Non-completing Sedo buyers

[Alien]

So, I've had two auction sales cancelled by Sedo this week, both down to buyer problems.

First one: Buyer paid for a .co.uk domain, failed to transfer and use Nominet forms posted to him - cancelled by Sedo.

Second one: Buyer won auction on non UK name, failed to pay for it - cancelled by Sedo.

I have the contact details for both and am informed by Sedo that I can take "private action" if I wish. I don't see the point though TBH - waste of time and energy.

Question is, what do Sedo do to the accounts of non-completing bidders/buyers as they appear to have no teeth in helping you to enforce a sale, just passing it back to you?

Admittedly, this has only happened 2/3 times now and I hope it's the last time!

 

[tekz999]

yes it happened to one of my .mobi sale as well recently
damn that non-paying buyer :twisted:

 

[beeno]

I don't really know much about sedo, used them once for an evaluation and that's it and I was not really impressed with the service but how can they inforce any sale? surley everyone has the right to back out of any purchase of anything anywhere. If you don't have the actual item in question and for what ever reason decide not to buy it then that has to stand. I know on websites they say you have entered into an agreement like on ebay but seriously who has ever been infront of the beak for it.

What they need is a prepaid auction, like many offline actions, where you pay say 500 quid into the pot and this is non refundable if you make a bid and then pull you losse the deposit and it goes to the seller who lost a sale. If you make no bids you get you 500 back.

Maybe that's to much like common sense though.

 

[Americar]

I think that maybe you have to ask your sedo account manager is the high bidder that you are going to accept the offer from a "Certified Sedo Member" if not then ask the Sedo rep to tell the buyer to get certified before you accept the offer ...

 

[Alien]

Question is, what do Sedo do to the accounts of non-completing bidders/buyers as they appear to have no teeth in helping you to enforce a sale, just passing it back to you?

Interesting experiences/comments - thanks.

It would be nice if Sedo would officially comment on this thread, that's if they've even seen the above question?

 

[sedo]

Hi Alien,

Sorry for not posting on this sooner. When people don't pay or don't complete the necessary steps to complete a transfer (that could be a buyer or seller, but is usually a buyer), we can lock them from making further bids on domains, from selling through our marketplace, or suspend their accounts completely. Our tech team is currently working very hard at the moment on a project that we hope will improve our auction system and hopefully reduce the amount of such cases in the future.

If you want to PM the two domains transfers that you had cancelled, I can check for you if this has been done.

Regards,

Shaun

[email protected]

 

[Alex-Z]

I accepted a potential buyer's offer for my domain a week ago and nothing has happened yet. I suspect the person doesn't really want to buy it. I asked the account manager whether the buyer is in the process of making the payment but I didn't get an answer to my question

 

[Admin]

It's a contract they agreed to, tell them you will pursue them for the money if they don't follow through...

 

[itrends]

Had a buyer not pay on a .com a few weeks back too. About to jump ship from Sedo once I get a few hours put by to relocate all the domains.

 

[itrends]

I accepted a potential buyer's offer for my domain a week ago and nothing has happened yet. I suspect the person doesn't really want to buy it. I asked the account manager whether the buyer is in the process of making the payment but I didn't get an answer to my question

Same thing happened to me, tried three different "support" emails to try and find out what was going on. Not 1 reply. Then 2 weeks later I get an email saying it's all cancelled. Terrible experience.

 

[sedo]

Hello Alex-Z and itrends,

Alex-Z - please PM me the domain so I can have a look at this for you. Itrends - although it is a little late for your transfer, feel free to do the same so I can least check who didn't reply.

To both of you - I apologise sincerely if you feel you were not kept informed about this; it is certainly unacceptable that there were no answers to your e-mails. Although I reiterate that we cannot force a buyer to pay if for some reason he decides not to, we can and do punish them by locking them from bidding again or suspending their accounts. There is also the possibility of legal action from the sellers, as Admin points out in this thread.

Again, none of this alters the fact that you should still should have had replies to your queries, and I apologise again for that.

Regards,

Shaun

[email protected]

 

[Edwin]

I just had a ridiculous situation that I negotiated back and forth on a domain I was buying - including personalised comments from the seller, not just form responses - agreed the price, transferred the money to Sedo and THEN was informed by Sedo that allegedly the domain was no longer the seller's to sell! My gut instinct, since the domain (a .com) was and still is shrouded by Whois Privacy, is that the seller got cold feet at the price and wanted to hang onto the domain in the hope of getting more for it...

On the upside, Sedo refunded the money in full within 48 hours, but it's crazy that this kind of thing can go on without any kind of verification.

 

[Alex-Z]

Same thing happened to me, tried three different "support" emails to try and find out what was going on. Not 1 reply. Then 2 weeks later I get an email saying it's all cancelled. Terrible experience.

They did reply to me, but they didn't answer my question as to what was going on. Sedo make it very clear that offers received are legally binding for the buyer, so I definitely want to know what's going on.