Sedo Charges to Keep Sales Private

**EJS** · 02-23-2010, 02:41 PM

Did you know that sedo charges an additional 2.5% commission to keep a sale from being publicly disclosed? It's easy enough to ask Ron Jackson not to report it on DN Journal, but other sites archive the sales as well.

http://www.elliotsblog.com/privacy-a...s-it-free-3710

**mvl** · 02-23-2010, 03:00 PM

I have requested sedo to keep sales undisclosed at several occasions, and they did so at no extra charge. Transfer agents can check the "don't publish" option for a transaction with a mouseclick.

I have never used sedo as an Escrow service for a deal closed that was closed in private, but I think if it ever happens and they want to publish it as a Sedo deal, Sedo should pay the buyer and seller a commission and not the other way around. You can't take all the credits for a deal that was closed outside your marketplace.

**PRED** · 02-23-2010, 05:51 PM

Originally Posted by mvl

I have requested sedo to keep sales undisclosed at several occasions, and they did so at no extra charge. Transfer agents can check the "don't publish" option for a transaction with a mouseclick.

I have never used sedo as an Escrow service for a deal closed that was closed in private, but I think if it ever happens and they want to publish it as a Sedo deal, Sedo should pay the buyer and seller a commission and not the other way around. You can't take all the credits for a deal that was closed outside your marketplace.

totally agree
never paid a penny and almost never disclose sales
havent seen link but not sure what problem is, go into cp panel and there was an option for it, or ask broker not to disclose sales
if sedo want to be a twat and charge for not disclosing use moniker escrow, far better anyway

sedo shutting on weekends is farcical, company their size and a major online business, in actuality its like having a 4 day week, deals can take weeks instead of days

god knows when sedo will join the rest of the world who work more than 9-5 and mon - fri

**Gerry** · 02-23-2010, 06:08 PM

Originally Posted by PRED

totally agree

Your thong is giving me a woody

**Acro** · 02-24-2010, 07:02 PM

I can't think of a reason not to report a sale that did not occur via a direct, private transaction - in which case it's essentially an NDA.

**mjnels** · 02-24-2010, 08:21 PM

Originally Posted by Acro

I can't think of a reason not to report a sale that did not occur via a direct, private transaction - in which case it's essentially an NDA.

i can think of one. a lot of times people arnt just going to wire some random person money, especially for large amounts... they may want to deal with some type of escrow service like sedo offers but still want the price paid to remain private.

**Acro** · 02-24-2010, 08:27 PM

But that's a crafted reason. Any transaction that involves privacy between two parties, a buyer and a seller, follows the channels that ensure that said privacy is observed. By default, sedo is not a private platform to sell domains. One cannot rely on whether there were eyeballs on an auction link or not. I think the argument here appears to be the 2.5% fee to keep a transaction under wrap.

**mjnels** · 02-24-2010, 09:29 PM

its kinda stupid for sedo to even have a policy to charge any more of a percentage to keep the sale private even if it isnt used in practice most the time...they should do this simply as a courtesy for their customers.. sedo may not be a private platform but its as mainstream as you're gonna get when talking about domain selling platforms and that matters to companies wondering if the seller is just gonna take their money and run... they may still want it private, but i'd imagine they dont wanna risk sending money to some random person as well.

**EJS** · 02-24-2010, 11:10 PM

Originally Posted by Acro

I think the argument here appears to be the 2.5% fee to keep a transaction under wrap.

One argument is that sedo charges a fee, as you said. The primary problem for me (since I've never been charged) is that Moniker and sedo report sales when you simply used them for escrow and didn't know better to ask them not to report those sales. It's a mistake you only make once, but annoying none the less.

**Acro** · 02-24-2010, 11:22 PM

So essentially you blogged about a non-problem (since you've never been charged).

**EJS** · 02-24-2010, 11:46 PM

Originally Posted by Acro

So essentially you blogged about a non-problem (since you've never been charged).

I blogged about a problem a friend had with sedo. Just because it hasn't impacted me yet doesn't mean I don't think it's an issue. There are a whole lot of things I blog about that don't necessarily impact me now. Perhaps they will in the future, and perhaps they won't.

**Acro** · 02-24-2010, 11:55 PM

Personally, I think it's much ado about nothing. When one uses a public medium such as sedo (or an auction platform, e.g. BuyDomains, Snapnames, DomainFest/TRAFFIC etc) then the expectations of real privacy are ludicrous. To engage in a private exchange, use the legal services of an attorney and their escrow bank account.

**Onward** · 02-25-2010, 12:08 AM

As an FYI, I was recently apart of the buying end of an escrow with Moniker that was not reported anywhere...we only used Moniker for the escrow and they had nothing to do with the sale otherwise - I actually forgot to ask them not to report it...but was pleasantly surprised that they did not end up reporting it anyway.

