Size of bidding scandal becomes clear.

A document filed today (pdf) in a lawsuit against Oversee.net and Snapnames shows that the total loss to U.S. customers from the bidding scandal was about $1 million, including interest. The total damages for all customers can be extrapolated to be about $2.0 million.

The document was a declaration of Lance Martinez, General Counsel of Domain Services for Oversee.net, filed in response to the court questioning if the case was big enough to be certified as class action. In order to be certified as class action, the amount in question must be at least $5 million. Using some opportunistic math, the plaintiff in the case suggested the amount at issue was over $5M.

Martinez’ declaration shows just how much was lost by U.S. customers, and hints at the total amount overpaid by all customers. Here’s the data:

-55% of auctions affected by Halvarez involved non-U.S. customers. Therefore, 45% of auctions were U.S. customers.
-Over 70% of auctions where a U.S. bidder paid more because of halvarez involved overpayment of $20 or less, and 45% involved $5 or less.
-Total set aside for rebates to U.S. bidders was about $1 million, including about $150,000 in interest.

If the amount lost in auctions by non-U.S. bidders was equal to the amount lost per auction by U.S. bidders, then the total lost by all bidders excluding interest was less than $2 million, and the total including interest was just over $2 million.

© DomainNameWire.com 2009.

Review and rate domain name parking companies at Parking Judge.

Related posts:

1. Judge Says SnapNames Lawsuit Might be Too Small for Class Action
2. SnapNames Class Action Lawsuit Dismissed
3. Simple Math at Play in SnapNames Lawsuit

How much did customers overpay thanks to Halvarez?

Last week I reported about how the judge in the California lawsuit against Snapnames questioned how much money was at issue. In order to qualify for class action status, at least $5 million must be at stake.

In questioning the total number, the judge noted that the plaintiff in the case had lost a whopping $20. If ‘halvarez’ participated in 50,000 auctions at an average overpayment of $20, that would be only $1 million. It’s simple math, but the plaintiff decided two can use that logic.

Yesterday the plaintiff and his lawyers submitted their own crude analysis. The lawyers say they talked to a number of people, one of which had overpaid by $200 in an auction. So between one overpayment of $20 and another of $200, the median is $110. Multiply that by 50,000 and you get $5.5 million.

Hmm. Seems like a stretch to pick the highest overpayment selected out of talking to many people who were affected.

I’ve talked to lots of people, too. And I’d estimate the amount at play here is well under $5 million. Perhaps it makes sense for SnapNames to file with the court the exact amount at issue.

© DomainNameWire.com 2009.

Review and rate domain name parking companies at Parking Judge.

Related posts:

1. Judge Says SnapNames Lawsuit Might be Too Small for Class Action
2. SnapNames Class Action Lawsuit Dismissed
3. ‘Halvarez’ Caused $2M Loss to SnapNames Customers

Registrar explains its expiration notification policy.

A lot of times domain name registrars get the blame when their customers forget to renew domain names. “I didn’t get the notice” is a common line.

Of course, you can easily say the opposite. Really, how many emails does GoDaddy need to send me about my expiring domain names? It may seem like they trip all over themselves to get you to renew domain names. And that’s exactly the point.

In the wake South African Airways forgetting to renew its domain name, Network Solutions has penned a blog post about why it pesters customers to renew. It explains its notifications:

We start sending domain renewal notices 75 days from the expiration date, then again on day 45, day 20 and day 10. If we get a bounce back from the email address that’s on file on day 20, then we send a written notice to the registrant’s physical address on file.

Sending postal mail based on a bounce back is great — and something most registrars don’t do.

In the case of South African Airways, it appears their outsourced technical team was actually the group to drop the ball. The email address in whois is dns(at)itnt.co.za, which is a South African web company.

ICANN has been looking into how domain names expire. My message has always been that more notifications to registrants aren’t necessary. The reason valuable domain names expire is because the registrant has incorrect contact information. More bounced emails won’t solve that problem.

© DomainNameWire.com 2009.

Review and rate domain name parking companies at Parking Judge.

Related posts:

1. Network Solutions Displays Customers’ Whois Queries to the Public
2. Network Solutions phone survey
3. Did Parava Bilk Customers from Renewal Fees?