Anonymous inquiries

[fish]

I don't really actively sell domains anymore. I just keep the good ones for future development, and in the back if my head, hope for an end user to maybe come along one day. Domaining is not my full-time profession so I can afford to put these domains on the backburner for a long time.

More often than not, I get simple emails from obvious throwaway email accounts like (similar to [email protected]).

The latest one was this, verbatim:

Hi,

Can you tell me - is this domain on sale and a price for it?

No personalization. The WHOIS for this domain is unprotected, so the inquirer could've at least used my name. Even if this was some sort of scraped mass emailing.

I was going to go off on a rant about how I can't stand anonymous inquiries like this, and if they were truly interested they wouldn't hide behind a stupid fake looking Gmail address, but stopped myself, and responded with something along the lines of "Make an offer."

I understand that domainers jack up the price when they realize they've got a big buyer on the hook. Heck, I'll do it too. Because I know they can afford it. So I understand the motivation to remain anonymous.

Even big corporations with massive cash holdings have been known to use similar tactics. But at the same time, I can't help but not take these inquiries seriously. I like to know who I'm dealing with, right from the start.

So the reason I'm opening this up to discussion on NamePros is to hear both sides of the story.

Domainers with your "domain buying" hat on, do you use throwaway accounts to start up conversations with owners of domains that you want to buy? Have you found that technique successful? And most importantly, why?

Domainers with your "domain selling" hat on, how do you respond? Similar to what I said, with an email along the lines of "Make an offer"? A fixed price? Or just ignore them? Has it ever led to a big sale?

 

[Domainerr]

I also received the same email you mentioned above, replied with a BIN but no response, ..as a Domain seller i contacted many companies similar to my niche with a fixed price but no success yet..

 

[AEProgram]

When Disney was buying up land in FL they didn't use the Disney name, sellers had no clue.

The cost for you to reply is 0, (unless you do not use common sense and end up transferring a name to a scammer).

Some feel that in order to sell a name one must chit chat and have coffee and cake served, the reality is serious buyers have no time for chit chat.

The perfect buyer will email you with an offer.

The perfect seller will reply with a buy now price if someone asks.

So many sales are lost because of greed and in most cases on the sellers side. Who are we kidding, even if you have a great amazing short name, offers dont come often, when they finally come dont chase em away.

Back to topic, reply to all, best to reply with price, people dont like "make an offer" nonsense.

 

[Kate]

I get mails like these on a regular basis.
I don't like this script. It looks like spam, not trustworthy. Some sort of dreamer most likely, or somebody acting as a drone for a domainer

When contacting domain owners I use a corporate address but there is not a lot of information publicly available on the corporation. You can check that it actually exists but you won't know about turnover. It could be a small startup. So I am not too worried about inflated prices and I don't like to play the poor student game. If the price isn't right I won't be buying.

 

[RevolutionaryDomains]

.


Try to research the email address attached to the email itself before you reply. Not always, but more often than not, these are nothing more scammers/bots trying to validate your email addy. Once you reply they start sending you more spam.

 

[alien51]

For people who are NOT actively selling their property, especially from UNSOLICITED inquiries, it is understandable why they can be extremely choosy of their buyers.

Anonymous buying/bidding however, is a very common and acceptable practice. You can Google and find many multi-million dollar auctions won by anonymous buyers/bidders. This proves that even million dollar transactions can be done anonymously. But i understand there is a participation fee to become a anonymous buyer/bidder (to screen the serious ones only).

In the case of Domains, a "Make Offer" response to an inquiry is a quick and simple way to screen only the serious buyers who "understand" the value of the domain they want to buy. "Make Offer" could be a nonsense reply to a typical buyer, but remember the owner of the domain is not even selling the property. You came in UNSOLICITED. The burden is on the buyer to come up with a number that can change the owner's mind into selling his property. If you are actively selling your property, then the burden is on YOU to declare the price of your property for sale.

And yes, in some cases, you need to chit-chat the owner of the property and get into his comfort zone to perk up his interest and convince him to sell this possession. Remember, the property is NOT FOR SALE. So therefore, you cannot apply the normal buyer-seller marketplace custom practice here.

With regards to UNMASKING the real identity of the buyer. I believe this is a FUTILE exercise, especially with Domains. A buyer who is serious in protecting his identity, can easily have a THIRD PARTY buy the domain from you. For example, you can make friends with a potential buyer named Mr. Ryan Smith who tells you he is a local entrepreneur. But after you sell him the domain for $10,000, he then transfers the domain to Bill Gates. Imagine if Bill Gates came to you. You would have jacked the price to $125,000.

If your main issue is protecting yourself from scam, perhaps going through escrow would suffice. Or if this is some really high-priced domain, you would have suggested to have the deal go through a domain brokered transaction, instead of a personal transaction. With a broker transaction, you know that the negotiations are serious and not time wasters.

With regards to the sample email mentioned by the OP, i get numerous inquiries like that. For the domains i own that are NOT FOR SALE, the buyer must be the first one to offer a buying price to me. Remember, you need to convince me to change the status to FOR SALE. And the deciding factor, is your offer price.

 

[xrvel]

Using gmail email, no personalization, & using short sentences doesn't always mean the sender is a spammer.
It could be a spammer.
But it could be a legit user.

Because i do it to sometimes, and i buy the domain eventually.
I know it is not the perfect example of sending inquiries, but sometimes i just need to send e-mail quickly.

 

[biggie]

:talk:


as a seller: I typically respond with "Submit Your Best Offer".


as a buyer: never have bought a domain via email.


imo....