**Acro** · 02-25-2010, 12:11 AM

Correct, Moniker does not report private/escrow transactions that are not part of a domainer event.

**EJS** · 02-25-2010, 12:12 AM

Originally Posted by Acro

Personally, I think it's much ado about nothing. When one uses a public medium such as sedo (or an auction platform, e.g. BuyDomains, Snapnames, DomainFest/TRAFFIC etc) then the expectations of real privacy are ludicrous. To engage in a private exchange, use the legal services of an attorney and their escrow bank account.

You are certainly entitled to your opinion. I don't happen to think escrow services have any right to report (and take credit for) private sales in which they are only performing the escrow service.

IMO, it's silly to use an attorney for most domain-only transactions where the only thing that is needed is a standard agreement and escrow service. It takes more time than necessary and can cost more than an escrow service.

**Acro** · 02-25-2010, 12:16 AM

Well, think of it this way. sedo is not your average escrow service, for this use Escrow.com
sedo is a multi-purpose platform that monetizes domain traffic and offers selling, buying and brokering services. Part of their success in terms of volume and financial numbers is the fact that they do disclose what gets sold for how much. They have some strong PR in that sense.
As far as calling the function of an attorney that handles a contract and the money exchanged "silly", it appears to me that you haven't had any transactions of size. The cost involved has nothing to do with the amount exchanged and can actually cost less - and be more secure - than escrow.

**Luc** · 02-25-2010, 12:20 AM

With every reported domain sale in the xxx+ range, the perceived value of domains goes UP because a potential buyer has more to reference from and because a particular domain is not likely to sell for less in the future. Especially on sedo, where most of the buyers are end users.

Therefore, a sale being reported is good for EVERYONE in the industry.

Imagine if there was no reporting of home sales in your area... How would you know the starting price when making an offer if you don't know what anyone in that neighborhood bought or sold their house for?

**EJS** · 02-25-2010, 12:34 AM

Originally Posted by Acro

Well, think of it this way. sedo is not your average escrow service, for this use Escrow.com
sedo is a multi-purpose platform that monetizes domain traffic and offers selling, buying and brokering services. Part of their success in terms of volume and financial numbers is the fact that they do disclose what gets sold for how much. They have some strong PR in that sense.

The time Sedo reported my sale (Mortgaged.com was the name) I only used them because the buyer had funds sitting there and requested it. They just handled the escrow, and I think the deal was actually done on DNF.

Originally Posted by Acro

As far as calling the function of an attorney that handles a contract and the money exchanged "silly", it appears to me that you haven't had any transactions of size. The cost involved has nothing to do with the amount exchanged and can actually cost less - and be more secure - than escrow.

LOL... your assumption would be wrong.

I have used attorneys for *large* transactions before, but I am speaking about the average transaction, which simply requires an escrow service (or no intermediary at all). For these transactions, it's "silly" (my word) to call my attorney when using Escrow.com will cost less than 1 hour of his time, and it will take 1/4 of the time.

For the sake of argument, a $25,000 transaction at Escrow.com costs somewhere around $220, and my attorney charges well in excess of that for one hour of his time.

---------- Post added at 12:34 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:28 AM ----------

Originally Posted by Luc

With every reported domain sale in the xxx+ range, the perceived value of domains goes UP because a potential buyer has more to reference from and because a particular domain is not likely to sell for less in the future. Especially on sedo, where most of the buyers are end users.

Therefore, a sale being reported is good for EVERYONE in the industry.

Imagine if there was no reporting of home sales in your area... How would you know the starting price when making an offer if you don't know what anyone in that neighborhood bought or sold their house for?

Sure, it may be good for the industry, but if my neighbor doesn't realize his apartment is worth $1.85m and I am able to buy it from him for $1m and then re-sell it for the market value, it would be very good for me.

I have a pretty reasonable gut feel for the market, and that's where I am able to make deals happen. If everyone knew the "real" value of their domain names, it would be much harder to flip names profitably.

===
I am sure Acro is going to want the last word, but I am headed to bed now, so good night.

**Acro** · 02-25-2010, 12:39 AM

Yawn.

**Luc** · 02-25-2010, 12:39 AM

Originally Posted by EJS

I have a pretty reasonable gut feel for the market, and that's where I am able to make deals happen. If everyone knew the "real" value of their domain names, it would be much harder to flip names profitably.

Your gut feel is based on deals you've seen happen. Your asking price, your offers, are all based on not your sales alone, but on industry trends. Industry trends are a result of sales being reported.

Despite the shady nature of our industry, some transparency does exist.

You wouldn't know your friends house is worth $1.8m by guessing a random number between $1 and $1000m. You arrive at that figure by studying similar sales.

...

BTW, I think this is a very bad business practice by sedo and I definitely do not support it. I just wanted to voice my opinion on the publicizing of sales in general.