Heroes and Goats # 1
Heroes and Goats November 21st, 2007
Every now and then I will take note of especially good or bad domain name services by awarding the good ones a “Hero” and the bad ones a “Goat.”
Read on for today’s Heroes and Goats:
Hero: NameJet.com
They’ve worked out most of the bugs, though a few remain. Nevertheless, I appreciate the quality of the domain names being offered, and the atmosphere has not yet become as competitive and heated up as Snapnames. Also, every day NameJet sends me lists of their most active backorders, 6 characters and under, and 7 to 9 characters. Some of the domains on today’s most active backorders list are:
- afad.com
- jokeathon.com
- programme.com
- sunbay.net
- videochat.org<
Goat: Sedo.com
I recently sold installer.mobi at Sedo’s premium dot mobi auction. Two weeks later, the buyer has still not made payment. Sedo claims they are still attempting to secure payment from the buyer.
What will Sedo do if the buyer defaults? Nothing.
Sedo will not suspend the buyer’s parking account (if he has one), they will not send the bill to a collection service, and since they do not require any pre-paid deposit to bid, they cannot even award me a deposit. There are absolutely no repercussions for failing to pay on a winning bid at Sedo, and I find this maddening.
Certainly there are things about Sedo that I like, but this inability to enforce payment on auctions turns the whole process into a joke and wastes everyone’s time. Why Sedo does not create a sensible policy on this matter, such as requiring a deposit to bid, or banning non-paying bidders from future auctions, is a mystery to me.
As far as the non-paying bidders themselves, they have no integrity. Just because there are no consequences to non-payment does not make it acceptable. Let’s hold ourselves to a higher standard. This: $ - is nice, but a clean conscience and a sense of honor are priceless.
Popularity: 30% [?]
Same here with sedo…
I get an offer from a buyer, we have arrange a prizem but when the time comes to payment, he just vanished…
I would be more than happy to know that his account has been banned…
Sorry to hear about your experience on Sedo. I’ve been hearing many stories like that lately - I’m wondering if this is a growing problem. No doubt that Sedo should do something in a situation like this - like ban the person’s account until payment is made. However, I guess it would be hard for them to do this without cutting their profit margins.
“However, I guess it would be hard for them to do this without cutting their profit margins.”
Jeff, that’s about how I figure it too. But the flip side of that is that disgusted sellers are closing their accounts and moving to other parking and auction services. So it’s hurting them anyway.
I think they should consider banning persons account soon…
True,
I have had a similar experience with Sedo in the past.
They don’t/can’t do much about it it seems.
John
Not “don’t” or “can’t” but won’t, I think. That’s what’s so annoying about it. Anyway, I haven’t updated the post to reflect this but the buyer just ponied up the money, after 3 weeks.
Glad to hear!