This is an open letter I have sent to and posted at Afternic.
Revisions?? They need to fix the security holes FIRST!!On February 27th, I bought
properties.com at the Afternic.com auction. I paid in excess of $60,000 for this
domain and Afternic, your escrow agent and register.com handled the entire transaction.
I would hope you are familiar with this.
When I tried to pay for the extended payment
of 10 years I kept having a problem that register.com (Your parent company) kept
saying was fixed but was not. I also started hearing rumors of Afternics involvement
in selling stolen domains. Then I heard about someone that spent $5,000 at your auction
and then lost the domain after the transaction was completed. Afternic has not answered
his emails from my understanding or just sends a form reply.
Afternic seems very
cavalier in trafficking in stolen domains. The fact that Afternic handled the entire
properties.com transaction with your escrow agent and then your parent company register.com
registered it in my name only to take it away from me 3 weeks later with NO notification,
NO reason, NO explanation, No nothing, shows a TOTAL DISREGARD for your customer
and NEGLIGENCE on the part of ALL your companies that boarder criminal activity.
As of this moment I STILL have no OFFICIAL word and can only speculate like others
are. The rumors are flying and it is caused because of the lack of communication
with me and everyone at the Afternic community. Seems you can feature "Notable posts"
but ignore serious issues.
Afternic heavily promoted these domains by featuring
them on your home page. You did this with several other domains even AFTER you had
reason to believe that they might be stolen. Turning a blind eye does not relieve
you of responsibility. Quite the opposite…..It proves negligence and Afternic’s reputation
is turning into the “Chop shop for domains.” Imagine a car dealer selling stolen
cars! How long would the dealer stay in business if everyone knows that they sell
stolen cars?
Matter of fact, as of this writing I have heard NOTHING from any party
involved. You guys made your fees and it seems meaningless to Afternic and Register.com
that I was hoodwinked out of $60,000 and YOUR COMPANIES profited from that transaction.
Would
you care to clarify Afternic’s position in regards to this matter? I would like something
not pulled out of your self serving disclaimers. Something perhaps genuine that shows
an understanding of the seriousness of this matter.
I am perhaps the #1 buyer and
developer of .com domains in the world. I own a total of 3500 domain names headquartered
at http://www.erealestate.com/. I buy them from individuals, companies, auctions
like ebay, afternic, etc. So far I have spent millions of dollars obtaining these
domains. My purchases include such notables as men.com, porno.com, ass.com, voyeur.com,
tradeshows.com, bulkemail.com, dirtyjokes.com, widgets.com, homemade.com and most
recently properties.com. I am also president of DomainDevelopers.com which is a watchdog
group that is forming to alert the public about stolen and hijacked domains along
with other issues important to domain owners.
Your immediate reply would be appreciated.
If I do not get a quick response from this URGENT matter I will have my attorney,
Howard Neu, institute legal proceeding that will make this private matter a very
public one. I believe the entire credibility of your company is at stake. How you
handle this issue may determine the future of Afternic.
I know this is a pretty
hard hitting letter, but what would you do if you were swindled out of $60,000 and
a prime domain that you bought at Afternic?? Would you just lay down? Especially
when on your site you CLAIM,“The only safe way to buy and sell domains.” So I ask.....what
would you do??
Sincerely,
Rick Schwartz
User: Mr800king
CC: Howard Neu