Snapnames at it AGAIN!

[iDestroyer]

on 24th Jan 2024, I won an auction where me and one other person/bot [two of us] was taking part in. I got the email that "Congratulations, you successfully won domain.com in auction."

same day made the payment and "Congratulations on your recent acquisition of domain.com!
We have processed your payment and have initiated ownership transfer. You will be contacted with additional information within 72 hours."

72hours and plus few more days passes, on 2nd Feb I was concern so contacted support replied "We are currently working on getting your domain moved to an accessible account. We appreciate your patience. I will follow up once the domain is accessible." I waited out more.

6th Feb 2024 got an email that "A refund has been issued for order #number". along with the following email:
"Recently, you won a domain in our system that was unfortunately listed in error. As such, we will need to cancel the auction and issue you a refund for the following domain:"

I will spare you the personal opinions and spilling out my frustration. took them least 15 days to find this error. I Just wanted to share this "fine" experience.

Bill Hartzer had the same/similar experience: https://www.namepros.com/threads/sn...-to-prior-owner-after-win.494429/page-2#posts

 

[jberryhill]

Bill Hartzer had the same/similar experience:

That thread is from 2008. Children born when that thread was posted are going to be getting their driving licenses soon. If I made two mistakes in fifteen years, I'd be doing pretty good.

What was the status of the domain name at the time of the auction? Knowing the domain name would be helpful to look back and check.

What is it that you want Snapnames to do if a name is listed in error? In the thread you reference, someone was selling the .net but an employee keyed in the .com, so it's not as if they could go get the .com name.

 

[iDestroyer]

domain name: digitalmarketingblog .com and I dont think domain was expired. whois looked normal to me like someone owns it. no one was selling .net I already own digitalmarketingblog. net domain name. I don't want snapnames to do anything. I was just sharing that this happened. I won the auction and paid $70 USD

 

[jberryhill]

It looks like it may have gone into auto-renew grace back in September 2023, but was definitely renewed through 2024 by November 2023.

The non private WHOIS suggests it is owned by dne.com which has an inquiry form on their website. I wonder if they know it was listed for auction.

 

[Acroplex]

As John said, 2008 was a long time ago. It was my first TRAFFIC conference!

But wait: I just had a fresh experience in January 2024. Exactly the same parameters! Exactly the same process with exactly the same results.

@iDestroyer please DM me for a collaboration on action. Thanks!

 

[iDestroyer]

It looks like it may have gone into auto-renew grace back in September 2023, but was definitely renewed through 2024 by November 2023.

The non private WHOIS suggests it is owned by dne.com which has an inquiry form on their website. I wonder if they know it was listed for auction.

Thank you for your time and information. Appreciate it!

As John said, 2008 was a long time ago. It was my first TRAFFIC conference!

But wait: I just had a fresh experience in January 2024. Exactly the same parameters! Exactly the same process with exactly the same results.

@iDestroyer please DM me for a collaboration on action. Thanks!

DM sent to you.

 

[CarlosN]

Same problem here, I won 9 domains on January 23, all were refunded yesterday. I think all of them are owned by dne.com.

 

[Acroplex]

@CarlosN - Sorry to hear that, I thought 1 domain was frustrating and you had 9. Please DM me. It seems there are some players on the platform that when pricing isn't met they wiggle their way out of the auction results.

 

[iDestroyer]

Same problem here, I won 9 domains on January 23, all were refunded yesterday. I think all of them are owned by dne.com.

same it was owned by dne. com

 

[biggie]

players on the platform that when pricing isn't met they wiggle their way out

Hi

hasn't that always been the ultimate No-No in doing business?


imo...

 

[D Haynes]

Had the exact same experience end today with identical emails etc.

 

[Acroplex]

@D Haynes - Check your DM please.

 

[Acroplex]

Here we go. Looking for others who experienced the same that are willing to come forward. SnapNames must address this in a way that makes sense; these domains must be delivered at the price won by their bidders.

 

[D Haynes]

Completely agree. An explanation is definitely due.

One thing I've found to be the norm in the domain industry is that when a registrar/marketplace mess up, a refund and a "nevermind" is the best you can hope for. Never do you get an explanation or any kind of compensation (not even a couple of complimentary renewals on existing registrations).

