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Telepathy...really?

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I'm sorry but not a chance I'll ever pay $19 in order to negotiate on a domain. This is a clear money grab. You get bombarded with emails? Set up an automated system to field offers and go from there. This is the kind of shit that gives the domain industry a black eye!
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
If you want a reserve a table at a fancy restaurant. You call up and they it's $19 charge to reserve the table. Do you pay the $19 and take your partner to the fancy restaurant or do you so no way and take them to MacDonald's. :lookaround:

Again, this is not a real world example mate :)

But none the less, if I was in that situation. I would tell them on the phone to take hike and put the phone down..then phone another fancy restaurant and make a booking with them. :)
 
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If you want a reserve a table at a fancy restaurant. You call up and they it's $19 charge to reserve the table. Do you pay the $19 and take your partner to the fancy restaurant that they always wanted to go to or do you say no way and take them to MacDonald's instead?

The choice is yours. :lookaround:
You get something with this scenario.

What if you called and they said pay $19 and then we'll tell you if any tables are available? You pay and then they say, sorry there are no tables tonight but thanks for the $19!
 
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You get something with this scenario.

What if you called and they said pay $19 and then we'll tell you if any tables are available? You pay and then they say, sorry there are no tables tonight but thanks for the $19!

If that's the only way into the restaurant that my partner really wants to go for valentines day so then be it. My partner and her happiness are worth it. They have set their rules for their business and I have to follow it.
 
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If that's the only way into the restaurant that my partner really wants to go for valentines day so then be it. My partner and her happiness are worth it. They have set the rules for their business and I have to follow it.

Totally understandable mate, if it was me though and my GF wanted to still got here I would tell her to rather go with her friends because on principle I would not support a business like that. Knowing my GF she would tell them to take a hike as well. Its not at all about being cheap...just that I wont accept getting ripped off. I would gladly give that $19 to someone standing outside the restaurant who might have looked like they could do with a bite to eat but I would not give that $19 to the restaurant that is making $xxxx's per day
 
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The point is being missed here and some examples are nothing like the scenario we are discussing.

"Charge $5 to just see a menu in a restaurant" - this is bad, however this is not the scenario we are discussing. People are simplifying the situation as "charge for a service" and that is not what we're talking about.

A more accurate example using the restaurant menu charge would be:

"A restaurant gets 40 people a day coming in and asking to view the menu. The waiter goes off and gets it, discusses the menu with them, and those 40 people leave without buying anything, some try to haggle the lobster meal down from $59.99 to $1.99"

Even then, that restaurant is wrong for saying "this is an exclusive menu, and you need to pay $19 to view it" because their prices are likely only $100 or even $300 per person. But if the meals were $75,000, then would it be a problem paying $19 to see the menu?
 
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Totally understandable mate, if it was me though and my GF wanted to still got here I would tell her to rather go with her friends because on principle I would not support a business like that. Knowing my GF she would tell them to take a hike as well. Its not at all about being cheap...just that I wont accept getting ripped off. I would gladly give that $19 to someone standing outside the restaurant who might have looked like they could do with a bite to eat but I would not give that $19 to the restaurant that is making $xxxx's per day

You don't get it, it is not like a restaurant that you can get a hamburger anywhere, each domain they own is very rare, and unique, and no one domain is the same.

If a client wants that unique keyword set, they have no choice, they can't go down the street to bob's domains, and get the same domain.

It is a one off item, not a mass produced hamburger, they are not concerned about what you think, or what I think, they are concerned about using their resources best for their serious customers, and not spending time gauging tire kickers.
 
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Well, whether we agree or disagree, we've debated enough to be mentioned on the blog :xf.grin: ( :oops: )
 
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Setting a minimum offer does almost nothing to stop low-ball inquiries. People just fill in $987654321 for the offer and in the comments say that their real offer is $100. Anyone who gets a decent amount of inquiries knows this. Charging $19 doesn't even completely stop it, but it comes pretty darn close. I've seen people pay $19 to make a $10 offer on an LLL.com though. Go figure.

Anyone who owns an LLL.com knows they get several inquiries a week, maybe more. Now imagine owning roughly 10% of all LLL.com domains in existence. Then add in several LL.com, hundreds of dictionary domains, hundreds of surnames, hundreds of city names, and more. The amount of spam and low-ball inquiries is astronomical. Wading through that flood trying to pick out the ten people a year who will actually meet your price expectations is not only daunting, it may cause you to miss legitimate inquiries. One thing is certain, if you are serious and willing to pay high retail for a domain there's no chance that paying $19 to ensure that your offer is heard is going to scare you away.

