Has anyone ever bought a domain through AcquireThisName.com? I'm considering buying an already registered domain name for a project of mine. The current owner has a landing page up with the words "Domain For Sale" (same landingpage as cabaretekiteboard2002.com - this is not the actual domain). The domain is sold through AcquireThisName.com (bidding page). First I submitted a (low) bid, and received the following response: Hello, We have received your email regarding the domain *******.com. The owner of the domain has listed the sales price of $ x,xxx for this domain. If your next offer is reasonable for this domain, an AcquireThisName.com (ATN) representative will contact the owner on your behalf. Upon hearing from the domain owner, we will notify you. Please note: Owners of valuable domains will often receive several offers per week. You offer should be great enough to motivate the domain owner to reply. Best regards, Trevor AcquireThisName.com I then submitted a new offer, about half the asking price and received the following response about 48 hours later: I am following up in regards to your offer on the domain *******.com. The seller of this domain has extended the auction window for this domain till June 1, 2008. If you would like to participate in bidding for this domain name, the minimum bid is $ xxx To participate, please reply with your maximium offer and an AcquireThisName.com agent will work with the seller to negotiate the lowest price on your behalf. We will keep you updated on the status of the domain during the auction period. Please have your offer in before May 31, 2008 midnight PST to participate in the auction. If you wish to no longer receive notices for this domain, please reply with the subject line "unsubscribe." Kind Regards, Elida AcquireThisName.com I thought this was a really strange response. - If I'm negotiating one-to-one with the owner, why is it suddenly an auction? - Is there any other participants in the auction? - "an AcquireThisName.com agent will work with the seller to negotiate the lowest price on your behalf"... Really?? The owner's agent will try to negotiate the lowest price for me? Hard to believe. I've googled AcquireThisName and there's very few results. Anyone ever heard about this company before? Anyone participated in one of their auctions before? Are they trustworthy? Wondering if they're a working as a middleman between some bigger domain reseller like SEDO or TDNAM. Any info would be appreciated.
I have a theory I had the same experience. I don't think they actually represent sellers, I think they might just be buying ad space on parked domains. Notice it says the domain "may" be for sale. I did a whois search on acquirethisname.com and it was only registered in April of this year, and it's a private registration. So keep that in mind before you send them any money. It's also possible that acquirethisname.com actually owns the domains that they're selling. I noticed that their whois private registration/nameservers are exactly the same as one of the parked domains that "may" be for sale, although that could be a coincidence. I think it's best to either approach the domain owner directly, or use a reputable service through one of the big registrars to negotiate for you. I recommend the latter, since a lot of domain owners are delusional about how much their domains are worth.
I have been watching a domain for about 2 years. It entered namejet prerelease on 1st May 2008 and I received a notification to that effect "NameJet Notice - xxxxxxxxxxx.com now in Pre-Release." Great! The name never actually got auctioned though. It is now registered to the same company as above - acquirethisname.com The domain I was following now shows a creation date of 24th APRIL 2008, ie 7 days BEFORE the date I received the namejet.com pre-release notification. Also, the creation date of acquirethisname.com is THE SAME, i.e. 24th April 2008. There is something very fishy here as far as I'm concerned. Extra information. This is a domain that enom kept for themselves last year (PPC) instead of letting it drop or go into auction (I was waiting for the auction last year too, but it never happened). I'm sure other people have had (or will shortly have) similar experiences with this company which could just be a front for an enom added value operation. Anybody else like to share their experiences?
caveat emptor They all seem to be Enom domains, don't they? I was watching an Enom domain that somehow missed the "pending delete" phase, so I put a bid on it, but got the same email as above, only it was asking an outrageous price - WAY more than it's worth. It's not like it was a single generic word or anything, but I wanted it so I made a pretty generous bid. They rejected my offer and weren't even willing to negotiate. I assumed I was dealing with amateurs who had unrealistic expectations and didn't know how to do business. Either that or a data mining company that's not even trying to make a sale. Look at all the information they ask for on the offer page, and there's no privacy policy. There's no link to a main page because there is no main page! So how, exactly, is anyone selling their domains through acquirethisname.com? There's no sign-up page and no contact information. A prospective buyer or seller doesn't know if it's a corporation or a teenager working out of their bedroom. So how did the owners of all these domains find them and put their domains up for sale? Enom might be doing something very crooked if they're keeping expired names for themselves and I think we should contact ICANN so they can investigate (they don't handle individual disputes, but they "monitor such complaints to discern trends"): http://reports.internic.net/cgi/registrars/problem-report.cgi
more on AcquireThisName.com I am having some dealings with this “outfit” In my case, I already owned a domain. A carefully chosen one that was the personal name of a guy opening a “start up” – certainly not a flagship company brand and therefore of no real value to anyone else, but very personal to that individual. Due to some administration problems this domain was briefly allowed to expire. While in the process of putting it back it was seen to re-appear, available for sale from “AcquireThisName.com” As per the earlier threads if you engage with them they will position themselves as negotiating on behalf of the owner. However, upon doing some investigation it is clear that this Company have bought up the domains themselves. I suspect they do an automated search for domains that have expired but not been renewed and then, if they look worth it they will then await until the non-payment period of 3 months (I think) has expired and then they purchase and wait. Likewise, for ones not allocated and look worth having in the future. As I am partly responsible for lapsing this domain and the individual doesn’t have much money I bid for the domain. Asking prices are excessive. You can get the price down if you state from the beginning that you are not going to pay any more for it and that you are “looking into” how come they managed to get the domain. On accepting a bid a sales contract is offered and what seems to be a solid process to transfer using eNom as the trusted 3rd party (escrow) in the transaction. Overall, this is an extremely distasteful practice, but one that would seem to be legitimate.
I dealt with this company recently too. I'm guessing that it is just another shady Enom front company, but it is hard to tell. There is a domain name I have wanted for years because it is the .com version of a popular developed .org site I run. I also own all the other major extensions of this non-generic keyword. When the .com expired, years ago, Enom noticed that it had a lot of traffic (from people trying to reach my site), so Enom kept it for what they call "extended RGP". They use whois privacy to hide that it is owned by Enom itself, but when I sent a trademark violation complaint they replied from [email protected]. Their parking pages now serve ads directly related to my site content, even though it is not a generic term. It sucks that they are diverting my own misdirected users for their own profit. Large registrars aren't supposed to be in the cybersquatting business! Recently, I noticed that the page changed to include the acquirethisname.com link. And the parking page now looks like what BuyDomains uses. So I made an $xxx offer and they responded that "The owner of this domain is accepting offers starting at xxxxx for this domain". That stated minimum offer price was completely ridiculous--well over $50,000. Sigh.
Is EnomResellersPostingClub.com available? Yeah, just the two Enom resellers! I found this message board through a Google search of "acquirethisname." It was the first or second search result (not counting AcquireThisName itself). AcquireThisName didn't even exist two months ago but it's suddenly purporting to represent "sellers" of quite a few domain names, it doesn't have proper contact information -- not even a country, and it's telling people about phony auctions with unbelievable minimum bids, so naturally people want to do some research. At least I got my answer.
Repeat the same observation thread... How clever. You did see the post just ahead of yours? Who's breeding like rabbits now? But thanks for the link to seoforsmartpeople.com. It's so...useful.
This is precisely the sort of thread that DOES attract real, first time posters. It's one of the highest search results for the shady operation we're discussing. I don't know if there's a 7-headed astroturf monster on here, but I'm sure a moderator can simply check the IP addresses. I was about to say, "Sarcasm? As in the MULTIPLE 'first time posters club' comments?" but I see you've just edited your post. Thanks for the welcome, but I've just joined the "last time posters club."
Cronus - What happened next? I am in an identical position and am about to send a legal letter and am curious how ENOM responded to you. And yes, I am another first time posted and came here courtisy of Mr. Google when I was sent the same message from this outfit. Thanks, Chris
Hello, Shocker, I'm yet another real, first-time poster in an identical situation to most of you. Hello. I, too, bumped into this forum by trying to get some information on acquirethisname.com. This forum seemed to be one of the first google finds. Then again, I did search for, "acquirethisname sucks" My thought is to have my lawyer draft up a letter and see if the response. However, they seem to be very specific that if you are the trademark owner, you need to produce documentation from the US Gov't. I not really comfortable showing some random person(s) such important information. Any thoughts? I really hope there are some success stories in here. Otherwise, I may have to resort to icann.
