Two two-character domain sales in one week…by one person.
Domain investor Aron Meystedt, who is also an entrepreneur-in-residence with Heritage Auctions, announced in an email this afternoon that he has sold both the OC.com and XF.com domain names.
Meystedt had just acquired OC.com last month after trying to broker it through Heritage Auctions, so it was a quick flip.
The XF.com sale was longer in the making. Meystedt used it as his company name for many years. Last month he rebranded his business to Napkin.com after acquiring the domain name on NameJet.
At the time, I pointed out that “Switching to Napkin.com also makes it easier for Meystedt to sell XF.com, a very valuable domain name.”
In an email today, Meystedt said that his @xf.com domain name will no longer work soon. He can now be reached at info (at) napkin.com.
this thing sniffs a bit says
The OC.com sale is interesting to say the least.
.
Just recently Aron was saying that he could NOT find a buyer for that domain while he was selling it through Heritage auctions on behalf of a seller so he bought it himself very cheaply from the seller through Heritage auctions.
Then he turns around and quickly sells it for good money to China.
.
If I was Heritage auctions I would demand that Aron explains how he marketed the domain while it was sold through Heritage auctions and how he marketed the domain once he owned it himself and if there is a difference in that Aron marketed the domain through places, venues and brokers himself that he did NOT use while the domain was sold thru Heritage auctions then I would FIRE Aron on the spot.
.
These actions by Aron create the Image that Heritage Auctions is NOT a good place to sell domains thereby destroying Heritage’s credibility in domain auctions even if Aron did everything the same when he was selling OC.com through Heritage and when he was selling it himself.
.
IF Aron marketed the domain differently after he had purchased it cheaply from the original seller then this is an example of self-dealing and Heritage Auctions should FIRE Aron and sue him.
The original seller of OC.com should sue both Heritage Auctions and Aron IF that is the case.
.
It is always a bad idea to let an employee to buy the domains that he/she is supposed to be selling on behalf of a client and Heritage auctions protocols in this regard are not up to standard.
James Halperin says
Hello everyone. This is Jim Halperin, co-chairman of Heritage Auctions.Transparency is extremely important to all of us at Heritage, including Aron Meystedt. Transparency is why we host an archive
of all of our completed auction prices here: https://www.ha.com/heritage-auctions-hall-of-fame-best-prices-realized.s?ic=Tab-Resources-AuctionArchives-122214 We want our clients to be informed in order to make the best decisions possible.
My partners and I are pleased to be involved in the domain names industry and delighted to work with an ethical, world-class professional specialist/expert like Aron.
As for OC.com, the details around the purchase were accurately documented by Elliot here:
https://www.domaininvesting.com/aron-meystedt-acquires-oc-com/
For the record, Aron informed the owners of Heritage at every step of the OC.com sales process, including outreach performed by Aron and the many marketing and PR initiatives. After a deadline of “end of July” was announced, and after one “last call for offers” by Aron, Heritage agreed to tender a cash offer ourselves at the request of the seller, who willingly accepted our offer.
Shortly after the transaction, and without any additional marketing on our part, a Chinese broker approached Aron with a buyer. We quickly accepted an offer at a reasonable profit, which wasn’t much more than our normal commission for a brokered or auctioned domain name.
Aron is happy to respond to any questions you may have. Reach him here: http://www.HA.com/IP
Thank you for the coverage, Andrew.
Jim Halperin
this thing sniffs a bit says
Aron’s marketing and PR initiatives seem to have been mostly “press releases” that ended up as blog posts on domaininvesting dot com.
How much outreach for the chinese brokers, chinese auction houses, chinese buyers was made by Aron and Heritage auctions?
.
You state “Heritage agreed to tender a cash offer ourselves at the request of the seller” so it appears Heritage Auctions was the party who was self-dealing by buying the domain themselves as an auction house so this situation is even more outrageous than if Aron had himself purchased the domain.
.