 

[Foxtrot Mod Team]

Hello!
Welcome to NamePros!
This thread may be a better fit in reviews.

 

[varyemez]

Here we go. Looking for others who experienced the same that are willing to come forward. SnapNames must address this in a way that makes sense; these domains must be delivered at the price won by their bidders.

Hi Acroplex,

I can’t see your blog again. Turkey’s ip blocked again. Before you were resolved this problem. About snapnames&Namejet
unfortunately it is quite poorly managed. They make some decisions by getting advice from people who are not inside the company. I have been selling my domains in this company for about 10 years. On average, I was making sales of $2-3k every month. Last month, they kicked out many of their sellers, including me. They told us to take care of yourself. The company is losing power day by day, but no one cares. If they continue to make decisions like this without determining what the company's benefits are, I'm not sure if we'll see a snapnames&namejet in the future. They can write off their 10-year-old sellers with a single item.
But I regret to see that they continue to work with sellers who do not make the transfer even though the domain is sold.

The company has not been in good shape since it changed hands. They changed the old rules. We even started having problems with payments. Payments for some sales began to be forgotten. We had to open support. After support they were resolving problem, There is a serious problem, but they never listened to us even though we stated it.

 

[Acroplex]

Thank you @varyemez - PM sent.

On the subject of private selling on NJ, it was great while it lasted under the previous management but by 2018 they acquired SnapNames. Now both platforms share the same inventory and even look and feel. They are like clones of each other.

I don't know where they outsource support to, but I've received cookie cutter template responses peppered with a few "custom" feedback. Everyone involved in this recent bout of refunds that were supposedly "rare" received the same treatment. In the end, I was told to basically take my business elsewhere if I don't like how they tackled this incident (one domain, in my case).

There are now at least 5 cases (buyers) with at least 15 domains being refunded.

 

[D Haynes]

I don't understand their thought process. I mean selling domains is all they do so why ruin it.

At least Flippa created other revenue streams before they destroyed their domain business.

Maybe Snap/NJ are planning to expand their horizons.

 

[varyemez]

I don't understand their thought process. I mean selling domains is all they do so why ruin it.

At least Flippa created other revenue streams before they destroyed their domain business.

Maybe Snap/NJ are planning to expand their horizons.

I'm really trying to understand what they're trying to do. They can bend the rules for the sellers they want. I have listed my domains here for 10 years. I have never had a situation where I did not transfer a sold domain even once. In such a case, they would remove it from the system without wasting any time. Now it seems like irregularity has become the rule in the company.

 

[Acroplex]

The "beef" is with SnapNames, as opposed to NameJet, but the fact is that these private listings are provided through NameJet. I could be wrong, as I stopped listing domains for sale there when the management changed.

The days of Matt Overman and Jonathan Tenenbaum & Michael Sugarman were epic. Now, NameJet inventory is replicated on SnapNames. I bid on SnapNames and all support tickets were handled through them, hence my participation in this thread.

 

[Acroplex]

Adding insult to injury: Network Solutions, sister company to SnapNames, sent an email asking for customer satisfaction feedback...for the domain they didn't deliver!

What is wrong with these people?

 

[D Haynes]

Adding insult to injury: Network Solutions, sister company to SnapNames, sent an email asking for customer satisfaction feedback...for the domain they didn't deliver!

What is wrong with these people?

Same here

 

[Acroplex]

Unbelievable.

 

[Acroplex]

I was contacted by the SnapNames team lead supervisor, who assured me that:

1. It was an errant list of domains that were not supposed to end up being included on the expired domains feed, and:
2. No private sellers were involved in this error.

Here's the full response.

I accepted their explanation with a caveat:

If that's the case, then why did the registrant/seller of Dimitra.net advertise the NameJet/SnapNames auction here on NamePros?

There are two possibilities:

• Either the listing seller was fully on board with the auction which I won and seeing how it closed for $70 dollars he asked SnapNames to reverse the auction. If that's the case, the seller should be penalized/blocked/banned here on NamePros for not delivering the domain name.
• Or this is not really the registrant and he listed for sale via auction a domain they do not control. Again, the seller should be penalized/blocked/banned for listing on the NamePros forum a domain they do not own.

It can't be both ways.