For Sale High Bidder at NW - Dotster Gets It But I Don't?

[namedropper]

Invisible bidders are bogus. If there was a proxy bidder it would have shown. They can't be taken seriously if they expect nonsense like this to stand.

I'd continue to give them hell until they start coming up with rational answers or get you your name.

 

[URLtrader]

I was (and still am) the highest bidder for NanoForum.com with bid of $26. Since one week my account shows it as pending. Dotster has got it. And on checking the whois I find it belongs to someone else. This is insane. Something is terribly wrong . This in plain language is called cheating. >:-(

 

[Kid Kool]

Originally posted by namedropper
Invisible bidders are bogus. If there was a proxy bidder it would have shown. They can't be taken seriously if they expect nonsense like this to stand.

I'd continue to give them hell until they start coming up with rational answers or get you your name.

Hey. Where have you been man? Welcome back

 

[diverge]

I have often wondered about whether there exists any conflicts of interest within a registrar's system between their scripts and "catch" services. Specifically, I have wondered to myself if it is possible to snap a domain using an eNom ETP script if the domain is queued to be caught by eNom Club Drop. For example, were I to submit a purchase request for a domain before their Club Drop server had attempted to register it, would their system detect this, and kick out my purchase in favor of regging it themselves for a profit? To do so would, in my opinion, be a misuse of their power. In your case, if the Aussie's request to purchase this domain occured before NameWinner attempted to do so, it would seem that Dotster has [rightfully, IMHO] segregated their NameWinner service from their Dotster scripts, thereby providing the legitimate winner of the domain to reg the domain, regardless of their own catch service.

In other words, if someone did, in fact, submit a registration request before NameWinner attempted to register the domain, they should rightfully get the domain. Otherwise, it would be impossible for those of us using scripts to compete with the registrar-owned catch services.

This does not, of course, speak very highly of NameWinner's ability to catch domains, but every service has its flaws (and that is a discussion for a different thread, I guess).

If, on the other hand, the Aussie outbid you through NameWinner at the last second, it is still possible for Dotster to award them the domain without updating your bid status. eBay, for example, sends outbid email notices several minutes after you are outbid (not in realtime). Were the auction to end between the snipe and the end of the auction, their system would have no reason to email you a notice. As for why the $36 bid still remains, it is conceivable that this is a similar glitch due to the last minute bid.

Anyway, good luck finding out your answer.

 

[Duke]

Originally posted by spfanstiel
In your case, if the Aussie's request to purchase this domain occured before NameWinner attempted to do so, it would seem that Dotster has [rightfully, IMHO] segregated their NameWinner service from their Dotster scripts, thereby providing the legitimate winner of the domain to reg the domain, regardless of their own catch service.

In other words, if someone did, in fact, submit a registration request before NameWinner attempted to register the domain, they should rightfully get the domain. Otherwise, it would be impossible for those of us using scripts to compete with the registrar-owned catch services.

You're ignoring an awful lot of facts Sam. This obviously was caught through Namewinner because they marked the domain Pending in their system (not to mention they ALREADY stated it was caught through Namewinner as is noted repeatedly above).

Originally posted by spfanstiel
If, on the other hand, the Aussie outbid you through NameWinner at the last second, it is still possible for Dotster to award them the domain without updating your bid status.

If he outbid me on Namewinner there would be a public record SOMEWHERE on their system of him placing a higher bid - for example the section where you can check domains on which you were outbid. There is no indication anywhere on NW that anyone else overbid me on that name. You cannot award names to other people in a transparent auction system with the excuse that someone else bid even though no one saw it and there is no record of it.

 

[Duke]

Haven't heard from Mr. Clark at Dotster yet, but the tech support people wrote again and they are going to stick by their assertion that there was another bidder there than no one can see. I think it sucks in an open auction format, but it's their site...they can take the risk of how selecting winners in this way will affect public confidence in their auction.

This is my first run-in with NW and they have caught a lot of nice names for me at bargain prices so I am inclined to cut them some slack. I just wish they would own up to the obvious faults that have been plaguing their site for months rather than take this camouflage approach to their problems.

 

[JMJ]

Originally posted by URLtrader
I was (and still am) the highest bidder for NanoForum.com with bid of $26. Since one week my account shows it as pending. Dotster has got it. And on checking the whois I find it belongs to someone else. This is insane. Something is terribly wrong . This in plain language is called cheating. >:-(

I put a bid in up to forty and it said it went through on nanoforum.com but I never got a email so when I went back it was too late to put a bid in.

 

[AhmedF]

Same problem ... pending, and went to someone else

 

[mole]

I guess I don't have to say anything about why WLS must be introduced then.

 

[Duke]

Originally posted by mole
I guess I don't have to say anything about why WLS must be introduced then.

