What to do with sold domains?

[amplify]

What to do with sold domains? I have a couple still in my portfolio that I pushed, but the user did not accept. I have contacted them without response. They are coming up on renewal and with the renewal fee + what was paid for the domain leaves me negative ROI if they do not take them ASAP (cheap 4 letter domains we're talking).

Renew, keep and sell/refund if they don't want to pay additional fees (if I can ever get in contact with them for PayPal)?

Unethical(?): Keep/resell/refund if they come around?

Drop?

Thanks,
David

 

[DN BROKER]

a few years back I sold a domain name for several hundred dollars on DNF and the buyer never accepted he push. I let the domain name expire based on the eedback I received from DNF members. Let them drop. Cheers

 

[amplify]

Thanks for the feedback, never ran into this issue.

 

[Theo]

Ah, domain orphans

 

[Biggie]

if you "pushed them", then they shouldn't be in your account.

however, if buyer paid for the domains and never gave you their id/username/email address to push to their account, then it's their loss.....when/after you're tried unsuccessfully to contact them.

imo...

 

[ninjadomain]

What happens is when you push at Godaddy and the buyer doesn't accept the push.
I generally try to keep contacting the buyer, but if no luck let it drop unless I really want to keep, and in that case they could claim and pay me for the renewal.

if you "pushed them", then they shouldn't be in your account.

however, if buyer paid for the domains and never gave you their id/username/email address to push to their account, then it's their loss.....when/after you're tried unsuccessfully to contact them.

imo...

 

[Biggie]

What happens is when you push at Godaddy and the buyer doesn't accept the push.
I generally try to keep contacting the buyer, but if no luck let it drop unless I really want to keep, and in that case they could claim and pay me for the renewal.

it's not a push, if buyer doesn't accept

just another reason why gd sucks


their "account transfer" and "registrar transfer" process is "jacked" for their own scrupulous purposes

at enom, you "push" to users id...simple, buyer doesn't have to accept, no security codes needed, no 60 day wait before transfer to another registrar


I suggest for those having or to prevent future issues, to add a "time" stipulation for accepting transfer/push or risk loss of domain.


imo...

 

[Jack Gordon]

Take 10 minutes to preserve a "paper trail" of all communication post-sale. Show your reasonable efforts to push it, and take whatever screenshots you can of the failed effort. Then wrap it all up into a PDF and store it somewhere you won't lose it.

Whatever you decide to do with the domain, you'll CYA.

 

[amplify]

Take 10 minutes to preserve a "paper trail" of all communication post-sale. Show your reasonable efforts to push it, and take whatever screenshots you can of the failed effort. Then wrap it all up into a PDF and store it somewhere you won't lose it.

Whatever you decide to do with the domain, you'll CYA.

That works, but what if I put them up on DNF as a lot sale before expiry (pretty close) and the 'owner' comes along and claims all bids are invalid because they paid for the name(s)?

Do I say, "You mad bro? I tried contacting you about 20 times, anxious that it was going to expire and before it did, put it on the block again to see if I can get funds. If you want it back, I can charge you renewal fee and $5 administrative fee for each PM/e-mail not responded to."?

 

[angel69]

This happened to me at least once, the buyer paid and never accepted the push in his account, I could not tell if he just didn't know what to do (a noob) or never got the emails from GD telling him he had a name coming into his acct, or what. I took the initiative (to cover my ass like Jack G said lol) and even emailed GD to get someone who spoke Chinese in case that was the problem, they said Spanish is the only other language they're allowed to conduct business in. I did email him thru the link GD places next to the name he won, he responded but I don't think he understood (did he ever hear of Google Translator....? I suggested it by name), we went back and forth...

YoDaddy paid me, amazingly, but that was a couple of yrs ago while sellers were supposed to push to buyers, now it's all automated so if that had happened to me just recently the guy would've received the domain in his acct, want it or not. GD never gave me any straight answers as to what I was to do in that case. They claimed he had already paid for the domain but didn't specify if I could just let it drop at renewal time, or if it was mine to keep (I did my job and the other guy didn't take it, so...?) which would not be unethical at all in this case, or was I supposed to keep renewing the thing until the buyer felt like accepting it...? I felt that letting it drop would've been a waste for me as the seller, and even if GD had told me in plain English I was under no obligation to renew it I decided to do that, at least for one time. So I renewed it and even kept it listed for sale right on GD. I figured if another person came along and offered me $ for it I'd clear this with GD before, since according to them I had already "sold" the name once. I don't think the buyer maintains any claims to the name after the seller went out of his way to close the deal and the other party didn't accept. I kept an email trail and my notes in case GD felt like banning me one day, so (David) if you did all you could and not even the marketplace/registrar that was involved could get the buyer to accept then that's it imo...you do what you think it's best

