Auction gripe: DomainSage

**lux** · 01-13-2003, 02:41 AM

I'm not normally a complainer. I try to avoid calling people out. I try to keep my business to myself.

But I am pissed.

As you can see on the auction results page, tonight I won a domain name from DomainSage for $1. But he's not willing to sell it for that much.

During the auction, DomainSage said the starting price was supposed to be $20 and then left the chat. My $1 bid won.

Later, I PM'd him to get the transaction rolling and this is what followed:

DomainSage wrote:
Yes, please send the $75 to *****@******.com through Paypal. Thanks.

gourd wrote:
$75?! It was $1.

DomainSage wrote:
$1? Greg made a mistake. I posted it at $75.

gourd wrote:
The list has been up since Friday with the starting prices listed. You had ample time to change your opening bid. And besides, even after the auction ended in the chat you said that it was a mistake, that your opening bid was $20 - and then you left. Now you're changing it to $75? What's the deal?

DomainSage wrote:
I didn't need to change it. The first time I put it on the list, I put it at $75 for the starting bid. I don't know why it started at zero. There must've been a mistake, because my names were one of the first on the list and when auction time came they ended up at the end. If you are interested in buying it, I can make a deal for you at $50.

$50!? What a deal! Especially considering the $20 mention in the chat.

I told him if he did not make good on his deal, I would post of my experience with him on the board and this was his response:

Please complain to gregr and tell him my story of how I posted it at $75 and how it became zero. Maybe then he can e-mail me and explain to me what went wrong. Anyways, I'm a generous person and I can make you a deal at $50 instead of $75. If you would like to deal, let me know, if not then sorry do not waste my time.

God forbid I waste his time. Hell, I would be long in bed by now if it wasn't for his bullsh*t. Quite a few users had auctions end for $1. I'm sure that's a lot less than they'd hoped for, but they were men enough to bite the bullet and sell anyway. It's all in good fun.

I apologize for the tirade, but I needed to get that out. Please be wary if you deal with this guy... I'm not even going to go into what else he tried to pull during the auction. But anyone else feel free to do so.

Cynthia, hater of all spoil sports :razz:

**.com.net.org** · 01-13-2003, 06:16 AM

another ferdz ?
DomainSage : please explain this thing.

**system0** · 01-13-2003, 06:35 AM

maybe we should wait and here domainsage's side of the story before anything like that - its only fair

**system0** · 01-13-2003, 06:55 AM

im not taking sides
it does look as if DomainSage has ripped gourd off and maybe he has - and if he has id agree that he should be punished in some way because it could have been me that had been stung

i still think we should let him explain himself - im sure there were loads of members in the auction that witnessed it so its not as if he can lie about it

**StockDoctor** · 01-13-2003, 07:07 AM

By how he acted in the auction last night, I'd put domainsage at about 9. Wasn't he the same guy who put the shill bid in on another auction and was caught? I agree with Fonze though, that we should give him the day to explain himself. Then we'll kill him!

**DomainPairs** · 01-13-2003, 07:53 AM

What sort of domains were going for a dollar? Can I leave a proxy bid for the next auction?

When I try to log in I just get a blank screen and it looks as if it is all private although it say have entered. Is there a history file I can look at?

**Fearless** · 01-13-2003, 07:56 AM

Originally posted by NameGuy
Something else happened around DomainSage during the auction which I'm sure we are all aware of and will be sorted out separately.

First of all I didn't know it was possible to enter 0 for the starting bid until I pasted the listing. After seeing the 0, my thoughts were that this was one way to make sure your name sells. Someone would surely bid 0.

