Legal Advice

[stender]

I recently sold a name via sedo and somehow I managed to transfer the sold name and another one by mistake, which the buyer accepted. Both domains however are registered to what appears to be his webhosting company.
I've tried emailing him with no response and I've also contacted the web company who's name the domains are in but no joy there either. I've also had nominet contact the web company who apparently said they will speak to the "registrant" who I sold to.
About a month on now and I've heard no more and nominet seem to be washing their hands saying they shouldn't of got involved in the first place.

Any advice on what I can do? i.e. would the legal route be any use? The sale for the legit name went through sedo but obviously I have nothing mentioning the problem domain and neither do they.
I wouldn't mind but the name in question they could have for £200 so definately not worth the hassle, but it's a matter of principle.

I could of course cause the web company a lot of grief in other ways but that would be wrong.

 

[retired_member16]

Small claims court, bad publicity or a old fashioned kicking.

 

[stender]

I'm one for paying a visit, but the name doesn't warrant the petrol cost.
I could cost them a lot more in bad publicity if I were that way inclined.
but who should it be directed at? the person/company who bought it or the web company? surely my grievance is with the web company as they registered it in their name.

And what can i prove?
nominet can confirm i've owned it for years
sedo can confirm only the other name was sold via them
nominet can confirm that the transfer of both was done at the same time
but other than that i can't prove i didn't sell it to them and they cant prove they did buy it.
I could say prove you paid me any money?

 

[retired_member16]

I guess it depends on if its a one-man-band or not.

If its a large company and you are getting no-where with the email address that you sent the transfer too, then the head honcho would be my first port of call.

Regardless of what you do, you may have to play it gently, as it was your cock up in the first place :mrgreen: Perhaps the person who accepted the transfer request wasnt aware of what was purchased and was just following the steps.

 

[namealot]

Little tricky would say civil (error) rather than criminal. Ask the company/indervidual if they have specific department e.g. complaints, IT, accounts etc, A set procedure there policy? If it should be formally made in writing they would provide you with written details of how this procedure is carried out etc.
Ideally send a letter recorded delivery to the registered offices/ contact address it should consist of

Introduction, Your name Details of how to make contact with you and the reason for contacting them.

Information, The name was registered to them in a administration error include copies of any invoices/ purchase orders these would show they had not bought the other name also ?

(To prove it was yours easy nominet. It was not included in the sale as a gift etc. If they disagree simply ask for the invoice number/purchase order etc? You have stated it was an administration error this explains how its in there account they would not be able too without an invoice etc)

Resolution What your expected outcome would be, How they can return the name to you (They might not know how to return it ?), A given time scale for this i.e. 7 days

Close. What steps you may take should this not happen etc.

They could ask for reimbursement of any associated cost involved with the return (your error not there’s) If you were to go down the court route it would help considerably that you show that you have made every reasonable effort to recover the name keep notes of names and positions within the company of people you have spoken to, dates times of all communications etc.

 

[stender]

Thanks, am keeping it civil for the moment. As I say the deal was via sedo to an email address of a website, yet the name sold and one in question are down as a registrant name of that of the web company. They apparently told nominet that they would contact the owner, but as far as i'm concerned they are the legal owner?

 

[retired_member12]

You say you transferred the other domain by mistake, do you mean it was your mistake through the Nominet account transfer interface in your account? If so, then by all means you would want it back, but that's a pretty silly mistake of yours to make, given that Nominets' system clearly asks you to confirm that you are sure first.

Apologies if that's not what happened, but if it is, then threats of bad publicity and causing grief seem misplaced to me, you caused the problem in the first place.

 

[woopwoop]

Until you hear from them - I'd try and keep it as nice as possible.

At best they'll transfer it back and you'd pick up the nom fees. The worst case if threats/heavy pressure comes out too quickly is that they get annoyed and are slow to reply, and maybe even refuse to transfer it back and possibly sell it on.

