Be careful of what you bid on
April 22, 2008 by admin
Filed under Domain News
If you are a domainer then you most likely bid on domain names on Sedo, you have in the past or you plan to do so in the near future.
When you sign up to Sedo you sign a digital agreement that you will follow through on any winning bids you make so you are legally tied to do so.
On the other hand, Sedo guarantees that they will be upfront with you and help you out in the ways specified in the user agreement.
DomainBits points out an interesting crack in the above relationship between you - the bidder - and sedo - the auctioneer.
He noticed the domain name offìce.net and was about to bid on it but hesitated as the bid amount was pretty low. His initial thought was that it was too low to be true. Further investigation proved that his hesitation was justified as he found out that the domain was actually offìce.net with “ì” rather than an “i” - ie it was an IDN, written in punycode as xn--offce-vsa.net, yet nowhere did Sedo indicate that this was an IDN.
Had DomainBits been slightly less careful he could have placed a legally binding bid on this domain name and would have been forced to pay for a domain name that he could only possibly use for illegal purposes like phishing.
Sedo in general is the best domain name aftermarket around, but you still have to be very careful what you bid on!
Thanks for the write up John!
Always good advice, make sure you know what you’re bidding on. Better advice? Stay away from Sedo. Not only does their listing system suck ass but they won’t do anything if someone walks away from their bid. It’s happened to me and it’s happened to friends. They talk a big game but in the end their answer is “there’s nothing we can do”. Not only does the sale not go through, but you can’t sell your domain for months until they’ve “exhausted their efforts” trying to get the buyer to pay up. Their “efforts” amount to waiting and hoping, meanwhile you’re screwed because you honor your end of the bargain. Tip: If it’s on Sedo it’s probably on Afternic too, buy/sell it there.