DomainTree Auctions: Seller Terms

Version: 2026-11-13

These terms apply when you list a domain name for auction on DomainTree Auctions (the "site") as an independent seller. They are an agreement between you and Domaintree Limited trading as DomainTree ("DomainTree", "we", "us"), a company registered in England and Wales no. 09994548, of 51 Wiston Avenue, Worthing, West Sussex, BN14 7QX. Email [email protected].

Our Terms of Sale also apply to your account, and section 14 of them tells buyers how sales by independent sellers work. You agree to these terms by ticking the box when you set up as a seller, and again whenever they change.

1. In short

• Listing is free. You pay us 5% of the final price, only when your auction ends with a winning bid.
• You deal with the buyer directly: they pay you, you transfer the name. We never handle the money or the name.
• You choose when your auction starts and ends (up to 7 days), and we approve every listing by hand.
• Once your auction is live, it can't be withdrawn or changed, and you must sell to the highest bidder.
• You may set a reserve, for free. Bidders see only whether it is met. If it isn't met when the auction ends, there is no sale and no commission.
• Up to 5 of your auctions can run at once and up to 20 can wait; only one at a time may have a reserve or a start price above £50.
• If you don't pay our commission on time, your account is banned.

2. Who can sell

2.1 You need an approved account (Terms of Sale, section 3) and a seller profile. Your account name is the only thing shown about you on your listings. You also give us, privately, your full name (or your business's name), your postal address and, if you like, a phone number. These never appear on the site.

2.2 You must tell us truthfully whether you sell as a business (in the course of a trade, business, craft or profession, including if you buy and sell domain names regularly to make money) or as a private person. Each listing shows buyers which you are, as the law requires. If you sell as a business, consumer law gives buyers rights against you, and meeting them is your responsibility.

2.3 Keep your profile up to date. We give your full name, address, email address and phone number (if given) only to the buyer who wins your auction, so they can pay you and arrange the transfer.

3. What you can list

3.1 You can list a .uk domain name (such as .co.uk, .uk, .org.uk or .me.uk) that you hold as registrant, or that you have the registrant's authority to sell.

3.2 You may not list a name that:

• you don't control, or that someone else has a right to;
• is suspended, subject to a Nominet dispute (DRS) complaint or a legal claim you know of;
• is the name of a famous person or a brand, an obvious typo or misspelling of a brand, or would otherwise clearly infringe someone's trade mark or other rights;
• is for sale anywhere else while your auction is running.

3.3 We approve every listing. We check each name by hand before it goes live and may ask you to show that you control it. We may refuse a listing without giving a reason. We decide which category it appears in, and we may add our own checks of the name's links and history to the listing.

3.4 Your auction times. When you submit a name you choose when its auction starts and ends, in UK time. It must run for at least 24 hours and at most 7 days, and start within 30 days. If we approve it after your chosen start time, it starts when we approve it and still ends at your chosen time; if that would leave less than 24 hours, we will ask you to choose new times.

3.5 How listings are ordered. Lists on the site are ordered by end time, by how recently an auction started, or by number of bids, as the visitor chooses or as each section says. Featured ("Premium") listings are chosen by us for the quality of the name. No one can pay for a better position.

4. Your auction

4.1 The start price is at least £50, in whole pounds. Your auction runs for the times in section 3.4 and follows the rules in the Terms of Sale, section 4, including proxy bidding and the 5-minute soft close. Unless you set a reserve (4.4), the highest valid bid when the auction ends wins. If you are VAT-registered, your prices include any VAT you owe on the sale, and nothing is added for the buyer: the winning bid is the full price.

4.2 Once you have submitted a listing you can't change its start price or reserve, and once it is live you can't withdraw it or change its times. While it is still waiting for our approval you can cancel it and submit it again. We may withdraw it for the reasons in the Terms of Sale, section 10.1, or under section 8 or 10 of these terms.

4.3 No shill bidding. You, anyone connected to you and anyone acting for you must not bid on your listings. If we find this has happened we will cancel the bids, withdraw your listings and ban the accounts involved, and we may tell the affected bidders.

4.4 Reserve price (optional, free). When you submit a listing you may set a reserve: a price, in whole pounds and above the start price, below which you are not obliged to sell. We never show the amount to bidders or anyone else: the listing says only "Reserve not met" or "Reserve met". If a bidder's maximum bid is at or above the reserve, the current price moves to the reserve and the reserve is met; otherwise bidding works as usual. If the auction ends with the reserve met, 5.1 applies. If it ends with the highest bid below your reserve, the name is not sold: you are not obliged to sell, the highest bidder is not obliged to buy, no contract is made and no commission is due. We tell you the highest bid. We do not sell below the reserve for you or offer the name to the bidder afterwards.

