Sedo and Drogas.com breach of contract

Business
1

Hello guys,
Need advice concerning my purchase of Drogas.com from Sedo auction.

7 weeks ago I purchase the domain name drogas.com via Sedo auction. Upon winning the bid I immediately sent payment via wire transfer to Sedo. To make a long story short… the seller refuses to push the domain to my account and Sedo has not returned my 10K. Sedo claims that they have been trying to contact the seller for the last 7 weeks but have been unable to contact him. Sedo currently has the name still listed for sale at http://sedo.com/search/searchresult.php4?linkurl=&language=us&tracked=&partnerid=&search_type=advanced&keyword=drogas.com Sedo’s policy states that all domain names for sale must not be “ encumbered by the rights of any third parties”. I don’t understand why Sedo would still have this domain name listed when they are clearly aware of the violation of my contract. In fact, this Sedo user still has over 1000 domain names for sale at Sedo.

I will be seeking legal relief for my financial damages plus legal cost. I also will be asking for “specific performance” of the sales agreement. http://mediadrip.com/contract.jpg

I would love the here from my fellow Sitepoint users that have been down this road before for any tips and suggestions.

Thanks

Eric

2

what happened to the deal? have you received your domain name?

3

sedo just wants its commission so it is not releasing your funds!

4

I guess my Lawsuit will have to wait … I see Jaime Renteria has bigger problems. I wonder why we could not contact this guy for months.

5

going through all those legal battles, I am not sure what you would gain.
if i were you, my first priority would be getting the money back from sedo. sedo is a reputed company been is business for a while now; i would guess they wont vanish with 10k. that could be a small relief if any at all:)

6

When you talk to your attorney, maybe ask him to explain the notion of specific performance is it pertains to contract law. Good luck!!

7

The portion of the contract that you provided doesn’t discuss what remedies you have for this type of problem. It does require both parties to cooperate to facilitate the transaction, and after 7 weeks I would assume that the other party has failed to do so (if they haven’t been able to contact him).

Does the contract say what you can do in the event of a dispute? Is there an arbitration clause, etc? What is the jurisdiction?

You said that you will be ‘seeking legal relief’ but what does that mean? The fact that the name is still listed for sale may not really be relevant unless you somehow incurred damages as a result. Also, it’s not clear how you can ask for ‘specific enforcement’ of the sales agreement unless you would be able to obtain an injunction from a court that compels the seller to cooperate. You also mentioned that you’ll be seeking relief for your damages plus legal cost, but have you actually had any material damage at this point (beyond the 10k that you escrowed)?

My advice would be to take a close look at the contract and try to identify:

  1. What does the contract say with regards to disputes, non-performance, etc? What are your options?

  2. What is the responsibility of sedo? They have an agreement with the other party that says he must cooperate (presumably) but does that mean that if the other party doesn’t cooperate that they are responsible for your damages?

  3. What are you trying to accomplish with this? Do you want a refund or the domain name?

8

  1. My attorney will look at the contract in detail tomorrow. However I did receive an email from sedo stating " You can take legal action against the seller since he failed to fulfill his part of the contract, therefore we have made his contact details available in your sedo contract."

  2. My attorney will look into this.

  3. I will be asking for “specific performance” of the sales agreement. Which means to enforce the agreement so I can get the name. Also I’m out of 1,300 in development cost.