This morning, I was confirming a Whois update on a domain name I bought, and I saw the “for sale” graphic on the DomainTools Whois lookup page. I clicked through, and I saw that the domain name was listed for sale at Sedo. To remove this domain name from Sedo, I contacted security@sedo.com, and they took it down right away.
It is important for domain owners to remove listings after they sell a domain name, and it is also important to make sure recently acquired domain names aren’t listed for sale in someone else’s account. I regularly forget to see if domain names I bought are listed for sale, but I should be more vigilant about it.
In the case of the domain name I bought, a former owner had a minimum offer price well below the number at which I would sell the domain name. It was not a buy it now price, but I would imagine that some people could easily get confused and assume that is the price to buy the domain name. I wouldn’t want a prospective buyer to think it would be possible to buy the domain name for that price, especially if he thinks I raised the price after he inquired about. In addition, I wouldn’t want a prospect to continue to make offers for the domain name via Sedo when I wouldn’t even receive those offer emails. Finally, if I wasn’t planning to sell the domain name, I wouldn’t want to give anyone the impression that I was looking to sell it.
As someone who buys domain names, I also find these dormant listings to be annoying. On more than one occasion, I have purchased a domain name from a major aftermarket website only to have the deal canceled because the seller no longer owns the domain name. It is frustrating to find a deal, send in my payment, and then have the deal canceled a short time later because of an error like this.
I wish there was more ongoing ownership verification at the major aftermarket platforms. Since that does not appear to be the case on a regular basis, it is important for domain owners to remove their listings either upon the successful sale of a domain name or when they purchase a domain name privately.
Thank you for the reminder. It is really a matter so many of us forget to remove the listing after the sale..
You’re welcome.
Being a new domain owner and buyer I enjoyed the article for its great tips. I will make sure to check all future purchases to avoid some of these issues.
What a helpful post, and timely for me too. I just discovered that a recent acquisition of mine also has a legacy listing on Sedo, and at a price lower than my mark to boot. Big thanks for your blog from someone who’s recently taken to binge-reading it.
I disagree, I think this should be fully automated. When a domain changes registrant Sedo or DomainTools should remove listings automatically. Sedo has more control to implement this on their side by sending a reopt-in email to the person that listed it.
I agree that it should be automated.
However, because it is not yet automated, people should still do this 🙂