Bad experience with DomainHoldings - Anyone else deal with them before?

[Bill F.]

I perfectly understand going to sleep once a verbal agreement is reached, especially at 4am. Imagine working on a deal over a couple days, with all the adrenaline involved, and finally concluding it and coming to agreement at 4am. Then the guy says he'll send the paperwork. Maybe I have a breakfast appointment in a few hours. I would get some sleep, unless he clearly said the deal is non-binding until the paperwork is signed. Then I would suffer another couple hours.

The questions is whether Domain Holdings made clear that it was non-binding. My first questions to William would be this: Are you sure they did not tell you it was non-binding? Or maybe they told you, but it was poorly communicated (there is a slight language barrier)?

It's fine to give yourself an out to a verbal agreement, I do all the time - especially after a night of drinking. ("I'll just have to clear it with my accountant/boss/wife/partner") The question is, did Domain Holdings have such an out? William hasn't clearly said that they didn't. If the entire negotiation took place by chat, then it should be easily resolved by posting the conversation before the deal went south. If some of it took place by phone, then it's more difficult.

[Dale Hubbard]

There can't be any conclusion drawn until the exchange that took place BEFORE the OP's kip is posted here. All else is pure speculation.

[Theo]

Please post the part of the conversation that says:

"Sleep tight, William, no worries about the paperwork. Please have some milk before your head touches that fluffy pillow. I hope you are holding your teddy bear through the night, while we stay awake holding these domains for you. In the am, make sure you have a nice cup of tea and a hearty slice of bread with fig jam. Then enjoy your shower with orange blossom shampoo and put on your best clothes for the day. Then call us to finalize the contract, because we will be waiting for you."

[TopDomainDeal]

Nobody does business like ana today!
Given word is nothing!

[Domonetise]

Nothing you've just posted would indicate that the broker isn't acting in good faith. You need to post the exchanges THREE HOURS prior to the above, if you think you have a case to make. What was said BEFORE you went to sleep?

There can't be any conclusion drawn until the exchange that took place BEFORE the OP's kip is posted here. All else is pure speculation.

This would be helpful!

[Melly]

While it sucks to lose out on the domain you should have signed the paperwork especially since it was in hand. Without an agreement on DH's part to hold the domain until the paperwork has been received then they really did nothing that many other domainers or companies wouldn't have done in their situation. However, with that being said they should have at least contacted you to find out if you were proceeding or not.

From what I am reading this all took place over the period of a few hours? You stayed up until 4:00 am and slept a few hours and then awoke to find out that the domain was sold to another party? I would feel frustrated in your shoes if this was the case but then again I have lost out on great deals due to procrastination. Next time if the agreement has been made and papers are in hand take the extra 30 minutes and sign them.

[DomainsInc]

sounds like you just saved 300k.

[strongvis]

I am not a lawyer and I am not speaking of DH specifically here,  but I've been on both sides of the fence with this sort of thing.  
I've had a deal yanked away from me before and I had the opportunity where I was being asked to yank a deal away.  

In the selling position, I chose to do what is legally right and honor the agreement that I had agreed to even after receiving a higher offer. Maybe I could have spiked the original deal and told the guy that I needed him to send me a signed agreement, stand on his head for 45 minutes, sail across the Atlantic or whatever, before our deal was official.  I don't believe that any post negotiation "requirements" really matter unless I make it clear when I agree the first time  . . I agreed to sell it and could have said "This deal expires in 24 hours" or "This deal requires you to stand on your head or we can't complete it" or "payment must be received within 48 hrs" etc.  I think in a deal of this size a broker needs to be very clear of the terms.

When I've had a name stripped from me the only recourse was to go after the seller and/or the buyer legally and I've never been in a situation where a name meant that much to me to go through that hassle. That may be what it comes down to.  Maybe some people figure that it isn't worth the effort but I have seen cases where enforcement on a contract was pushed.  See the lawsuit with women.com for an example where sedo was drug in to the dispute.

Why did I mention going after the buyer ?   Well, if you are a buyer and you convince someone to sell a domain to you KNOWING that they have an agreement to sell to someone else for a higher amount and you are saying something like "I know you made a deal with them for $10k but I'll give you $15k", you are doing something illegal.  It's called tortious interference.    

If a broker says yes to the offer, I'd think they'd have had to get clearance on that which means there's a whole trail of "approvals" necessary for them to say yes to you.  I'm not sure if a brokers participation in usurping a verbal/written/emailed agreement, ie "We were just doing what the seller told us to do" would put them in a position to be in a legal trouble or not.  

It's been said many times here before though.  An agreement is an agreement, verbal, email written, paper, sign language, morse code, etc.
I don't know if you are in the right or wrong as the whole story isn't laid out here, but is it worth the effort ?

2cents