Hello, I followed your discussion with much interest. But has anyone bought a domain yet? I received the identical eMails as dreamer2008. I posed an offer an it was accepted. Mail from Elida: We are pleased to inform you that the domain owner has accepted your offer for the domain xxxxxxxx.com. The domain name will be transferred into your ownership after the Purchase Agreement form is submitted and payment is received. To facilitate the transfer and payment for the domain, we have enlisted the services of the registrar of record for the domain, eNom. Please follow the steps below to complete the sale of the domain. 1. Please complete the Purchase Agreement at: http://www.acquirethisname.com/salesagreement.aspx?sopid={xxxxxxxx} 2. Create an account at www.eNomCentral.com. The domain will be placed into this account once the wire is received by eNom. You may select to transfer the domain to a registrar of your choice after the domain has been placed into your eNom account. 3. After your account has been setup, please wire payment for the domain to eNom. Make sure to include both the domain name and your eNom login ID on the wire. If you have questions regarding the wire process, please contact Deborah Burditt at eNom. She can be reached at [email protected] or 425-274-4500 ext 4226. For your convenience, wire instructions are included in this email. 4. Email your representative at AcquireThisName.com to confirm that the wire has been sent. Wire Details: Domestic Wire Transfers - To: SIL VLY BK SJ Routing and transit #: 121140399 For Credit of: eNom, Inc. Credit Account #: 3300381976 By order of: (your name) and (your eNom Login ID) - International Wire Transfers - SWIFT Code: SVBKUS6S Pay To: FC - Silicon Valley Bank 3003 Tasman Drive Santa Clara, CA 95054, USA Routing and transit #: \FW:121140399 For Credit of: eNom, Inc. Credit Account #: FNC - 3300381976 By order of: (your name) and (your eNom Login ID) Regards, Elida | AcquireThisName.com [email protected] @cquireThisName.com I am a bit afraid to transfer the money as I don`t know if this is serious. Any more experiences?? Thank you!
Here's what I found out: - Acquire This Name, Inc. is a Nevada corporation that was incorporated sometime between May and June of 2008 Corporate address: 15801 NE 24TH ST. BELLEVUE, WA 98008 - The company's initial capital is $1.00 - Here's where it gets interesting, the company lists its secretary and director as Sarah Akhtar Cooper and its president, treasurer and director as Michael Blend. - Keep in mind that all this information is readily available by quick searches. I haven't invaded the privacy of either person. Sarah Akhtar Cooper - On her LinkedIn page, Sarah Akhtar Cooper is listed as, get this, SVP Legal and Business Affairs Demand Media and General Counsel eNom http://www.linkedin.com/pub/5/a8b/895 - Here's her icannwiki page: http://icannwiki.org/Sarah_Akhtar - Here's her site: http://www.sarahakhtar.tv/ - Here's her wedding announcement confirming it's the same person: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/17/fashion/weddings/17AKHTAR.html - More info on Sarah: http://wikileaks.org/wiki/WIKILEAKS.INFO_censored_by_eNom_and_Demand_Media Michael Blend - On his LinkedIn page, Michael Blend is listed as, EVP for Demand Media http://www.linkedin.com/pub/0/4/157 - Here's a Vator page with his info: http://www.vator.tv/user/show/MichaelBlend - An icannwiki page listing Blend: http://209.85.141.104/search?q=cach...nom&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us&client=firefox-a - So it appears that acquirethisname.com is just a front company for eNom - I called a couple of other Internet registrars and the customer service reps were unable to visit acquirethisname.com leading me to believe that either they've been blocked by eNom and/or their own company has blocked this site. Either way, something is obviously up. - According to icann, reselling is legal and it's technically another company - I wouldn't be surprised if Elida works directly for eNom
I too am currently in the process of buying a domain name from AcquireThisName. In my opinion, it's actually reassuring to know that they're probably an eNom subsidiary, because some aspects of their payment process feel a little shady (e.g. their purchase agreement web page form looks amateurish, with a couple of misspellings). But if they're legit, then it's all good. They do a pretty decent job of posing as an independent broker for the real domain owners, saying things like "let me make a call to the owner", "let me know your price and I'll try my best to negotiate with the owner", etc. I just played along with them, and actually had a fairly pleasant experience overall. Their initial offer for my domain was extremely unrealistic ($1,800 for a .com that's just my personal name). But after 3 rounds of email counteroffers, we settled for the much more manageable price of $500. In fact, I'm sure I could have gone lower, but I'd been waiting for this domain to be dropped for the past three years, so I was fine with paying a premium to get the deal done. Hope my sharing helps someone out there!
So they are actually selling at reasonable prices now. That wasn't my experience a couple of months ago. They wanted tens of thousands of dollars for a fairly obscure name. They wouldn't budge. I guess Enom is the "owner" that Elida has to consult. But even if it is a separate company on paper, isn't Enom supposed to release expired domains? I still think this is crooked.
It's interesting to note in Acquire's disclaimer that they are no way condoning cyber squatting or domain rips and fully comply with Trademarked names. I would think that unless one has trademarked their domain name, or their business's name, their up the proverbial without the paddle. It's too bad. But, there are shysters everywhere. It amazes me how hard people will work to stoop so low as to not work hard. Vampires do live among us I guess. ---- as to this being a first time post, my apologies? i know i should have looked for another forum thread to post my "hello, i'm from blah blah and i just wanted to say hi!", but i didn't see the need, nor felt the need to take time. so again, my apologies to the righteous, and not so self-righteous.
