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SEDO’s Domain Brokerage Service SCREWS Me!

John P.

By

sedo-banner

Folks, I’m here to share a story with you that I can hardly believe occurred. It’s the story of a major violation of trust between myself and a company we hired to specifically represent us as the buyer’s broker in a purchase transaction. That company is SEDO, and this story is, well judge for yourself… but to me it’s unbelievable.

The story begins when I decided I wanted to obtain a domain, related to OneMansBlog.com, that was already taken and which I quickly determined was parked and had been registered at Sedo.

Sedo is a large, accredited top level domain registrar. So, I first did a quick search on their site to see if the domain was listed for sale, and when it wasn’t found I decided to check out their offer to “broker” the purchase for me.

Now, I thought about this for a minute and realized that if I were to approach the domain owner myself they would likely see that I own OneMansBlog.com and then be anxious to charge me extra for the related domain. So it sounded reasonable to enlist the assistance of a middleman in the process.

After reading all of Sedo’s documentation regarding rules and policies, I ultimately decided to give it a shot. We created an account and filled out the form to get them started. As part of this form, Sedo asked for the MAXIMUM amount that we were willing to bid. At first this made me very nervous, but they provide a link right there on the page that offers the following explanation:

learn-more

Question

What is an investment limit?

Answer

When you apply for Sedo’s buyer-side brokerage service, you will be asked to enter your investment limit for purchasing the domain. Your maximum investment limit is the highest price you would be willing to offer for the domain. This information is confidential, and will not be disclosed to the domain owner. As always, your broker will begin negotiations at a fraction of your investment limit and will work to acquire the domain at a fair and reasonable price.

If your application is approved, your broker will use your investment limit to determine a strategy for negotiations.

So after reading that, I was reminded of eBay, where I often put in a maximum price and have never felt cheated. I figured that I would go ahead and give them some latitude, and instead of the minimum bid of $500, I went ahead and upped their limit to $1,000. This was because I trusted them to do the right thing.

Now, according to Sedo’s Domain Brokerage Service Terms and Conditions, the first step after acceptance into the brokerage program was as follows:

2.1.2.3. Assignment of Domain Broker

Upon the successful application to the Buyer Brokerage Service, you will be assigned a domain broker in accordance with the approximate value of the domain you wish to acquire. Your domain broker will then seek to establish contact with you through the contact information you have provided in your Sedo user account and shall explain the domain brokerage process and a schedule for providing updates on the course of negotiation.

So our expectation was that, within a couple of days, we’d have a little e-mail or phone chat with the person who was going to be “negotiating” on our behalf, after which time that person would begin to attempt contact with the domain owner to open a dialog and see if we could acquire the domain.

Imagine our surprise when the very first response we received after our automated sign up e-mails was as follows (personal information hidden, obviously):

—————————————-
From: XXXXX XXXXX
Date: Wed, Mar 25, 2009 at 5:25 PM
Subject: Brokerage request for XXXXXXXXXXX.com
To: XXXXX XXXXX

Hello,

A client of mine is interested in this domain and is prepared to offer you $1,000 for it.

Please let me know if you would like to accept their offer.

Thank you for your time. I look forward to your response.

To reply to this message please visit the Brokerage Status page: https://www.sedo.com/member/brokerage/status.php?XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Best regards,

XXXXX XXXXX
Domain Broker
—
Sedo.com, LLC
tel +1 ( 617) 499 – XXXX • fax +1 ( 617) 499 – XXXX
http://www.sedo.com • mailto:XXXXXXXXXX@sedo.com
—————————————-

Now, I don’t know how that strikes you, but even if we forgive the fact that our “broker” skipped the formality of getting in contact with us and setting our expectations, I still see two glaring issues:

  1. He sent the e-mail to us, not the domain owner. Presumably this was just an error (a really, really bad one).
  2. There was absolutely no “negotiation” taking place on our behalf. Despite the promise to, “…begin negotiations at a fraction of your investment limit….”

I mean, why in the world would we “Hire an experienced Sedo broker to negotiate an acquisition…“, if all that really means is “we’ll send an e-mail on your behalf with your maximum offer to the domain owner”?

Keep in mind that they charged us $69.00 the minute they accepted us as clients, and that there was going to be a 10% commission fee on the final negotiated price.

Now if that commission fee bothers you, as it did me initially, remember the previous promises they made. And remember that this is a large, well known domain registrar. Besides all of that, as far as I’m concerned, the terms I agreed to with Sedo created a Fiduciary Responsibility on their part. What is that?

In a fiduciary relation one person justifiably reposes confidence, good faith, reliance and trust in another whose aid, advice or protection is sought in some matter. In such a relation good conscience requires one to act at all times for the sole benefit and interests of another, with loyalty to those interests.

Now the question is, what should I do about this entire affair? Feel free to share your opinions, and I’ll follow up with another post later as the story unfolds…

Comments

  1. Sedo is a scam.i once open an account with them and they closed it instantly hoping that i have domain inside.they are wicked,fool and fraud company.

