An important message from Snapnames

[Focus]

I sincerely wish oversee.net only the best in this matter, the crook "Halvarez" needs to end up sleeping under a bridge.

 

[Seraphim]

I doubt they'll go under. Anyone want to place a gentleman's wager on that? I still hit ROI on the drops I picked up from them, despite some of the shills, and I still haven't yanked my huge order list. I don't intend to stop doing business with them, why? If a domain is a deal, I buy it. If it's shilled up and looks overpriced, I don't buy it. I'm still pissed off about the loss, but then again PPC is ****ing dirty as hell, and I still collect a deposit at the end of each month. Google is still corrupt as hell, I still use their engine. Such is life on the internet.

Oversee will probably force Snap to run a lot cleaner. At least we know halvarez is gone now.

 

[tonyk2000]

If snapnames would like to survive after this - they should at least provide additional transparency, by making it easier to locate similar cases in future. How? For example, by stopping publishing "Most Active Pre-Orders" lists with the number of bids etc and stop showing the same on domain order form. Indeed, should another halvarez appear tomorrow in all possible auctions - an easy excuse would be that he is simply checking public "most active" lists. But, without such a lists available to public, it would be easier to find out that inside info is in use.

And - by announcing such a measure, which would also in fact be "we at Oversee respect your intellectual property rights - since carefully selected 'wishlists' ARE intellectual property - and would not let others see it and use it" - Oversee may start earning the confidence of their customers again.

Yes, it is hard to make such a decision, they are indeed making more $$$ by publishing the lists.

 

[Focus]

I agree and personally really like the company, it's a shame they are tangled up in this mess really...business as usual hopefully will continue for them but this is going to be such a headache that nobody wants or needs. I have my concerns this Nelson guy just skips the country.

 

[A D]

A link to a VERY interesting blog post.

It seems that iReit bought a portfolio of domains from "halvarez" in 2006 - the article quotes:

There is alot more to this story as well.

Seperate note, I wonder how this went on for years without anyone inside the company knowing what happened? hmmmm

-=DCG=-

 

[stewie]

the police have to be taking their computers/files on all the auctions....this is a major crime...

I think this is deep.


one guy....not IMO

 

[Oversee Support]

Kjel, since you are watching the thread, do you care to say anything on the matter?

Hi Credit,

You're correct that questions have been raised before about Halvarez. Prior assurances were incorrect; SnapNames simply failed to discover the issue until recently, in part because the employee skillfully concealed his conduct.

Rob
Oversee Support

 

[Wzhxvy]

I doubt they'll go under. Anyone want to place a gentleman's wager on that? I still hit ROI on the drops I picked up from them, despite some of the shills, and I still haven't yanked my huge order list. I don't intend to stop doing business with them, why? If a domain is a deal, I buy it. If it's shilled up and crosses my interest level, I don't buy it.

All it takes is one lawsuit and they go under. I would even bet you that oversee knows that there will no snapnames going forward. However, they made a bad investment and have to live with it but not at the expense of the parent company. They have 2 choices, remedy what they can and then fold this....or get themselves entangled in this mess by fighting it on behalf of snapnames. They are smart to know that you dont want to get your entire company entangled in this, and they will not allow it. If and when Oversee start to see the bright lights, Snapnames will be dissolved quickly.

The offer is an attempt to resolve what they can instead of just shutting down operations and then be exposed to lawsuits for bad faith...this way, Oversee can say they tried...this is all this is about...snapnames is dead.

 

[TheLegendaryJP]

Bonkers is real. I sold me two letter .coms in the past to him. He works for domain capital.

:?::?::?:

He works for DC?

Really, thats interesting and must have been a fairly new thing. As far as I know he's a massive TM guy who got nailed, had to pay millions to settle and claimed to have stopped. Nothing " domainer " like about him, just a tm guy, he only knows one thing and it shows everytime he buys a non tm name.

What does he do at DC now?

 

[INVIGOR]

...

 

[Seraphim]

All it takes is one lawsuit and they go under. I would even bet you that oversee knows that there will no snapnames going forward. However, they made a bad investment and have to live with it but not at the expense of the parent company. They have 2 choices, remedy what they can and then fold this....or get themselves entangled in this mess by fighting it on behalf of snapnames. They are smart to know that you dont want to get your entire company entangled in this, and they will not allow it. If and when Oversee start to see the bright lights, Snapnames will be dissolved quickly.

The offer is an attempt to resolve what they can instead of just shutting down operations and then be exposed to lawsuits for bad faith...this way, Oversee can say they tried...this is all this is about...snapnames is dead.

Even if Snap is dissolved, I'm sure Oversee will just gut the company and start up a rebrand. We'll see what happens...

 

[JuniperPark]

Hi Credit,

You're correct that questions have been raised before about Halvarez. Prior assurances were incorrect; SnapNames simply failed to discover the issue until recently, in part because the employee skillfully concealed his conduct.