You state “Shortly after the transaction, and without any additional marketing on our part, a Chinese broker approached Aron with a buyer.” tells that the news Heritage/Aron had bought OC.com on the cheap spread wider than Aron’s PR and Marketing for the original seller.
.
You state “We quickly accepted an offer at a reasonable profit, which wasn’t much more than our normal commission for a brokered or auctioned domain name. ”
.
Please release the selling price so people can decided for themselves whether your profit was reasonable or not.
Since your auction commission is quite high you took the original seller to the cleaners by getting more in profit from re-selling the domain than you get in commissions and on top of this you took commissions from the original seller.
Is Heritage Auctions planning to give the original seller their commissions back since you got more in profit as percentage and as dollars than you get from commissions by quickly flipping the domain for much more money?
.
Is Heritage Auctions going to continue self-dealing by buying domains for Heritage Auctions and Aron from sellers after half-assed marketing and PR campaigns by Heritage Auctions and Aron?
.
To be a respectable auction house you should STOP self-dealing immediately as an auction house and STOP buying sellers domains for Heritage Auctions own account and FORBID Aron from buying domains from sellers and restrict him to just a broker so there is NO financial incentive to market domains not so effectively because Heritage Auctions and Aron get to then buy the domains on the cheap and flip them quickly for more profits.
.
John says
Don’t know who you are, but nice work again, sniffs. Such bulls–t.
Hans says
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-do-some-people-believe-in-conspiracy-theories/
“None of the above should indicate that all conspiracy theories are false. Some may indeed turn out to be true. The point is that some individuals may have a tendency to find such theories attractive. The crux of the matter is that conspiracists are not really sure what the true explanation of an event is—they are simply certain that the “official story” is a cover-up.”
John says
Such bullsh–t, Halperin.
jose says
in the end it was just luck !! oh man, this one make my day! a broker buys the domain from his client. what a perfectly normal and ethical action do do! But hey, the client accepted it didn’t he? so screw him! as long as everyone agrees on something ethics has no place to be. LOVELY!
John says
Well said, well put, and you’ve done a great job in saying and addressing what needs to be said and addressed. I waited many years for domain names to finally arrive in the world of real auction houses after advocating for it many years ago online, but have considered the situation at HA to be flawed and problematic from the start. This just pours gasoline into a huge flame visible for miles on what was only a smoldering disappointment.
John says
Hey sniffs, if you’re getting email updates of new posts here, check this convo about it out over at DI: https://www.domaininvesting.com/sunday-morning-thoughts-updates-2/#comments
John says
It’s nice to see that others are willing to say something now as well, as I just mentioned in yesterday’s “good week for Aron Meystedt” thread at TheDomains (comment still awaiting moderation there now). As far as I can tell I was the first over in the 7/26/17 thread at Domain Investing.
It doesn’t get any more blatant than this, especially if you’ve spent any amount of time in the domain business as any degree of an “insider,” and it seems action to sue may indeed be a very good idea. That’s certainly what I would be consulting an attorney about right now if I had been the client.
Also, here is a “total bulls–t alert” re the NP thread about this:
namepros . com/posts/6303361/ (post #17 in the NP thread by “LarryDomain”)
Joe Alagna says
Guys, it’s not uncommon for a middleman to buy a client’s product. I’ve seen it commonly in the real estate business.
I believe the accusations being made here are unjust. It sounds to me like the original seller just wanted to move the domain quickly and was willing to accept the price that the HA offered after being unable to move it through their normal auction process.
Also, why does it matter that it was sold to someone in China? Aron (and HA) have always been very professional. I’ve known him and watched their dealings for many years. I trust them much more than I would “this thing sniffs a bit”. Who is that?
John says
Apparently you too are clueless about “conflict of interest” and how things work. And even if someone is willing or able to be screwed, which is exactly what the screwer is looking for, that doesn’t exactly make it any less a screwing if screwing is what has occurred.