Sedo charges

[Laird Mobi]

Hi i would just like to make a public comment, and i hope the censors dont take offence and delete my post, as i have had several conversations with domainers trading .co.uk domain names.

Due to the fact that sedo charge 100 euros per transaction for .co.uk and .fr domain names. I have complained about this to sedo to receive an unsatisfactory mail back. Especially when .com's and many others are charged at only 50 euro's per transaction!!!!!!

Basically .co.uk's have nominet overseeing them, for which there is a form to fill out and a charge to pay (£35). But the buyer and seller, pays, and does all of this with NO Sedo involvement.

What i can't see, is why in the reply was i told that a .co.uk transfer is more complicated than a .com for instance???? How complicated is a whois check to ensure Nominet has done the ownership transfer properly? And why does this cost me 50 euro's for the pleasure! I have been selling .co.uk's for a year now and see no extra burden on a sale than with a .com for instance. Yes the transfer will take a little longer, but i receive no extra support or updates from Sedo to push the price up.

I hope someone can point this out to me, but it seems a complete bias towards the larger .com market, leaving the smaller yet significant .co.uk and .fr markets to prop up Sedo's profit margin. (although most revenue is probably made through parking)

[littlebigman]

Hi aggieuk

I agree that this does not seem justified, and as you have observed, it is compounded by the fact that Nominet have the audacity to charge for legal owner transfer too.

My view is that this is very unfair of both sedo and Nominet. Considering the obvious expertise and technological know how registrars have at their disposal, I am amazed that Nominet adopt an expensive and laborious process and that sedo can take this stance. It is due to these very reasons that I have avoided dealing in .co.uk, but this is nevertheless a strong market and it is a pity it is being restricted in this way!

Regards

LBM

[Acro]

Be glad they don't charge Poll Tax too :-D

[littlebigman]

That market is already cornered by an official UK parasite Theo

[Acro]

Kidding aside I agree that it seems like a policy that needs to be re-evaluated.

[littlebigman]

Indeed!

[Laird Mobi]

Thanks for your support peeps! As i have said it is ridiculous, and there is little or no reasoning behind this farce. Hopefully a little people power could bring a satisfactory close to the story. So everyones happy! In the end .co.uk's dont have an easy time because of nominets stupid charge and any leeway we can get will be a big bonus! And i would have thought boost sales no end!

I have already tried talking to Nominet about this £35 charge but they seem to think that as a non profit organisation they are justified charging the fee?????? I think it's way over the top for changing a few details on a computer screen! Especially when it was free a year or two ago!

I would like to hear from a sedo rep if this is possible, as i really do think an explaination would be the proper thing to do!

[SedoCoUk]

Hello from sedo!

The transfers of .co.uk names are more time-consuming than the transfers of domains with some other TLDs.
The transfers of .co.uk names incur more paperwork, more administrative work and more inter-party communication than most other transfers.
This increased workload and the additional administrative requirements inherent in a .co.uk name transfer are reflected in the transfer fee.

The fee will stand until Nominet implement a promised "online" service, which would serve to reduce the administrative work currently necessary to process a .co.uk transfer.

You can contribute to a reduction in fees by emailing Nominet to lend your support to the planned electronic system. I'm sure the more voices that are heard, the sooner they will implement change.

If anyone has individual questions or queries regarding this, or other Sedo services, please feel free to contact us directly at Sedo.

Kind regards,

Nora Cotter
Key Accounts Manager
_______________________________________________

sedo.com :: Buy and Sell Domain Names and Websites
tel +49 (0)221 420 758 287 :: fax +49 (212)-202-3951
email: nora@sedo.co.uk :: url: www.sedo.co.uk

_______________________ :: make a name for yourself.

[Laird Mobi]

The thing is it is not more time consuming for sedo, ALL the work is done by the buyer and the seller! All sedo has to do is check the whois every now and then to check that Nominet has done their job and transferred the domain to the new legal owner. I can understand that it will be longer due to the Nominet intervention but Sedo cannot charge 50 euro's extra for the pleasure of a whois check (which must be done on a .com anyway!) And the seller pays the Nominet fee!

I would like a more complex answer and explanation posted here so all of us .co.uk owners can understand why we are being victimised, just because Nominet pummels us it doesn't mean Sedo has too also! If there are things that go on behind the scenes i dont know about them and this needs to be explained to me.

Nora i will take your advice and email Nominet, not that i haven't already to complain about their ridiculous charges they throw at us! But i suppose another wont hurt!

[rawkinrich]

Ain't it possible - that when Nominet send out the certificate and registration details - to log on to the nominet system and change ownership of a domain name from there? (If you see what I mean).

Lately, when they send you the docs for your new domain, they send a URL and a number so you can make amendments to your domain. So I'm wondering if a.co.uk domain is sold, to logon yourself and make the changes for the buyer - then get paid.