Rob
Oversee Support

The problem here is not that "questions were raised", but direct accusations were made about specific suspicious conduct which turned out to be true, and wrongdoing was denied.

This is the difference between a roadside ditch and the Grand Canyon.

 

[Wzhxvy]

Even if Snap is dissolved, I'm sure Oversee will just gut the company and start up a rebrand. We'll see what happens...

Oh totally agree there. They will start a new company. But snapnames, the corporate entity, and its associated liabilities (which is what we care about) and "assets", will be a thing of the past.

 

[Focus]

Better start damage control NOW people.

 

[mattbodis]

The problem here is not that "questions were raised", but direct accusations were made about specific suspicious conduct which turned out to be true, and wrongdoing was denied.

This is the difference between a roadside ditch and the Grand Canyon.

Agreed. Snapnames is screwed. I bid there based on the fact that they told everyone that there was no inside bidders that they were so sure of.

The only reason they'd say that is if they'd either have a really dumb team or a team full of cheaters.

(It's a team full of cheaters) - so Oversee better start taking a second look before once again assuring everyone it was just that one guy.

 

[Beachie]

A bit of history from a December 2000 press release:
"Nelson Brady, vice president of engineering, the first executive to join SnapNames, leads a development team of 15 employees and contractors. Brady was formerly a development executive, manager and engineer with Oregon technology leaders including Tektronix, MentorGraphics, OrCAD, Opmaxx and Dynamics Research Corporation."

http://www.allbusiness.com/company-activities-management/company-structures-ownership/6545069-1.html

And, just for fun

May 7, 2001
============================================================

Dear Chris Beach,

Thank you for your order. Your invoice number is 8817.

----------<Successful Snap-Shot>----------------------------
You are a Snap-Shot holder on the following domain name(s):

mail.com
world.com

----------<Your Contact Information>------------------------
The following contact information from your profile will be used for alerts and/or newsletters:

Primary email address: inphase[at]ii.net

If any of this information is incorrect update your SnapNames contact information in your SnapFolio account under the "User Profile" tab.

You now have 18 Snap-Shots remaining.

...those were the days...

 

[denny007]

I noticed several times domains Halvarez won are missing from the history immediately after auction. I had so many clues yet I was so blind. Have had tons of email exchanges with Nelson, talking with wolf about wolf...

 

[James]

Namejet is quick to "clarify" their position

Dear Valued NameJet Customer,

As you may have already heard, another company in our same line of business, SnapNames, was the victim of an internal security breach. We wanted to address any concerns you may have and assure you that at NameJet we have the necessary security protocols in place to prevent this kind of incident.

What Happened at SnapNames:

According to SnapNames, an employee set up an account on SnapNames under a false name. Under this account, the employee bid in SnapNames auctions. In many instances the bidding by this employee caused the ultimate auction winner to pay more for a name than had the employee not participated in the auction. In addition, on certain occasions, when the employee won an auction, the employee secretly arranged for a refund from SnapNames. This was in violation of SnapNames internal policy, and once discovered the company immediately closed the account in question and the employee was dismissed.

We commend SnapNames for taking quick and decisive action once it discovered its security breach.

NameJet has Strict Security to Prevent Anything Similar:

You should have full confidence nothing similar has occurred on NameJet. We have security procedures and policies in place that monitor all activities to ensure that “shill” bidding does not occur. Further, employees are strictly barred from bidding on auctions and NameJet has both internal and external monitoring to ensure all security procedures are enforced. These procedures were developed and are maintained by two of the world’s largest and most trusted registrars.

Thank you for your business and for your ongoing trust in NameJet.

If you have any questions regarding this issue, please contact us at [email protected].

Sincerely,

Steve Brown
General Manager
NameJet.com

 

[ohkus]

There is alot more to this story as well.

Seperate note, I wonder how this went on for years without anyone inside the company knowing what happened? hmmmm

-=DCG=-

pot, kettle, black.....I'm not saying you did anything improper but didn't you bid against your own customers as well?

 

[DN BROKER]

A bit of history from a December 2000 press release:
"Nelson Brady, vice president of engineering, the first executive to join SnapNames, leads a development team of 15 employees and contractors. Brady was formerly a development executive, manager and engineer with Oregon technology leaders including Tektronix, MentorGraphics, OrCAD, Opmaxx and Dynamics Research Corporation."

http://www.allbusiness.com/company-activities-management/company-structures-ownership/6545069-1.html

And, just for fun

May 7, 2001
============================================================

Dear Chris Beach,

Thank you for your order. Your invoice number is 8817.

----------<Successful Snap-Shot>----------------------------
You are a Snap-Shot holder on the following domain name(s):

mail.com
world.com

----------<Your Contact Information>------------------------
The following contact information from your profile will be used for alerts and/or newsletters:

Primary email address: inphase[at]ii.net

If any of this information is incorrect update your SnapNames contact information in your SnapFolio account under the "User Profile" tab.

You now have 18 Snap-Shots remaining.

...those were the days...

You owned World and Mail.com?