  3. Hello John,
    I truly appreciate your work!
    I’m curious what you decided to do in this matter and how Sedo responded. This may be a silly question, but have you used any of their services since? I have hundreds of names I plan to list with them soon, but your post gives me a strong pause.
    Thanks much,
    Annie

  4. Hi,
    Sedo is a scam! I paid $69 to have my domains on their feature page and they did not upgrade the domain after the payment. They on purpose try to scam you and if you are not look into it and checking the feature pages you will lose your money !They like to irritate buyers and you have to keep sending thousands of messages to have things sorted. The service is poor and they are incompetents. Note that if you pay for a premium service you will lose your money and they will not put your domain to sell especially if it is a hot short domain! Why? Because they fulfil their pages with their own domains and they want to sell it so your domain will not be in the second or third and neither at the 4th page of feature domain listing!!This is our own experience (me and my cousins). We’ve removed all our domains with them because it is worthless and they are based in f*** German where they can’t even speak proper English with you without spelling mistakes. Another thing I would aware everyone is about how scam this site is, they do advert their own domains for high prices and they do bid on their own domains to generate more bidders afterwards. Of course! Lately I have checked many domains which they started with a price let’s say: $350.000 with1 bid, after 15 days I checked it again and the same domains was changed its price to over $ 565,000,but the bid did continue the same only 1 bid !!!This should be reported because honest people will have no change to sell their domains with those greedy people! Be aware and report them …I’ve the screenshot if anyone wants to see it…Let me know where I can post it.

  5. Firstly may I say John P, nice blog. I don’t read many, as you can obviously track (in ways I really don’t understand..). Secondly can I say for most people who read this type of blog that Mark Thacher, mate, you are the sort of person the Internet just doesn’t need. If you have a valid point, make it, don’t turn into the creepy ‘I’m going to be angry at you until I’ve killed you’ type that seems to litter the bowels of the net these days.

    Onto the subject matter..I’ve started an interest in domain names and have registered some via hover.com, but i feel uncomfortable with the lack of transparency to this industry. If I want to sell the domain on to someone else, can I do that, or will hover always now have an interest? Ie can they retain it (I see I have to pay them annually). Also I have a ‘friend’ who knows a broker and he does a lot in this industry. I gave him a list of sites I wanted, he came back with a list of suggested bid prices ranging from 500-6000 dollars. One of them that was 500 dollars I picked up on hover.com for $15. Uncomfortable with the others then? Of course..
    Any advice appreciated (except from you Mr Thacher, thanks all the same)

  7. i have 6 TLD belonging to a dotcom
    how do i handle this issue i want to sell it to any one who wants to buy it or the owner
    but i havent contacted anyone of them yet
    i need counsel pls help
    thanks

  8. I love the article and follow up questions first off. I enjoy blogs that are not built purely for the purpose of complaing. On that note, I think I can offer some valuable insight on registrar processes being that I have worked as a consultant at godaddy.com for several years and invest in domains on the side. The SOP for brokering domains more or less the same across the board.
    1. We run an appraisal script on the domain you are interested in and ask for the buyers min and max offer.
    2. We evaluate wether or not the domain is worth more potentially than the auto appraisal dictates if need be.
    3. We use this information to bring a reasonable offer to the seller to avoid “closing the door”
    (Often times, buyers will low ball on the min offer thinking thats where we will start which is not the case all the time)
    Note: I can’t speak for sedo.com but what I can say is that for most registrars, the broker is commissioned on the amount of closed deals they have per fiscal quarter not the 10% charged post sale to avoid bad faith brokering. The 10% usually goes to the company to cover the time the rep spent on the transaction and the cost of escrow. Registrars are not banks.
    5. Good faith practices will usually bcc the the offer to the buyer so they are in the loop.

    I personally have worked with sedo on several transactions and have not found any out of the ordinary trickery, short of the lack of domain ownership verification which I agree should be amended, and could be easily if they would just send an automated verification email to the admin contact of the domain the same way that you would for ssl verification.

    If anyone is interested, I have posted a few unbiasedinformational pages on domaining at DeliverDomains.com
    Feel free to email any questions you may have reguarding this post to admin@deliverdomains.com
    Keep up the good work, I thuroughly enjoy your blog!

  9. Hi,
    I find this blog quite interesting. Has anybody tried Webnames? Any experience about them to do that?
    Regards,
    Angel

  10. Sedo do not verify if the domains that are on auction are still registered and owned by their current/previous owners. I once bidded for a domain that they had listed on their auction section and the auction for this particular domain was going to end in 7 days. 5 days after submitting my bid I was still the highest bidder and I decided just to do a whois check on the domain to find out who was the current owner of the domain. To my surprise the domain had not been registered on the day I submitted my bid, the domain was registered 2 days after I submitted my bid. I felt so cheated! that now I was to pay 10x the value of a new domain, because Sedo failed to verify if the domain that was on auction on their website was actually registered or not before the start of the auction. I contacted Sedo before the auction ended explaining to them what had taken place and asked them to remove my bid, but they didnt care, they referred me to the terms and conditions where it says its my responsibility to perform a check on the domain. But I do not agree with that, some responsibility has to be with Sedo as they are the ones who are listing the domain on their systems, and it through there service that we are performing the transactions, otherwise it ultimately means you cannot trust anything you see on Sedo. I eventually won the auction because Sedo refused to remove my bid but as I felt so cheated also add the fact the Sedo customer service were so terrible and just didnt care, I refused to pay. Sedo are now attempting to send bailiffs after me for collection of the commission they would have earned if I had purchased the domain.