4.5 How many auctions you can have. So that the site stays fair to every seller:

• at most 5 of your auctions may be running at the same time;
• at most 1 of your auctions at a time may have a reserve or a start price above £50 (a higher start price counts like a reserve);
• at most 20 of your listings may be waiting (waiting for our approval, or approved and not yet started).

We count by the start and end times you choose, including listings still waiting for approval, and check again when we approve a listing. A listing that would go over a limit is refused, and we tell you which limit and when a place is free. A late bid that moves an end time (the soft close) never causes a refusal. We may change these numbers; the current ones are shown on your selling page, and a change does not affect a listing we have already approved.

5. When your auction ends

5.1 If your auction ends with a winning bid (and, if you set a reserve, the reserve is met), a binding contract to sell the name to the winner at the final price is made at that moment, between you and the buyer.

5.2 We email you both, and your deal page shows the buyer's name and email address. Contact the buyer within 2 days. You and the buyer agree how they pay and how you transfer the name; the aim is to complete within 7 days of the auction ending.

5.3 Once you have received the buyer's cleared payment, start the transfer within 3 working days: a Nominet registrant transfer into the name the buyer gives you, and a move to the registrar tag they choose, unless you agree otherwise. Mark each step on the deal page.

5.4 You are responsible for the name until the transfer is complete, for everything you say about it, and for any promises you give the buyer.

5.5 Use the buyer's details only to complete this sale. Don't add them to a mailing list or pass them on. You are responsible under data protection law for how you use them.

6. Our commission

6.1 Our commission is 5% of the final price of each auction of yours that ends with a winning bid, rounded to the nearest penny. There is no other fee: listing is free, a reserve is free, and there is nothing to pay if your auction ends without bids, ends below your reserve, or we withdraw it.

6.2 We email you an invoice when the auction ends. It is due 14 days after the auction ends. Pay by UK bank transfer to the account shown on your commission page when you're signed in, using the reference on the invoice, or by card on your commission page for amounts up to £5,000 (paid through our payment provider, Stripe; above £5,000, bank transfer only). No VAT is charged (we are not VAT-registered).

6.3 The commission is owed even if you and the buyer later agree to cancel the sale, or you fail to transfer the name. It is cancelled only if the sale fails because the buyer didn't pay (section 7), or if we cancel the auction.

7. If the buyer doesn't pay

7.1 If the buyer hasn't paid you, report it on the deal page within 14 days of the auction ending. We will ask the buyer. If they agree they didn't pay, or don't reply within 7 days, the sale is treated as failed, we cancel your commission invoice with a credit note, and you may list the name again.

7.2 If the buyer says they did pay, we will look at what both of you tell us and decide whether the sale failed. We can't force either of you to complete a sale.

8. If you don't pay our commission

8.1 While any commission is overdue you can't list new names.

8.2 If it is still unpaid 3 days after its due date, we will ban your account. That cancels your bids in running auctions and withdraws your running listings (we tell the bidders). We may also claim the unpaid commission from you, with reasonable costs of collecting it.

9. Our part

9.1 We run the auction with reasonable care and skill. We are not a party to your sale, we are not your agent and we don't guarantee that a buyer will pay.

9.2 Nothing in these terms limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or any other liability the law doesn't allow us to limit. Otherwise we are not liable for loss of profit, revenue, business, goodwill or data, or for indirect loss, and our total liability to you for any auction is limited to the commission you paid us for it.

9.3 You are responsible for, and will repay us for, claims made against us because a name you listed wasn't yours to sell or infringed someone's rights, or because of what you said about it.

10. Suspending or ending your selling

10.1 We may suspend or ban your account, or stop you selling, if you break these terms or the Terms of Sale, if a buyer makes a complaint we find justified, or if we suspect fraud. We will tell you why, unless the law prevents us, and you can reply to us about it.

10.2 We may also stop offering selling to you for another reason by giving you at least 30 days' notice. Auctions already running finish normally.

10.3 You can stop selling at any time. You can't close your account while you have a live listing, an open deal or unpaid commission.

11. Changes and other terms

11.1 We may change these terms. We will email you at least 15 days before a change takes effect, except where the law or a security risk requires a faster change. A change never affects an auction that has already started. If you don't accept a change you can stop selling.

11.2 Complaints. Email [email protected]. We aim to reply within 5 working days.

11.3 These terms are in English. They are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction.