I bid $611,000 for music.mobi - Lawsuit Pending

[musicdotmobi]

Hello everyone,

I have been a part of this SEDO .mobi auction auction and I am the one responsible for the bid $611,000 for music.mobi.

However I stopped bidding at the point where I realised that the NEW auction was a scam because the two bidders that were bidding me up were NEW bidders who were not even involved in the initial auction.

The initial auction closed with me winning the last bid at $66,000.

I received an invoice and 2 emails regarding the winning bid.

Let me ask everything this key question? If you are bidding on eBay and you have a 7 day auction and you take a chance and wait til the last second to bid what if your DSL line or connection or even your computer crashes? I think many of us had this experience in the past. I know I had this happen last week on eBay when my computer froze and in essence lost the bid. Did eBay care? NO! Does SEDO care if you WERE going to bid and failed to do so if your computer crashed or had a slow connection? NO! Well, wait a second in this case they do.

They proclaimed me winner send me 2 emails, sent me an invoice. I considered the bid finished and was ready to go and play guitar and record this new song I was working on in the studio. By chance, I get an email by whom? BOTH the .mobi MTLD who started INVITING people via a bulk message hyping them up that the servers have crashed and that there is huge demand for the .mobi auction. Then Sedo followed. So 2 bulk messages sent to the world inviting them to attend a NEW auction. Not only that, they extended the auction to 2.5 hrs NOT 5 minutes.

Anyhow, I seriously have been negotiating with .mobi since 2006 about music.mobi but they seem to want money and to rob everyone of money than have someone develop a super site like I am. So the whole RFP was bogus. I tried fir over a year and they just said "you will have to bid for it".

So, I am really upset, they caused me to miss my jam session and on top of that they allowed NEW bidders to the new auction. I say I have NO PROBLEM with old bidders that were active in the original auction bidding their maximum. Even though I was invoiced $66,000 I emailed SEDO and MTLD letting them know that I would pay them $81,000 because bidder 9 (I was the last bidder 12 to bid for the name in the original auction) rebid his maximum at $80k.

So there comes along NEW bidders 13 and 14 who did not even attend the initial, legal auction. They probably got the bulk email fro both SEDO and MTLD and invited themselves to the dance. HOW can an auction that has ended have NEW bidders? I have no problems bidding with the 12 bidders that have bid against me in the initial auction but NEW bidders who were enticed by HYPE emails? Have you ever heard of a closed auction then an hour later having a new bidder say I will outbid the winner even though i was not even in the auction? NO!

Anyhow, the bid to $616,000 is illegal. I sent the MTLD and SEDO an email and let them know that they should retract all my bids ($611,000) that were automatically placed by SEDO as a result of NEW bidders who were not even active in the original auction. In the new auction, the only legal bidder was bidder 9 who was also in the original auction. The bidder bid for $80k and i outbid him.

How can I be declared a winner then told that I am not the winner then they invite new bidders? Also how can they say that their terms of services states that they can redo the auction and there is no legal agreement? REALLY? I checked it and i saw no section that related to servers crashing and technology interruptions.Tough luck, you had 7 days to bid and you didnt. You cant be bidding after. You take a chance, then be brave enough to live by it and acknowledge that you had considerable time to bid. And the new bidders 13 and 14 and dont care who you are but you had no place bidding in an auction with the old active bidders.

Sedo I have bought numerous domains for tens of thousands of dollars and I refuse to park them and make money off parking (Domain King you can do that and **** the internet up for all of us). I will NEVER do business again with thieves especially the MTLD. They are making bank and playing everyone.

OK my story is not done yet. I stop bidding at $611k because in my mind I should not be bidding against NEW bidders (yes I did realise it at the end) who had no place in the auction since they did not attend the original one. So i stop and half an hour later I get a message from SEDO asking me if I was interested to buy mp3s.mobi for $500,000? So let me get this straight. because I bid up to $611,000 (yes I am retracting this bid and every other bid made against NEW, illegal bidders), does that mean you think I should buy another music domain? I told them I would not buy mp3s.mobi for $300 and basically told them that they will hear from my lawyers if this mess is not solved.

I suggest a class lawsuit and I seriously will BOYCOTT both SEDO and MTLD. I loved SEDO and have been a client for years but this money hungry, sleazy, unethical tactics are unacceptable. For all of you complaining that you did not get a bid in the last 5 minutes tough luck, you had 7 days (considerable time that is). I took a chance and won. I would have bid higher but I am not going to fill SEDO and MTLD's pockets with my hard earned money because they screwed up royally.

What can I say? I am ready to kick some serious butt here. And sue these guys for emotional distress. SEDO seriously, you lost one of your top clients and super domainers. Lost my respect and you have robbed me and others in all fairness. I seriously will NOT let this go. If justice is not served, I will sue, I will go to the press, I will tell my story, I will post all the emails I got, invoices and screenshots of my winning bid and I am sure it will reflect future SEDO=MOBI auctions. Did anyone say sex.mobi? Yes, the MTLD is greedy and so is SEDO. This is bad business. REALLY bad. Not sure I can trust them. i will not be surprised if Bidder 13 and 14 were internal just to bid up my proxy of $611,000.

The world record is not real people. It would have been if other original bidders bid me up to $615k. The new bidders in my mind either are internal fake bidders or new, illegal bidders who came in after being sent bulk emails by both SEDO/MTLD full of hype.

If they do not accept my winning auction and fair win versus the original bidders even in the new auction, then I WILL pursue this since I do have some spare change here now.

Costa


< Promotion edited >

 

[Fearless]

If you bid $611,000 for music.mobi you need a psych ward, not a lawsuit.

I do have some spare change here now.

I'll sell you iphones.mobi for only $50K. :yes:

 

[Creature]

So there comes along NEW bidders 13 and 14 who did not even attend the initial, legal auction.

Could not bidders 13 and 14 have effectively been in the room for the first round but not yet placed their last-minute bids?

 

[Devil Dog]

Could not bidders 13 and 14 have effectively been in the room for the first round but not yet placed their last-minute bids?

That was my question yesterday. If that shows true, then I really think this lawsuit idea will go nowhere.

 

[Creature]

Had Costa gone to sleep after receiving the winning confirmation emails and then awoke the next day to discover the loss, then perhaps there would be a more obvious case to be argued. I can see how annoying this must be for him though, and to be offered mp3s.mobi really reflects badly on Sedo.

 

[Namefox]

If you bid $611,000 for music.mobi you need a psych ward, not a lawsuit.

I'm sure this gentleman didn't wake up one day and decide to spend that kind of money without any forethought or business plan. What you said above is rude and uncalled for.

 

[DN BROKER]

Hello everyone,

I have been a part of this SEDO .mobi auction auction and I am the one responsible for the bid $611,000 for music.mobi.

However I stopped bidding at the point where I realised that the NEW auction was a scam because the two bidders that were bidding me up were NEW bidders who were not even involved in the initial auction.

The initial auction closed with me winning the last bid at $66,000.

I received an invoice and 2 emails regarding the winning bid.

Let me ask everything this key question? If you are bidding on eBay and you have a 7 day auction and you take a chance and wait til the last second to bid what if your DSL line or connection or even your computer crashes? I think many of us had this experience in the past. I know I had this happen last week on eBay when my computer froze and in essence lost the bid. Did eBay care? NO! Does SEDO care if you WERE going to bid and failed to do so if your computer crashed or had a slow connection? NO! Well, wait a second in this case they do.

They proclaimed me winner send me 2 emails, sent me an invoice. I considered the bid finished and was ready to go and play guitar and record this new song I was working on in the studio. By chance, I get an email by whom? BOTH the .mobi MTLD who started INVITING people via a bulk message hyping them up that the servers have crashed and that there is huge demand for the .mobi auction. Then Sedo followed. So 2 bulk messages sent to the world inviting them to attend a NEW auction. Not only that, they extended the auction to 2.5 hrs NOT 5 minutes.

