Preordered domain hijacked by registrar!

[davids]

I preordered a .mobi domain and it was registered by the registrar I preordered through, although they used a different name. I had to pay thousands instead of the $79.98 I signed up for. Does this happen all the time? If so, we ought to bring a classs action suit!

[DNWizardX9]

what exactly did you pay for

[davids]

Us$7000.00!

[TheLegendaryJP]

Ok Ill try to get us to the point.

1. Which registrar ?
2. What name ( if you dont mind ) ?
3. When did you pre order ?
4. Why and How did you pay $7000 ?

Explain the above and we MAY be able to help.


Btw nice name ( scene.com ) .

[davids]

Ok Ill try to get us to the point.

1. Which registrar ?
Dotster, DBA RevenueDirect.com

2. What name ( if you dont mind ) ?
scene.mobi

3. When did you pre order ?
05/31/06

4. Why and How did you pay $7000 ?
I have big plans for scene.com and scene.mobi, I felt if I didn't get the domain right away it could become more expensive if not impossible to acquire later on. I paid using Paypal...

Explain the above and we MAY be able to help.
Btw nice name ( scene.com ) .

Thanks!

[TheLegendaryJP]

The whois info still shows you David, do you still have access to the name ?

Whois Record
Domain ID109610-MOBI
Domain Name:SCENE.MOBI
Created On:26-Sep-2006 14:02:24 UTC
Last Updated On:21-Dec-2006 10:58:32 UTC
Expiration Date:26-Sep-2008 14:02:24 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:Alldomains LLC (144)
Created by Registrar:Alldomains LLC (144)
Last Updated by Registrar:Alldomains LLC (144)
Status:OK
Maintainer URL:http://afilias.info
Registrant IDOT-W3XPX3EWF05D
Registrant Nameavid Schanen
Registrant Organization:Interactive Communications
Registrant Street1:1916 Pike Place #69
Registrant City:Seattle
Registrant State/Province:WA
Registrant Postal Code:98101
Registrant Country:US
Registrant Phone:+1.2069696969
Registrant FAX:+1.2067282172
Registrant Email:

[EJS]

JP - I think he said he paid $7k for the name which is why the Whois is shows his info. I believe he is saying he pre-ordered it and the other company grabbed it and put it up for sale for $7k. Davids felt he needed to buy it for $7k or lose out. Am I correct?

[TheLegendaryJP]

JP - I think he said he paid $7k for the name which is why the Whois is shows his info. I believe he is saying he pre-ordered it and the other company grabbed it and put it up for sale for $7k. Davids felt he needed to buy it for $7k or lose out. Am I correct?

Oh I see now. Well in that case, the real legal complaint needed to happen immediately after they registered it, not after he pays them $7K for it. Especially $7K for that domain, he had time, alot of time to battle it out.

[Varchar]

Did you win it through any auction system after your registrar captured the domain? Very often if more than one party is interested in the name, it could bid up very high. The person who benefits from it is of course the registrar...

[davids]

Oh I see now. Well in that case, the real legal complaint needed to happen immediately after they registered it, not after he pays them $7K for it. Especially $7K for that domain, he had time, alot of time to battle it out.

I did not have a lot of time and I did not have a lot of money. I had to borrow to get the cash to make that purchase, and it would of cost a lot more to fight it.

If you don't think I can do anything about it, oh well. But be aware of what these guys are capable of and watch your back. I'll probably end up settling for small claims.

Did you win it through any auction system after your registrar captured the domain? Very often if more than one party is interested in the name, it could bid up very high. The person who benefits from it is of course the registrar...

You guys talk about this situation as if it is standard procedure. This is highly unethical, if not illegal. The company told me I could get the domain for $80. Then they registered it instead (I didn't have a chance) and they jacked me up for as much as they could get out of me!

If this happens all the time, I don't know why there aren'y major class action suits around it...

[TheLegendaryJP]

So it was through an auction or purchased directly from them ? If it wasnt an auction and you bought directly from them you did the wrong thing imo. That is when I would have called a domain lawyer, not bought it.

As for legal action now. Thats up to you but to even get a small claims case against them to stick, I dunno bro. Best of luck.

[jberryhill]

it was registered by the registrar I preordered through, although they used a different name.

I'm not sure I follow that. You can't "fake" the registrar responsible for a domain. Noting that the domain name is presently registered through alldomains.com, I'm curious when it was moved from Dotster to Alldomains.

[italiandragon]

I hardly can imagine scene.mobi going for 7k if you were buying it from someone else......maybe with 1k you would have got it.....I`m looking at the past .mobi sales and scene.mobi does not worth more than cafe.mobi, does it ?

[davids]

I'm not sure I follow that. You can't "fake" the registrar responsible for a domain. Noting that the domain name is presently registered through alldomains.com, I'm curious when it was moved from Dotster to Alldomains.

That's a good point. It appears that Dotster (dba RevenueDirect) used alldomains as the registrar, knowing that they had a faster process than Dotster. I don't believe there is yet a process for .mobi registrar transfers.

[getschoolhelp]

speaking of .mobi ' who sells those?

[Dave Zan]

Kindly give a specific sequence of events, just like your other thread.

[jdk]

From what it sounds he preordered a domain. Someone else preordered the same domain and ended up getting it first. What happened between the time you preordered the name and you paying $7k for it. There is a gap in your posting. If it was someone else that preordered the name and sold it to you, I do not see a problem. Just because you preorder a name doesn't guarantee the name.

[jberryhill]

Someone else preordered the same domain and ended up getting it first.

I still don't know what he claims to have happened here, but I think you are getting close. It looks as if he is claiming he pre-ordered through Dotster, and blaming Dotster for the fact that it was registered through some other registrar.

He's already not making sense right out of the box:

I preordered a .mobi domain and it was registered by the registrar I preordered through, although they used a different name

They "used a different name" or they were a different party and you suspect it was them using a different name? Because as the situation appears at the moment, the domain name was registered through a different registrar entirely.

It appears that Dotster (dba RevenueDirect) used alldomains as the registrar, knowing that they had a faster process than Dotster.

Not really. So far it looks like you may not understand what happened. What was this "different name" that Dotster was using?

[actnow]

I don't believe there is a 60 day wait period to transfer a .mobi like other tlds.

[Dave Zan]

Hmm, the OP hasn't provided more details (e.g. sequence of events). There's
a similar complaint in another forum with more, but I'd rather let the OP post it
here if they're one and the same.