For Sale Pool auction fell through!

[Nameable]

Since so many like to talk about pool here, I figured I might as well document a specific incident...

I've never had this happen before, or if I did, I didn't realize it:

This morning I received a "congratulations" email from pool dated at 10:23 AM (Eastern) - I thought that was odd (usually they come in the late afternoon). I opened it up and I had won "trans-am.com" for $60... hmm, I don't recognize that name. Of course, I have never pared down my backorder list and it's in the thousands, so maybe it was an unexpected drop... nope... so what happened?

whois.crsnic.net shows pool's dns and that it was registered on Oct 25, 2003!!! I can't get info from directi's whois, but I assume it's the usual Pool in Trust, seeing I just got the email.

I check out the auction history page, select "show all" and there it is -- trans-am.com, auction ends 2003-10-28 16:15:00, last bid 2004-03-11 15:22:52.

So I click see all bids:
39807 $260.00 2003-10-28 12:01:07
39807 $220.00 2003-10-28 00:20:05
39805 $200.00 2003-10-28 16:12:46
39807 $180.00 2003-10-27 12:22:50
39805 $177.00 2003-10-28 16:11:42
39805 $150.00 2003-10-28 16:11:31
39805 $120.00 2003-10-28 16:11:21
39805 $100.00 2003-10-28 16:11:12
39805 $80.00 2003-10-28 16:11:01
You $60.00 2004-03-11 15:22:52
39805 $60.00 2003-10-25 18:15:00

Hmm... doesn't look like I was ever in that auction. I have no record of whether or not I even ordered the domain, let alone if I was in the auction. I found the name in an old list from october, so it's reasonable to assume I ordered it, but what's up with winning it 4.5 months later???

I have all my auction notices and "you won" emails archived, so I searched them and found a notice that the auction had started, but none that I was outbid or anything like that, so it really looks like I was never in the auction.

Has anyone had this happen? What did you do? This isn't really the type of name I go after, but I'm guessing it has decent resale value, so I may not say anything to pool.

 

[mole]

Maybe the shill bidders were just trying to have a crack at you but couldn't get you to play?

 

[.biz]

Let replace the word "shill" with "pool"

I'd say it's pool bidding.

 

[seeker]

your lucky you didnt bid a higher amount, only to get charged your max bid months later even though you didnt 'win' the domain...

 

[Nameable]

Thing is... I don't believe I was *ever* in the bidding for that domain!

I was not bidder 39805 - that's not how I bid. I'm thinking maybe I backordered it and wasn't the first in line, so it finally fell through to me.

your lucky you didnt bid a higher amount, only to get charged your max bid months later even though you didnt 'win' the domain...

Yeah, this kinda scares me... I've put in expensive bids before because I wanted to see the ending price and knew I'd be outbid, even though I didn't want the domain... gotta think twice before doing that in the future.

 

[Deleted member 4749]

Maybe the shill bidders were just trying to have a crack at you but couldn't get you to play?

Let's rename it from pool beeing to poo biding and rename pool accordingly.

 

[888]

IMO it is simply not acceptable to bill after 4 months without any contact first. Just tell pool that you have decided to use another domain long ago, ask them to refund or else you'll call the bank for chargeback.

 

[adoptabledomains]

I also got a notice today that I won a bid that I know isn't in my current list. I do remember trying to get it months but can't remember the details. Even stranger, here are the details.
Domain Name Close Date (GMT) Winning Price Last Bid Date (GMT)
miles.info 2004-01-06 16:04:00 $60.00 2004-03-11 20:19:39

It shows it closed January 6th, yet I bid today?

Then I look at bid details:

Bidding History for miles.info
Bidder Max Bid Bid Date
You $60.00 2004-03-11 20:19:39
87475 $60.00 2004-03-11 20:19:09
87473 $60.00 2004-01-03 04:03:28

There were two apparent bids yesterday and I got it. Don't get me wrong, I do want the domain and even the whois record shows it in my name. I assume I'll get the login in a day or so.

Could there have been a non-paying bidder that has resulted in these going to next on list? I have not received an explanation. I just wonder if I have other surprises coming my way soon. In my case, it appears I was actually third. Maybe the second is no longer registered or also did not pay.

Anyone else?

 

[WebCat]

I got a notice "the auction has begun" on a domain, and I was notlisted the high bidder. I decided against raising the bid to $70.00, and for some reason, the auction AND the domain just disappeared from the auction list, which has never happened before.

I thought it was an isolated incident, but now, I'm beginning to wonder....

 

[armstrong]

I believe that if the price goes high enough, auction losers won't be able to see the name's auction history. Something about protecting the winning bidder's right to keep the closing price private.

 

[adoptabledomains]

I believe that if the price goes high enough, auction losers won't be able to see the name's auction history. Something about protecting the winning bidder's right to keep the closing price private.

You should see it in auction history under lost auctions, but won't be able to see the bid history.

 

[armstrong]

That's not the case with me. Once the auction's done, I never see any trace of lost auctions that went into the $X,XXX range. Does this mean that pool accounts are not created with the same access rights? If I have less rights than Mark, does it stand to reason that there are other more privileged individuals who have even more access rights than Mark? Hmm.

 

[Bionic]

Looks like it went to the 3rd highest bidder, you!

I was off the internet all January this year and in February
they just gave me MrFind.com after it dropped in December.
Looks like they take a couple months trying the top bidder, then
move down.

39807 They would try to charge in Oct, Nov
39805 They would try to charge in Dec, Jan
you - they would try to charge in Feb, March

 

[.com.net.org]

I also got a notice today that I won a bid that I know isn't in my current list. I do remember trying to get it months but can't remember the details. Even stranger, here are the details.
Domain Name Close Date (GMT) Winning Price Last Bid Date (GMT)
miles.info 2004-01-06 16:04:00 $60.00 2004-03-11 20:19:39

It shows it closed January 6th, yet I bid today?

Then I look at bid details:

Bidding History for miles.info
Bidder Max Bid Bid Date
You $60.00 2004-03-11 20:19:39
87475 $60.00 2004-03-11 20:19:09
87473 $60.00 2004-01-03 04:03:28

There were two apparent bids yesterday and I got it. Don't get me wrong, I do want the domain and even the whois record shows it in my name. I assume I'll get the login in a day or so.

Could there have been a non-paying bidder that has resulted in these going to next on list? I have not received an explanation. I just wonder if I have other surprises coming my way soon. In my case, it appears I was actually third. Maybe the second is no longer registered or also did not pay.

Anyone else?

How can you explain this.
There're 3 bidders with the same bid.
But why it's YOU who get it?
Another 2 bidders are 'POOL'?

 

[nitronet]

We all know Pool is a shill bidding scam.

The only way to beat them is not to bid high amounts. Once they stop cleaning us out of our $$$ they will lose registrars and stop getting so many domains.

The reality is this...even though you just gotta get that certain name today, if you don't, it's really no big deal because there will be more "gotta have" names tomorrow.

I'm bidding much more often on Namewinner now and getting some names at bargain prices compared to Pool.

Stop playing Pool's scam game.

 

[seeker]

interestingly enough (is there such a word?), If quite a few of us got together and compared our 'auction notes' we peobably could provide enough proof that something isnt right.
BUT, and it's a big BUT, pool does catch names that others apparently can't. And since we are in a free economy, I guess they deserver some credit for that. Why hasnt the competition caught up with them???

I am not blaming the competition, I am just saying that perhaps they should wake up and smell the coffee, or tea, or tequila, or whatever it is they should be smelling

 

[Nameable]

I'm bidding much more often on Namewinner now and getting some names at bargain prices compared to Pool.

Us too, but not because of any love-hate relationship with pool, more because it's the most cost-effective way to do it. We don't use pool for any name that isn't worth at least low $xxx any more.

 

[mole]

Being played by a ghost bidder trying to extract the maximum amount of revenue for a name caught is pure commercial sense, imho. Nobody will ever know anyway. If I were a registrar and was the one who caught the name for Pool, I would do the same thing. After all, there are a lot of fools out there who deserve to have their money taken away, so no big shakes.

What is most worrying, is that people can get away with it.Transparency in the system ... you wish ... Grab every cent you have .. yup, welcome to the Internet, welcome to the honeypot for sucking money irregardless of ethics.

 

[adoptabledomains]

BUT, and it's a big BUT, pool does catch names that others apparently can't. And since we are in a free economy, I guess they deserver some credit for that. Why hasnt the competition caught up with them???

It's still a game of chance and odds. Pool did'nt do well for me last week. Here's my score for the week on names that were entered at Pool, NW, AND Enom. This list is ONLY names I entered in ALL 3 services. I did also pick up a few on enom and NW that were less than pool's $60 minimum.

Enom: 3 Catches - 2 with no other bidders, 1 outbid & lost (+2 for me)
Namewinner: 2 Catches - 1 no bidders, 1 won in auction (+2 for me)
Pool: 3 Catches - 1 no bidders, 2 lost in auction. (+1 for me)

I have also wondered how the services queue their lists. Obviously a large list is submitted to the registry and takes computer cycles to go through. I've often wondered if domains with higher bids and more potential bidders end up first on the queue, or get listed several times in the queue list to increase odds of income maximization for the catch service.

 

[Giantpanda]

September last year, I was outbid by a higher bidder at $110, and then I was informed in December that I had won the domain. I was charged $60 and I was happy with this price.