Greek banks think GoDaddy is a betting company!

This has happened to me many times but I have never written about it before.

Whenever I sell a domain name through GoDaddy or Afternic when the wire arrives in Greece it gets stuck at my bank before hitting my company bank account. They always call me from my branch to ask me what the wire transfer is about and request some kind of paperwork. I usually have to send them an invoice and maybe some other details as well. Then and only then they will release the funds in my account.

It turns out that the National Bank of Greece, that oversees all incoming and outgoing wire transfers in Greece over a certain amount, has GoDaddy flagged as a betting company. So my bank has to produce the paperwork to the National Bank of Greece so as to prove this is a domain name sale and not some illegal or undocumented betting income.

I have tried to explain to them many times that GoDaddy is a big public company in the US with many employees and customers around the world but nothing. As you can understand the somewhat ridiculous GoDaddy brand name does not help.

The same thing happens when I send a wire transfer to GoDaddy. But this never happens when I pay GoDaddy by credit card. Credit card payments to GoDaddy never have any problems.

Wire transfers (incoming or outgoing) never get stuck with any other company: Escrow.com, Dan, Domain Agents, Sedo, etc.

This is really frustrating and in the case of outgoing wire transfers I may lose an expired domain purchase if the wire is delayed even for one day. (You all know GoDaddy has this ancient domain auction system that is not flexible at all…)

Is anybody else, especially in the European Union, having similar issues? The particular issue could be related to the European Central Bank.

Sold.Domains

About Konstantinos Zournas

I studied Computer Engineering and Computer Science in London, UK and I am now living in Athens, Greece. I went online in 1995, started coding in 1996 and began buying domain names and creating websites in 2000. I started the OnlineDomain.com blog in 2012.

12 comments

  1. Yes I had this issue when GoDaddy sent me money for my second sale of life i.e. Sandyhurricane.com in 2012-13 I guess.
    I needed to explain them what is a domain and that it will fall under software ecommerce. They then informed reserve bank of india and then my money was released.
    After it , it happened once with escrow when I got payment for 27000 usd for a domain brokerage sale in 2016. I needed to give them undertaking on a paper that it’s not unauthorised money and will again fall under software ecommerce. They then released the money.

    • Konstantinos Zournas

      The Greek national bank checks all wires above a certain amount. I think it is $10k or $15k.

      • Bank people in 2016 told me that according to indian remittance rules if the money sender is non hindu ( diff religion of mine) or somebody who is not my family member, there are some protocols to be followed and only after that they will Release money. Actually in all these cases money got locked by the head branch of my bank ( axis bank) located at mumbai. My branch people said they cannot do anything in this and i have to provide them with undertaking.
        When i Receive money by Western union , 8/10 times i have to provide then undertaking that i have done business and that’s why money was sent.
        Last to last month I sold Slade360.com to a company in Kenya and the sender was Christian so i needed to provide undertaking to Western union about my sale and then they released money.
        Dan and GoDaddy works fine. Dan transfers money via ( neft ) which is like local bank transfer. I guess dan has opened an Indian bank account. Same happened with GoDaddy last month for the sale of hyphen360. Although the sale happened via GoDaddy usa but money was sent by GoDaddy india by local bank transfer,hence no questions asked this time by bank.

  2. Their brand name is ubiquitous but still terrible… it looks a charge for some porn service on your credit card statements. I have even wondered sometimes how many couples broke up because of that.

  3. To be fair, many of my domain investments are probably a form of gambling 🙂

    • Konstantinos Zournas

      That is why I don’t gamble! “Domain gambling” is enough for me.

      • Hello Konstantinos,
        Lately its a gamble getting out of Bed. Buying (.COM EPA’s) 25 years ago,is the best gamble of my life. My best stock pick was ISRG (Intuitive Surgical) ALL under 20$ a share, but this pales compared to the ROI’s We have received from (.COM EPA’s ) JAS 4/23/2021

        Gratefully and Respectfully, Jeff Schneider (CONTACT GROUP} Metal Tiger, Former ( Rockefeller I.B.E.C. Marketing Analyst/Strategist) (Licensed C.B.O.E. Commodity Hedge Strategist) ( Domain Master) ( UseBiz.com )

  4. Hello Konstantinos,
    We are glad you brought this up. We all along felt they would eventually Rebrand.
    They finally got rid of their hair on fire logo, now they need a professional image Name.
    JAS 4/23/2021

    Gratefully and Respectfully, Jeff Schneider (CONTACT GROUP} Metal Tiger, Former ( Rockefeller I.B.E.C. Marketing Analyst/Strategist) (Licensed C.B.O.E. Commodity Hedge Strategist) ( Domain Master) ( UseBiz.com )

  5. Hello Konstantinos,

    The Emergence of (.COM-Centric Marketing) will reveal the Strategic Superiority of the (.COM Extension).Universal acceptance of our strategies will thrust our nations Equity Infrastructure back to its previous Global Leadership Position. To promote this happening,We will be writing a book : (The One Extension That Rules Them All) JAS 4/23/2021

    Gratefully and Respectfully, Jeff Schneider (CONTACT GROUP} Metal Tiger, Former ( Rockefeller I.B.E.C. Marketing Analyst/Strategist) (Licensed C.B.O.E. Commodity Hedge Strategist) ( Domain Master) ( UseBiz.com )

  6. Hello Konstantinos,
    Would you or anyone else consider a corporation Patriotic, that has decimated our Equity Infrastructure ? Google has destroyed 1000s of Start-Ups. We used to be the leading creator of Equity Infrastructure in the world before Google came along and destroyed our Global leadership Position. JAS 4/172021

    Gratefully and Respectfully, Jeff Schneider (CONTACT GROUP} Metal Tiger, Former ( Rockefeller I.B.E.C. Marketing Analyst/Strategist) (Licensed C.B.O.E. Commodity Hedge Strategist) ( Domain Master) ( UseBiz.com )

    • Hello Konstantinos,

      We are expecting Good news for all (.com EPA) holders.

      Usebiz.com or USeBiz.com , has multiple Target Markets, this interchangeability is rare. (Buy AMERICAN MOVEMENT)

      See” https://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/stories/2000/08/07/story8.html

      Gratefully and Respectfully, Jeff Schneider (CONTACT GROUP} Metal Tiger, Former ( Rockefeller I.B.E.C. Strategic Marketing Analyst/Strategist) (Licensed C.B.O.E. Commodity Hedge Strategist) ( Domain Master) ( UseBiz.com)

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