I find it odd that some people think the owner of one of the most valuable domain portfolios in the world is doing this to get rich $19 at a time. As the OP put it... REALLY? It's not about making money or about greed, it's about saving time and not having to hire an army of people to sort through spam and low offers. The only way to make someone think twice about pressing submit is to make them take out their wallet first.

This isn't like a car salesman whose job it is to show you around, tell you the price, and make the sale. This is like walking on the sidewalk in front of someone's house and spotting a Monet through their window, knocking on their door and speaking to them at length about it, and then offering $100 for it. How many times would you let that happen before you charge admission or hire security? Hundreds of times per day? I think not.

I personally find it more distasteful when someone thinks they are entitled to take away your time just because they like something you own, than when someone tries to qualify leads in the only way that actually works at scale. Rick Schwartz qualified leads by ignoring people and being rude to them to see who didn't give up. To each his own... I'd prefer to pay $19 than to have my patience tested.

Nat responds to all inquiries personally, except of course for domains that are under a brokerage agreement. Anyone who knows Nat knows he is very humble and gives freely of his time to causes such as the ICA. To suggest that he's doing this out of ego or any other bad intentions just shows how little you know about him and the reality of owning a large, premium portfolio.

There's only two ways to deal with it: reduce the number of inquiries by adding a hurdle or staff up and run a big operation. He chose the former... and that's his prerogative. The system stopped you, a wholesaler, from making an inquiry that almost certainly wouldn't have been accepted anyway. It saved your time, it saved his time, and what do you know... it didn't cost you $19. Just as it doesn't cost most people.

I realize it may make you feel snubbed that your offer wasn't heard but that isn't the intention, it's just to save time. If you want to PM me the domain and your offer I'll pass it along to Nat and I'm sure he'll respond. Just know that he doesn't sell wholesale, so unless you're asking as an end user or on behalf of one, the answer will almost definitely be no.

I've worked for Nat for eight years so I'm speaking from experience. Although let me be clear that I'm not speaking for Nat nor as a representative of the company, these are my words, opinions, and observations.

P.S. - Check out DomainAgents.com, they've been doing this for many years with great success :)
 
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@OP/Keith, I think this thread is evidence their $19 fee works, weeded out the offers they would not accept/time wasting. You have actually been a prime example of why there is a $19 fee and how it works.
 
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@OP/Keith, I think this thread is evidence their $19 fee works, weeded out the offers they would not accept/time wasting. You have actually been a prime example of why there is a $19 fee and how it works.
My offer was serious and in no way a waste of time. It's not a 6 figure domain now or ever and I was prepared to offer 5. That said, I'll never pay a dime for the privilege to enter a negotiation.

Nat's grandkids will be dusting off many of his domains with the current approach and attitude.
 
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Keith, Nat seeks a particular buyer, that involves risk, patience and the need to weed out anyone who would not likely be willing to truly pay for what they want. You saved $19, he saved time and you should both be glad.
 
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Keith, Nat seeks a particular buyer, that involves risk, patience and the need to weed out anyone who would not likely be willing to truly pay for what they want. You saved $19, he saved time and you should both be glad.
Did he save time or lose $20k-$30k over a $19 fleece?
 
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On the flip side he may make $100k by waiting, if he can afford to wait, why not. Works both ways Keith not everyone has the same business plan. Your mentality is different when you can literally afford time, some times it pays and some times it doesn't as you mention above but it must be working!
 
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On the flip side he may make $100k by waiting, if he can afford to wait, why not. Works both ways Keith not everyone has the same business plan. Your mentality is different when you can literally afford time, some times it pays and some times it doesn't as you mention above but it must be working!
I'm with you, he can clearly afford to wait. That's a blessing and a curse. Sometimes you need to know when to take the money and run...
 
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It seams they really know how to avoid low-ball offers lol
 
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I'd have done the same if I were them. Great business sense and passive revenue stream to monetise their premium portfolio
 
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I'm with you, he can clearly afford to wait. That's a blessing and a curse. Sometimes you need to know when to take the money and run...
Surprisingly, this is not the first time a potential buyer advises a seller that he should accept the offer. Your unbiased advice is appreciated, but I think Nat does a pretty good job of extracting value from his portfolio.