Otherwise, Nominet should pull out the finger on charging for transfers and then the .co.uk value would rise!.

[Laird Mobi]

Thats the first trick i tried! The answer is no, there is no way at all to transfer the domain over to another entity without paying the piper! Unfortunately!

[laskos]

i totally agree, it took me 1 month to sell a domain on sedo, the worst thing i ever did..it went like .

2004-05-17 Agreement reached

2004-05-17 We have invoiced the buyer for the sale of your domain. As soon as the payment reaches our escrow account we will inform you and begin the technical transfer.

2004-05-26 We have received the buyer's payment for your domain. We can now begin the technical transfer.

2004-05-26 The buyer has started transfer request. Please confirm the next transfer request from Nominet (ALL .co.uk. domains), or contact us to verify the request to be confirmed.

2004-07-01 Nominet finally change details.

2004-07-01 i emailed sedo to transfer funds.

Is that a joke or what.. I can change the TAG on a domain so the new owner has it and can use it within 24 hours, then i send the new owners the forms, and he signs and send back, the whole thing can be done in a week.

Come on Stupidnet, sorry Nominet and snido, sorry again i mean sedo give us .co.uk domainers a chance here.

[SedoCoUk]

Hello all,

I'm afraid that some transfers just take more time than others.
The time involved depends on the level of cooperation of all parties involved in the transfer.
We cannot make the buyer pay the invoice any quicker, nor can we force Nominet to change the details immediately.
We here at sedo are very much in favour of supporting the .co.uk domain market.
We have had some pretty good .co.uk sales recently and are delighted that .co.uk domain values are continuing to increase.
It is good news for both you, the domainers and us here at Sedo.
We really do understand your frustrations with this issue and would welcome any suggestions you may have via email to us here at Sedo.

Kind regards,

Nora Cotter
Key Accounts Manager
_______________________________________________

sedo.com :: Buy and Sell Domain Names and Websites
tel +49 (0)221 420 758 287 :: fax +49 (212)-202-3951
email: nora@sedo.co.uk :: url: www.sedo.co.uk

_______________________ :: make a name for yourself.

[laskos]

thanks for your reply...From all us .co.uk domainers i hope you understand us. SO why does the 100$, £ etc still get charged like mentioned above????

The.co.uk market is alive and kicking so i think it would be in your best interest to give competative costs and promite the .co.uk market aswell, like u say you have made some good .co.uk sales

Laskos

[rawkinrich]

I'm a little confused.. I sold a domain that took 2 months from originally being sold on sedo to being payed for the domain..

The domain was originally regged at 123reg. Just performed a whois and it is now regged to the new owner, but the nameservers are still pointed to my webhost, it is still pointing to sedo and is still in my control panel at 123reg..

Something I'm missing?

Rich

[Acro]

I just now had the pleasure of conducting a domain sale with a company that has a high reputation in the industry, using Escrow.com - it took 5 hours from transaction initiation to "merchandise" acceptance; the funds were disbursed the next morning.

[laskos]

now thats how all domainers want to go well done on sale.

laskos

[Laird Mobi]

Have you changed the legal registrant details? Nominet are not that fast! To complete the transaction with ANY .uk domain you must change the legal ownership! You have to fill in a snail mail form and send it off! Maybe the transaction isn't fully completed yet?

[rawkinrich]

Yea done all that.. sent the letter to say that I give consent for the ownership to change etc etc, got paid from sedo so it must have gone through.. its nominet for being sh*te

Ah, good old english.

[SedoCoUk]

Hi Guys,

As you know I deal with the co.uk transfers, and believe me I do still have to work on them. We charge a fee which has to be applied across the whole field. Some co.uk transfers do get sorted out by the buyer and seller alone without my involvement but others require my involvement very often and when this process takes 3 to 6 weeks then I may have to get involved quite often. For some people the process is entirely alien, and so I have to lend a hand along the way. I have in the past had to help clients fill out forms, or check letters because they want to make sure everything is in order. I have also had to contact Nominet to see what is happening with a registration request, and in comparison to most other transfers there is still a fair amount of work involved. We cannot do anything about the £35 Nominet fee - which incidentally we tell the buyer to pay, so sellers cannot complain about that. Nominet have assured me that they are working towards an online process but that it will take some time and they have no timetable yet, but hopefully this will come along. The commission for other TLDs was altered to reflect the fact that the process is generally easier. As you can appreciate we cannot charge commission on the merit of a sale, there has to be a standardized rule, for all transfers of a TLD. Maybe in the future if transfers of .uk domains is simplified then this will go down, but at the moment the base rate has to stay, due to the time and effort that has to be put into to overseeing a transfer. For the forseeable future I do not see the base commission for .uk transfers coming down to the level of the premium TLDs.

Justin.