First sale already? Or scam?

If they are willing to pay through escrow.com Its probably not a scam. Just make sure they dont ask you to pay for a appraisal first.

riley west said:

I am brand frickin' new to this whole domain flipping thing. I made a few junk purchases off the cuff last week of expired domains and then realized I had no idea what I was doing and was wasting my money. I wrote those domains off as a probably loss and set the whole situation aside with the intent to come learn everything I could when I had some more time (and had already paid my upcoming bills so I wouldn't knee-jerk buy more names I shouldn't buy).

But a couple days ago, somebody contacted me using the info on the WHOIS reg for one of the domains I bought and offered to buy it for a few hundred dollars, through escrow.com. It's a price that's right in between estibot and godaddy's estimates, so I'm definitely willing to sell it, but because I have no idea what I'm doing, and this seems WAY too lucky right out the gate, I just want to make sure there are no potential scams I'm overlooking here?

Again, it'll be through escrow.com, and I did read a thread that said to screencap or video record as I'm transferring just to be safe and have a record. And I searched the person requesting the sale and they seem to have several other sites registered and parked using the same email address...for whatever that tells me. I've been racking my brains and the worst case scenario I can come up with is that they change their mind and no sale happens, but any additional enlightenment would be greatly appreciated!

(And apologies if there are good resources on the board already. I'm crawling through as much as I can to learn everything I can moving forward, but there's SO MUCH great stuff to read here, and this one aspect of it all is a little time sensitive.)

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Ensure that this is not the appraisal scam. However, since they are proposing to buy the domain name through Escrow.com, it should be legit. Nonetheless, I would still recommend you to do proper due diligence before going ahead with the transaction.

https://www.namepros.com/blog/domain-name-appaisal-scams.585398/
https://domainnamewire.com/2015/12/02/domain-name-appraisal-scam-still-making-the-rounds/
https://www.namecheap.com/blog/domain-name-appraisal-scam/

Yeah we've gone back and forth a few times and there's been no mention of an appraisal. Definitely not paying for anything like that! Thanks guys.

riley west said:

Yeah we've gone back and forth a few times and there's been no mention of an appraisal. Definitely not paying for anything like that! Thanks guys.

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Don't be too fast to sell without seeking councel here first.

Describe the domain .com, how long, how many words etc.

You will get more guidance that way

Welcome aboard

It's a three word geo .com (over 20 letters), and I'm now pretty positive I could get more for it because I found out the buyer represents a big domain flipping website, but unfortunately I'm unemployed at the moment and could use the smaller amount now rather than waiting ^_^ Plus it's one I got that was sitting around in the GoDaddy closeout bin for at least a day, so I'm a little surprised someone's going for it. Ah well, it's a little money to put into buying more domains once I've learned more from all of you!

Congrats, and feel free to post here if something doesn't smell right. Npers are a helpful bunch
Don't count your chickens before they are hatched though, sales can fall through even when the escrow has been initiated and the buyer has made a firm commitment to buy.

It's normal you are suspicious about the timing. It's unusual to receive offers shortly after a purchase (it's usually the appraisal scam). But it can happen sometimes. What is possible is that the other party was tracking the same domain name, saw that it had expired, and was expecting that it would be made available for registration again later on. Not everyone is familiar with sniping at closeouts and the domain name lifecycle.
I once flipped a name in one day, to an end user who had been too late to enter the auction.

riley west said:

I made a few junk purchases off the cuff last week of expired domains

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Did you do any research on the domain that you received a offer on?
https://www.namepros.com/threads/i-use-this-tool.1008978/
Maybe this domain has a good history or fits the niche that this person looking for, high "ranking" etc...

On the 3rd domain name I ever bought, I received an email within 48 hours offering to double the price I'd paid (low $xxx). Having done my research about scamming, etc., warning signs immediately sounded and I countered with what I thought was a stupid price at the time (high xxx) just to get a reaction. I received an email literally 10 minutes later offering $100 less than my counter-offer.

At the time, I just didn't have the nerve to follow through - I was living by the adage 'If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is' and called off the deal, citing that I'd bought the domain for development purposes (a lie) and wasn't looking to sell so soon after purchase (another lie). The buyer was very gracious and asked me to contact him if I was still looking to sell a little further down the line.

I gave myself a virtual pat on the back, proud of myself for avoiding what I thought was an obvious scam. I didn't have the wherewithal to follow through at the time and neglected to do any research to identify if it was a genuine offer.

6 months later, having sold the domain for only $70 more than I'd paid for it, I discovered that the buyer was actually a respected name in the domaining field and came to the conclusion that it was a genuine offer and that I'd somehow managed to leave hundreds of dollars on the table, at a time when I was just getting started and the extra cash would have gone some way to building up a decent 10-12 name beginners portfolio.

Needless to say, the pat on the back was quickly rescinded and I learned a valuable lesson - due diligence, knowledgeable counsel and extensive research are all part and parcel of becoming a profitable domainer.

I applaud you for having the good sense to do what I failed to do and seek guidance from the Namepros community from the very beginning.

Good luck with the sale.

Netmunch said:

I gave myself a virtual pat on the back, proud of myself for avoiding what I thought was an obvious scam.

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I mean, I don't get it. How can it be a scam? You either use escrow or you ask that he sends the money up front before you transfer the domain. I just don't understand how one could get scammed. Am I missing something?

Obviously, don't do anything other than receive the money and send the domain. The appraisal scam just sounds stupid. Why would anyone make an offer and THEN request an appraisal?

Lord Antares said:

I mean, I don't get it. How can it be a scam? You either use escrow or you ask that he sends the money up front before you transfer the domain. I just don't understand how one could get scammed. Am I missing something?

Obviously, don't do anything other than receive the money and send the domain. The appraisal scam just sounds stupid. Why would anyone make an offer and THEN request an appraisal?

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Because in that scam they offer you like $15,000 for a garbage name then hope you'll believe it and pay the fee for appraisal required to get the sale.

Some people fall for it unfortunately.

I get that but if you're smart and unwilling to pay something you're not required to pay for (after all, you're the one selling and shouldn't be required to pay for anything) you cannot get scammed.

If I saw an unrealistically high offer, I would accept immediately because I have only a bit of time to lose in case it's a scam attempt.

It's good you are so cautious from the beginning. And even better that you can be so critical towards yourself and that you are accepting your lessons.

Regarding the possible scam, you own the asset, once you (or escrow in your behalf) get the money from the buyer, you are all set.

Lord Antares said:

I mean, I don't get it. How can it be a scam? You either use escrow or you ask that he sends the money up front before you transfer the domain. I just don't understand how one could get scammed. Am I missing something?

Obviously, don't do anything other than receive the money and send the domain. The appraisal scam just sounds stupid. Why would anyone make an offer and THEN request an appraisal?

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I think it's important to remember the amount of mental baggage it's easy to take in with you whenever you start a new venture in which you have no prior experience.

Cliches such as 'There's no silver bullet', 'If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is', and 'Don't get scammed online' are easy to fall back on when something 'exceptional' occurs that you may not have been prepared for.

This is what happened in my case. I was pretty much at Day 1 with domaining, had foolishly failed to do any real research and when the larger than expected offer came back before I'd even mentally prepared myself for making any kind of sale, my lack of experience and due diligence saw me falling back on cliched tropes instead of having the sense to move forward with the deal.

Looking back on the experience now, it does appear naive and it is embarrassing to share, but I don't necessarily believe we add all the value we can in forums such as this unless we're willing to share our experiences and guide new domainers away from the mistakes we've made.

I think its not a scam because he wanna transaction on escrow.com
If he ask to appraisal first than it would be a scam