I still haven't received a PM from you with the domain and offer amount so I can pass it along to Nat for you... here's your chance to have your offer heard and not have to fork over any money. Or you can email me at msumner@telep_thy.com (replace "_" with "a" obviously) if you prefer.
 
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Surprisingly, this is not the first time a potential buyer advises a seller that he should accept the offer. Your unbiased advice is appreciated, but I think Nat does a pretty good job of extracting value from his portfolio.

I still haven't received a PM from you with the domain and offer amount so I can pass it along to Nat for you... here's your chance to have your offer heard and not have to fork over any money. Or you can email me at msumner@telep_thy.com (replace "_" with "a" obviously) if you prefer.
A. I haven't advised anyone to accept an offer.
B. Thanks for saying you'll pass along my inquiry but someone offered days ago. I don't negotiate via third parties.
 
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A. I haven't advised anyone to accept an offer.
So when you said "take the money and run" you didn't mean to take an offer, you meant to steal the money?

B. Thanks for saying you'll pass along my inquiry but someone offered days ago. I don't negotiate via third parties.
In case you couldn't tell from my @telepathy.com email address, and that I said I work for Nat at Telepathy, I'm not a third party.

At this point it is clear that you don't have a serious offer and you're just blustering and wasting time. It was clear when you made this thread. And it was clear when you weren't confident enough in your offer to pay $19 to make it happen to begin with. The system worked again.

Best of luck to you in your domain search.
 
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So when you said "take the money and run" you didn't mean to take an offer, you meant to steal the money?


In case you couldn't tell from my @telepathy.com email address, and that I said I work for Nat at Telepathy, I'm not a third party.

At this point it is clear that you don't have a serious offer and you're just blustering and wasting time. It was clear when you made this thread. And it was clear when you weren't confident enough in your offer to pay $19 to make it happen to begin with. The system worked again.

Best of luck to you in your domain search.
Of course he can't accept my offer because it has been presented. My point was that some people have lofty expectations and in turn will reject reasonable offers, never getting what they think the domain is worth.

5 figures is a serious offer and nobody is wasting time. Not paying a $19 fee has zero to do with confidence, it has everything to do with feeling ripped off. Over many years, thousands of inquiries and purchases, I've never been asked to pay to present an offer. In the case we're discussing now the $19 model failed. Lucky for me telepathy only owns 10k out of hundreds of millions of domains so it's easy to go elsewhere.
 
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It's simple solution.

If you don't like the service then don't use it.

The time that we spent to post to complain costs more than $19. We could use the time to sell or buy something else and make money.
 
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Done a lot of business,both buying and selling, with Nat over the years. One of the best I have ever dealt with.

The $19 tends to clear the wheat from the chaff, and as mentioned by a couple of posters, if you don't like the charge simply don't use it.

A bit of a no brainer that seems to have gotten lots of knickers twisted.
 
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If I want to buy a TV, I don't have to go to Sam's Club or BJ's (which charges an annual membership fee); I can go to Wal-Mart, Best Buy, or my local electronics store. Even so, this membership model seems to work because a shopper can save money overall by coughing up the fee (for example, the price of tires at BJ's justifies the membership fee).

However, domain names are one-of-a-kind. If someone holds a name that a potential buyer wants, then the seller gets to decide how to accept queries. Quite frankly, I don't blame Telepathy; three of my recent "sales" went south because of idiot malicious bidders, fraudulent bidding, or front runners.

It doesn't matter what WE think about it Telepathy's model; it is what it is.
 
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I recently negotiated with Nat on one of his LLL.COMs .. I had no trouble getting a hold of him personally and he took time from his busy schedule to talk to me via Skype.

Although we did not reach an agreement (mainly because my bidders just was not willing to go where they needed to go), Nat was a consummate professional that took the time to detail and explain his value proposition to my buyers.

By far the most professional seller I have had the luck of working with. Although I wont detail how I got a hold of him, its pretty easy to figure out and if you have a decent offer you can expect a professional and timely response.

If you cant afford 19$ to forward your offer or cant figure out how to get a hold of a decision maker using other means. Then you really dont want it enough.
 
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