One man’s story should serve as a warning to domain name registrants.
Blake Smith is a savvy internet user. After all, he runs a web consulting business. In his role he’s ordered dozens of domain names from GoDaddy for both himself and his clients.
One of his clients orders domains at GoDaddy frequently enough that he decided to set up an account specifically for him, and even added the one-click payment option with GoDaddy where your credit card information is saved. It made it a lot easier to order, but also to make a mistake.
And that’s just what happened a couple months ago. Smith’s client, who we’ll call Darin (because that’s his real name), asked him to order a domain.
“I was downloading a big project file when I started getting text messages from Darin telling me he needed me to buy a domain fast!” Smith recounts. “I couldn’t really stop my download but told Darin as soon as I could I would get his order taken care of.”
Really, Blake? Is that what happened?
“OK, technically that ‘download’ thing was a euphemism,” he admits. “I was sitting on the toilet when these urgent texts came through. As soon as I could I ordered the domain betterthanfred.com for Darin. I went to GoDaddy, saw the word “Available,†clicked on purchase, checked the stupid agreement check boxes and bought it. Done!”
Moments later he received a purchase confirmation that read “GoDaddy.com Order Confirmation‎ – … Name Registration $10.87 BETTERTHAN…”
Mission accomplished, all while sitting on the toilet.
It wasn’t an important domain, it was more of a joke.
“It turns out that Darin was at a meeting with a guy named Fred. Fred’s an important web commerce guy and Darin was joking about how he had a site that was better than Fred’s this and better than Fred’s that; A little amusing one-upmanship. While Fred was gone from the table for something, Darin sprang into action to snag this amusing betterthanfred.com site so he could joke that no matter what Darin would have a site that was better than Fred. It was pretty funny and I was happy to have helped.”
He was happy until Darin received his credit card bill the next month. Darin called Smith and asked him if he ordered a $10,000 domain name on his credit card.
“You know how they say in novels, ‘his blood ran cold’ and it sounds cliché?” asks Smith.
“It’s not as cliché as you might think. I told Darin I’d come right over. With just a few minutes of checking I realized I’d somehow purchased one of GoDaddy’s so-called premium domain names. I couldn’t even imagine how that could have happened. I mean yeah, I’d been in a hurry to help Darin with his urgent purchase – but the website had said available and from my perspective $10,000 makes it pretty frigging far from ‘available’. That’s way the hell over in ‘unavailable’ land.”
Fortunately for Smith, Darin is his neighbor and they have a good relationship. Darin tried to work with GoDaddy and American Express to undo the transaction. But keep in mind that GoDaddy had sold the domain on behalf of someone else, who already had his check in hand. And technically, Darin had authorized Blake to make the purchase.
“I’ve been working with Darin on ways to pay off the ridiculous debt,” said Smith. And maybe we’ll even figure out a way to make the domain profitable at some point – Darin’s got a lot of great ideas. For the moment though, it is a giant GoDaddy albatross rotting around my neck. I’m sure if Darin reads this he’ll appreciate the Samuel Taylor Coleridge reference.”
This has been one painful lesson for Smith, especially since he prides himself on being aware of these sorts of things.
“The worst part of it for me – besides the awful, nerve-wracking feeling of having made a $10,000 mistake – is that I’m also way too familiar with the process that made this error so simple. I was in a hurry. I was looking for a specific word “available.†I saw that word and ignored all the other things that should have warned me I was about to make a $10,000 mistake.
“When I’m not doing web work my hobby is skeptical activism and a large part of it has to do with people mistakenly identifying things as ghosts, bigfoot, etc. The psychology behind some of the common mistakes we make is fascinating, unless they’re happening to me. But I fell prey to something called inattentional blindness. And it’s the same kind of error that makes it so dangerous to text while driving. My attention was focused on the wrong thing and I saw the tree and missed the forest completely. GoDaddy had plenty of information to show me what the price was – I just couldn’t see it in my rush to help Darin get “betterthanfred.com†before Fred came back. It reminds me a lot of the classic psychology experiment with counting basketball passes.”
It’s certainly a painful lesson. But I’m also trying to picture the guy who sold the domain through GoDaddy. He had just registered the domain earlier this year, and quickly sold it for $10,000. He probably hit the ceiling, although reading this story might make him feel at least a little sorry for the buyer.
Tia Wood says
Your headline almost made me spit out my coffee from laughter!
Bobby Lafaye says
It’s a case of ‘constipaytion’ that even MOM couldn’t cure!
M. Menius says
I’m wondering how visible was the “sticker price” on this dud of a domain. Did it not say $10,000 in bold caps right beside the domain itself? If not, it should!
QOT says
Wow! that is some mistake and glad you shared it with everyone. It makes us aware that you need to look at the price twice… and check twice.
don says
bizarre…should be a way to unwind this type of transaction
mrx says
Tow words… credit limit.