    • Anthony,

      I went to Sedo a couple weeks ago with the intent of listing a few domain names. I decided to search the terms and see what came up. Imagine my surprise when I saw one of my domain names listed for sale. I wrote to Sedo and they removed it from auction.

      Of course, the person selling it didn’t want to pay the money for the domain until he got a bite on it. Surprise, surprise. I owned it and he got caught red handed.

      Sedo doesn’t have the staff, or the inclination to double check ownership on domain names. I’m not even sure there is an actual way to verify, as so many people use privacy for their domains, and registrars would have to protect their privacy or be sued.

      All you can do is watch out for yourself.

      I am pretty sure Sedo doesn’t care what happened. They will probably tell you to sue the person who scammed you. Then you will have to hire a lawyer to get the name of the person and serve them with papers. All very costly.

      However, Sedo will make you stick to any agreements you made with them. So you may have to suck this up and go on. It’s so unfair. However, I can guarantee you that Sedo’s reputation is rapidly going downhill. I’ve been reading it every since I saw my own domain name listed on their site. There are other blog posts complaining about them.

      Always double check potential domain names on GoDaddy. It’s very easy and only takes a few minutes. Looking for domain names is one of my passions. I wish I could somehow turn that into a living. I would charge far less than these auctions do to find a good name for a person. I hate seeing people scammed like you were.

  11. Hello Guys,

    I too facing some problems in selling names with Sedo..
    Here I want to give a try as I own few Premium brandable domains..

    Champs.net
    Toybox.net

    Let me know if any one interested.

    Thanks
    Sri

    • Sridhar, those are really nice domain names. You deserve a good place to sell them. Good luck. I hope you find one.

  12. I have a website that sells domains. I have dealt with companies like SEDO and many others only to be ripped off. so i built my own website to sell domains which works quite well. Im fair and basically a “MOM and POP shop” for domains and not out to screw anyone…in fact i want them to get a great domain a great web design job with high ranking SEO and personalized services that you just cant find anywhere else…find another company that will do this and i will throw you a bone or too….go with the small domain brokers and forget the big companies unless you want to be screwed.

    • Steve, I wish I could partner with someone like you. I have been a web designer for ten years and have several nice domain names. I love looking for them. There needs to be a grassroots movement to help people with these services so they don’t get scammed. You are doing my dream business. Wish I had your website address, if only to ask how you got started.

    • March23’2013

      Dear Mr.Steve
      Good morning.I am some domains to sell.I don’t want to park those through big brokerage houses.Can you pls. let me know your terms and conditions so that I can follow.I like to sell on commission basis and no previous payment.Thank you.
      S.M.Shahnewaz
      New1/B Shere-Bangla Road,Masdair
      Narayanganj-1400
      Bangladesh
      8801819470144

  14. At the risk of being accused of “twisting the Kings’ English” I would like to thank John P for exposing this issue. I too would have expected a “Sedo broker to NEGOTIATE an acquisition”. Bottom line is Sedo had a greater interest in acquiring a $100 commission fee rather than being satisfied with a $50 fee and keeping a customer happy. It would be the same as revealing your royal flush in a poker game and then expecting the opposition to continue feeding the pot, knowing they were going to lose. Now that is some stupid.
    I think Thacher should stick to reading the King James version of the Bible and refrain from attempting to interpret the Queens’ English.

  15. Back in the good ‘ol days, great domain names were going at the same rate as every other available domain name at registrars, and I’m talking pocket change, but after the .com boom, the domain sharks started to eat up all of the good names, which made it almost impossible for a regular joe, like me, to strike internet gold with just a few bucks on a credit card. Yep, long gone are those days, and that is just life and I accept that fact, however I do wish the negotiation process was much better than what I found on this blog. It is a shame it is reduced down to this level.

    The broker process has worked well in the past and to this day because, and mainly because, the broker meets both parties, face to face. Because of this face to face time, the broker can engage and identify with both parties needs and wants.

    The name I settled on for my business starts at 6k, and I’m sure will go up from there. I am seeking investment to start this business up, but I keep struggling with the old days where I could have just registered the domain myself for a few bucks instead of maybe over 10k. After reading this it has been confirmed, at least in this case, that online brokering is a step way below the mark compared to face to face brokering.

    So now I think I know what it feels like to be old, like when my grandparents used to tell me the nickle and dime stories. Guess I’ll have to just accept the fact that what used to be pocket change is now pure and refined gold.

    Thank you for posting this!

  16. I KNEW there was something fishy when I saw that sedo took a fraction of the final buy price for themselves. What is the incentive, then, to push for a low $ sale? All the cards are on their side.

    Thanks for exposing the scam as it is.