Often in things like this people may be busy and just didn't get around to replying. Definitely try different ways to contact them, email, call, fax (maybe visit if possible). And then repeat these all again a few days later.

You really need to have some reply from them over the issue before you mention reputation and all that. You want the nice/caring side of them to act in your interest rather than the defensive/angry side of them to work against you.

99% of the time I think these things would work themselves out (especially with a domain around £200)

Good luck.

 

[stender]

You say you transferred the other domain by mistake, do you mean it was your mistake through the Nominet account transfer interface in your account? If so, then by all means you would want it back, but that's a pretty silly mistake of yours to make, given that Nominets' system clearly asks you to confirm that you are sure first.

Apologies if that's not what happened, but if it is, then threats of bad publicity and causing grief seem misplaced to me, you caused the problem in the first place.

I have no idea how it happened, I wouldn't of knowingly ticked multiple boxes and one domain began with C and the other M so I don't think would of been next to each other. We can't all be perfect, You obviously haven't made a mistake before then.


This issue happened nearly 2 months ago so I'm not exactly being impatient.
Regardless of it being an accident or not, they accepted the transfer incorrectly and have not been proactive in returning it which in my eyes is dodgey. Just like they have registered the names in their name rather than their clients which again is dodgey imho.

 

[woopwoop]

If it's nearly 2 months ago then I'd email them nice emails every day for another week and call them every day.

You need to hear from them!

 

[retired_member12]

Don't turn on the first poster to dare to ask you if you made the mistake. I'll wager the transfer happened exactly as I describe, you know it, and Nominet know it.

If you've spoken to Nominet, then you already know how it was transferred, they're not that thick, I suspect that's why they're not able to do any more for you.

Give us a fuller picture next time if you don't like to be asked a question!

 

[stender]

You being patronising doesn't help in the slightest does it. You know nothing about what happened so don't preach to me as if you do. If it was human error nominet wouldn't of got involved but they are. As for a fuller picture, enough info was given. I'll try and post pictures next time to help you.

 

[retired_member12]

You being patronising doesn't help in the slightest does it. You know nothing about what happened so don't preach to me as if you do. If it was human error nominet wouldn't of got involved but they are. As for a fuller picture, enough info was given. I'll try and post pictures next time to help you.

You said Nominet are washing their hands of it, why? You've spoken to them, how did it get transferred then, this must have been discussed, otherwise you'd be suing Nominet? Why are you not blaming them?

 

[stender]

No, I said "nominet seem to be washing their hands of it" I've had 3 different people dealing with it and having to chase each of them. I've sent 2 emails to the current person without response, hence seem to be washing their hands.

I implied that the error happened about the time their system changed from moving domains across to ticking boxes. They said they wouldn't normally get involved in cases like this but have in this case. So they haven't said it was my fault and haven't taken the blame either.

I'm not blaming anyone, I just want the domain back. If you read the op I was asking for advice on my options and whether I should be contacting the buyer or the web company who's name it's in. Nowhere did it ask for an opinion of who's to blame or asking for absolution.

 

[anthony]

Have Nominet been able to confirm to you how the transfer happened, seems to me that they should be in a position to do that.

 

[stender]

It's not come up to be honest, They said they'll contact the registrant and it's been left at that. I just read your blog which is interesting.

 

[anthony]

It's not come up to be honest, They said they'll contact the registrant and it's been left at that. I just read your blog which is interesting.

Bookmark the site!

 

[stender]

update: all sorted. After sending them an email stating we should both like to avoid legal expenses, they transferred the name back and nom reimbursed the transfer fee so all good.

 

[domainseller200]

Bookmark the site!

I have had it bookmarked for some time now - when is the update ?

 

[Ashton]

update: all sorted. After sending them an email stating we should both like to avoid legal expenses, they transferred the name back and nom reimbursed the transfer fee so all good.

Glad to see it came to a conclusion, you shouldn't have transferred the domain, and they should have sent it back before scare tactics. Haha, you won't let this happen again though! Good end to a bad situation really.