Human Errors Happen

Last year, I won a non-.com auction at Dynadot. The domain name may be considered a typo of another word word, but this “typo” has 100+/- TLDs registered, which is what caught my attention. In fact, at least 15 of those TLDs are developed, so there’s quite a bit of usage around this brandable term.

Shortly after buying the domain name for less than $20, I listed it for sale on Afternic. Somehow, I mistyped the domain name and listed the correctly spelled non -.com domain name. Apparently, when I later searched my Afternic account for the domain name and didn’t see it, I added it a second time – this time with the actual domain name I bought and own.

Months later, I awoke to a congratulatory email from Afternic informing me I sold a domain name via LTO. The endorphins flowed for a few minutes, until I went to Dynadot to retrieve the authorization code for a transfer. I looked through my account and my heart sunk. I realized I must have inadvertently listed the wrong domain name for sale.

Whenever I receive an email from Afternic asking me to authorize a listing and it’s a domain name I don’t have listed for sale there, it irritates me. “Who the f is trying to list my domain name for sale,” I think to myself. On the rare occasion when a seller backs out of a sale on a platform, I think, “what kind of jackass sells a domain name and then backs out of the deal?”

Well, apparently I was that jackass to someone.

Human errors happen. People make mistakes. I screwed up and feel badly about it. This was a small deal, but I am frustrated that I made an error. Hopefully the person on the other end showed some grace to Afternic, GoDaddy, or their registrar when the news was broken to them.

This is a good reminder to me of the importance of being cautious when listing domain names for sale. I don’t recall ever listing an incorrect domain name for sale, but it can happen. It’s also a good reminder to be kind when things happen out of the ordinary. Perhaps it was simply a human error.