OnlineDomain.com Domain Name News & Opinions
I was entering my proxy bids on a few domain name auction houses I am following and when I got to Namejet I saw that ChristianTelevison.com was ending today so I thought that I would make a small bid.
Just as I was hitting submit I noticed that the domain name was a typo. It was ChristianTelevison.com and not ChristianTelevision.com.
I immediately wrote support to remove my bid and they replied that there was nothing they could do:
Unfortunately, once you place a bid on a domain, you are committed to that bid amount. The only thing we can do (and have done) is lower your proxy bid to your current high bid. We realize this was not much, it dropped from $xxx to $xxx. There are still several hours to this auction ending, and hopefully you will be outbid and not have to worry about it. As you know, there are also many good strategies and uses for misspelled names, but again, perhaps you will be outbid shortly.
We know you are a long time NameJet partner, and sincerely appreciate your business with us all these years. We apologize that we are unable to remove your winning bid amount at this time.
What made me even angrier is that they tried to teach me how I could use a typo domain name. Really? How can I use it? I am waiting to learn from the great Namejet support.
Fortunately some other domainer outbid me and I will not end up paying for this domain name. But he will.
This happened to me once again 3-4 years ago. I ended up paying for the domain name and I dropped it the next year.
I didn’t learn my lesson so here we are again with Namejet that has been causing me constant problems. Either with backorders from previous years or with many cancelled auctions lately.
Maybe I am stupid but I am certainly mad with myself both for bidding on this domain and for still using Namejet.
So no more buying from Namejet for me unless it is a domain I can’t live without. And these domains are not a lot! There are plenty of other venues to buy domain names from and you can buy direct from domain name owners as well.
These companies should learn that it is more important to keep a long time customer happy than earning an extra $10. If you don’t keep the customer happy you will loose a lot more in the long run.
It is almost 2 years since I wrote this: Namejet support is first class. So now I take that back.
OnlineDomain.com - © Copyright 2012-2024 - All Rights Reserved
wow, didn’t know that namejet would cancel auctions easily or not do priority support for long-term partners. Then again, lucky you were outbid so no monetary damage was inflicted!
Another notch on the namejet belt. I think with the different companies joining forces, namejet will have to be more intune with their customers. Customer service there is to bad, deal with it attitude, didn’t they screw you a few weeks back.
This is the issue OK, when they screw you, when you want to back out, your locked in,,, IRONIC?
That’s not good gesture from NameJet and they should give first priority to their customers specially long time clients with good track record instead of $$$. Their loss but it’s good to see you were outbid and rest domainers need to be more cautious while placing bid.
NameJet said, “hopefully you will be outbid and not have to worry about it” and “there are also many good strategies and uses for misspelled names”…………Those are two very disturbing and condescending statements they have made to you and all Namejet customers……….I, like you, would like to know what their strategies are for missspeled domane names….And, if these strategies are successful, they should highlight or categorize the domain listing as a “misspell” to bidders so these strategies can be implemented……….As they said, “Hopefully you will be outbid and not have to worry about it”………So, let the next guy worry about it, huh?………Geeshhh…..
What is Namejet’s policy on profiting from Trademarks?
It’s all your fault.
I don’t know much about participating in auctions, but surely if the auctioneer allowed bidders to drop their bids at will the system would be ripe for abuse.
Real auctioneers don’t auction typos. A typo should be clearly marked.
Yes. Even people selling on Flippa/Sedo will honestly tell you if it is a typo. It’s only ethical
I’ve had the same experience a few times with NameJet. But, to be fair, canceling bids during an auction is a bit problematic, since bidding by mistake can provoke higher bids from others; and bids that vanish appear suspicious. An auction platform can handle this — depending on timing. And I believe they should.
But it’s a bit tricky to implement … in terms of code, in terms of policy, and in terms of PR. Right now, NameJet’s customer service department isn’t really armed to be flexible; and that can be really annoying for human beings who, as a species, have been known to make mistakes.
I remember actually buying this typo 3 years ago in a Sedo auction:
RefinanceMortage.co.uk
After I noticed my mistake, Sedo gave me the same song and dance about how useful typo domains like this could be. Refund denied. Back then .co.uk domains were a 2-year proposition; so I had to see that blunder staring me in the face for a good long while. Embarrassing.
When they stop auctioning typos and TMs they can have a policy. Until then they can’t.
Their customer support is never any help.
Let’s see how angry Taryn will be for winning this garbage.
Hi Konstantinos, wanted to first say I love your blog! 🙂
That said, I do have a different opinion on this subject than you.
All auctions houses (Sedo, Godaddy, Namejet, Snapnames,…) accept misspellings in their listings and I’m pretty sure not many of them (if any) will allow to take your bid back if by “accident” you made a bid on a (misspelled) domain.
