Deadbeat auctions on NameJet

[Raider]

Doesn't NameJet do what Pool does by closing their accounts?

The more of these deadbeats they get rid of, the more money we could be saving.

[Acro]

I am waiting to see the same username listed twice, that'd be an indication of unusual tolerance.

[Doc Com]

Where is NameJet and what are their responses to this?

I am looking at post 59 and 60 and I'm beginning to wonder if this is bid schilling.

This is getting ridiculous.

The whole auction schemes and set ups are bringing a large part of this industry down.

[Acro]

Originally Posted by Doc Com

... I'm beginning to wonder if this is bid schilling.

Freudian slip? Frank has nothing to do with that, although we love to hate his winnings You meant "shilling" LOL

[TheLegendaryJP]

Originally Posted by Acro

Freudian slip? Frank has nothing to do with that, although we love to hate his winnings You meant "shilling" LOL

lol I read the same thing.

Poor Frank, loses millions a year by getting bumped. Wish that was an exaggeration but its simple math and very true. You'd think he could afford a new whois or 10

[Devil Dog]

Originally Posted by Acro

Freudian slip? Frank has nothing to do with that, although we love to hate his winnings You meant "shilling" LOL

Yeah, I think he meant shill bids. But I am glad that you have made this thread. I've seen some serious shenanigans going over at namejet since their inception and it's made me wonder wth is going on over there,.

[Doc Com]

Originally Posted by Acro

Freudian slip? Frank has nothing to do with that, although we love to hate his winnings You meant "shilling" LOL

Jeez, what eyes you all have.

I guess there has been so much news regarding FS.

Sure, he might as well fix all the bids seeing he could buy the auction.

Originally Posted by Devil Dog

it's made me wonder wth is going on over there,.

Agree...I am finding myself more and more discounting the traditional domain name selling formats.

I am very concerned as both bidder and seller.

As a bidder, I want to know that I am bidding against someone who is genuinely bidding against me, not to just run the price up.

As a seller, I want assurances that when the auction closes the auction transaction will be completed.

For Feb. '09, I had three sales on Sedo. First one the winner backed out and sedo totally erased the bids and auction, all in less than 24 hours. The next two auctions - I have not heard a thing since the auction's close and that initial congrats email.

I have bid in and won I think perhaps 2 or three on namejet since the beginning of the year.

When you see a thread like this you want to go back and view your own auctions and see if there was any hanky panky going on.

[Acro]

Doc, we need garage sale gatherings of domainers, complete with BBQ, beer and car racing/football/sports on TV I mean, stuff like this at NameJet take the fun out of domaining.

[Doc Com]

Originally Posted by Acro

Doc, we need garage sale gatherings of domainers, complete with BBQ, beer and car racing/football/sports on TV I mean, stuff like this at NameJet take the fun out of domaining.

What a great idea.

An ideal way of getting rid of the drunk regs.

Throw a party, get everyone drunk, and get them to buy my drunk regs!

Acro, you are a class act!

[actnow]

Most of the bidders on Namejet are legit.

These are some of the major bidders. And, you probably know them or know of these people.

Demand, Hiphop, taryn, newyorker, kabonga, wb123, slowroller, namegeek, vaxis, bentfranklin, newgroup, malakas, internet, cuamod, pageagain, milkduds, identity.
(I'm sure they don't appreciate me posting this.)

There are plenty more.

I believe when a bidder defaults he is billed $ 10 ( or $ 20) for payment failure.

And, I'm sure someone at Namejet is monitoring continous payment failure.

As much as I would like to pick on Namejet, I'm sure they don't want to develop
a reputation of shill or fraudulent bidding.

I think it is great that Acro is monitoring this and publishing his findings.

Acro, please keep us posted.

[Acro]

Act, I want to apologize for talking down on you in this thread earlier on. My goal is to document the various mischievous bids at NameJet by recording the pattern bids of bidders who fail to make payment. Thank you for including my nick in the "major bidders" list LOL I am sure those who have bid "against" me know who I am

[actnow]

Originally Posted by Acro

Act, I want to apologize for talking down on you in this thread earlier on. My goal is to document the various mischievous bids at NameJet by recording the pattern bids of bidders who fail to make payment.

Acro, I was not upset. I totally understood your frustration.

The problem Namejet has is the same problem we have on this forum.

Many people join Namejet (and DNF). They look legit.
But, occasionally a few bad apples show up and cause havoc.

However, here (and hopefully on Namejet) a few of the "pro's" spot the bad guys
and let the management know. That is why what Acro is doing is important.

The same "pro's" also let Snapnames know when a questionable bidder is around.

I'm sure the top guy at Namejet/Enom has recently visited this thread.

I know his pattern of visiting the forums, checking out what people are saying about his company.

[Raider]

Originally Posted by Acro

I am sure those who have bid "against" me know who I am

The relentless one.

[Vinnee]

checking my lost auction results...came in second several times this weekend.

[HLK]

Originally Posted by Acro

Here's another "gem" of a deadbeat bidder on NameJet:

domain: safely.com
winner: homer
price: $4,000
date: 1/21/2009

The domain is back on auction and - you guessed it - bidder #2 is now the top bidder.

Looks like "homer" has struck again: bargainhunt.com
Feb. 5, 2009 1:18 PM PT
Winning Bid: US $7,600

Domain back on auction again.

Iv'e gone back in my records and found another two names he won and never paid for.
They are still showing pending delete after being on auction weeks ago:

designbuzz.com Jan. 4, 2009 11:00 AM PT
promoboard.com Jan. 29, 2009 11:00 AM PT

He also won and looks like paid for sportshighlights.com which is now for sale on SEDO.