The something else NameGuy refers to is much more troubling.
For those that didn't attend last nights auction here is a section of the transcript that NameGuy refers to.

gregr: URL.NET is being sold by url.net. Starting price is $8,000.00. Description: url.net
Point8T entered the room.
url_net: here
gregr: ok
Point8T has left the room.
gregr: go
ferdz: wow
DomainSage: 8000
jimi_the_saint: !!!!
E_Promote: price is too low
ferdz: nice
Shiftlock: Jeez... nice!
johnnygjr: Phew...nice job.
gregr: Is that a shill?
AMERICAR: wot
Whois_Search: domainsage ?
winfreecash: binding bet or we all blackball him
DomainSage: a what?
smirkley has left the room.
adill420 has left the room.
scottatmu: test
wiwineguy: yes I am with u Winm!
TopNames_com: Sage, you bid 8000?
DomainSage: yes
izoot: shill...fake bid to get auction going
stocdoctor: test
DomainSage: no this is a real bid
TopNames_com: wow, nice
wiwineguy: good
gourd: good deal
gregr: mvpbaseball.com is being sold by Dan. Starting price is $50.00. Description: Registered via RegisterFly.com
butterbean: geeze
izoot: very nice
Dingo entered the room.
TopNames_com: new found respect for you
RMF entered the room.
gregr: here?
wiwineguy: I bow to you!
LewR entered the room.
Point8T entered the room.
gregr: namegetter.com is being sold by rrand. Starting price is $100.00. Description: Perfect domain for people who buy and sell domain names or would like to start a service for people who want a certain t
rrand: here
gregr: go
interbuy has left the room.
cell has left the room.
biggedon: test
gregr: aisociety.com is being sold by rrand. Starting price is $1.00. Description: Artificial Intelligence Society
gregr: go
url_net has left the room.
dictionaryof: 1 dollar
RMF has left the room.
Whois_Search: the whois on url.net and whoisdatabase.com almost match was a shill
Syd entered the room.
dictionaryof: figures.
TopNames_com: lol
gregr: adultpage.info is being sold by mmmhome. Starting price is $50.00. Description: info / biz/de/com/net /org/ws/co.uk/nu are taken
gregr: here?
LewR: Must be napping
gregr: CHEAP-TICKET.NET is being sold by mmmhome. Starting price is $200.00. Description: 334843 overture hitsinfo/biz/de/com/org/co.uk are taken
gregr: handshandy.com is being sold by jimi_the_saint. Starting price is $32.00. Description: Hand Shandy.comHands Handy.comHandshandy is a British colloquialism for jerking off.
Syd has been warned by server
gregr: go
jimi_the_saint: << HERE: Anyone out there fancy a Handshandy?? he he (USA prob dont understand this British term)
biggedon has left the room.
jimi_the_saint: i guess no
smirkley entered the room.
DNbuy: Canadian. Shandy is part beer part pop.
gregr: dubnet.com is being sold by jimi_the_saint. Starting price is $399.00. Description: A lovely domain name with lots of potential.
tinnitus has left the room.
gregr: go
DomainSage: wow there is a long list till my name
avs162 entered the room.
stocdoctor: test
jimi_the_saint: six trillion dollars
_com_net_org has left the room.
gregr: Shut up DomainSage
LewR: lol
Franky has left the room.
gregr: kpb.net is being sold by jh3. Starting price is $70.00. Description: 3 letter .net domain name
TopNames_com: Sage the whois matyches on your bids
DomainSage: the whois on what?
DNbuy: I am sure "be quiet" would suffice.
gregr: Might have known that idiot would taint this auction
Whois_Search: whoisdatabase.com and url.net
dictionaryof: shutup DNbuy
LewR:
doberry: 70
DNbuy:
DomainSage: lol, how does the whois match?
_RJ_1136: ping
Bob: 71
NameGuy: 72
doberry: 73
Bob: 74
gregr: not here
doberry: ooops
doberry: sorry
Bob: oops
_com_net_org entered the room.
DomainSage: lol, Top Names... everyone is always pissed at me
intrepidhp has left the room.
DomainSage: but I did not shill bid
DomainSage: that's for sure

You notice I asked DomainSage if his bid was a shill bid. I was reluctant to do that. I did that because I know his history on the old Afternic. He must have sold trademarks.net at least 3 times on Afternic. Then recently 3 more times on Ebay. I did it because no one would pay $8K for url.net, much less DomainSage, the guy who has been offering me $1K for this site for a few months.

