Sedo - threats, negligence and EUR200 stolen?
This post isn't just to release some steam but also just to see whether I'm alone in having this problem with Sedo.com.
I decided to buy a short domain name for a text message (SMS) advertising campaign as our normal one takes too many characters. I found a two-letter .nu domain name and offered the EUR250 asked for. The seller cam back and said that due to the EUR200 commission fee of Sedo he'd need to charge me EUR350 - fair enough, so I offered this. The offer was accepted and I paid immediately! Yay! This was on January 30th.
Promptly - the next day - I was told to open an account at the same registrar which I did. I provided the username as requested. The next day I was told the seller had a complete a transfer of ownership form - fine.
I then hear nothing for a week but on the 8th Feb I see two forms have been added. The thing was the forms didn't have any of my details on and were not for the registry namecheap but for names.nu themselves. The form seemed to be trying to change the registrar together with the registrant. I phone names.nu themselves who then explained that namescheap cannot transfer ownership for .nu domains and so a change of registrar form needed to be completed before they could change the registrant. They advised that even if the right form had been used the seller still needs to allow for registrar transfer as apparently this was 'locked'. So I fed this back to Sedo.com on 9th February. I has angered that I had to prove this as surely this is what the EUR200 commission is for?
Since the 9th February I have got nowhere. Sedo.com ignore most of my messages and when they do reply, seem to be selective about which points they answer. They haven't acknowledged this problem at all.
Losing my temper and having to buy a unregistered name for my campaign to avoid further time loss, I told Sedo I would contact the seller and tell him the sale cannot proceed due to Sedo.com's failure. They replied to my very long and detailed communication with, '
I have informed the seller that you will be contacting him directly.
The seller has replied, clueless that there is any problem and rather confused, he states his English is poor, and I don't speak Swedish. I detailed the 7 points clearly to Sedo again on the 14th February. On the 15th again, Sedo told me they had told the seller I would contact him directly? Still refusing to acknowledge any issue. I have messages them again on the 15th, 16th and 17th only to be ignored.
I have told Sedo.com that I can no longer go ahead, the additional time-taken has been entirely down to their failure, and they have offered no resolution and no timescales. When asking to cancel I was simply met with a link to their T&C's and a reminder that the sale is 'legally binding'.
And so they are sat there offering no solution, withholding my funds and meanwhile I have no domain name. The only reason I used Sedo was precisely to avoid this kind of situation.
What would you guys do in this position? Has this ever happened to any of you?
This post isn't just to release some steam but also just to see whether I'm alone in having this problem with Sedo.com.
I decided to buy a short domain name for a text message (SMS) advertising campaign as our normal one takes too many characters. I found a two-letter .nu domain name and offered the EUR250 asked for. The seller cam back and said that due to the EUR200 commission fee of Sedo he'd need to charge me EUR350 - fair enough, so I offered this. The offer was accepted and I paid immediately! Yay! This was on January 30th.
Promptly - the next day - I was told to open an account at the same registrar which I did. I provided the username as requested. The next day I was told the seller had a complete a transfer of ownership form - fine.
I then hear nothing for a week but on the 8th Feb I see two forms have been added. The thing was the forms didn't have any of my details on and were not for the registry namecheap but for names.nu themselves. The form seemed to be trying to change the registrar together with the registrant. I phone names.nu themselves who then explained that namescheap cannot transfer ownership for .nu domains and so a change of registrar form needed to be completed before they could change the registrant. They advised that even if the right form had been used the seller still needs to allow for registrar transfer as apparently this was 'locked'. So I fed this back to Sedo.com on 9th February. I has angered that I had to prove this as surely this is what the EUR200 commission is for?
Since the 9th February I have got nowhere. Sedo.com ignore most of my messages and when they do reply, seem to be selective about which points they answer. They haven't acknowledged this problem at all.
Losing my temper and having to buy a unregistered name for my campaign to avoid further time loss, I told Sedo I would contact the seller and tell him the sale cannot proceed due to Sedo.com's failure. They replied to my very long and detailed communication with, '
I have informed the seller that you will be contacting him directly.
The seller has replied, clueless that there is any problem and rather confused, he states his English is poor, and I don't speak Swedish. I detailed the 7 points clearly to Sedo again on the 14th February. On the 15th again, Sedo told me they had told the seller I would contact him directly? Still refusing to acknowledge any issue. I have messages them again on the 15th, 16th and 17th only to be ignored.
I have told Sedo.com that I can no longer go ahead, the additional time-taken has been entirely down to their failure, and they have offered no resolution and no timescales. When asking to cancel I was simply met with a link to their T&C's and a reminder that the sale is 'legally binding'.
And so they are sat there offering no solution, withholding my funds and meanwhile I have no domain name. The only reason I used Sedo was precisely to avoid this kind of situation.
What would you guys do in this position? Has this ever happened to any of you?
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