  17. I’m always surprised when I hear complaints from people about companies that want to charge a fee and make a profit.. I am especially surprised that Mr. “One Man’s Blog” says this; and he is in a leadership role at the business!
    Why do you write “……..Now if that commission fee bothers you, as it did me…….” Really? You think it is unfair to be charged $100.00 for someone at a large corporation to do the leg work that you do not know how to do, nor have the tools, or experience. Really?
    What do you think it’s worth? How will a company stay in business if it can not pay it’s employees, cover the overhead, and then make a small profit?
    I really don’t know what else to say. I get so discouraged to hear supposedly intelligent person’s expressing their opinions that are really not sustainable.

    • Mark,

      You are either an idiot, or you are careless. Either way, you misquoted me and then argued with me about the EXACT point I was making. I said:

      Now if that commission fee bothers you, as it did me initially, remember the previous promises they made. And remember that this is a large, well known domain registrar.

      You quoted me as saying “as it did me”, but left off the “initially”. I was actually justifying the 10% commission!

      What I get discouraged by is people attacking others online when they don’t even read and understand the points they are arguing.

      Love,
      John P.

    • John,

      I’m not sure if I should be upset with you for suggesting I may be an idiot, or criticizing you for your twisting of The Kings English. I read your bio; you’re a reporter and this whole blog is just shameless self-promotion using an in your face “shock-blog” approach to draw traffic-and that’s okay, I understand the purpose. Although I don’t think your readers are aware.

      However, leaving the “initially” off your quote does not change anything. It is clear you have a bias and do not value negotiation and salesmanship, and find the concept of a person being paid-for performance revolting.

      …and a salutation of “Love,”……….REALLY?

      Good Luck

      Mark Thacher

      • Wrong again Mark. On so many points.

        A) I don’t need self-promotion. I’m already wealthy, healthy, widely known… self-promotion is for people who actually need it or give a crap. What you’re seeing here is a site I maintain for the pure fun of saying what I want, when I want. You must be projecting whatever motives you suspect someone might need in order to do this I guess.

        B) Its just much simpler than that – I don’t have to give a damn. About anything. Which is why my readers ARE aware, and appreciate my honesty. They aren’t stupid.

        C) I spent an entire career running sales organizations. I’ve had literally hundreds of commissioned sales employees. I absolutely LOVE people who are paid for performance! But SEDO’s salesperson in this case in no way performed! Taking my absolute top $ amount and waiving it at the other party was in no way negotiating on my behalf. And as I stated before, if I just wanted to offer $1k, I could have done it myself and saved a lot of hassle.

        So why the hell are you here, attacking me on this post – repeatedly? I can see clearly (using Woopra I might add) that your traffic originated in Casa Grande, AZ on each of your two visits, you landed directly on this page as a result of a Google search, and that you have ONLY visited this page, my About page, and followed the link to my web designer. You’ve also loaded this page a number of times.

        So who are you? A paid consultant? A PR person for SEDO? Employee maybe? I mean who is going to believe you randomly showed up on a page where an actual customer of any business documented a terrible experience and just decided to attack the author of that article for no reason? Unlike me, YOU’VE clearly got an angle. For all we know, Mark Thatcher is a fake name. PROVE you’re real and not just some douchebag poser. Because you are clearly not part of this community. And until you do that, you’re not worth my time.

        John P.

  18. It is unfortunate that you had a bad experience at Sedo. Overall it is a good company with good people but sometimes they do dumb things.

    When looking for a broker, you should always talk to the broker that will be working for you.

    After all, it is a person to person transaction.

    If you did not close the deal, have any questions or would like to pursue another domain, I would be happy to talk to you as a domain buyer broker with LOTS of experience.

  19. I am in the process of getting hold of a domain name for my own personal use.
    Its my familyname with the .net suffix.
    Searching through the whois databases I discover that the domain is registered on sedoparking.com
    So I goto sed.com and register so I can get a feel on how I can buy “my” domain name.
    Bloody hell they are charging €2800 for this domain name.
    A domain that by their own word is accessed 20 times in the last month.
    Twenty!
    How does that amount of traffic translate to a cost of €2800?
    This is just silly.

    Being just a regular joe and not a “domain shark” that is sooo out of my pricerange.

    Searching some more on google I get a link to this site.
    But it is marked by google as a “Reported Attack Site!”.
    Altough by googles own report there were no malicious code found on this site since they started to screen it.

    Being my paranoid self I get the feeling that SEDO does not like the negative PR they are getting here….
    I have no evidence whatsoever to support my feeling but …. Coincidence… ?

    I guess I am SOL when it comes to this domain name.
    sigh. Rant over.

  20. I just used the service from SEDO as I could not communicate with the buyer and I could only find a valid mailing address, no email at all. I didn’t put much faith into them finding him but what do you know, I received an update 4 weeks later that they have made contact with the seller, however, he/she wants 13k for the name instead of my 3k offer… Overall it was a good experience so far and I expect the sale to go smoothly.

  21. Just happened to be on the internet and saw your site! FWIW, I am a dentist and attorney with thousands of domain names that I sell on Sedo, Afternic, etc. I have no time to negotiate directly and I have no business employees so I need an easy way to sell. Really, I have never had a problem at Sedo as long as I use the software only as a vehicle to sell and transfer a listed domain, negotiating directly with a buyer through their automated platform. Once a domain is sold, I get a real person transfer agent and that has always worked well. BUT, I never expected personal attention to my domains from any of these sites. They are into volume selling and also selling their own higher priced ‘premium’ domains. It seems like that wording would lead someone to believe they had a mechanism like eBay. They don’t. They do get a commission from the seller. Nice name though.

  23. I think that posting this blog has done substantial damage as it has quite a following. However, this whole purchase domain name industry is so secretive that trusting it seems foolish. However, you want the domain name so you are between a rock and a hard spot. However, some attorney may be interested in a class action lawsuit. Each individual suit is not worth much a class action suit won’t be worth much to you, but could put a dent in Sedo and of course, the attorneys make out as well. But it is a way to keep them honest. WIPO might have something to say about their false advertising since they regulate them. Don’t waste your time with the Better Business Bureau as they appear to have no authority or control but simply act like an Experian does for credit. However, the District Attorney would have jurisdiction since Sedo seems to be bilking consumers and the District Attorney is there to protect and defend the consumer. False advertising is something the District Attorney would be interested in (although it is a small segment of the population so it may not be on their front burner). You will probably be get much bang for your time and effort if you can get an attorney to take on a class action suit — and you’d be doing us all a favor not only with Sedo but with all of the “brokers” because news of that would spread fast behind those curtains of “If you are interested in buying this domain, please tell us all your personal information and your budget so we can take a look at it but you may not even get a response…oh and by the way, the domain may not even be for sale…we’re just fishing….:

  24. Thanks for this post. I’ll be closing my parking account with Sedo now, I don’t do business with companies actively engaging in fraud and theft.

  25. First of all UNDERSTAND that the email that was sent out was from a TEMPLATE. There was no human being involved, no living breathing “broker” to begin with at Sedo. You can be sure that they do not have enough of those so-called “brokers” to handle the requests, and if Sedo could hire them, they would not pay salaries & benefits to real brokers when an automatic email template sent out by the hundreds or thousands every hour is so much cheaper.

    It is is easy enough to flag a response email from the owner and have a real person take over the correspondence at that point.

    But, many of the domain names that you may inquire about may well already be owned by Sedo itself. Sedo, in effect, communicates with itself “on your behalf”.

    I have been buying domain names since 1996, but just for domains that I was really involved with.

    One of the stunts that I saw years ago was that I would use a company like Network Solutions or the internal Search and Register function of some wellknown hosting providers at the time to lookup the availability of a name I had made up.

    When I saw that the name was available I would put in a request to buy it. The response would come that the Request was being processed and would take a few HOURS. Then I would check again every half-hour or less.

    Several times I was told that this VERY VERY UNIQUE domain name I had just made up HAD ALREADY BEEN BOUGHT…right out from under me. When I saw the eventual whois information I would see that the time of registration was some 20 minutes after I had made up the name and put in the Buy request because I knew it was available and had never been registered.

    After seeing two cases of “register out from under me” I realized that my Domain names were being intercepted by an “insider”. Either it was an employee at the hosting company or at the registrar, or an intermediate program that skimmed the channels.

    The company gave me some excuses after my protests but they could not “explain” what happened.

    From that day to now I practice and tell people if there is a domain name you want, do not go to a SERVICE that asks you to fill in the name. That is asking for trouble.

    I tell people do some discreet checkups with google and then be ready to buy on the spot. Do not ever WAIT. Jump like crazy if you are using a registration service you trust. I no longer trust domain name re-sellers, that is, a company who is a re-seller for Tucows, for instance. If you are going to register a lot then get your own account with Go-Daddy or perhaps Tucows (maybe they are more trustworthy than they were a few years ago).

    If you discover a domain name you want is truly available then buy it on the spot, immediately.

  26. I’ve been in the domain business for only a few months with a coupla hundred submitted to Sedo, and I’m only interested in selling. But after reading this blog, felt I should respond with my own short experience with this fine company. As the hard-nosed owner of my own successful business, hiring and firing for over 35 years, I can only offer my own experiences with Sedo. Every email, every question (and there have been many) has been answered professionally and within 1-2 business days. My sales, though few, were walked through step by step by phone, and I was treated as if I was one of their top sellers. Sorry for any negative experiences anyone has had, but cut Sedo some slack, and understand mistakes can sometimes be made–by all of us. And no, I have no other connection whatsoever with Sedo. D.J.

  27. Sedo has really gone downhill over the past year or two, starting with their silly new design/layout. It’s almost no point putting a name up for auction there as people won’t see ANY auctions on the front page anymore to entice them at all to look at the rest. I’m amazed anyone would ever go there to look for a domain to buy because of how many horrible and overpriced domains they’d have to wade through to find the quality. They should really take a look at where they’re at now and why they aren’t doing better.

  28. I’ve just put my first one up for sale with them – after reading this it’ll probably be the only one. It’s quite a good name and I kind of hijacked it from a government department who inadvertently published the web site name before they’d actually registered the domain – so I just wanted somewhere to park it with a hefty price tag on it, and Sedo seemed to be the right place to do that.

    But I just noticed they’ve decided to award themselves extra 5% commission from January 2011 – did anyone else notice that?

    They smell like sharks to me.

  30. I just recently going through the same problems with you.
    Is there any domain brokerage that didn’t charge any subscribing fee?
    A commission is a must i can say.

