A call from a "college student".

[infosec3]

I got a call today about one of my domain names. When I asked the person to disclose his identity and from what company he was calling, he hesitated or stumbled with a few words saying he is a "college student" and gave me his supposed first name. He then proceeded to offer $100 for a name that I will definitely not sell for that amount. I asked him to send me an email with a decent offer... Have you had any inquiries from end-users in disguise?

 

[johname]

Could really be a college kid, kids on a budget want good names too.

 

[infosec3]

Could really be a college kid, kids on a budget want good names too.

Yes, you are right. That's also possible.

 

[NLP]

I've had two like that, one by phone and one via email, both on first-name .COs. The latter one was last year, and the guy said he wanted the name (anna) for his daughter's 8th birthday. Yeah, ok. And yesterday was my birthday, too...

I replied with a number just north of $10k, because it's a name I'd had numerous offers on. His reply was angry, please justify your price, etc., which I did, to an extent. His final email said "Fine, I'll just UDRP you instead," which is what gave him away. Of course, no paperwork ever arrived.

I think some people are legit. But when they lowball and get angry, that's how you know they're a domainer.

 

[Fonzie]

Could be a college student. Of course, it's totally standard in the domain game to represent yourself as minimally as possible, so maybe not.

Regularly receiving offers from people who just don't understand that a good .com domain name is worth a lot more than the $100 or $300 or $500 that they're 'prepared to pay' is a sign that you're doing something right- that you're owning the kinds of names that resonate in other peoples minds.

Some domainers get all hostile and offended that someone would dare offer them such a meager sum, but honestly, domainers can be just as delusional on the upside as buyers are clueless on the downside. Either group is quite sincere in not understanding that their price outlook isn't realistic.

Me, I just inform them that their offer precludes a productive negotiation and wish them the best with their search for a suitable domain in their price range. When they inevitable "well, how much do you want" email comes back, I ignore it. If they're seriously or a disguised party prepared to pay a lot more, the higher offers will commence.

The catch is, knowing when to let a domain go for $1K or $2K, rather than hold out for $15K or $50K that won't ever come.

 

[alien51]

On many occasions, i have received email inquiries from buyers who use their real identities. I searched their email add and got a glimpse of their identities in social media sites.

More often than not, these are individuals looking for a domain name for their blog site or hobby site. And of course, if your intention is just to blog and post pictures about your hiking trips to the Grand Canyon, a price of 1,000 dollars for a domain name would have blown you away.

I have always presumed that people who would buy domains priced above 1,000 dollars, would have to be buying the domain as a source of continuous revenue that would eventually pay-off the price i have for that domain. So i always reg domains that have business use.

Sometimes, to avoid sarcastic or violent replies from buyers, i sometimes ask them to give me their price offer first which i reasoned for me to screen out only the serious buyers.

If the buyer offers to pay 100 dollars, but i have the domain priced at 5,000 dollars, i just tell them i cannot sell at such a low price (without revealing my price). The wide discrepancy in your price expectations will surely result in violent reactions so it is best not to reveal the price tag anymore and terminate the low ball conversation.

 

[johname]

One clue is when they lay the college kid on a budget story real thick before they even know your price.

Another if you get a qualified enduser approach you, not liking the price. Then next week get a big college kid sob story from an untraceable email address.

But in this case (on the phone) I would be looking for how this person handled themselves. If they sound like they been coached what to say by the real person that wants the name.

I've told people like this to save their money for three or four months and get back to me too lol

 

[Sull]

I've had NUMEROUS inquiries from "college" and even "high school" students needing the domain name for a school project. Like others said it could just be an honest to goodness kid looking to get the domain. In my cases though I suspect it was someone looking for a cheap domain and willing to lie to get it.

 

[GiftedDomains]

I would say 90% of the "college kids" are not real, but maybe domainers who want to buy your name cheap and resell it.

 

[twomoon]

I had one girl emailing me interested in a name Bluestocking/com
She told me they have a College Club called "Bluestocking"
And a high xxx price was too high for her

I believe she was real.

But got some emails from strange college students that were interested in buying good names for xx Guess they were fake

 

[SlimPickins]

I have had a few college kid inquiries (or "a surprise for my girlfriend" etc offers) which have never gone anywhere but have had a few offers that were allegedly from non-profits.... in 2 cases where the story really checked out I dropped my pricing way down. In 1 case we were able to reach a deal and the other, although I was willing to sell it to them as a non-profit for basically at cost, that was still too much for them and we didn't reach a deal. I didn't feel too bad though because I noticed that a year later their main/original website domain had expired so the domain they wanted would have most likely just expired and gone to another domainer anyway.

