Paid For Domain But Seller Isn't Releasing It

[ILoveKat]

Hello everyone.

Around a week ago I "bought" a domain through Sedo. By that, I mean that I submitted the payment but now the seller is basically doing nothing.

The domain in question is a .co.uk and it had the "buy now" option so one could be forgiven for thinking that maybe the listing is old, stale and forgotten about but according to Sedo, the "seller" only joined in June 2013 so that can't be the case.

My question to all of you is the legal side of this. I already have a feeling in my gut that this issue isn't going to be resolved through Sedo and I know that it's not really their fault and that they will give me the money back as I've experienced something similar before, but what about the seller? Can I sue him and pursue this domain name?

According to the whois for the domain, the seller is in the UK like myself and Sedo have the same address for him on their records so should I consider taking this to the next level with him if I continue to hear nothing? Will there be any assistance from Sedo from a legal point of view?

Any help is much appreciated.

 

[Systreg]

How do you know he's not off on summer holiday somewhere for a few weeks with no access to the internet?

Sedo will not help beyond giving you the sellers address details.

 

[bensd]

Sedo are shite when this happens. If you push them all they will do is offer a refund...

 

[Skinner]

Does the seller have their own tag on the whois ? like my domains are registered to my name, and the tag says my name ?

Maybe they are a member here also, and you could chase them direct ?

 

[Retired_Member38]

From experience, Sedo just want the easy commissions. If you ask them to actually do anything to earn their massive fee... they'll shrug their shoulders and refund, and invite you to take legal action against the seller if you like.

 

[ILoveKat]

Thanks to all for your answers

How do you know he's not off on summer holiday somewhere for a few weeks with no access to the internet?

I don't, that's why nothing has been done about it yet

But I think we can both agree that the amount of fake/bogus/wind up/dead/sellers that have changed their mind, far outweighs the number of people that are on holiday on Sedo.

I had a feeling that Sedo would be pretty unhelpful in terms of chasing things up and providing back up. Two things come to mind though with this.

1: Sedo make a big deal about offers being legally binding, terms and conditions, blah blah blah but if they aren't going to do anything about it then it's nothing but an empty scare tactic.

2: Following on from number 1, if Sedo provide no back up whatsoever, then it becomes a matter of my word against his. After all, he could just deny any knowledge of Sedo and who is going to prove otherwise?

 

[websaway]

Thanks to all for your answers



I don't, that's why nothing has been done about it yet

But I think we can both agree that the amount of fake/bogus/wind up/dead/sellers that have changed their mind, far outweighs the number of people that are on holiday on Sedo.

I had a feeling that Sedo would be pretty unhelpful in terms of chasing things up and providing back up. Two things come to mind though with this.

1: Sedo make a big deal about offers being legally binding, terms and conditions, blah blah blah but if they aren't going to do anything about it then it's nothing but an empty scare tactic.

2: Following on from number 1, if Sedo provide no back up whatsoever, then it becomes a matter of my word against his. After all, he could just deny any knowledge of Sedo and who is going to prove otherwise?

You have, to your knowledge, bought and paid for a name in good faith.
What's the domain and who is the seller.
Don't beat around the bush.

 

[ILoveKat]

You have, to your knowledge, bought and paid for a name in good faith.
What's the domain and who is the seller.
Don't beat around the bush.

At this time, I would rather not reveal the domain name because if I do end up getting it, I would rather this thread not come up in the search engines at a later date.

If time goes by and I still hear nothing, I will reveal the domain name and the name of the seller.

 

[ILoveKat]

I thought I would update everyone as to what happened with this. So as of this time last week nothing had happened and as you can imagine, my patience were reaching an end.

So I decided to the send the seller a letter (under a recorded delivery) politely reminding him about this and how it's legally binding and how I have the right to take action if he doesn't proceed with the transfer.

Just a few days later, the transfer has now begun

I would recommend anyone try this if the seller is in the same country and sending a letter is a realistic option i.e whois information available.