  31. Shame on them. I am a professional domainer used to work with SEDO and never experienced any problem with them. Though I always thought receiving a commission on the sale price wasn’t a good idea. This case proofs their business model is faulty and should be punished.

    Thanks for posting this and shed some light on this obscure world.

  32. I bought a website through sedo as well and I had to pay what i thought was near full price for it. About $450.00 Perhaps this was before they had their auction/brokering ability because I was emailing back and forth with the owner himself. In my experience never buy owned domains. The best thing to do is wait for them to expire or find something else. As soon as you tell someone your interested in their domain you’ll pay a minimum of $500. It’s simply human nature that once someone likes what you got, you want top dollar for it. When it comes to names it’s only theoretical value. If you do nothing with the website and generate no money with it than it’s virtually worthless beyond novelty. Don’t let someone who has a domain you like hold it hostage. There are to many internet investors out there gobbling up domains. There should be a law that says if you don’t start producing content in one year on your website that you forfeit the domain. This would stop all the endless names being bought up by money grubbing trolls.

    • Damn right! And whilst we are at it let’s stop people from buying land they think will be useful in the future. And stop people buying property that they think will increase in value in a few years.

      Or not. Domains are valuable real estate, why wouldnt people grab a bargain with an eye to development and flipping, or simply reselling? happens with people buying all sorts of things, land, property, companies, gold, shares…the list goes on

      Amazes me people get sound wound up about web domains…as if they had some sort of God given right to a domain that someone else has paid good money for.

  33. Are you sure Sedo wasn’t the domain owner as well. They scoop up large numbers of domain names that have expired. For instance, they picked mine up right away because I was waiting for Verio hosting to send me a bill like they always did in the past, but never did. Also something I find bothersome.

  34. Your reply saying f-you to the only person who spoke out against you makes you look like a real jerk. I agree that it could have been a mix-up due to you already owning something similar or possibly a cc. Either way, Sedo did nothing ilegal by offering the maximum bid. Get over yourself.

    • Looks like another SEDO employee trying to abdicate the company for their inexcusable fraudulent behavior.

    • Stop, think. The details say you are paying for them to use a broker to negotiate, that they will be targetting at getting it below your maximum price

      They did nothing they say they will

      So what you are saying is people should get over paying for a service they don’t receive?

      In which case I have websites.com available for only $10,000. I won’t actually provide you with what you paid me for but I am sure that you will be able to get over yourself

  36. So if SEDO has a domain name listed for sale, can you purchase it through someone else instead of giving SEDO the credit card info? After reading this, that is the last thing I want to do! Thanks for all of the posts!

  37. I have the .net for my site and have been trying to get the .com for years. I just noticed that sedo has it for sale. Thought i’d google and get some reviews before I enter a cc#. F*** that!!!

  38. Sedo is an awful, awful company, and their broker and transfer “agents” are completely worthless. They use all sorts of shady mechanisms to make sure that the customer never has any direct way of dealing with these agents. All you get is a horrible website where you can post messages, and wait 1-2 business days for responses. No domain or price is worth dealing with these people. Stay far, far away.

  39. Wow, I was very glad to read this about Sedo, since I am currently looking for a GOOD domain broker! I need someone that offers personalized service not some automated ignorance :)

  40. Thank you so much for this. I had a terrible time getting SEDO to help me access an account on their system after I’d changed email addresses associated with the account (3 weeks, 12 emails, 3 “support” staff). I only persisted with them because I kept thinking how they were just hoping I’d go away and they could pocket the ~$500 I would have earned from my domains parked at SEDO.

    And I kept thinking how stonewalling is so profitable for SEDO that it’s part of their process and culture.

    You wrote “The people from Sedo who contacted me kind of went back and forth” — yah, they sure do. And so customers (us) need to keep going forth every time SEDO goes back.

  43. Here is one for you. I asked sedo to acquire some names for me and value one. I got the standard waste of money valuation report back.

    To test these guys out, I asked them to try and acquire a .co.uk domain that I actually own. My name is on the whois and all the emails go straight to my in box. Yes the same name and email as my sedo account.

    No one has contacted me to ‘broker’ a deal, but today I have received a 50k € offer from sedo.

    liars and theives

    They are sniffing glue, in the days before the internet they would have worn masks and robbed people in the woods !

  44. I wish I had read this before I chose Sedo to buy a domain through. I paid my money two weeks ago, they took the domain name into their ownership for transfer to me and they keep telling my registrar that they are not make the proper application to have it transferred to me. Sound to me like they think I got a bargain and they would like to sell it themselves. Never ever again with Sedo.

  45. John, I see that someone from Sedo posted to this thread asking you to contact them. All of us who read this thread, especially those of us interested enough to post here, would love an update on your saga.

    Thanks!

    –Ken

    • The people from Sedo who contacted me kind of went back and forth. I told them I wasn’t going to remove this post, but that I would let them post a response. After that, I never heard back from them.

      Cest la vie,

      John P.

