From the “You just can’t make this stuff up” file, there were two names that sold on Flippa yesterday that looked odd. OnlinePetHub.com and Onlinepetsdirect.com. both closed at $4,995, they were registered on 4/20, listed on 4/20 and sold on 4/20.
I have verified that these deals are legit and it shows once again, how random, unpredictable and flat out nuts the domain industry can be sometimes.
Congrats to the seller.
@domains says
Got to be more to the story than that.
Jideofor says
it was a catalog sale not listing sales. Therefore, it could be that the seller contacted a buyer and they agreed to use Flippa for the sales completion.
AbdulBasit Makrani says
No matter what story was behind the scene, the seller got a great deal and made solid ROI. Congrats to both parties specially the seller.
Phil says
You are missing a big part of this story.
The domains where registered 4/20/15. That’s yesterday, REGISTERED.
Creation Date: 2015-04-21T02:52:58Z
Not to mention the domains are not worth $5 for both.
This stinks like rotten cheese from Denmark.
Raymond Hackney says
No one missed that part of the story its right in the story, “they were registered on 4/20, listed on 4/20 and sold on 4/20.”
Michael says
The real part of the story that you’re missing is that they both forward to StevesPetSupply.com which was registered the day AFTER these sales happened.
At first I was thinking those spammers that tack on suffixes to existing domains and email pitches to the owners, even though the domain they are pitching doesn’t exist, got the best of someone. Then they quickly registered the domains and closed through Flippa. But that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Maybe it’s a silly publicity stunt, buy them from yourself and all you’re out is the 10% success fee, and suddenly people are talking about you. But that also seems unlikely.
Guess we’ll never know. Very odd indeed.
friend says
There’s more to the story for sure, could be creating artificial value for the next sucker.
todd says
So just because Flippa says it sold that means it sold? As long as Flippa says it happened it happened?
These domains were listed by a domainer, there is no doubt in that correct? Because only domainers list names at Flippa that are registered the same day correct? So then why are both names under privacy? Domainers don’t register domains under privacy.
Why do both names forward to StevesPetSupply.com which was registered the day after these two domains were registered? Yes it was registered on April 21. Is the new owner in control of these names already? Wow that was fast! 1 day for a $10,000 deal to close and the new owner already has control of the names. Already transferred and forwarded to a bogus website that was created yesterday. Maybe StevesPetSupply.com was created to make it look like these sales are legit. Hmmm I wonder.
There is so much bullshit to this story it stinks!!!
Andrea Paladini says
Raymond,
One of the weird things is that if you search the listings of those two domains on Flippa you got no results, it says “No listings match that search.”.
It looks like someone removed them …
Same for the direct links to the listings, which lead to a “The page you were looking for does not exist” …
Have you personally seen and verified the Escrow detail of the transactions?
Plus both names are under privacy …
IMHO the whole thing smells of bogus (or shill bidding bogus) …
Raymond Hackney says
I agree Andrea, that is why I asked Kevin Fink, in the first Daily Sales Recap for 4-20-15 Kevin commented that the sales were legit.
This is very strange absolutely, like Michael and Friend wrote this could be a publicity stunt or a set up. It is safe to say many will track these two domains to see what happens.
With the listings moved to private, the publicity stunt angle is lessened, because they would have nothing to point to. If Flippa got paid their success fee then the transactions go through as legitimate.
Andrea Paladini says
Raymond,
It depends on what your idea of “legitimate transaction” is …
And the fact that the listings were removed is very fishy.
IMHO a domain transaction is legitimate when there is a tangible proof of it, like an Escrow receipt …
You know, there are many ways to “fabricate” a transaction … and it can be fabricated by many parties … for many reasons …
Raymond Hackney says
True instead of saying legitimate, paid for, whether it was a ruse, is another story because yes people can fabricate stuff.
Now if Flippa shows you proof of receipt would that count ? Many transactions take place on Sedo and Afternic as well, with no proof of escrow, it is very easy to screw with the system, I agree totally on that.
I think we do all we can do, as industry watchers, if the venue gets paid , well then they did their job, we need to keep an eye on what happens with the domains afterwards.
Kevin Fink says
Please read my comment below.
Kelly says
I am perplexed here on one hand if Flippa says they were paid what more can you do ?on the other hand this just seems so odd like no one does business like this I have seen Kevin Fink comment on this blog in other posts, it would really be great if he could come in here and address the concerns of your readers something seems a bit out of reality.
Kevin Fink says
The sales were brought to platform after the seller found a buyer.
The sales are now hidden because the parties privatized them.
I agree it’s weird that they were regg’d on the same day, but that is really none of our business.
Both parties are real, they closed Escrow and the domains transferred.
Scrutiny is understood, but for those who know and trust me, I hope you’ll leave it there.
todd says
“The sales were brought to platform after the seller found a buyer.”
Just so I understand this
1. The seller registered the domains on April 20
2. The seller found a buyer on April 20
3. The seller listed them on Flippa on April 20
4. The buyer bought the names on April 20
5. The escrow was started on April 20
6. The escrow completed on April 20
7. The seller transferred the domains on April 20
8. The buyer forwarded his $5,000 worth of new domains to a $5 hand reg that was registered on April 21
Raymond Hackney says
Thank you Kevin for replying, I don’t know everyone at Flippa, but I know that no one in this industry works harder than Kevin, seeks out answers to problems faster and looks and responds to feedback.
I made a point that the transaction seems weird, I do believe Kevin when he says the deal got done.
There are a lot of weird deals and how they happen, I saw a lot of comments on RQH.com and how it got sold so cheap and looked suspicious, on Namepros I took the time to do all the research and put together a timeline and made it all make sense.
Transactions don’t go through everywhere, people seem to be more on top of those at Flippa in 2015 as they have emerged as a bigger player in domain only auctions.
People do need to do their homework and come to learn who is a straight shooter.
Kevin is at the top of the list for me when it comes to that.
NY says
I don’t believe this is a legit sale, don’t really care what Flippa says.
Kevin Fink says
That’s fine, you’re entitled to whatever it is you do believe. The domains changed hands, Flippa was paid its commission and the end user has both domains.
Jacob Kneeshaw says
This doesn’t pass the smell test. Assuming what Kevin says is true that money and domains exchanged hands, the only logical conclusion to draw is that some sort of financial crime like money laundering is taking place. Hopefully Flippa did the right thing and filled a suspicious activity report with FinCEN.