Sedo Comments on Domain Theft & Verification Policy

Over the years, I have received a number of emails about domain names that were (sometimes) allegedly stolen and re-sold on domain name marketplaces and platforms. I have also read forum and blog posts, as well as seen tweets and other complaints regarding the purchase of domain names that were previously stolen. Domain name theft is still a major issue that plagues the business of domain investing.

With Sedo being one of the largest domain name marketplaces and auction venues, I reached out to a company representative to ask for Sedo’s position regarding the purchase of a domain name on Sedo that turns out to have been previously stolen. I also asked what type of verification and due diligence the company does for domain names listed for sale or auction on Sedo.

A Sedo representative shared the following information with me:

“Sedo takes domain theft very seriously and is committed to protecting domain ownership rights. That starts with preventing the listing of stolen domains on our marketplace in the first place and we employ a variety of security checks aimed at reviewing the information provided in seller user accounts and their new sales listings. Yet despite these measures and strict marketplace terms and conditions, between WHOIS privacy and disparate registry policies, especially after GDPR, it is impossible for Sedo to guarantee that a domain has never been stolen at some point in its registration history or remains subject to some kind of legal dispute.

Similar to trademark concerns, a critical element in this process is hearing from the victims of domain theft to alert us to their legal claims. As you might imagine, these complaints often include former registrants who simply forgot to renew a registration but we take each case seriously. So we encourage anyone who feels they have lost a domain due to fraud to report the theft to Sedo (and other domain marketplaces) in accordance with our long standing stolen domain complaint procedure. Discussion boards are often full of speculation about this domain or that, but in the absence of a complaint from the injured party themselves, Sedo relies on our security procedures and the representations and warranties made by the seller in the listing process. While the domain’s registrar, ICANN, or a court of law are the appropriate venues to resolve a legal claim to a domain, once notified, Sedo’s Security & Compliance team can review a complaint and block a domain from our services pending the outcome of a dispute to protect both the victim and potential buyers. If you or your readers are in contact with a prior registrant who feels their domain was stolen, please encourage them to immediately contact us via the complaint link above.

Unfortunately, as with anything sold on a secondary market, buyers bear a degree of risk related to the representations and warranties of the seller. Once a purchase and sale has been completed, Sedo cannot return any funds already paid to a seller as we are not an appropriate party to arbitrate a dispute. So we encourage prospective buyers to perform all due diligence prior to agreeing to purchase a domain, including research into any concerns about the seller’s ownership status and to ensure that their purchase or intended use does not violate a third party rights. We also encourage buyers to review their registrar’s policies in the event a third party asserts a claim to the domain. If a domain is later taken away from a buyer because of the seller’s violation of the purchase and sale agreement we advise the buyer to seek legal counsel to pursue the seller for damages for breach of contract and will support them by providing transaction records to the appropriate authorities.”

For my own business, I have always felt that it was my responsibility to perform due diligence before buying a domain name – even on a marketplace like Sedo. I recently wrote about calling previous domain registrants to confirm that they sold their domain name before agreeing to purchase it.

Domain investors should understand that domain name theft does happen, and buyers are responsible for doing their own due diligence before buying. I think most marketplaces and platforms do at least some cursory checks to confirm the registrant is the seller, but that does not mean the registrant is authorized to sell a domain name, nor does this confirm the domain name had been acquired legitimately.

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

9 COMMENTS

  1. Domaining.com is not for sale at sedo.com
    I advised sedo.com in November about it but I just see it is still listed by someone who don’t own it nor have my permission to do it.

    • Sedo seems to love to keep listings from old owners up. Everytime I report one of my domains on there with a fake price they do everything they can NOT to take it down. The whois shows me, and they still don’t care. They leave up the fake listing. They don’t take anything seriously, my guess in more than 70% of their listing are from old owners.

      • I doubt they do that intentionally because it would be a poor customer experience on both ends.

        Not only would a domain registrant (like you or Francois) be upset to learn your name was listed for sale without permission, but it would anger a buyer who agrees to buy a domain name that is not for sale. Sedo would not be able to fulfill that sale and nobody would be happy.

        Where do you report the listings? It sounds like Sedo needs to do a better job of responding to reports.

        • They have zero concern about poor customer experience. I’ve told them multiple times from both email and chat, they don’t care. They 100% know the listing is from an old owner and refuse to take it down. They love keeping the fake listings up, just because you don’t think they would do that doesn’t make it true. Unlike you I contacted them again and again to try to get my domains removed.

    • Domaining.com was in fact deleted and blacklisted once we were notified of this. We take these matters very seriously and should you have issues in the future, we encourage you to contact our Security and Compliance Team directly at security@sedo.com or our Customer Service Team at contact@sedo.com.

      Thank you, Elliot for addressing this important topic and for all for your comments regarding this post.

  2. “Once a purchase and sale has been completed, Sedo cannot return any funds already paid to a seller as we are not an appropriate party to arbitrate a dispute.”

    Thanks for nothing. Not a safe platform imo.

  3. Sadly, it’s often somebody other than the owner of the domain name that notices a potential theft has taken place. In the process, often times, months have passed and the stolen domain is sold. IF a court filing is ever made to recover the asset, somebody is going to be stuck holding the hot potato. Always try your very best to confirm with the past owner of the history of the domain.

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