Anyhow, I seriously have been negotiating with .mobi since 2006 about music.mobi but they seem to want money and to rob everyone of money than have someone develop a super site like I am. So the whole RFP was bogus. I tried fir over a year and they just said "you will have to bid for it".

So, I am really upset, they caused me to miss my jam session and on top of that they allowed NEW bidders to the new auction. I say I have NO PROBLEM with old bidders that were active in the original auction bidding their maximum. Even though I was invoiced $66,000 I emailed SEDO and MTLD letting them know that I would pay them $81,000 because bidder 9 (I was the last bidder 12 to bid for the name in the original auction) rebid his maximum at $80k.

So there comes along NEW bidders 13 and 14 who did not even attend the initial, legal auction. They probably got the bulk email fro both SEDO and MTLD and invited themselves to the dance. HOW can an auction that has ended have NEW bidders? I have no problems bidding with the 12 bidders that have bid against me in the initial auction but NEW bidders who were enticed by HYPE emails? Have you ever heard of a closed auction then an hour later having a new bidder say I will outbid the winner even though i was not even in the auction? NO!

Anyhow, the bid to $616,000 is illegal. I sent the MTLD and SEDO an email and let them know that they should retract all my bids ($611,000) that were automatically placed by SEDO as a result of NEW bidders who were not even active in the original auction. In the new auction, the only legal bidder was bidder 9 who was also in the original auction. The bidder bid for $80k and i outbid him.

How can I be declared a winner then told that I am not the winner then they invite new bidders? Also how can they say that their terms of services states that they can redo the auction and there is no legal agreement? REALLY? I checked it and i saw no section that related to servers crashing and technology interruptions.Tough luck, you had 7 days to bid and you didnt. You cant be bidding after. You take a chance, then be brave enough to live by it and acknowledge that you had considerable time to bid. And the new bidders 13 and 14 and dont care who you are but you had no place bidding in an auction with the old active bidders.

Sedo I have bought numerous domains for tens of thousands of dollars and I refuse to park them and make money off parking (Domain King you can do that and **** the internet up for all of us). I will NEVER do business again with thieves especially the MTLD. They are making bank and playing everyone.

OK my story is not done yet. I stop bidding at $611k because in my mind I should not be bidding against NEW bidders (yes I did realise it at the end) who had no place in the auction since they did not attend the original one. So i stop and half an hour later I get a message from SEDO asking me if I was interested to buy mp3s.mobi for $500,000? So let me get this straight. because I bid up to $611,000 (yes I am retracting this bid and every other bid made against NEW, illegal bidders), does that mean you think I should buy another music domain? I told them I would not buy mp3s.mobi for $300 and basically told them that they will hear from my lawyers if this mess is not solved.

I suggest a class lawsuit and I seriously will BOYCOTT both SEDO and MTLD. I loved SEDO and have been a client for years but this money hungry, sleazy, unethical tactics are unacceptable. For all of you complaining that you did not get a bid in the last 5 minutes tough luck, you had 7 days (considerable time that is). I took a chance and won. I would have bid higher but I am not going to fill SEDO and MTLD's pockets with my hard earned money because they screwed up royally.

What can I say? I am ready to kick some serious butt here. And sue these guys for emotional distress. SEDO seriously, you lost one of your top clients and super domainers. Lost my respect and you have robbed me and others in all fairness. I seriously will NOT let this go. If justice is not served, I will sue, I will go to the press, I will tell my story, I will post all the emails I got, invoices and screenshots of my winning bid and I am sure it will reflect future SEDO=MOBI auctions. Did anyone say sex.mobi? Yes, the MTLD is greedy and so is SEDO. This is bad business. REALLY bad. Not sure I can trust them. i will not be surprised if Bidder 13 and 14 were internal just to bid up my proxy of $611,000.