They certainly seem to be handing you the bullets Mole. :-D

 

[Duke]

Originally posted by AhmedF
Same problem ... pending, and went to someone else

Just being marked Pending doesn't mean anything unless you were the high bidder. If you have a domain in your watch list, you will see it turn to Pending if NW gets it (whether you were the high bidder or not). Now if it says Pending and you WERE the high bidder - that is something else. That's what happened to me. The system stills shows me as the high bidder, yet they gave the name to someone else. That is a major no-no that they refuse to correct. As I noted in my point to Mole, it is that kind of thing that will give WLS proponents more ammunition.

 

[AhmedF]

Yep high bidder ... 8.75, Im sure no one else wanted it really [no backlinks, no snaps anywhere, just of private interest to me]. Dun get what happened.

 

[Duke]

Originally posted by AhmedF
Yep high bidder ... 8.75, Im sure no one else wanted it really [no backlinks, no snaps anywhere, just of private interest to me]. Dun get what happened.

Neither do I. If they don't get a handle on this quickly it is going to cause them major problems. You can't run a transparent public auction and keep telling people they were beaten by higher bidders than no one can see.

 

[Digital Address]

Originally posted by AhmedF
Yep high bidder ... 8.75 ...

Duke and AhmedF,

Was high bidder on three names for $8.75, all on 7/31! (No snaps, no godaddy, nothing!) Now BuyDomains has one and Dotster is the registrar on the other two!

Localism.com (BD)
ManhattanLadies.com and NudeBlackWomen.net (Dotster)

ABSOLUTELY SUCKS!

 

[Duke]

OK this is ridiculous!! They just did it to me again. Sunday I had the high (and only) bid on Homebroker.org. No other bids were placed, you can look in Namewinner right now and see my bid listed as the high bid, yet the domain is registered to someone else by Dotster this morning. Talk about ruining the credibility of your auction! Yet they will do nothing about it and pretend there is nothing wrong.

P.S. I am going to be writing an item about this for The Low Down section at Domain Name Journal today, so if this has happened to you please post here as I can going to include a link to this thread. I wrote an executive at NW/Dotster about the problem 5 days ago and did not receive a response and their tech support people want to pretend that there is no problem, so they have had ample time to respond.

 

[actnow]

It has happened a number of times to me with .orgs over the past two weeks.

For example, on July 31st, I had the high bid on GreatSpot.com of 55.00 Dotster caught it and it switched to pending. But, BuyDomains ended up with the name.

Did I complain about this one? NO. Because I complained about the others. And, nothing was resolved. Plus, they occasionally responded saying I was wrong. Eventhough, everything was documented on "their" system.

I decided that NW creditability is LOW.

 

[Duke]

Originally posted by actnow
It has happened a number of times to me with .orgs over the past two weeks.

For example, on July 31st, I had the high bid on GreatSpot.com of 55.00 Dotster caught it and it switched to pending. But, BuyDomains ended up with the name.

Did I complain about this one? NO. Because I complained about the others. And, nothing was resolved. Plus, they occasionally responded saying I was wrong. Eventhough, everything was documented on "their" system.

I decided that NW creditability is LOW.

Richard, would you please look up who the current registrants are on the domains that you were not awarded despite you public high bids. Both of mine went to corporate level professional domain resellers. I want to see if there is a pattern here with respect who is getting this domains with invisible bids.

Many have posted that they think NW gives preferential treatment to certain parties. I have never believed that, but after these incidents I would like to look a little furthur into it and see where these domains are winding up when the high bidder shown in their system does not get them. If other victims would do the same it might be very helpful.

 

[dotNetKing]

I had the high bid on 3 (or possibly 4) names, for which I am still the highest bidder on 3, which dropped on Saturday 2nd August. (2 at $8.75 and one at $51)

They haven't been allocated to me yet, but they don't seem to have been allocated to any one else either, yet. I'm still hoping they end up with me and not with someone else.

 

[actnow]

That part of NW does not bother me. As long as I win and am billed for the names. I am not bothered.

Once a month, I go thru my paid list and compare it to the one that whois has been updated. If I am not listed, I make a list and send it to them. They usually correct it within a couple days.

But, that is also a major problem with NW

 

[NameWinner Guy]

Hello, I wanted to clarify the discussion about the names going to an "invisible" bidder. We have found what has happened and are implementing a fix. The problem was limited to .org domains which as many of you may have noticed we recently started grabbing again. The grabbing system pulls names that it believes are going to be deleted on that particular day. The grabber only goes for names which it believes are going to be deleted that day. The .org registry does not always follow a specific rule on when the names delete. Sometimes the names that are supposed to delete on one day actually don't delete until the next day. The system was not retrying for these names the following day and the domains were registered through the Instant registration feature on the site. Essentially, the instant registration feature beat the grabber because the grabber didn't think the name was deleting and didn't try to register it on the right day. We're fixing that as I write this so that we catch those overlap names on the day they actually delete. If the grabber is going for it, you can bet it'll get it before the instant registration Sorry for the confusion and I hope this clarifies the issue.

NameWinner