advice Well funded startup wants my domain

Mojoman1234 said:

Question: Can they use email addresses to a domain they don't own? What would you do in this situation?

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They can't use it unless they've somehow set up a mail server on the same server that you have setup with your mx records.

Most likely scenario is that they're not really using it - someone writing to one of their employees has probably entered the wrong email address when sending out the email.

What I'd do, if anything: Contact the company and tell them you're receiving emails at your domain so they should probably advise their employees that they need to give out their correct domain for email instead of assuming clients know it automatically.

I have emailed the company for a contact to discuss it.

It doesn't look like the use is isolated or a mistake. Messages have come from 10 different people from different US businesses sent to a handful of different specific names @abctech.com. These aren't spam but specific business related messages.

To clarify: I haven't set up any email settings besides adding a handful of addresses plus the wildcard * on my domain hosting account. These are set to all get forwarded to me.

Mojoman1234 said:

I have emailed the company for a contact to discuss it.

It doesn't look like the use is isolated or a mistake. Messages have come from 10 different people from different US businesses sent to a handful of different specific names @abctech.com. These aren't spam but specific business related messages.

To clarify: I haven't set up any email settings besides adding a handful of addresses plus the wildcard * on my domain hosting account. These are set to all get forwarded to me.

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lol... Guy ur case strong wella

Loving this thread. It's like a soap opera lol. Hoping for the fairy tale ending for you Mojo.

OMG - this will make news.

I don't know about news, but it's cheap entertainment with a posssible payoff. It`s like a lottery ticket. We'll see if I hear back from abc technology consultants.

I did a little research and created an spf record in my dns settings which should label any usage of @abctech.com as spam unless from me. If all of these abctech clients suddenly find their spam folders full of abctech.com messsages, it could raise a flag.

Uhh, nevermind. Yet another company involved. Besides ABC Technology Consultants, (who I thought was using abctech.com), another company in the same field has come to light "x"bctech.com The latest round of messages also cc'd people at "x"bctech.com Looks like one of the characters in "abc" is easily mistaken for another character and used inadvertently. Once in someone's email database, it's in there I guess. I heard back from "x"bctech.com and they apologized and explained the typo. I guess I'll lose that wildcard email setting. PITA.

I would keep the wildcard. It's a lead generator.

Forward the emails each time with a comment that you don't know why these are going to your domain and a suggestion that they should probably buy the domain to avoid missing out on important communications in the future when you get tired of acting as an unpaid employee of their company.

I had a wildcard on one of my domains which resulted in a veritable ton of emails. These were not spam, but legitimate (for the most part). Monitored them a bit then got rid of it.

Any advice of forwarding or the like is bad advice IMO. Not sure how the law handles email privacy, but I wouldn't want to find out the hard way.

You may have a point there Forge, but in this case, he has already opened dialogue with the company concerned who said they would address it. If they didn't and emails continue to arrive at his inbox due to a legitimate wildcard that he has on his OWN DOMAIN then he should be entitled to continue the discussion and offer a solution to it.

I also recieved a mail asking me about my domain.
From one mexican travel agency. They have the same name as my website + tour.
I only dont understand, if they regged thier agency in 2008, so whay they didnt regged also a domain name?
And lol, in some FB articles they used to put my domain name as thier website, maybe were thinking to buy it in the future.
I regged my domain in 2011.
I really dont want to sell it, it has my name, and I think it is a unique combination with my name that I ever could have, because all possible combination with the name Maya is already token.
So I told him at least a few thousand, but if he accept I still will need to think it.
He answered no, and I still sometimes recieve emails for his agency on my account asking about tours etc. And they still have no any website, only FB account.
And I just reemail these mails to his accoun
But in my case the point is that I dont want to sell it

Ask for shares to the company. Or better ask for $7500 and above. Best choice is shares.

Mojoman1234 said:

" ABCTech" would be a great trading name for ABCTechnology don't you agree?

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Finally we know who the potential buyer was.

Turns out, it was Google... now using: ABC.XYZ

:D

NPer said:

Finally we know who the potential buyer was.

Turns out, it was Google... now using: ABC.XYZ

:D

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Was it really google?

xCaribbeanboy said:

Was it really google?

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We wouldn't really know. :D

I guess it might be time to bring this thread back! I have been sitting tight for 3.5 years(!) since last posting here. Just for the heck of it I forwarded an email (a personal event invitation) intended to a person at the firm in question, with a note that they might want to pass along to whom it may concern that I'm still getting email intended for lots of folks at the company.

I heard back from them asking if I was interested in discussing the domain and asking for verification of domain ownership. Has anything changed in the last 3.5 years I should be aware of?

No it wasn't Google / ABC. I had to reread this entire thread myself just to catch up. I'ts been off my radar

The company in question is stll privately held and doing very well. Their latest round of funding? $30M+

Mojoman1234 said:

I guess it might be time to bring this thread back! I have been sitting tight for 3.5 years(!) since last posting here. Just for the heck of it I forwarded an email (a personal event invitation) intended to a person at the firm in question, with a note that they might
want to pass along to whom it may concern that I'm still getting email intended for lots of folks at the company.

I heard back from them asking if I was interested in discussing the domain and asking for verification of domain ownership. Has anything changed in the last 3.5 years I should be aware of?

No it wasn't Google / ABC. I had to reread this entire thread myself just to catch up. I'ts been off my radar

The company in question is stll privately held and doing very well. Their latest round of funding? $30M+

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Ask for phone number of the decision maker and nail it while on the phone. Differing from email, you can feel where discussion goes. Tell him that $100K would get the name, if he doesn't agree, say what he is thinking of and try to close the deal while on the phone.

To recap, last steps from 3.5 years ago:

New tech company CEO contacted me about acquiring the domain, a shortened and familiar version of his full company name. He offerred $500.

quoted from earlier this thread:

"After not hearing back for two weeks, and digesting the wide range of advice here, I emailed him on Friday. Replying to his message "what range are you thinking of?" I replied "something in the $10k range". Thinking that may at least get a conversation started over $500 level. The quick response was "No thanks"."

3.5 years later the company is very well esatblished, has raised well over $50M in VC funding. And they're asking me what my number is.

Mojoman1234 said:

To recap, last steps from 3.5 years ago:

New tech company CEO contacted me about acquiring the domain, a shortened and familiar version of his full company name. He offerred $500.

quoted from earlier this thread:

"After not hearing back for two weeks, and digesting the wide range of advice here, I emailed him on Friday. Replying to his message "what range are you thinking of?" I replied "something in the $10k range". Thinking that may at least get a conversation started over $500 level. The quick response was "No thanks"."

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Well, then $10K it is. Start with that over the phone and see where it goes.

I have a call scheduled with the decision maker tomorrow. I'll update afterwards.

Start from $50k.

Mojoman1234 said:

I have a call scheduled with the decision maker tomorrow. I'll update afterwards.

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Best of luck with this! Keep us posted!

I didn't check the whole thread for the name or hints as to what it is so I am jumping in a little blind but if you offered ten grand 3 years ago as a starting price, I would increase it. The question is how much...if you want ten, I would start at 12 or 13 to give some wiggle room.

Such a nice spot to be in! Please let us know what happens(ed).

$1k is their max. Maybe it needs another 3 yrs of me collecting daily emails intended for them, or maybe when they take it public.

Mojoman1234 said:

$1k is their max. Maybe it needs another 3 yrs of me collecting daily emails intended for them, or maybe when they take it public.

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Yea, don't sell for $1k, just wait.