Is this ethical? Maybe not but in the end you can’t deny it looks shady to other bidders when bids magically disappear from an auction. So Namejet, and other auction houses, are simply looking at their reputation first by making sure they don’t break their own policies (i.e. withdrawn a bid on any domain).
BTW, I’m also a long term customer of Namejet and I have at one point paid for a misspelled domain.
“So Namejet, and other auction houses, are simply looking at their reputation first by making sure they don’t break their own policies (i.e. withdrawn a bid on any domain).”
This is funny! lol
Reputation… Give me a break.
I don’t have a problem with bidders deleted from an auction. It brings the price down. I don’t know who does…
I agree with Elena. They shall not withdraw any valid bids. On the other side their comments about how to use such a domain and hoping to be outbid were unprofessional. Everyone should read careful what domain to backorder and bid on. They can’t even make a comment about misspelled domain, imagine every cvcv would have a comment “this is not a real English word” but it could still mean something by any other languages.
When a bid is clearly a mistake like with a typo or entering $10000 instead of $100 bids should be withdrawn.
All should be examined case by case. I have bought thousands of domains and I have bid on 2 typos in 12 years.
That pretty much says who I am and if the bid was malicious.
When a domain is a typo they should mark it as one. I could understand it then if their imaginary spelling system missed one or two french typos.
But they don’t even try and there is a reason for this. They try to squeeze every last penny.
I remember some guy called Lawrence that did place two greedy morons in charge of most of his empire. Some Jeff and Monte.
With Jeff in the lead, they’ve shaved hard all Snapnames and Moniker affiliates (they wheer just deleting all or most commissions from whoever earned more then few hundred $/month as affiliate).
Monte did f*ck over all Moniker & Snapnames affiliates on order and he was expecting they would keep him. But when his contract (deal when he sold Snapnames) ended, they’ve kicked him in butt and f*ck him over with his bonuses.
And Jeff went soon after him.
These two morons thought they are too smart and everybody is dumb so they could scam every affiliate without affiliates reacting.
But somehow, affiliates where not that stupid and start promoting other afetrmarket and Snapnames went to sh!t and got sold.
I’ve repeatedly e-mailed Lawrence to his private e-mail with evidence – screenshots, screencap videos and screenshots of e-mail communication with Jeff & Monte where they admit they manipulate whatever they want. And Lawrence never did replied.
And I think everybody here knows how once empire Oversee.net ended.
But somehow, Namejet thinks they can place a game with their custommers few $ and it won’t have impact. Hmmm.
And the new owner is “NAME ADMINISTRATION INC.”.
Does Frank know something I don’t? I guess so.
Frank owns many typo domains and are parked. Not sure how it fares for him.
Everyone must take responsibility for their actions. Complaining like a child about your own mistake is a cop out!
I do and I said I was stupid.
But the customer is always right. My customers do mistakes and I accept it and do extra work because of it and I never tell them “it’s your fault, deal with it”.
I agree with what namejet did. It was really your fault for not reading the domain correctly before bidding and they were generous to lower your proxy. All bids are binding it’s in their terms of service. You complain a lot dude, shill! You got outbidded anyways! It would be a disaster if people could just cancel bids by simply saying it was “a mistake”.
I said it was my fault. But their terms of service is toilet paper.
All should be examined case by case. I have bought thousands of domains and I have bid on 2 typos in 12 years.
That pretty much says who I am and if the bid was malicious. This was not a disaster and Frank would have paid $330 instead of $420.
No let’s see what their terms of service say about this:
I won a domain, paid for it, whois was updated with my details, the domain was refunded without any reason and now the domain still has my details.
Web – Don’t blame the messenger……It takes a lot of courage to post the truth about an industry that has become so politicized.
Konstantinos – Mad props to you for always reporting the truth and holding irresponsible behavior accountable, for that the entire domain industry benefits.
that’s why I don’t place any high bids anymore on backorders from Namejet. We had some domains that we totally forgot about and suddenly we were a winner.
When you have made a mistake, you need to bear with it.
What NameJet did was right. How can you expect bids to be deleted!!
You have to take the responsibility for it.
This post and your logic does not make sense to me.
I am a big fan of this blog but this one doesn’t make sense to me!
Did you read what I wrote in the post and comments? I guess not.
Let me explain it a bit further.
They can do whatever they want because their terms say so. And when we do a simple mistake they say they we can’t do anything.
The domainer’s logic is to take all the shit coming to you. Be my guest.
I will not.
All auction houses in the world are required to have a description of the item they are selling.
Most domain auction houses just piss on this rule. You could be bidding on and IDN looking like a ASCII domain and no one will bother to tell you.
If all sales are final like my bid then I want the domains I have won and were refunded.
Got it?
You should update that other post at the top and link to this article Konstantinos.
I’ve gotten F#$&D by NameJet many times.