Expert Advice Needed

Hi Ruth,

Welcome to NP.

Without all the details, this unfortunately sounds very similar to an appraisal scam. They usually target newer Registrations. Especially if the requester has their own appraisal firm in mind, you can almost bet it will end up a scam. There are threads on here discussing this subject and those involved in greater detail. If they were serious, they would get the appraisal done themselves. Was a company name provided by the requester, or an appraisal firm? Have you researched either thus far? Can you share that info?

Here is a more specific thread.

http://www.namepros.com/warnings-and-alerts/685266-beware-thenamepros-com-name-business-com.html


-Regards

Just go here and you will know what you are going under!
http://www.namepros.com/warnings-and-alerts/

Wow! Thank you both so much! I checked out the "warning & scams" and I'm sure I'm dealing with the same people mentioned there. These are the 2 emails I received so far:

This came in my email on Friday, 4-8-11, at 10:58 pm:

Hello,

We are interested in your domain name for sale.

Please email us your desired price in USD or euros for the domain name in the
subject line.

If you have other names for sale please email us yiur full list with prices for
consideration.

Looking forward to doing business with you.

Regards,

Robert Erenstein

President

Web Hosting & Domains LLC

[email protected]


This one came today, 4-12-11, at 3:26 am:

1.. I'm thinking about 6,000 - 8,000 USD for your domain. What do you
think about this price range?

Have you had your domain names evaluated in the past? I mean domain
appraisals. Without valuation we cannot be sure in the sale price. It's very
important for me in terms of reselling too. But we must engage a valuation
company with REAL manual service. So I will only accept valuations from
independent sources I and my partners trust.

To avoid mistakes I asked domain experts about reputable appraisal
companies. Please check this blog with suggestions from other sellers and
buyers:
http://www.thenamepros.com/Archive/31805629.htm


Do you sell domain with a web site or just the name?

Domain without content is ok with me. Web site is not necessary.

If, for example, the valuation comes higher you can adjust your asking
price accordingly. It will be fair. I also hope you can give me 12% - 15%
discount.

After you send me the valuation via email (usually it takes 1-2 days to
obtain it) we'll continue our negotiations.

What is your preferred payment method: Escrow.com, International wire
transfer, PayPal.com or something else?

Hope we can come to an agreement fast.

Looking forward to your reply.


Before getting these emails I had heard of namepros.com, but not visited your site. When I saw "namepros" in his email I thought I'd check out namepros.com...Thank goodness I did!

Boy, he really had my hopes up. I was so excited today. I very much appreciate you all for being here so I wasn't scammed. What would you recommend I do now, if anything? I feel like turning the tables on him for a little entertainment since he had me so hoodwinked. I see from who.godaddy.com that this person seems to be James Whitman in England.
Your responses gave me the idea to check that out.

Many, many thanks!!!

Ruth

Hi Ruth,

Sorry to read it turned out to be the same scammer/s. The positive part of this is the fact you inquired here first, and the perps were exposed with their scamming efforts thwarted once again.

Don't give up hope. Keep reading the many great, informative threads. Below are a few you may find helpful. All the best.

http://www.namepros.com/domain-newbies/700222-tips-and-resources-for-newbies.html

http://www.namepros.com/legal-issues-and-disputes/

http://www.namepros.com/domain-name-discussion/68798-how-to-find-potential-end-users.html

http://www.namepros.com/domain-appraisals/

http://www.namepros.com/domain-name-discussion/83628-report-domain-name-sales-here.html


-Regards

RevolutionaryDomains said:

Hi Ruth,

Sorry to read it turned out to be the same scammer/s. The positive part of this is the fact you inquired here first, and the perps were exposed with their scamming efforts thwarted once again.

Click to expand...

What is the percentage of people who are new to domaining, and who inquire here first? I suspect on the whole quite very little.

I asked in the respective warning thread whether this person can be reported to Godaddy with some result (I'm new to domaining myself and therefore not sure how it works here and what works here). But no one commented, so I was wondering is it because no one knows or because no one cares?

chat111 said:

What is the percentage of people who are new to domaining, and who inquire here first? I suspect on the whole quite very little.

I asked in the respective warning thread whether this person can be reported to Godaddy with some result (I'm new to domaining myself and therefore not sure how it works here and what works here). But no one commented, so I was wondering is it because no one knows or because no one cares?

Click to expand...

Unfortunately, it is because not enough people care, and some whom we should expect better from are helping these scammers simply by not exposing them, namely services who keep their identity a secret. I looked into this a couple of years ago, and this scammer/scammers have been on the go for years now. At the time they were using a company called Domains by Proxy who are an American company, so there you have at least one organisation who know this scammers identity.

Hello Ruth, for the first part...that "namepros" site he sent you to is not the real one but a black hat one that simply took our name and shoved an extra word there. They deal with all manner of illegal stuff like this so it is good you didn't go there and find out the hard way lol

The second email you have received is bovine scat maximus, for any of us that hang out in the true appraisal section here on these boards we can usually say if a domain has any potential in the first 2 seconds..

Do you know anything about psycholinguistics? It is the study of what people mean by what they say and type and your second letter is full of issues..which I will not go into here as it will help people refine their techniques but which you should spend time studying:

Have you had your domain names evaluated in the past? I mean domain appraisals. Without valuation we cannot be sure in the sale price. It's very important for me in terms of reselling too. But we must engage a valuation company with REAL manual service. So I will only accept valuations from independent sources I and my partners trust.

