MobilePhones.co.uk - 91K - A Bargain?

[ANY-Web]

Dear all

I am the mystery buyer of MobilePhones.co.uk which has caused such a stir in a recent Sedo auction - Angie Barrow of ANY-Web Ltd.
My portfolio of over 15000 .co.uk village domain names for my www.ANY-Village.co.uk project has been the subject of previous threads on Acorn, and many here know me.

I originally wanted to lift the veil on my identity with a fanfare - joyously announcing how delighted I was with my purchase of MobilePhones.co.uk and what a bargain I had got. In a few days - just before everybody would have found out anyway (I am dreadful at keeping secrets).

Now circumstances have arisen which are forcing me to reveal myself a bit earlier.

I am an unlikely buyer of big ticket domain names.
MobilePhones.co.uk is my first such purchase - what a gem, and what an amazing name to have in my portfolio.
It took a lot of courage and thinking through the long-term investment potential of this name for me to take this step.
Both a no-brainer and yet a big deal for me. Definitely out of my comfort zone.
You should have heard the yelps of delight in my house when I got the name! I was delirious.

So I want to share with you the news that I have just been informed by Sedo that the seller is disputing the auction and claims the name had not been authorised to be sold. I don't know the precise circumstances yet but will find out.

Naturally I am distraught and will dispute this. I am not the only one thinking that I got the name at a bargain price - even the seller thinks so too!

There will be lots of ramifications about this transaction and I am sure that Sedo will be doing their best to sort out all the legal issues.

Sedo are a great marketplace for our domains and are doing so much to help all of us domainers sell our names. So please no Sedo-bashing.
But this is about the integrity of our marketplace and the confidence with which we make purchases and sales.

I was wondering what your views are regarding aborted auctions on Sedo and other auction sites and on non-performance of domain transfers.
Are there any legal precedents out there?

I will keep you posted about developments with MobilePhones.co.uk

Yours from a stunned and gutted
Angie

 

[ScottJ]

Hi Angie, I was reading your post and going to congratulate you on a great buy, somehow at such a low start price I had my suspicions as to whether the domain would sell, I hope you can resolve this to your satisfaction.

 

[Paullas]

sad to hear that angie. did sedo market the domain for sale? as if so they sedo must have had permission.

 

[GreyWing]

Sorry to hear that Angie, I hope it all works out in your favour. Possibly the seller got cold feet over Sedo's Commission or the second place buyer made them an offer outside sedo without sedo's comission would usually explain this sort of behaviour.

Anyway best of luck.
Graeme

 

[davedevelopment]

How can a name like that possibly get to auction without authorisation from the seller?

All the best Angie, great buy.

 

[keys]

No comment from Sedo ...

http://www.acorndomains.co.uk/sedo/64263-phantom-auction.html

 

[julian]

not a bargain imho, plenty of better things to spend 100k on out there.

Sorry yits not gone right with the sale but I think it was very unwise posting this at such an early stage.

 

[Adam]

I think it was a very good deal actually, considering it went for only 9x the price of a .org.uk on the same day and there's no denying that its a good domain. I think you made a good buy there Angie.

As for being unwise posting so soon, I think perhaps it was best that Angie did post about it - at the end of the day, it can't damage her rights as the winner of the auction in anyway, it'll put pressure on Sedo (now that its a public story) to get to the bottom of what is happening here and more important I think, will stop a lot of people jumping to assumptions and running their mouth.

So all in all, good price Angie, and good luck with getting it all sorted!

Adam

not a bargain imho, plenty of better things to spend 100k on out there.

Sorry yits not gone right with the sale but I think it was very unwise posting this at such an early stage.

 

[dlone]

I was going to say congrats with the purchase but hope you manage get everything worked out.

Paul

 

[Edwin]

Angie, that's terrible news. Sadly, I don't expect that Sedo will be a lot of help in this situation, but maybe the sums involved are such that it's worth considering legal action? (You may at least be able to persuade Sedo to divulge the seller's details to you - if the domain was uploaded to their platform by someone other than the listed seller).

Hope everything finds a way of working itself out - that's a fantastic name to storm the market with!

 

[rob]

Backing out of auctions - classy!

Really feel for you Angie, never nice be it over £1 or £100k.

I hope you end up with whats rightfully yours, sadly you see too much of it be it on here , Sedo or elsewhere.

 

[retired_member13]

Sorry to hear that Angie, I hope it all works out in your favour. Possibly the seller got cold feet over Sedo's Commission or the second place buyer made them an offer outside sedo without sedo's comission would usually explain this sort of behaviour.

Anyway best of luck.
Graeme

I can say with certainty that the second placed buyer hasn't made an offer outside of the usual channels - it was me in 2nd place.

Really sorry to hear what's happened Angie - absolute disaster and a nightmare scenario - it's also a possibility that I'd discussed with a few people before deciding on whether or not to bid given the low start price and unusual way & time the auction was started.

All the best with it and I really hope it works out for you - you did win it fair and square.

Regards

 

[GreyWing]

No probs TY, didn't mean you mate just talking more broadly of someone who missed out, maybe even someone who didn't bid and only contacted them today ect to see if they could steal the deal.

Anyhow all just guess work, hope it gets sorted.

 

[rob]

I wonder who gets the cash from the parking page

 

[newguy]

Here's hoping that this works out for you Angie. This is unfair to say the least.

 

[ANY-Web]

Thank you everybody, but especially Ty and Sean, for their supportive words
and for revealing that they bid at the auction. Really appreciated.

When an auction is initiated it is hardly done so accidentally - too many "I agree to Terms and Conditions" need to be pressed.
Naively one assumes that this creates a legally binding contract?

Anyway, I will get to the bottom of this and report back.
Thanks everybody - I just needed to let off steam.

 

[retired_member13]

No probs TY, didn't mean you mate just talking more broadly of someone who missed out, maybe even someone who didn't bid and only contacted them today ect to see if they could steal the deal.

Anyhow all just guess work, hope it gets sorted.

No worries GW, I was saying in the hope that it might help rule out a possibility rather than it being because I thought it was aimed anywhere.

Sorry state of affairs re the sellers behaviour really.

 

[Edwin]

When an auction is initiated it is hardly done so accidentally - too many "I agree to Terms and Conditions" need to be pressed.
Naively one assumes that this creates a legally binding contract?

It does and it doesn't. Historically, Sedo seems to have left it 100% up to the buyer to try and enforce the contract. They simply step out of the picture and wash their hands of any ongoing responsibility.

 

[dotNetFreak]

Surely with a domain of this calibre, Sedo would have performed some due diligence behind the scenes and ensured that the auction was authorised or is it a case that all domains are treated equally on the auction platform? I'm not Sedo bashing, just surprised...

 

[websaway]

Sedo need some kind of legal insurance to cover this type of dispute. If the buyer can't go forward because of the potential legal costs then theoretically any seller can say they did not authorise the sale if the sale price fell short of valuation - especially a rich seller.
Seems a strange scenario to me.