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Watch for scam - domainsultan.com

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WARNING:

An old appraisal scam seems to have been resurrected that everyone should be aware of.

Yesterday, I got an offer on a domain. On reply, the potential buyer says he may be interested, but wants to verify what the domain is worth, and will only buy if an appraisal is provided from one of the appraisers he "trusts". He then goes on to list greatdomains.com, domainsultan.com, and hollywooddomains.com. I would always advise someone to avoid "appraisals" and if they want one, to waste their own money. In checking further, I noticed that domainsultan was only registered 12 days earlier and lists lower prices than the other two. There is the scam, in that he likely owns the appraiser site and is trying to drum up business for himself. I replied back with my standard wording in case it was legit, but on further checking found he has tried this on others in the last few days.

The site is registered to a UK address, and the offer comes from a free domain offered at rock.com, also using a UK based IP address.

You will never get taken on this scam if you are not tempted to buy into providing an appraisal in any circumstance.
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
Yup, appears to be the same dudes. D-:
Thanks for the heads-up, AdoptableDomains.
B-)
 
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Thanks for the heads up.
 
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Just got an e-mail from these folks today. Pretending to be interested in a name I no longer own. It expired several months ago.

ST
 
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He then goes on to list greatdomains.com, domainsultan.com, and hollywooddomains.com.

What I don't understand with these emails is why greatdomains.com is up there among the choice of appraisers. Is there an affiliate link so they earn commission, or do they get direct funding from GD for running the ads? If its an affiliate link, then someone should talk to GD to get them to drop this affiliate. If its the latter, then ...
 
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His strategy:

He mention he only trust 3 domain appraisal companies,

GreatDomains.com (not related to him)
Domainsultan.com (his)
HollywoodDomains.com (not related to him)

Out of the 3, Domainsultan.com has the lowest appraisal cost, so naturally you will choose the cheapest appraisal and he got you to buy appraisal from him "willingly". After that, you will never hear from the "prospective buyer" again.
 
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I got the same email yesterday.

I told him simply, if he was *really* interested in my domain, he could just pay for it into my paypal. :D

What I don't understand with these emails is why greatdomains.com is up there among the choice of appraisers.
I think it is there as a means of comparison. GD used to charge $75 for an appraisal. So someone considering a potential appraiser would usually opt for a cheaper service provided by....surprise..surprise....our scam artist.
 
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If you learn about this scam after you've been taken, would the credit card companies oblige you if you were to go for a chargeback?

What if I weren't sure of their intentions, then later become convinced that its a scam, can I go for a chargeback? What if this happened to several hundred domaineers - will the credit card companies wake up and get the police involved?

This guy needs a serious whooping.
 
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yeah he got me at his other site - www.fastdomainsales.com - punk can have my $60 though. Anyone know how to bomb a website so they get heaps of traffic and have to pay for the additional traffic ?
 
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Thanks for sharing your story AdoptableDomains with us, this is a heads up for people that may have recieved the same e-mail.
 
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wow if we domainers are falling for this scam imagine the money he is making on the regular community who dont know even the difference between ftp and http
 
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Granted, he probably has a lot of victims every month. However, I don't think he's actually making a lot, simply because of the chargebacks, each one of which would cost him not only the appraisal fee, but also a bank research fee of $35 to $50. If I were one of his victims, I'd chargeback without hesitation. Given time, the credit card companies should cancel his account.
 
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But if you dont know it was the owner then you wouldnt know it was a scam and request a chargeback in most cases.

You have to obviously figure that the people falling for this are average people who dont know this scam.. and probably receive some form of appraisal (by email or standard mail) and do get an "appraisal".

It would suck to find out later though -
 
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People like this suck. Why can't people just make money by working instead of scamming people?? grrrr
 
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Originally posted by GCgirl4ever
People like this suck. Why can't people just make money by working instead of scamming people?? grrrr

Oh! I see you haven't been stung around here yet. People who will ruin their name over $10 are everywhere.
 
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I'm very careful with what I do online because I almost got scammed once (not on NP) and don't plan on actually letting it happen.
 
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