GreatDomains.com screwed me over

[TopNames.com]

I had made an offer of $4,000 yesterday on GreatDomains.com. I got an email today that another person offered $4,800. I called and spoke with GreatDomains.com today over the phone and "increased my offer to $5,300. The GreatDomains.com rep put me on hold and came back with "good news" after a few minutes...the seller "agreed" to accept my offer. They said they would send paperwork via email in a few minutes.

...a few minutes later

They called me and said that they had sold it earlier for $7,000. I asked how could the seller agree to my price of $5,300 when he already sold it for $7,000...the guy said he had no idea.

Here is my take...they called the other guy back and said I offered $5,300 and he went to $7,000. It seems GreatDomains ain't so great after all :

[RMF]

Bummer. I don't know what you could do about it though. Maybe ask in the legal issues forum?

What was the name? If you don't want to say, don't say it

I've never had any luck putting names on greatdomains. I guess all my names suck Its amazing to see so many bad .tv names on there though.

RMF

[Anthony Ng]

It seems GreatDomains ain't so great after all :

I'm not sure about the negotiation details, but from the seller's perspective, GreatDomains.com just did a very good job in getting the best price (and therefore higher commissions for themselves, of course).

Thanks for sharing this story. I am eagerly looking forward to the sales of one of my domain listed there.

[TopNames.com]

WOW, you approve of those business ethics? I must admit I am shocked. When I give someone my word, it's as good as a contract. A man is as only good as his word.

[Anthony Ng]

I've never had any luck putting names on greatdomains.

Yes, they are really picky in listing names now ... don't know much about their rationale as you have mentioned that they do have a lot of #$%^&* .tv's. LOL! I was lucky to have sold quite some domains BEFORE they metamorphosed into their current "premium" model. And they STILL are good at getting "corporate" end-users who are willing to spend.

By the way, I'm not sure about the negotiation details, that's why I have no comments or whatsover on their business ethics.

[GeorgeK]

That's awful, TopNames. Will you sue?

[TravelFastpitch]

Are we surprised? Aren't they run by Verisign?

[TopNames.com]

I would have expected a little bidding war...but once they said "we have a deal" and then said, opps...it crossed the line from good brokerage services to poor business practice.

No, I won't sue...no point really...however, I won't ever make an offer on the sellers domains again.

[TopNames.com]

I would have expected a little bidding war...but once they said "we have a deal" and then said, opps...it crossed the line from good brokerage services to poor business practice.

No, I won't sue...no point really...however, I won't ever make an offer on the sellers domains again.

[adoptabledomains]

Watch the whois and contact the new owner. See what their perspective was in the dealings.

[impactadmin]

Hi,

Business ethics were abused here, as a word is a word. However, the seller looks for the best price. If you can get 2000$ more than what some one else has offered, most would jump to the opportunity.

Remember, business is all that matters, making friends is not.

I do think they should have called you back TopNames.com, to see if you would continue to bid as you were involved. I do not agree with their decision on selling it without presenting you with the details and a chance to bid higher.

Impactadmin.

[TopNames.com]

I don't disagree the seller looks for the best price...but when you are told by the broker (GreatDomains in this instance) that you have a "done deal" and that the paperwork is being sent to you in a few minutes, the last thing you expect is to be told it's been sold to someone else.

It just smells of a backroom deal and really pool business ethics. It seemed to me that they were "open" to a higher bid...but there was no way I was increasing my offer.

[Nodnarb]

Watch the whois record and see if it really changes hands. *Maybe* it's a tactic to get your bid even higher...???

As far as business practices, a deal is a deal. A man should be as good as his word. If the seller accepted the offer, the negotiations are over. New offers should be directed to the new owner.

[TopNames.com]

That has actually happened to me here...I sold a high-end domain to a member and got a higher offer before payment was made. I forwarded the email to the new owner...but he does not sell domains.

Watch the whois record and see if it really changes hands. *Maybe* it's a tactic to get your bid even higher...???

As far as business practices, a deal is a deal. A man should be as good as his word. If the seller accepted the offer, the negotiations are over. New offers should be directed to the new owner.

[cyphix]

That really sucks for you TopNames... If I was you I would involve legal action, but that's really up to you.

Remember, business is all that matters, making friends is not.

What goes around comes around, when you do someone wrong, you never really will ever know just how much that decision may come back to hurt you.

[adoptabledomains]

May they get the $1700 in bad PR they paid for.

[Banned: register]

stay away from greatdomains !

[biggedon]

has anyone had any success selling name there?

recently got accepted,but have yet to send in contract.

[Banned: lopramine45]

why not greatdomains?

[mogtnomr]

I have noticed that they like to reject alot, which I think is a good thing. Thats the point of the site, get rid of the junk and keep only the best stuff.

But they seem to approve some crap, while rejecting other names which are arguably much better than other stuff they already have... I submitted "embodied.com" which I admittedly didnt figure would get accepted. And I was correct. But then I checked out their "recently added" list and they have "drooped.com" in there... sorry to say, but I dont think thats any "great domain", in fact, I argued that my embodied.com was way better the drooped.com.

I pointed out that if you google "drooped" you get only 71K results, and if you google "embodied", you get 1.1 million results. No comparison! I know thats only one way to look at it, but, they didnt bother explaining the rejection of embodied.com, nor the acceptance of drooped.com...

Anyways, many thanks for all the responses on this thread!