[EJS]

If the only entity losing out is Namejet (since they aren't fully offering public domain sales yet), why does anyone else worry about this? Wouldn't it be a good thing for the second highest bidder to get the name at the price he bid?

If NJ isn't worried enough to change the rules and use a binding contract (or choose to enforce it), why does anyone care? I hate non-paying bidders when my names are purchased and not bought, but this doesn't seem to impact anyone but namejet.

Also, the difference between NJ and SN is that SN has a private seller program, so a buyer who backs out isn't just screwing SN out of a commission. It's also impacting a private seller, which opens the door for an impact on many domain investors who might sell with SN.

[TheLegendaryJP]

Originally Posted by EJS

If the only entity losing out is Namejet (since they aren't fully offering public domain sales yet), why does anyone else worry about this? Wouldn't it be a good thing for the second highest bidder to get the name at the price he bid?

If NJ isn't worried enough to change the rules and use a binding contract (or choose to enforce it), why does anyone care? I hate non-paying bidders when my names are purchased and not bought, but this doesn't seem to impact anyone but namejet.

I agree with you Elliot, I believe the issue lies in how common it is for certain members to win and then not pay. I believe as long as there is no REAL transparencyn in these auctions ( sedo, snap, nj, etc ) there is always the likely possibility of shill bidding... and THAT is in favor of the auction company. Not to mention how it forces serious investors to constantly pay much higher than the actual market values. Admittedly the demand and price paid for most of these drops is beyond the TRUE reseller market, there are many reasons for this I will not get into, non of them good.

[actnow]

Namejet sometimes makes less when it goes to public auction.
And, sometimes makes as much or more.

I would guess they make more overall.

Here are some examples going both ways.
I could also list where the buyer paid thousands more but I don't want to upset them.


4zi.com Public $306 1/25/2009
4zi.com Private $206 1/15/2009

5502.com Public $1,000 1/25/2009
5502.com Private $755 1/1/2009

pacificloans.com Public $360 1/8/2009
pacificloans.com Private $300 12/29/2008

trainingschool.com Public $1,600 2/9/2009
trainingschool.com Private $1,500 1/25/2009

zxz.net Public $1,210 1/29/2009
zxz.net Private $661 1/21/2009


breastscancertreatment.com Public $69 12/19/2008
breastscancertreatment.com Private $1,400 12/9/2008

c-mg.com Public $69 12/29/2008
c-mg.com Private $200 12/19/2008

flashpen.com Public $615 1/7/2009
flashpen.com Private $810 12/28/2008

myspaceenhanced.com Public $69 1/17/2009
myspaceenhanced.com Private $250 1/7/2009

yoddle.com Public $652 2/7/2009
yoddle.com Private $670 1/28/2009


flashexpress.com Public $159 1/13/2009
flashexpress.com Private $159 1/1/2009

slacker.info Public $174 1/13/2009
slacker.info Private $174 1/4/2009

I speculate only a small percentage (under 2-3%) default.

I did not check to see if the second bidder paid.
For example, as of last week zxz.net was still pending.

[Doc Com]

Originally Posted by EJS

If the only entity losing out is Namejet (since they aren't fully offering public domain sales yet), why does anyone else worry about this? Wouldn't it be a good thing for the second highest bidder to get the name at the price he bid?

This does impact every one who is bidding.

It is not as cut and dry as just NameJet losing out here.

A fallback to the second bidder could potentially cost that second place person thousands of dollars in bogus bids = bogus bucks.


If the winning bidder has entered 8 different bids on one auction and then backs out, all of his/her bids needs to be totally backed out of the equation.

I win an auction for $10,000 and you were second for $9,900.

I started bidding at the $5000 mark.

When we hit $8000, from that point on it was you and me, mano a mano, slugging it out.

I am a plant, a shill bidder, or just a bogus entity.

I don't pay, never intended to pay, and I was nothing more than someone running up the bids.

You are notified that you won for $9,900.

You are excited to have the coveted name.

But look back at the bidding sequence.

If I am totally bogus, you actually won the name at $8000.

Because at that point, all other bidders were bested by you.

And if my winning bid does not count and is erased then ALL of my bids are erased.

It goes back to the point were it became one-on-one because you outbid all the legitimate bidders up to that point.

Award you the domain at $9900.00 just cost you $1900 above and beyond what you should have paid and made an additional commission based on NameJets structure.

In this case, it is a WIN-WIN for NameJet and a WIN-LOSE for Elliot.

So no, this does not just impact NameJet and yes, domainers should be concerned if this is going on.

If you look at the bidding history of the specific auction and note where that winner was battling it out head-to-head then that is the starting point and the ending point of the auction.

All the other bidders involved are a non-factor as the assumption is you would have beat them.

If other legit bidders were involved from that 5000 point up to 8000, then even if the bogus bidder's bids are erased, you still would have beaten the legit bidders in a head-to-head case.

Is this troublesome for the auctioneer?

No.

It will just take time to handcheck the bids.

This is the fair and equitable way of handling something like this.

No re-auction.

The only time a bid should be awarded to the next highest bidder is if the $10,000 bid was the one and only bid placed by that bogus bidder.

Then yes, you win at $9,900.

In this scenario, I am the victim of a sale of a domain at Sedo.

The winning bidder placed a bid (his/her one and only) with less than 6 hours remaining in a 7 day auction.

In perhaps the fasted anyone at Sedo has ever moved, the winning bidder contacted sedo to inform them a mistake was made and sedo canceled the auction and all the bids.

All of this in less than 24 hours.

No re-auction or anything.

Just a Dear Seller letter.

[HLK]

Great post Doc Com.