Originally posted by fizz
IMO the rapid demise of the Afternic forums has impacted on Register.com. They had a gem in Afternic - and paid many millions for it - but by letting its forums go unmoderated meant they were hijacked by a few angry individuals and abuse was rampant.
Another demise was the poor escrow procedure.
This situation actually happened to me not once, but TWICE (and to at least another person).
1) Person bids on an action an AN
2) Auction closes with reserve met
3) Buyer pays with credit card.
4) As soon as payment is entered, AN tells the seller to transfer the name
5) Seller gets name. May or may not confirm transfer.
6) AN waits several weeks to pay seller
The problem starts with
#4 - There is no verification time in there. As soon as the payment is submitted, you are INSTRUCTED by the escrow department to transfer the name.
I had two names sold, one for $2800 and one for $2600. The buyer paid for them with a stolen credt card. AN immediately told me to transfer the names. I did. Buyer ran off. 4 weeks later I get a call from Register.com asking me not to transfer the names because the credit card is stolen.
Well, too late for me.
Isn't that the point of an escrow service? To verify funds? Isn't that what we were paying them $50 (or 5%) to do? For me, losing 2 names and over $5000 was the last time I dealt with AN. The original owners certainly made a bundle. Good for them. It wa a great place while they had it.
-Bob