For Sale Pool must be bidding in its own auctions and running up prices

[nitronet]

The auctions for the last 4 or 5 names I won at Pool.com, I would bid my top amount hours before the auction would end and I was intentionally bidding odd amounts.

Every time, the auction ended with the high bid exactly my bid or just under at the next lower 10 dollar increment. (I was always the winner)

There is no way that my real competition is stopping their bidding just before they would outbid me every time. The only answer is that Pool itself is running up the auctions because they are the only ones that know my top bid. So why would they leave money on the table when there is no way for them to get caught.

The only way to win at Pool.com is not to play.

By the time they run up all the bids there are no reasonable deals to be found there anymore anyway.

Be real careful at Pool because you'll probably wind up paying much more than any name is really worth.

I'm done with them...

 

[companyone]

Hi,

I agree... there is NO doubt that pool is doing this. If you think they are not....your kidding yourself.

I do not know if the WLS is going to be good or not...but when pool can not play the game they play...the better.

I do not know about Namewinner....But my guess is they are doing it also, maybe not on quite the scale as Pool.


Its like trying to play poker...and your the only blind person at the table.

Makes it pretty hard to get a fair shake on every hand.


Dan

 

[.biz]

I'm done with them...

Congrats!


I never started with them...

 

[clemzonguy]

One of the reasons for not showing your cards until the last moment.....but if they are running up proxy bids to the max on every person at pool think about the large scale impact it would have on all bidders. So far I haven't paid over 1K at pool for a name. And I'm pretty sure one of the auctions that I won the person stopped bidding 10 before my proxy also now that I think about it.

These guys are in canada and they can do whatever the hell they want.

 

[mole]

Its like trying to play poker...and your the only blind person at the table.

Yes. like (bah) to the slaughter.

Let the WLS come, and soon.

 

[Manu]

WLS may come but Pool will still operate on the other TLD's and who's to say it wont setup a backordering WLS auction for WLS slots on names it may purge during the big bang

 

[nitronet]

Looking back, one of the names Pool bid up to almost 30K was each.com and it still doesn't have a whois record and its been at least a couple months. Guess they must have won that one, greedy idiots.

As far as the other services go, I think Namewinner is legit, a few months ago I put in a top bid of 10K on a name and wound up getting the name for $2500.00.

But, POOL.com is a scam.

 

[888]

There's some suspicious biddings I think, not sure its Pool themselves, kids or anti-Pool (or WLS supporter?) trying to spoil the party? But either way its not amusing. I think you deserve an answer from Pool.

 

[nitronet]

There's some suspicious biddings I think, not sure its Pool themselves, kids or anti-Pool (or WLS supporter?) trying to spoil the party? But either way its not amusing. I think you deserve an answer from Pool.

What do you think Pool's answer will be? No offense but DUH...

How would kids or "anti-pool" know when to stop bidding so they don't win?

Nobody other than Pool knows what our top bids are and they are the only ones with anything to gain and nothing to lose by bidding the auctions up.

 

[Fearless]

There's some suspicious biddings I think, not sure its Pool themselves, kids or anti-Pool (or WLS supporter?) trying to spoil the party?

Kids don't know your bid. Pool does. These Pool guys are greedy bastards. They've made hundreds of thousands of dollars in a short amount of time. Not only do they run up bids (my assumption), they also went to extended time auctions, changed affiliate commissions from 25% to 10% and now they went from affiliate commission payments net30 to net60. As if they don't have enough money in the bank to cover commissions.

I've had it with Pool. Too many times I've made odd ball proxy bids and ended up getting the name for my exact bid or a dollar less. I wish they were an honest company and I could feel comfortable making proxy bids. I've made huge proxy bids at Namewinner and got the name for a small fraction of my proxy bid. I'd never do the same at Pool.

 

[Nexus]

Come on guys. Pool has to pay its registrars the amount they promised per day, and they have to make good on their investments and future security. Just because they're robbing you blind is no reason to float theories about highly suspicious bidding activity. Where's the love?

Guilty or not, it does make you wonder if they've thought enough ahead to be able to pass a court ordered independant audit with flying colors.

Hey, has anyone made the "If you go in the Pool, expect to get soaked?" pun yet? Kind of obvious, but it seems to match the situation lately.

~ Nexus

 

[Theo]

Simple rule - applies to all gambling: don't bid more than what you intended to bid. Don't play games with the dealer of the cards.

 

[Nexus]

Simple rule - applies to all gambling: don't bid more than what you intended to bid. Don't play games with the dealer of the cards.

--But if the house is cheating, it kind of justifies a degree of outrage. In the Wild West, one would even get a small metal souvenir to take with them on their way to the next life. :cheeky: Even in gambling, you have to have principles. I don't think anyone in this thread was crying because their bank account was empty.

~ Nexus

 

[Deleted member 4749]

Pool.com is among most freadulent companies in domain industry.
IMO.
I think not only they
- bid themselves to maximize the selling price of domains,
- cut their misleading comission system (remember when it started, "someone has to click trough your link every time they want to backorder something in order for you to get the referral share")
but also
- catch domains that are available for registration that you didn't order and charge you $60 for that.

Pool is full of crap.

 

[Theo]

Post the proof here then. Anyone can allege anything. The way you phrase your statements above you are only asking to hear from Pool's lawyers.

 

[Nexus]

- catch domains that are available for registration that you didn't order and charge you $60 for that.

Don't forget their wonderful hot "blackmail" list. "You don't have to bid with us, but if you don't come in early enough, we may just publicize the name you want with the rest of our customers... and more than likely someone else will. So... come on in or miss out. Your choice."

In all seriousness, its a nice feature, but there's the point when you decide to go elsewhere, and you realize the lingering implications.

~ Nexus

 

[Deleted member 4749]

Post the proof here then. Anyone can allege anything. The way you phrase your statements above you are only asking to hear from Pool's lawyers.

Do you offer me to hack their system and get the source code or what?

There is no need to prove anything.

Just ask yourself a question why pool doesn't disclose the bidder?
Why pool gets you names you didn't backorder?
Why auction often close a small fraction below your proxy bid?
Why did they established a misleading affiliate program at the beginning? And soon after that dicreased the comission rate by 60%?

 

[Deleted member 4749]

Don't forget their wonderful hot "blackmail" list. "You don't have to bid with us, but if you don't come in early enough, we may just publicize the name you want with the rest of our customers... and more than likely someone else will. So... come on in or miss out. Your choice."

In all seriousness, its a nice feature, but there's the point when you decide to go elsewhere, and you realize the lingering implications.

~ Nexus

And yea, don't forget "We respect users privacy and will not disclose domains that are backordered"

And sure enough, they now posting the best backordered domains on their front page k:

 

[Theo]

There is a huge difference between bidding like a maniac and either losing the high bid or your underpants in the process and being defrauded by a crook. Again, if you have specific proof that Pool.com and its affiliates are fraudsters I'd welcome your particular details here. Or why don't you contact the competent lawyers of this forum to file a class action suit?

Just talking out the mouth is easier.

 

[Nexus]

And sure enough, they now posting the best backordered domains on their front page k:

They sure are.

~ Nexus