To avoid mistakes I asked domain experts about reputable appraisal
companies. Please check this blog with suggestions from other sellers and
buyers:
http://www.thenamepros.com/Archive/31805629.htm

Click to expand...

He is claiming that he wants an appraisal from companies he trusts and yet has to ask random people on a forum which they are? (so that he can show that these pre-arranged scam companies tally up)

There are many inconsistencies here, keep away from this type of "buyer"

By the way, there really is no need to pay for an appraisal off anyone...just come into the section here at this forum, type your name and if it is good you will get replies...some more verbose than others but if it is crap you will be told too lol

There are a few things I look for:

The name
The [exact] search numbers
The search numbers of other things in that field
The competition for the main term
The competition for other terms
How commercial the domain is
If it fits with the extension
And a multitude of other things, but the name usually gives any potential away instantly.

We domainers really need something like the Royal Institution Charter of Surveyors for domaining, something that is internationally recognised so that when people see the badge they know they are kosher but I doubt we will get that anytime soon lol

Welcome to NP! I am glad you came here before making mistakes. I wonder how many new domainers actually believed to this kind of letters and followed their instructions...Last time i have been dealing with a scammer i told him to go appraise it himself. Since he is the buyer and he should be worry about how much domain he is buying worth.
Warning and alerts section should be on top of forum so everyone see and check it first and daily(IMHO).

Thank you, gentlemen, for all of your encouragement and wise feedback. I am learning so much already and am grateful that you would take the time to help me. It feels great to be here and know there are websouls who care at namepros.com (the real namepros)! :wave:

Ruth

>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [email protected]
> [mailto:[email protected]]
> Sent: 13 April 2011 08:57
> To: info@#######.com
> Subject: re: #######
>
> Hello,
>
> We are interested in your domain name for sale.
>
> Please email us your desired price in USD or euros for the domain name in
> the subject line.
>
> If you have other names for sale please email us yiur full list with
> prices
> for consideration.
>
> Looking forward to doing business with you.
>
> Regards,
>
> Robert Erenstein
>
> President
>
> Web Hosting & Domains LLC
>
> [email protected]


Hi all,

I received the above email also. I don't understand how it's a scam. Can anyone tell me how it works?

I just spent 174 EUR to get my domains appraised at certifieddomainvalue.com

Nem.

nem123 said:

I received the above email also. I don't understand how it's a scam. Can anyone tell me how it works?

I just spent 174 EUR to get my domains appraised at certifieddomainvalue.com

Nem.

Click to expand...

That's it, the trick is to coax you into buying an appraisal from their partners in crime
Contact your credit card issuer and demand a chargeback.

They get you to get your domains appraised by a sister company or as stated "partners in crime" they then decide that the appraisal is too low for them to buy and pull out of the deal however they then split your 175 50/50 and off they go!

Never pay for an appraisal, if your names are any good, or someone really wants your domains they will offer you a price or they will accept the price you are asking!

I had the same thing last year and when I said I wasnt going to get them appraised eventually they just stopped emailing even though I told them I would be more than happy to accept the offer they made.....fools even sent me a link to here (namepros) where I learnt about the scam, idiots!

The onus is on the buyer to get the appraisal, not the seller for someone else...anyone worth their salt in this will be able to recognise value all on their own without demanding an appraisal, it is not like houses here where there could be underlying structural damage.

For anyone else who comes to this thread, please fill in this form and mention the story about this scam.

***DON'T VISIT HERE****

Hopefully everyone can get ther refunds back.

---------- Post added at 12:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:13 AM ----------

I got a response

It's late to cancel. We have already paid our experts for the work.

We are for several years in this business and have many happy customers.
Here is the one of letters our customers send us regularly:
===================================
"----- Original Message -----
From: Phillip Cochran
Subject: Re: appraisal

All I can say is wow. You guys are a hard working bunch. I very much appriciate the time and effort you and your team put in.

Keep up the great work. Me and my partner phillip plan to use your service quite a bit in the coming years.

Thanks again,

Phillip"
"----- -----
===================================
The customers appreciate our fast service and customer support.

If someone does not accept our appraisal please email us his address and wewill contact him/her.


However, if you are not satisfied with our service, we can offer you listing of your appraised domains in the premium showcase for free. That's all we can do for you. We will also provide you with free escrow. We list all these domains until they are sold.We will help you to sell your domains and you'll see that we are a legitimate company with reliable business model. Satisfaction of our customers is very important for us.

Sincerely,

Martin Anderson

Customer Support

Click to expand...

---------- Post added at 12:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:12 PM ----------

The 'company' claims the letter is from 'phillip' but if you read the email it says:

'Me and my partner phillip plan to use your service
quite a bit in the coming years.'

LOL!

and it says:

'Thanks again,

Phillip'


How obvious.

Warning

Don't fill the form posted by the previous poster. Don't enter your card details there. The link he posted appears to be suspicious. I made a google search about cardquery.com and it doesn't look good.

Below I found two topics where people are complaining about unauthorised charges by cardquery.com:

http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/credit-card-fraud-c204275.html
http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/fraudulent-credit-card-charge-c439153.html

Here somebody says cardquery.com is a scam:
http://www.ripoffreport.com/governm...-cardquer/dri-swi-inc-cardquery-com-6a776.htm

Edit:
In case you missed what has happened, the previous posted posted a link that opens to a page that asks for your credit card information. Here is a screenshot: http://i55.tinypic.com/16ishll.gif

On it now