The world record is not real people. It would have been if other original bidders bid me up to $615k. The new bidders in my mind either are internal fake bidders or new, illegal bidders who came in after being sent bulk emails by both SEDO/MTLD full of hype.

If they do not accept my winning auction and fair win versus the original bidders even in the new auction, then I WILL pursue this since I do have some spare change here now.

Costa


< Promotion edited >

Why would music.mobi sell for less than 100K, im sorry that the system failed and provided you with false info... there is no way you could have been the last bidder on this domain... the domain sold for the right price... in your case, the system had a glitch... otherwise...music will never sell for below 100K, i think you just got to excited that you won the domain...

it will cost you more than 600K to take sedo to court...

drop it and purchase the other .mobi premiums available for 60K k:

 

[xmax22]

lets see the screen shots of invoices

 

[GoPC]

It is, however, a valid argument that in posting a new (or extended or renewed or whatever) auction and sending out BULK mail inviting people to be part of it as inviting unfair competition.

What WOULD have been fair, even at the 2+ hour extension (which is ridiculous anyway) to ONLY allow original bidders into the extension. There are warnings all over about not waiting until the last moment to bid... especially since sniping only extends the auction anyway, there is no benefit to waiting until the last moments.

Fine. There was a glitch and the auction was extended. Good and Fair practice.

To use it as an opportunity to create a secondary auction event, actively invite NEW bidders through the use of public email blasting for a time frame that is FAR BEYOND that which a last moment bidder would have created, is UNFAIR at the very least, bad business for certain and could certainly be presented as opportunistic on the part of Sedo.

The case could CERTAINLY be made that it was manipulated to create more competition, drive the selling price and be considered "windfall" benefit to Sedo.

I think, presented correctly, you have a case. I'm no lawyer (but I play one on TV ) but I say go for it. It's clearly worth fighting for.

GoPC

 

[xmax22]

It is, however, a valid argument that in posting a new (or extended or renewed or whatever) auction and sending out BULK mail inviting people to be part of it as inviting unfair competition.

What WOULD have been fair, even at the 2+ hour extension (which is ridiculous anyway) to ONLY allow original bidders into the extension. There are warnings all over about not waiting until the last moment to bid... especially since sniping only extends the auction anyway, there is no benefit to waiting until the last moments.

Fine. There was a glitch and the auction was extended. Good and Fair practice.

To use it as an opportunity to create a secondary auction event, actively invite NEW bidders through the use of public email blasting for a time frame that is FAR BEYOND that which a last moment bidder would have created, is UNFAIR at the very least, bad business for certain and could certainly be presented as opportunistic on the part of Sedo.

The case could CERTAINLY be made that it was manipulated to create more competition, drive the selling price and be considered "windfall" benefit to Sedo.

I think, presented correctly, you have a case. I'm no lawyer (but I play one on TV ) but I say go for it. It's clearly worth fighting for.

GoPC

You hit the nail on the head, very good point

 

[CyrusL]

I'm no attorney, but it seems to me that you guys analyzing the shill bidding are confusing the issue. The legal issue, to me, is whether Sedo had established a contract between themselves and the buyer when the original invoice was sent. Contract law is confusing so I don't know the answer to that question, but if there is a valid contract, then all these hypothetical situations about servers and sniping and such are irrelevant. Sedo would have an obligation to deliver the domain at the contract price.

 

[denny007]

Wow beautiful stunt from these .mobi guys. They are marketing geniuses !

 

[Gerry]

Wow beautiful stunt from these .mobi guys. They are marketing geniuses !

Or, perhaps solely the responsibility of Sedo.

 

[Bill Roy]

Go for it.

Sedo will fall flat on their faces in court, though they will try anything in this world not to have to appear in one!

There will of course be those few (very few) who say 'tough, it was fair, you lost!' As you will note from this and other threads here and on other forums the vast majority are saying Sedo was wrong and at the very least negligent. If Sedo are negligent then they are responsible for their actions and thus must be held liable in a court of law and damages and costs will be awarded aginst them.

