Domain Discover Scam Fraud - $25 Extortion

[thebetaguy]

We sold a domain to a Buyer, and he requested the name to be sent to his DomainDiscover.com account.

We then created an account at DomainDiscover, transferred the name to from current registrar (for a fee of $10), and then pushed it to buyer's account.

This is where the weirdness starts. DomainDiscover updates the Admin contact with BUYER's details, but does not display Registrant or Technical contact in the whois. They only display Admin contact.

Further, they have a new "contact field" called LEGAL OWNER. And they refuse to change it to the BUYER's details. They use my details there, and demand a fee of $25 and a signed form to be faxed to them for the same. They claim that it is ICANN official fee for "legal owner" change.

I'm beginning to think this whole thing is a scam by Domain Discover - a ploy to illegally extract $25 for every domain sale.

I would appreciate guidance on the following questions to ascertain that Domain Discover is following fraudulent & scam methods of extortion on every sale.


(1) Is it okay for companies to hide registrant & tech contact from whois?

(2) Does ICANN recognize something called "Legal Owner"?

(3) Does ICANN charge $25 for this "Legal Owner" change?

(4) Is it legal for DomainDiscover to charge $25 to us for this "Legal Owner" change?

Please help.

 

[dvdrip]

There is no $25 ICANN fee.
1: No
2: The owner is the the registrant. The admin contact is more or less not relevant.
3: No
4: If you signed such terms yes it is legal. Not ethical...

This is not a good way to handle domain sales. I have never done such a thing.
Why didn't you just give the buyer the auth code and let him transfer the domain?