Auction Fraud at Dynadot? (8.Viewing)

One thing Dynadot is guilty of here is fumbling their response to this matter, which is unfortunate because my impression (based on my dealings with them over the years) is they are good and ethical people. At least they did respond, eventually, but I would not give them top marks for how they responded, hampered no doubt by the fact many of their key people were tied up at NamesCon while this whole thing blew up on X. Timing sucked for them. It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the coming weeks and months.

BillSweetman said:

One thing Dynadot is guilty of here is fumbling their response to this matter, which is unfortunate because my impression (based on my dealings with them over the years) is they are good and ethical people. At least they did respond, eventually, but I would not give them top marks for how they responded, hampered no doubt by the fact many of their key people were tied up at NamesCon while this whole thing blew up on X. Timing sucked for them. It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the coming weeks and months.

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Based on the slightly tardy response by Dynadot, I believe it was 100% fair (assuming that it was presented the same way in the first contact to Rick after the auction). The next highest bidder can either accept the domain at their highest bid, or, take the risk of restarting the auction at the last valid bid price.

Personally, if I were the auction house, I would re-frame it like this:

"As per auction policy, the auction will be restarted at the last legitimate bid price and will resume as per normal auction rules. Alternatively, as a valued customer we are giving you the option to avoid restarting the auction and accepting the domain at your final bid price of ($xxxxxx). If we don't get your response within 48 hours, the resumed auction will be scheduled and you will be notified."

This is the side of Rick I don't like. He's absolutely right that its messed up that this happens. And I bet it happens at most auction houses. And presuming he wasn't given the option to restart the auction, that's also fucked up.

HOWEVER, if he was given the option to restart the auction, that really is the only fair thing to do and Rick is blowing this out of proportion - wow shocker. Anyone with rational thinking would understand that restarting the auction is truly the fairest option - and that he probably shouldn't even be given the option to purchase it at any price post auction. That would avoid any accusations of unfairness.