There TOS are useless as a defence, if nothing else they actually strengthen your case because of what is termed 'mutualality', a condition applied to one side must be applied to the other in a contract unless specifically stated not to apply to one particular side (even this has been challenged as too broad and courts are insisting that contracts must be equally fair to both sides). Also 'common practise' will be examined by a court, here of course we are looking at common practice in the field of auctions. The simple fact is the hammer fell, you were the highest bidder, you are contracted as is the seller to complete the transaction at the hammer price.

Finally it has been said that because of this 'technical difficulty' people were not able to bid. Those who raise this as a defence for Sedo I would like to ask you a question. Would I as a telephone bidder be able to insist that an auction be re-opened or started again if the telephone connection at the auction house was disrupted by the weather dirupting the signal from my cell phone or the cell phone of the auction house? Of course not, wel de facto, servers 'slowing down' or 'crashing' is also not a reason for an auction to be re-opened or extended.

The killer blow against Sedo is that they did not act 'in good faith'. They had the telephone numbers of all bidders but failed to telephone the 'winning bidders' to tell them that the action they were going to undertake and that the 'winning bidders' should no longer consider themselves such but should re-enter the auction and if they wish continue bidding. Added to this was the fact that Sedo 'invited' new bidders to join in the bidding in the so-called extended auction.

Sedo by their own actions are hung, drawn, and quartered!

 

[Gerry]

It is, however, a valid argument that in posting a new (or extended or renewed or whatever) auction and sending out BULK mail inviting people to be part of it as inviting unfair competition.

GoPC

But consider this...

There were bidders in Australia, it was 4:15 a.m., winning and losing notices went out, there was never any down Sedo down time there.

It was perhaps 20-30 minutes after the outage that Sedo contacted bidders here in the states. We saw blank white pages.

I would have done the same thing that many bidders would have done at 4:15 in the morning.

Auction closed. Time to go to bed.

Hell of a wake up call, eh?

 

[denny007]

Or, perhaps solely the responsibility of Sedo.

You do not understand me - I mean this "lawsuit" thread is the stunt.

 

[Gerry]

You do not understand me - I mean this "lawsuit" thread is the stunt.

Oohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...

 

[shambles]

You do not understand me - I mean this "lawsuit" thread is the stunt.

Quite. He no doubt hopes for a payoff from sedo to stop whining.

 

[Gerry]

Wow, this mobi mess just won't die.

Thanks for keeping it alive!

 

[sashas]

Costa, even if all other angles fail (though I don't see that happening. They sent you a winning notice, right..), you could still sue Sedo for emotional distress. Sedo needs a lawsuit to give its lazy, unethical, unprofessional ass a wake up call.

It is, however, a valid argument that in posting a new (or extended or renewed or whatever) auction and sending out BULK mail inviting people to be part of it as inviting unfair competition.

What WOULD have been fair, even at the 2+ hour extension (which is ridiculous anyway) to ONLY allow original bidders into the extension. There are warnings all over about not waiting until the last moment to bid... especially since sniping only extends the auction anyway, there is no benefit to waiting until the last moments.

Fine. There was a glitch and the auction was extended. Good and Fair practice.

To use it as an opportunity to create a secondary auction event, actively invite NEW bidders through the use of public email blasting for a time frame that is FAR BEYOND that which a last moment bidder would have created, is UNFAIR at the very least, bad business for certain and could certainly be presented as opportunistic on the part of Sedo.

The case could CERTAINLY be made that it was manipulated to create more competition, drive the selling price and be considered "windfall" benefit to Sedo.

I think, presented correctly, you have a case. I'm no lawyer (but I play one on TV ) but I say go for it. It's clearly worth fighting for.

GoPC

I think this bulk emailing issue could come back to bite Sedo's arse.

Also, if the auction had to be extended, why extend it for 2.5 hours instead of the down time (which was between 5-20 minutes, I believe)? To get enough time to attract more bidders in?