Then I was surprised when Whois_Search said "the whois on url.net and whoisdatabase.com almost match was a shill".
I though, not only has this guy corrupted this inaugural auction night but he did it blatantly. So he either did this with the intent to destroy Sunday night auctions or he's just a plain idiot.

This morning I checked IP addresses from the user name url.net.
I got:

204.140.185.228 (vulcan.smc.edu) [find more users for this ip]
68.65.234.117 (ca-stmnca-cuda3-blade2b-117.stmnca.adelphia.net) [find more users for this ip]

Upon clicking either of the links [find more users for this ip] I get.

DomainSage [edit] [find posts by user] [find more ips for user]
url.net [edit] [find posts by user] [find more ips for user]

DomainSage is a black eye to this community.

**.com.net.org** · 01-13-2003, 08:03 AM

then domansage and url.net is the same person.

very hard to defense himself.

**system0** · 01-13-2003, 08:03 AM

i take it hes banned then

**Donna Mahony** · 01-13-2003, 08:17 AM

Let's look at this in a positive light, now that this has been uncovered and made public, it will cause others to think long and hard before trying it and will likely help keep future auctions clean.

**system0** · 01-13-2003, 08:19 AM

have to agree
long term - these sort of problems will be ironed out - teething problems were always going to occur with a new thing like this

**StockDoctor** · 01-13-2003, 08:32 AM

We got his address. Now do we get to kill him?

**system0** · 01-13-2003, 08:43 AM

all joking aside - its best to leave it as he would only come back and target the forum or one of our forums

**Zoobar** · 01-13-2003, 09:17 AM

Originally posted by fonzerelli_79
have to agree
long term - these sort of problems will be ironed out - teething problems were always going to occur with a new thing like this

A shill bid of $8000 is not teething problems. I'd ban him and the lister of the domain he shilled on.

**crabby** · 01-13-2003, 09:45 AM

$1? $20? $50? 75? Gee, sounds like they're fighting over a real top-notch name ... sorry I missed the auction.

**lux** · 01-13-2003, 10:04 AM

Originally posted by crabby
$1? $20? $50? 75? Gee, sounds like they're fighting over a real top-notch name ... sorry I missed the auction.

It's the principle of the thing.

"DomainSage: wow there is a long list till my name"

This proves that he did see his name on the auction list WAY before his auction even started. But he didn't say anything about the starting bid until the auction had begun and I placed my bid.

I would've been willing to meet the new $20 bid price he set during the auction. I figured the $0 might've been a typo, and I'm a good sport. But he left immediately after his auctions.

**Duke** · 01-13-2003, 10:13 AM

Originally posted by gourd

It's the principle of the thing.

That's right Gourd. The money is immaterial. Some people apparently place no value on their reputation. I have already looked up his name and address in WhoIs for url.net (on which he placed a shill bid). You can bet that is a person I will not be dealing with (along with forum member ferdz who also likes to change prices upward after making a deal). Dealing with people like this only results in wasted time and money. I hope they are blackballed by everyone in the business.

**Bob** · 01-13-2003, 11:09 AM

Originally posted by gourd

It's the principle of the thing.

Exactly 100%.

If you do not stand up for the principles now, then people will use it to their advantage.

The same thing happned to the old Afternic. Once people shilled and never paid, then everybody did it. It finally ruined what was once a good thing. . .

It needs to be dealt with whether it is a $1 name or a $10,000 name. No preference can be given to one over the other.

-Bob

**izopod** · 01-13-2003, 11:46 AM

Don't forget DomainSage was also the guy to "type in" (during a live 3 letter dot net auction): Hey, if you are guys are interested in 3 letter dot net's, I've got plenty of them at at a relatively cheap price (or something like that).

I was floored. The bidding was already at 135 when he said that. I personally wasn't bidding on the name, but felt for the owner of this name.

To DomainSage: You'll find that reputation is everything in this business. Without it, you have no business (izopod, circa 2003)

izopod

**Donna Mahony** · 01-13-2003, 01:07 PM

I see he has listed a name for next week. He should be barred from selling until he honors..at the very least..gourds offer of the $20 he "claimed" his starting price was supposed to be.