      • Don’t remove it – Its at the first page for “domain broker” just above Sedo.com. Lol..
        Also 2nd page for the word SEDO. Do some optimization and build some backlinks to make it to the first page Revenge is sweet.
        ヽ(∀゜ )人(゜∀゜)人(゜∀゜)人(゜∀゜)人(゜∀゜)人(゜∀゜)人( ゜∀)ノ

  46. Yae, i lost many domains parked at seedo and never received any earnings which were there on dashboard 378 bucks were there now it doesn’t show up there since last feb 10, i tried contact many of them staff and emails available unfortunately no one responded back…

  47. They put my domain up forsale, when it actually was not for sale. My site has been live for years. And today they snagged my URL and everytime someone tries to go to our site it re-directs them to a sedo site saying our domain name is for sale. I am not happy at all!

  49. Sedo messed up and sent you the email that was supposed to go to the seller.
    You have an outlet with your blog to make this mistake known. Most of us don’t!
    This unfortunate accident by Sedo is grounds for an investigation and quite probably a
    class action lawsuit by those who have purchased domains using Sedo’s broker service.
    They have broken confidence.
    An investigation and possibly a lawsuit is in order here.

    Ruby

  50. I have been brokering domains for over 5 years and to be honest Sedo doesn’t get involved with about 95% of their domain brokering. Its a platform, you go there, make an offer on a domain throught their system and you can have the entire transaction take place without ever speaking to anyone and they still require a good portion of the sale price. They have become somewhat of a monopoly in the space so there’s no reason for them to change their ways.

  51. Sedo Sucks, always has, always will. I had three hundred domains parked there for two years, I netted 25.00. I moved those to Whypark and I made 25.00 per day. SEDO IS A BIG FAT SCAM.

  52. Hi John,

    I just saw this thread today and would like to speak to you about this. I’m heading the sales team for Sedo in the United States and would like to give you a proper response to this issue.

    Simonetta

    • Hello Simonetta,

      If you are truly interested in proper salesmanship please email a contact telephone number so that I may speak to someone about regaining ownership of my domain.

  54. Try to find a class action lawyer that has sued domain registrars before and see if they are interested in pursuing this issue.

  55. I’m sure that Sedo’s brokerage service works fine if you are a seller, but if the domain in question is listed with Sedo to begin with than they stand to receive a commission on the sale price and cannot be trusted to faithfully represent your interest as an impartial broker. It is the same with real estate. Would you ever use the seller’s agent as a broker to negotiate the purchase of the property ? No, you would want to use your own agent because you know the seller’s agent stands to profit from the highest sale price possible. I would only use a brokerage service to obtain a domain name if the domain was NOT listed for sale on the broker’s website in a consignment-like arrangement.

  56. The very same thing happened to me, me and my friend were testing to see how this brokerage service works.

    Feel free to blame me that we were only testing and sharing the emails we receive, sedo still didn’t know that we were friends and we read what they sent us. They did exactly as above, sent my friend an offer with the maximum amount set by me.

    I’m sure they don’t do this to everyone and every time, but they still do it!

    I don’t have a top-ranked blog so I couldn’t post this anywhere, but I’m very happy to see someone did it!

    I would also love to see how this all ended up

  57. The have a really crappy service

    I wouldnt use them for investing as they try to get the most money out of you
    500$ will get them only $50 commission plus the charge

    So $1000 will double their cash with no effort

    I would stick to standard fee negotiation companies like godaddy etc

  59. What was it that I was going to say? Hmmm… Oh yeah! FUCK YOU!

    Whoever wrote this has GOT to be with Sedo. Because why in the world would anyone even come to this post, 8 months after it was written, and stick up for Sedo? Much less call me a liar, when I have absolutely ZERO incentive to make something like this up. PLUS, I’ve got the actual email evidence to prove what happened as well as their admission of their “error” in case anyone would like to go to court (I would!).

    Just goes to show what we’re dealing with here.

    Love,
    John P.

  60. I dont think its believeable at all. You not only went about everything wrong from the start, you went out of your way to make it difficult. I do believe you may have been CC’d, unless of course, you bid on your own name.
    Which, according to your letter, is seemingly very possible.
    Dozens of flawless transactions in all types of buying and selling, I have had nothing but top notch from sedo.
    the TOS spells out all the other things that the other posters listed.
    All of it could have been avoided.

  62. I am so glad I found this information. I used Sedo several months ago when I was looking at parking domains. My domains were listed with Go-Daddy and It looked as if Sedo was bigger & “better”. I only put a couple of domains in an account for parking or so I thought. Within a few days, I received an email from someone who offered me money for one of the domain names…I did not have them for sale and had not had them appraised. This buyer suggested that I have them appraised because that is the only way he did business..
    I did have them appraised but thought something is not right here.. I sent them an email. to find out what had happened to my account and they sent me this email that made me think they were upset that I HAD VIOLATED their rules.. and my account was no longer in SEDO.. Now why would I go back and think about doing any type of business with them again? Thank you for posting this….
    I think none of the companies that buy & sell domains can be trusted.
    Several months back when a few domains were bringing high prices , I went in Go-Daddy to buy more names…. Everything that I put in their account had already been bought with the dot com but others were available… I had the feeling that they were taking the names I put in…..who knows….
    Thanks again….
    Betty Bowen

