that time and may saw extra zeros at the offer prices?
Mike,
“The seller may be drunk at that time and may saw extra zeros at the offer prices?”
This is what I have been guessing too. Just drunk or under influence of other substances, or an impulsive domainer gambler.
Sharon Hayes,
“Sedo doesn’t allow asking prices of over $10,000 without an appraisal.”
I am puzzled why AlamoLawyer.com and AlamoAttorney.com are listed at $50,000 EURO, more than $61,000 each – It appears that SEDO appraised these domains, because of the $10,000 limit. Is this appraisal realistic for “Alamo”?
RL, I just verified and Sedo doesn’t allow saving a price over $10,000. Previously it would say that an appraisal needed to be done by Sedo for over $10,000. It is not saying that but doesn’t allow saving. I am wondering if by doing a batch upload or going through your rep, you can bypass the $10k ceiling. Now that they have automated appraisals, perhaps those allow bypassing of the limit. Those 2 examples you gave make no sense.
Sharon Hayes,
Re: “Sedo doesn’t allow asking prices of over $10,000 without an appraisal.”
There are 95 names listed for $50,000 EURO or more NetworkLawyer.com $250,000 EURO.
It appears that Sedo’s appraisals are what you want them to be as long as you pay ther appraisal fee. The pricing does not make sense. It would b desirable to make them honest.
Hello Mike,
All secondary auction houses operate on volume. Any resistance to volume continuing will be avoided, at all costs. You have nailed it on the head in saying that you and everyone else needs to litigate for themselves. It is not in Sedos best interests to protect your rights to this name. Good Luck
Gratefully,
Jeff