Paypal debit card will pull from your CC and enforces item and daily price limits.
DR.DOMAIN says
Hope someone goofs like that on my premium listings.;-) Look at the bright side:Blake did his small part to raise the “floor” for domain prices…and gave domainers sales ammo for other more functional names.
ST says
Darwin awards material 🙂
Joe says
We are humans, we aren’t made for multitasking… 😀
Deke says
“bizarre…should be a way to unwind this type of transaction”
Tell that to the guy on a beach in Mexico. 🙂
Domain Report says
I can see how that mistake could be made if you aren’t paying total attention during the checkout process. The guy selling the name must have thought it was his lucky day.
cctld says
Have you tried to write to godaddy ?
Nic says
Call Bob.
Ed Muller says
“Darin tried to work with GoDaddy and American Express to undo the transaction. But keep in mind that GoDaddy had sold the domain on behalf of someone else, who already had his check in hand.”
Checks from GoDaddy don’t appear for about 45-75 days after the transaction. http://help.godaddy.com/article/3494#fos Either he must have waited one heck of a long time or GoDaddy made a false statement when they said they claimed to have made payment already.
Andrew Allemann says
@ Ed – GoDaddy didn’t say he had been paid out already, but I typically get checks to them in 30-45 days. Even if they hadn’t cut the check, they can’t really go back to the seller and tell him it was no longer sold.
Kevin Murphy says
To make matters worse, it likely has TM issues.
http://www.betfred.com/
Acro says
What are the odds that a 3-word domain registered in March 2010 gets “ordered” 2 months later by a constipated marketing exec? Nice promo for flipflopshops.com
Andrew Allemann says
@ Acro – I verified the details
Adam says
I’ve had goddaddy pull back funds and transfer back in domains sold through premium listings. They have come back and said it on 2 occasions with me.
Andrew Allemann says
I think the issue here was they noticed the problem so late. Maybe within a few days they could have rectified it.
Ed Muller says
I have also had one domain unsold from GD Premium, but it was within 5 days of the sale notification. So Blake probably waited too long and didn’t review his cc statement in a timely manner.
Chadi Ghaith says
I did the same mistake which cost me over a grant. I was just having fun checking every domain that comes to mind for availability at Godaddy. I checked for BabylonTower.com, and it said (available); so I went on with checkout. With many domains in my cart; I did not notice that this one has somehow found its way into it until I received this 2***$ receipt from Godaddy. Now, I know this domain is not bad after all. Me also believing in Fate, maybe some day, some big Architectural company will build a tower under that name, and come rushing for this domain or so. This is what I had to convince myself in order to calm my nerves down. I just didn’t feel I could make it into a refund before the domain makes its way deep into my Godaddy account list.
This has taught me a lesson alright. However, I still have many of my domains listed as Premium ones at Godaddy, but only for 1/3 of their appraisal price, and not 3 times the appraisal price as this one was listed.
Bill Sweetman says
I feel sorry for Darin, but I am a bit surprised to hear that Darin wasn’t able to get this resolved (and the sale voided) with the registrar he bought the premium domain through. My guess is that Darin didn’t realize the mistake that was made until it was too late to correct it. So there is a lesson to be learned here.
I, as many of you know, don’t work for that registrar, but these kinds of mistakes can and do happen and, in my experience, can be resolved by *explaining* the situation to the registrar involved in selling the domain name. But you need to move fast and let the parties involved know within hours (or a few days, maximum); the longer you wait to let the parties know about the mistake, the harder it will be to get it corrected. And if you wait too long, it may not be able to be corrected. So move fast if this ever happens to you!
And, for the record, the domain Darin bought wasn’t one of ours. If it was, I would have gladly voided the sale.
sin says
Hello
Why would you use your credit card. THAT is why, I only use Prepard Debit card to make my Domain Purchases:))
10k is Pain in the ass. wowa
Senator says
One day I have DELETES all my +130 domains in Godaddy by mistake !
Soud says
I agree with mrx, just use debit cards, a stolen credit card (off topic) is like someone stealing your clothes.
Jason says
Bad mistake for a bad domain. Oh well. Mistakes happen. At least there’s some humor involved.
John Doe says
I think it has to do more with GoDaddys.com marketing, I have heard complaints in the past that the marketing for these premium domain names are confusing enough to tell if its just a regular domain name purchase.
Personally, I would have not paid and informed Godaddy.com to clear things up right away or put a stop payment on my credit card right away at least.
Stephen Douglas says
OMG. period.
I have three stories to tell that would beat this one, but for the sake of the companies and myself, I ain’t talking!
Luckily, we all came out of it whole. And better for it in the end, because the problem was worked on and fixed by the companies.
One thing you can learn about domain buying/selling:
Make sure you have all agreements in place, and go slow.