All I can say is I WISH I would have been buying domains as a college kid!

 

[Kate]

Ask for a scan of his student card. 10% rebate for students.

 

[infosec3]

Ask for a scan of his student card. 10% rebate for students.

lol...

Will not ask for his ID, but will follow your advice on the 10% discount.

 

[hopkism]

Could really be a college kid, kids on a budget want good names too.

I have actually done this before. As beginners we don't realize how unrealistic our lowball offers are. Are heads are on right though. We also don't want to give up too much from a defensive prospective. It was probably a seriously interested party. Obviously they will probably not be able to give you a good offer.

 

[martiinko]

Wasn't he this guy?

http://www.domainsherpa.com/brian-diener-teendomainer-interview/ :D TeenDomainer

 

[lincolndsp]

On many occasions, i have received email inquiries from buyers who use their real identities. I searched their email add and got a glimpse of their identities in social media sites.

More often than not, these are individuals looking for a domain name for their blog site or hobby site. And of course, if your intention is just to blog and post pictures about your hiking trips to the Grand Canyon, a price of 1,000 dollars for a domain name would have blown you away.

I have always presumed that people who would buy domains priced above 1,000 dollars, would have to be buying the domain as a source of continuous revenue that would eventually pay-off the price i have for that domain. So i always reg domains that have business use.

Sometimes, to avoid sarcastic or violent replies from buyers, i sometimes ask them to give me their price offer first which i reasoned for me to screen out only the serious buyers.

If the buyer offers to pay 100 dollars, but i have the domain priced at 5,000 dollars, i just tell them i cannot sell at such a low price (without revealing my price). The wide discrepancy in your price expectations will surely result in violent reactions so it is best not to reveal the price tag anymore and terminate the low ball conversation.

well said. thx

 

[Bannen]

I sold a one-word dot.com last year; but I had received an email each year for it, close to expiry date, from a UK email address. Each year (for 3 years running) they said they wanted this name for a 'school project' and asked how much. First year I gave a price, second year I said make me an offer, third year I just replied 'who cares?', ha ha. They never responded to any of those emails. I figured it was either a lowballer, or someone just sending out a feeler to see if I would respond at all or if this name was going to be let expire so they could plan to dropcatch it or whatever.


Also I had a decent first-name .com a few years back; a girl domainer emailed me, saying it was her friend's birthday and could she please get the name for cheap because she wanted to surprise them by making a blog for them. That kind of thing. At least she was polite, never insulting, but she wouldn't budge past around $150.
I didn't call her on her bluff/lies, but what gave her away immediately was that she said she wasn't a domainer and didn't know much about domain names, just wanted my domain as a gift for a friend... and yet in the few emails we sent back and forth, she used professional domaining language, so to speak, using slang domaining terms that mainly domainers use (reg fee, whois, at the end she even said something like 'well, I'll just register the name in another TLD then'). She used all the precise terms we use for anything, rather than making the mistaken word-usages that non-domainers make when speaking about the domain industry.

---------- Post added at 08:32 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:05 AM ----------

Oh, P.S., slightly off-topic but then again it's still on-topic, because it's about someone trying to get something out of you by telling lies: here's a new return-link spam that's been emailed to domainers in the last couple days:

http://www.namepros.com/warnings-and-alerts/749138-interested-to-buy-your-domain.html

They use the lovely subject line 'interested to buy your domain' but it's all a spam or scam to get you to this website: toSellDomains (dawt) com.

 

[alien51]

Seriously, i sometimes wonder how much of a soft heart do we have for girl domainers, compared to college kids. lol

 

[johname]

a girl domainer emailed me

girl domainers

Remember odds are those "girl domainers" have beards, as much as the "college kid" is 38 years old LOL

 

[Expron]

A college student / part time entrepreneur made a buy it now offer of $400 on one of my domains about a year ago. He called me & got my email from the domain's whois. He was real & seemed like a smart 20 year old kid over the phone & emails. Unfortunately I countered with a $500 BIN price & blew the sale. I felt the domain was worth $500+ and forgot to take into consideration a college student's liquid cash available on hand & their sporadic decisions.