Godaddy Expiring Auctions... Do you think this is fair?

[Mike Cruz]

Okay, I was involved in an auction that ended this past Tuesday. Long story short, I lost, but this is how it went down.

• First day of Auction, Bidder 1 is winning with inital bid of $10.
• I outbid him by putting in a proxy bid of $102, I am now the current high bidder at $15.
• Two days before auction ends, my bid is ran up to $72 by Bidder 3, who has just joined the race, I am still high bidder.
• Last day of auction my bid is ran up and I lose to Bidder 3 (Only three of us were participating, Bidder 1 with only the initial bid, myself and Bidder 3).
• Bidder 3 decides he doesn't want the domain anymore, so they offer it to me on Saturday and tell me I have 24 hours to pay $72 for the domain + $15 for the .net renewal + ICANN fee's, comes out to $87.17.

But why do I have to pay $72 when if Bidder 3 never came into the picture, I would of won the domain for $15 ? Sounds a bit shady doesn't it? So my bid is ran up and of course the winner doesn't pay and now they want me to pay an inflated price for the domain which only got to that point because this Bidder 3 ran up the price?

Can someone please explain this to me? I called Godaddy on two different occasions to get an explanation, was on the phone each time for more than a half an hour (mostly waiting while they talked between themselves about this matter) and never got a clear answer. Only telling me You can pay the $72 + additional fee's, or you do not have to buy the name. Those are your choices.

Really?

What do you all think? Is there someone who can explain to me thoroughly as to why I should pay the $72? If someone can, I will happily pay for the domain at this price, but as of right now I have a bad taste in my mouth over this situation and I don't want to touch it.

Thanks,
-Mike C.

 

[south]

Two days before auction ends, my bid is ran up to $72, I am still high bidder.

Because bidder 1 bid up to $71 before quitting? Why should they sell it to you for 15 if bidder 1 was willing to buy it for 71?

 

[katherine]

Does not sound right to me.
If deadbeats or otherwise defaulting bidders withdraw, their bids should be nullified

 

[south]

Does not sound right to me.
If deadbeats or otherwise defaulting bidders withdraw, their bids should be nullified

I agree. I was just assuming it was bidder 1 that went up to 71. If it was bidder 3, then I think he's getting screwed.

 

[Mike Cruz]

I agree. I was just assuming it was bidder 1 that went up to 71. If it was bidder 3, then I think he's getting screwed.

Bidder 1 only placed the initial $10 bid, he never bid again.

 

[south]

Bidder 1 only placed the initial $10 bid, he never bid again.

I should know better than to assume, my apologies. Definitely looks like you're getting screwed then..

 

[Onward]

Nothing is fair about the dropping domain world. Get your crumbs while you can.

It sounds like Godaddy is doing what ever they want to. It does not hurt their bottom line to have deadbeat bidders...this dude/dud could have just come up short on 30 other auctions making godaddy a few K...he may just be someone playing around and bidding people up....do you really think Godaddy would even suspend someone like this? It would be good to try to keep a list of these types...I think someone tried to do that with namejet deadbeats & Shillers.

One thing that makes no sense to me is the newbies (I am guessing) who put in a bid on a name right away so the whole world can take advantage of their research....they have to know that they will never get the name that way...

 

[Dynamic1]

Bidder 1 only placed the initial $10 bid, he never bid again.

I agree also that sucks. Seems like some parts of godaddy are going down the drain lately.

 

[Skinny]

That is pretty terrible. I'd be pretty ticked off.

Ideally all his bids should be nullified because he failed to pay. So you should get the domain for $15 (ideally of course).

I'm not sure if there is anything you can do here though. Can you bring it up with GoDaddy?

I haven't had this experience so I don't know if it will hurt you.

Skinny

 

[Mike Cruz]

I should know better than to assume, my apologies. Definitely looks like you're getting screwed then..

It's cool, I actually edited the op to avoid confusion as I wasn't very clear.

 

[Theo]

When Snapnames compensated us for "halvarez" shill bidding auctions, they nullified all his bids whereupon he was the #2 bidder. In essence, they traced back all bids until the last valid non-halvarez bid was placed.

Godaddy should have done the same; thus giving you the domain at $15.

 

[Nathan King]

Who's to say that $15 is where the price would have ended had bidder #3 not gotten involved? Bidder #1 obviously was not interested at $72, but that's not to say that they wouldn't have bid $50 on it. Or perhaps another buyer would have been interested if the price had been lower.

The most fair way to handle it IMO would be to re-auction the domain, although it's not at all surprising that a large corporation would favor themselves over their customers.

 

[Theo]

Who's to say that $15 is where the price would have ended had bidder #3 not gotten involved? Bidder #1 obviously was not interested at $72, but that's not to say that they wouldn't have bid $50 on it. Or perhaps another buyer would have been interested if the price had been lower.

The most fair way to handle it IMO would be to re-auction the domain, although it's not at all surprising that a large corporation would favor themselves over their customers.

We aren't going by speculative bids but by actual bids. Otherwise, following your logic, GoDaddy might say that if there were billboard ads on highway 4 the bids would have been higher.

 

[Mike Cruz]

So pay an inflated price based on a non paying bidder because another HONEST bidder MIGHT have bidden it up? Re auction is the only way to determine this or if daddy wants to keep a happy customer, they can do the right thing and at least prove what they are claiming which is now four different stories.

 

[Onward]

Have you talked to your account manager?

 

[Theo]

Following the GoDaddy logic, if you refuse to pay for it, then bidder #1 who bid $15 will now have to pay $72 to buy it

 

[Mike Cruz]

I have not. I actually never have before and I have had my account for over 6 years now. I guess I can try that option tomorrow.

---------- Post added at 09:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:39 PM ----------

I forgot to mention here like I did on NP, godaddy is now claiming there is a 4th bidder.

 

[Theo]

Tell GoDaddy to **** themselves and the 4th bidder It was probably Bob Parsons.

 

[Skinny]

Wow. . .this sounds insane.

I'm not super familiar with GoDaddy Auctions. Can you see all the bids being placed?

What are they saying about the fourth bidder? That he bid just under $72?

I'm a bit confused.

Skinny

 

[Nathan King]

We aren't going by speculative bids but by actual bids. Otherwise, following your logic, GoDaddy might say that if there were billboard ads on highway 4 the bids would have been higher.

Except that a dishonest bidder artificially raised the price. I'm not saying that it's right for the zurc.net to have to pay $72, but an argument can be made that GoDaddy shouldn't have to lose out on potential revenue due to non-paying bidders. It's their platform, so one would expect this to be their tone.

---------- Post added at 02:32 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:50 AM ----------

I forgot to mention here like I did on NP, godaddy is now claiming there is a 4th bidder.

That is odd; GoDaddy support is hit or miss.