Comments on: Moniker/Snapnames accidentally sell the wrong domain

By: dch

dch — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 19:33:56 +0000

monte, I am sure Richard appreciates your heartfelt apology above. Your respect for domain owners shines through with every word.

By: monte

monte — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 16:27:45 +0000

all names are validated before the auction. none of the names were sold here that were not owned. the forwarding to sites noted above have nothing to do with moniker…the owner has the right to forward domains to any site they want to.

the names on the list are initial names considered for auction only…they are only considered and it is clearly stated on the email and notices

before auction, any names that do not match owner info are pulled and fall into our erroneous submission policy and process….that is why we have it.

thanks

By: RichardK

RichardK — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 04:53:05 +0000

They didn’t even email me to confirm.

By: RichardK

RichardK — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 04:38:09 +0000

Check this out Adam. Monte has listed one of my domains on the TRAFFIC auction list and I didn’t even give him authority to do it. Footballjerseys.com is not for sale !!

By: Stephen Douglas

Stephen Douglas — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 12:42:27 +0000

Many systems are growing, learning, and adjusting. The honesty of the process is what’s at stake, not the sadness of the buyer who realizes their lottery ticket was misprinted. Moniker and Snapnames are working hard to make their systems strong and dependable. I’ve never had a problem with them, and I’ve sold over 100 domains with them in the last year for good profits.

I understand the concern, and the “suggestions” to fix the problem, but I also know that Mason and his team will be all over this to prevent it from happening again. The unfortunate miscommunication in this case doesn’t diminish the fact that Snapnames and Moniker are at the top of the domain industry service of selling domains in a professional venue.

It’s a story, but nothing to start pulling our hair out. I’d rather talk about Godaddy’s 60 day hold on your domain from a comma change in your whois registration listing. Funny that this issue isn’t talked about heavily.

By: Adam Strong

Adam Strong — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 04:38:42 +0000

Thanks for weighing in Mason. This story was reported to us and I am fortunate enough to know all the parties involved and was able to get access to the full story. We followed the trail and talked to all involved in the mess. It’s an important story that points out that bad things do happen even to the best of us. I think it is just as important for registrars/auction houses to implement best practices, as it is for individual domainers. The owner was fortunately watching and caught the error early enough. The situation could have been much worse for the owner and your company(s)

By: Mason Cole

Mason Cole — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 21:40:02 +0000

Adam and Frank –

This was an unfortunate employee error. Thankfully we reversed the sale and restored the name to the previous registrant. I wanted to assure the two of you and your readers that we’re using the situation as a way to re-examine best practices. I think everyone is aware of SnapNames’ long reputation for integrity — Oversee, SnapNames and Moniker intend to make sure that remains intact.

By: AU

AU — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 04:22:35 +0000

I had a similar situation with Moniker. I purchased a domain in one of their major auctions and paid for it. Turned out that the seller did not own the domain, my money was refunded and I was not too happy.

I strongly recommended that they implement a simple check as Stuart suggested but I guess that never happened. Even free newsletters require an email confirmation… why wouldn’t someone claiming to sell something worth $1000’s in an auction also be required to do the same?

By: Conor Neu

Conor Neu — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 22:18:43 +0000

It is ridiculous that an auction house sell anything without confirming the seller actually owns a specific piece of property. Often times a true auction house will go beyond that and verify authenticity of a product as well. They will also help bring in the buyers as well, as opposed to piggybacking conferences, but that is a seperate complaint.

Moniker/Snapnames seem to be in it for the quick money, not the business. They have a long way to go before being viewed as reliable auction houses.

By: Drew

Drew — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 20:00:06 +0000

This is the problem with no firewall between the auction house and the registrar involved.

If the name had been at a registrar not owned by snapname, this wouldn’t have been able to happen.