The 2nd renewal is coming for that name and I don't know if I'll do it since I've gotten no other offers for the name. I'm glad I read David's thread, tough and weird situation to be in for sellers and there's no clear-cut answer as to what to do. Dropping it would be understandable and GD can't penalize you if the buyer resurrects later and demands the name. But selling it is a better option imo, that way if it gets sold then that original buyer needs to be told to go get the name from its new owner since he refused to take it earlier. I'd have no qualms about doing that at all. Others will tell you to keep renewing (and not sell cuz it isn't yours anymore) until the buyer reappears, that's bullshit and don't feel bad about selling it. Just one thing (David), selling it on GD if that's where it all happened (was this a private PP deal ? I can't tell....) would be best, and don't list it anywhere else. That way GD can see all you did was all transparent. You can always reimburse the original buyer even yrs from now if he comes back, GD is cool with that, I know from experience so there you have an exit... And if he demands the domain and you still happen to have it, then make him pay for every expense you had to incur due to his negligence, and only then can he have the domain

 

[amplify]

I believe this sale took place on the forum, but I can't find the records of the GD account change email, PM's (as I was Platinum at the time and had to empty my box) or anything else for a solid "paper trail". So because of all that along with it being a $XX name, I'll let it drop and they can bid on it through GD auctions. If they have a problem, being a domainer and knowing how to initiate a change, they should have accepted it so I don't feel any sympathy after seeing these responses.

However, because of this... I'm going to take 2 extra seconds of my time to take screen shots of sent emails/PM's/PP transactions (so at least I know who to refund to in the future). So many come in and go out from different people, it would take more than $XX of my time to resolve this problem (although, it seems like it was my problem from the beginning for not following Jack Gordon's advice).

Business is business, don't take it personal.

 

[Jack Gordon]

That works, but what if I put them up on DNF as a lot sale before expiry (pretty close) and the 'owner' comes along and claims all bids are invalid because they paid for the name(s)?

Do I say, "You mad bro? I tried contacting you about 20 times, anxious that it was going to expire and before it did, put it on the block again to see if I can get funds. If you want it back, I can charge you renewal fee and $5 administrative fee for each PM/e-mail not responded to."?

I see no issue with relisting it, however I think it would be your ethical duty to disclose the history of the domain to any potential buyer before selling it, as they *may* have to deal with this in the future.

The other thing you could do, if you really want to absolve yourself of any potential bad karma, is ask GD to facilitate a refund to the buyer. I don't really think it is necessary (after all, you were diligent in attempting to fulfill your duties as the seller), but it is that extra, final step that would really put this issue to bed.

It is worth noting that private domain sales are an unregulated business. Plus, this appears to be an international transaction. It is hard to see how any of this comes back to bite you down the road.

 

[amplify]

I see no issue with relisting it, however I think it would be your ethical duty to disclose the history of the domain to any potential buyer before selling it, as they *may* have to deal with this in the future.

The other thing you could do, if you really want to absolve yourself of any potential bad karma, is ask GD to facilitate a refund to the buyer. I don't really think it is necessary (after all, you were diligent in attempting to fulfill your duties as the seller), but it is that extra, final step that would really put this issue to bed.

It is worth noting that private domain sales are an unregulated business. Plus, this appears to be an international transaction. It is hard to see how any of this comes back to bite you down the road.

I believe the transaction was conducted within DNF, but can't find any paper trails of it. GoDaddy had nothing to do with it except they could possibly "push" the domain for me if they have history.

As far as an "international" transaction, I'm an American (says my passport ) expat living in Japan and DJW Network, LLC. is formed in Washington State. :lol:

We're only speaking chump change here, but would like to clear the air if this did happen in the hundreds of dollars like @angel's domain to clear my name in the future if something did come up. How is this typically handled? I like your advice on how you conduct "book keeping" with screen shots, email transactions, etc. and will do that for transactions going forward... but this doesn't help me now.

 

[Biggie]

but this doesn't help me now.

I say, don't worry about until it comes up.

you can always use "this" thread to illustrate your desire and the attempts made, to contact a previous buyer after they paid for a domain.


imo...