Sedo sold my domain. Buyer never paid. Now what?

I'm in Stockholm and went through Konsumentverket for a similar issue with a different marketplace — not Sedo, not domains, same structural problem. Took eight months but I got the "reactivation fee" waived and a formal apology that I'm sure was template-generated.

The key was proving I never received consideration. In your case nerdbann, the "congratulations" email versus the cancelled transaction is a paper trail. Screenshot everything before they change the dashboard.

Also:

Exactly. That's the absurdity. I still have the auth code, the zone is still on my nameservers, the registrar shows me as registrant. But Sedo's internal database has it flagged as "sold — pending completion" and their UI won't let me create a new listing while that flag exists. The 10% is to clear the flag.

I did screenshot everything, including the "transaction cancelled" email and the current dashboard state. ACCC is a thought. I hadn't considered that angle — I was assuming this was too small and too international for Australian consumer law.

Good to know. I use them for some handregs, didn't know they had a marketplace.

Same here happened to me with Undeveloped before they became Dan. Buyer ghosted after I pushed the domain, platform said "not our problem, sale was completed." Lost a four-letter .io that way. Never again. Now I only sell through escrow.com directly with the buyer, split the fee, and I don't move the domain until I see cleared funds in my bank account. More friction, zero losses since 2019.

The extra back-and-forth with buyers weeds out the flakes anyway. Serious buyers don't mind.

This is the way. I've done maybe thirty sales this way. The trick is getting the buyer to agree upfront — some are skittish about anything that isn't "click buy, get domain instantly." But for anything over $2K, I'll eat the sale rather than use a marketplace escrow that favors speed over security.

Has anyone actually tested whether Sedo's "sale completed" email triggers before or after they receive buyer funds? I've always assumed it was after, but nerdbann's experience suggests otherwise.

Based on my timeline: "sale completed" email arrived, I initiated transfer to their escrow, then silence for eleven days, then "transaction cancelled per policy." No mention of payment received, no mention of payment reversed. Just cancelled.

My read is the email fires when the buyer clicks "buy" or when their system marks it committed, not when funds clear. Which is exactly backwards from how it should work.

I sell mostly .it domains and the market is tiny compared to .com, but I've used Nidoma a few times — they're Italian, focused on ccTLDs, and they hold funds in a segregated account before transfer. Not useful for your LLLL .com but mentioning for anyone in the Eurozone with country code inventory.

The Sedo thing is bizarre though. In Italy we'd call this a "condizione sospensiva" problem — the contract exists but fulfillment depends on payment, and if payment fails the condition isn't met. Charging you to unwind an unfulfilled contract is... aggressive.

In Argentina getting money out of any escrow is a nightmare because of cepo cambiario and the official vs blue dollar spread, so I mostly trade domains for crypto now. Not helpful for your situation nerdbann but the principle is the same: eliminate the counterparty risk of the platform itself.

For what it's worth I've heard similar complaints about Sedo from other South American sellers. The "buyer disappeared" pattern seems to hit emerging market domains harder, maybe because payment verification is weaker for those regions. Pure speculation on my part.

This thread is making me glad I never listed anything on Sedo. I use Namecheap's marketplace for junk domains and direct outreach for good ones. Namecheap holds nothing, buyer pays them, they pay me next day, then I transfer. Simple. Their fees are higher but I've never had a sale go sideways.

The relisting fee specifically feels like Sedo trying to monetize their own failure. If the buyer vanished, that's a vetting failure on their platform. Passing the cost to the seller is... on brand for domain marketplaces I guess.

Eu to vendendo um .com.br no registro.br e la o pagamento é via boleto ou pix e so libera a transferencia depois da compensacao nunca tive problema mas é claro que é so para ccTLD brasileiro e o mercado é diferente

Same logic should apply everywhere. I don't understand why .com marketplaces make it complicated. In Brazil the registrar holds everything until payment clears, then you get the auth code. Simple.

Nerdbann, have you tried just listing the domain elsewhere while Sedo has it locked? Some marketplaces only check their own database, not Sedo's. Not ideal to have duplicate listings but if you still control the domain...