  63. Over the years, I’ve purchased several domains using various brokers, including SEDO. Usually, they are pretty professional, albeit often much slower than other companies. Clearly, in this case, they dropped the ball. What I would do is to contact support and outline the problem and demand a refund. They obviously didn’t complete their side of the bargain. That said, SEDO has performed very well for me and for clients that are purchasing from me in the past. I could give you numerous examples of times that they have managed to acquire a domain for me at less than half of the maximum I’ve listed. However, I could also tell you that there have been many times when the offer has been very close to or exactly what my max is… Which I’m now thinking is pretty fishy, lol. Actually, what I’ve found with SEDO, Afternic, Godaddy and all the others is that the best way to do it is to offer a pretty small amount at first. I usually start with around a 100.00 offer and wait for a counter offer. Yes; it is more trouble, but I’ve bought names that I was willing to pay 2500+ for 200-300. I’ve even had the first offer taken several times. What you need to keep in mind is how important the domain is to you; if you believe it has the potential to add 50.00/mo in revenue or more, then I would keep trying to buy the domain, even if you have to up the offer a small amount. Otherwise, hold off and make an offer later on for a smaller amount.

    Of course, you may very well have already solved this dilemma, as I just noticed that it has been months since you wrote this blog.. sorry about that, lol.

  65. How did all this end up for you? I would be very interested as I am in the process of using their services as well.

  66. So sorry about there unethical practices. I would formally open up a compalint with the BBB in their town. Also, write to them with a complaint and how you expect for it to be resolved. I really don’t think that a company that large is involved in what one employees has tried to get away with. In that case, give them an opportunity to fix the problem. If you have an incidence where this has occurred on multiple occassions, then we all have an axe to grind. Good luck with your continued efforts. I think that this once incidence has some what hurt their national creditbility.

    Bonnie, Atlanta

  67. I never success with sedo although my domain are wuite good one. I believe developing it will be much much better.

    In your case, they show you how “not really” experienced they are.

  68. This appears to be a breach of contract and a breach of the fiduciary duties that an agent (Sedo) owes to a principal (you). Although legal action is an option, hopefully Sedo will resolve it without legal action being necessary.

  69. That is a disgrace. They go on about how they will negotiate a fair and reasonable deal for you and then bang first email out gives away what the max is. This is very bad service especially for such a high profile site as sedo. Still the story being placed on a highly influential blog like this as well as being Digged etc by your readers should let people know who exactly they are getting into bed with. I think sedo hasd one eye on the commisioon from your sale. The higher the sale the more they will get from you

    not good

  70. John

    It sounds like Darwinism to me… except that you were on the wrong end of the gun… but hey dude, it’s just money not your life right? Good luck with getting justice.

  73. I can’t be sure, but I think the “Broker” is still under the impression that he sent it to the right address and just hasn’t gotten a response. I’m still trying to determine how in the heck to go about responding and escalating the issue. It’s a pretty big company so how do you find the person to appeal to?

    Perhaps the right person is actually not in the company at all… but is the Attorney General of the State of Mass, or Texas. And maybe the Better Business Bureau.

    John P.

  74. You’re right Mark. And what really bothers me is… how many times, and for how long, have they been doing this to other people? And only now a mistaken e-mail gives us all a glimpse into the practice…

    John P.

  75. Wow, that sucks,John.

    I would:

    1) Cancel all transactions with SEDO and request your money back. They breached their agreement with you and, thus, forfeited their chance to continue a business relationship with you.

    2) Check out GoDaddy (http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/broker/landing.asp?ci=8995) and try them out. I had a successful transaction with them on the one domain name I wanted. My max was $500 and they got it for me for $175. Smooth transactions all the way.

    However, the owner of the domain that you are trying to get might have recieved an email as well and now know you are interested which might have just boosted the price.

    I could always request a price for you as well if you like. No one knows me. :-(

  76. I’d make them give me the domain for free.

    If they refuse, then threaten to take them to the attorney general’s office. Since they get a commision on the final price, its in their best interest to use the maximum, which they did…problem is that they state “As always, your broker will begin negotiations at a fraction of your investment limit and will work to acquire the domain at a fair and reasonable price.”

    They are clearly breaking the law…and you have the evidence to prove it.

    • “I‘d make them give me the domain for free.”

      Uh, excuse me? That domain is owned by an actual person and parked on Sedo, not owned by Sedo. Sedo cannot give away property that belongs to someone else.

  77. The agent is doing a terrible job. I wouldn’t recommend anyone to use that company. Seems like the agent cares more about the commission than to help you.

  79. Mr. P,

    I would definitely let them know that you intend file a formal complaint against a professional fiduciary with the appropriate regulators in your state. I would also have my personal attorney compose and send a letter notifying them of his client’s intention to pursue reimbursement for damages and punitive actions within the limits of the law, but in the interest of avoiding that, he has informed me that he will accept a settlement in the amount of $XXXX.XX, which includes my fee and his lost time and wages incurred as a result of having to deal with this troubling situation.

    Mattb4rd

  80. Wow. You should demand your money back, and a full explanation. It’s possible that this is just a rogue agent acting unethically, but in any case, it’s utterly unacceptable. You’re lucky they made the mistake — else you could have been screwed without ever knowing it.