Anyone knows AcquireThisName.com?

[dreamer2008]

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.

 

[Midnight]

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!

 

[Averna]

Thank you for your posts. It really helped me!

 

[buckybeaver]

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.

 

[mlangham]

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.

 

[TechQueen]

This is the first time i am seeing a lot of first time posters in the same thread. lol :bingo:

 

[mlangham]

hmmm, lemme guess

This is the first time i am seeing a lot of first time posters in the same thread. lol :bingo:

even as a noob on this site, my experience might dictate that your observation above is due to this being a hot topic?

and that all th first time posters are finding but a couple of results via google, and yours--- guess what! is one of them?

(whew, i'm glad this wasn't my first post. but know as well i'll be suffering wrath for being but only a two-time poster)

 

[mlangham]

Oh..cool..another first time poster thread.

Breeding like rabbits at the moment.

geesh, am i missing something? to paraphrase from an old Firesign Theatre album:
Are there nothing but lemmings on this bus?

Why is it that so many folk are using the "first time poster thread" phrase as some sort of mantra?

Does one acquire special powers by doing so-- or a cool "I used that phrase 15 times!" badge--- for use in this forum?

Did I miss an FAQ on this site's rulez for posting for the first time in an obscure thread first, so that no posts or threads are done by what appears to be a first-time poster?

I'd use the word elitist if not for fear of it being related to upper class, which is also described as first class, shortened to first, thereby making it a first post. So I will NOT make any elitist assertions whatsoever.

Proud to now be at the time of this typing, a 3rd time poster,

Michael

 

[Midnight]

geesh, am i missing something? to paraphrase from an old Firesign Theatre album:
Are there nothing but lemmings on this bus?

Why is it that so many folk are using the "first time poster thread" phrase as some sort of mantra?

Seriously. You'd think that the "veterans" on this forum would be glad that one of their threads is actually turning up as a top Google hit for a frequently-searched term relating to the domain name trade. Oh well.

 

[PaulS]

----- from NewBe -----

Here comes another NewBe in this thread.

I just bid on one of the domains through AcquireThisName and will keep you up-to-date of the communication (assuming this is interesting for the visitors of this thread, maybe even for some of the veterans

The domain is a long non-english word and was picked-up after the owner (a one person business) was too late with renewal due to the fact that her administrator's email address was not valid anymore.

 

[DomainTalker]

Don't worry about all those comments about 'first-time posters', guys...


...There are some long-time posters that say some bloody silly things - and, some newbies that make a great contribution right off the bat...

...It ain't how many posts someone's made that counts....Only what is said in a post...

Welcome to NamePros, people...

.

 

[PaulS]

---- from NewBe -----

So I did an offer on a domain with a length of 12 characters and got a reply the same day from AcquireThis Name.com.

The answer was essentially the same as the one that Dreamer2008 mentioned in the beginning of this tread (except that it didn't have the last paragraph that an offer has to be interesting for an owner)

They came with an asking price (from the 'owner') that was 9 times higher then my (already high) bid.

As the domain is only useful in a small country and in there only for a small number of people, the owner will never get an amount like that.

I explained the situation and asked them to re-contact the owner.

I will keep you posted

 

[Midnight]

They came with an asking price (from the 'owner') that was 9 times higher then my (already high) bid.

That's an interesting observation. When I contacted them about the domain I wanted, my initial offer was slightly under $200--and they responded with an asking price of $1,800. In other words, about 9-10 times my offer. Just like the counter-offer you received. It makes you wonder if they follow a precise predefined formula in these "negotiations".

For what it's worth, I eventually agreed to purchase the domain for $500 (as I stated in an earlier post).

 

[OnlineDomainCom]

No they don't.
I offered $150. Their counter offer was 60k.

 

[corvettejrw]

Another NOOB!!

So, just like everyone else I had my offer accepted by acquirethisname.com and I am leery of the "Wire us money" part of the transaction.

Since this is $1000, I would like to have some assurance that the deal is legitimate. (I also noticed the misspellings on their agreement page)

HAS ANYONE ACTUALLY BOUGHT A DOMAIN FROM THEM? (complete transaction)
How did it go? Were you able to transfer the domain to another registrar instead of enom?

Thanks!
Jordan

 

[Michael]

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

Wow, great post, thanks for looking into it.

 

[IAmAllanShore]

And this is why I love new people :hearts: (Seriously, I do - not sarcasm.)

I keep coming across acquirethis (And I keep hearing more and more complaints about the elusive nature of their communications...) and it is "nice" to know the man and woman "behind the curtain" on this one.

And FTR, a nice (And very recent) WIPO UDRP that they lost...
http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/html/2008/d2008-1162.html

-Allan :gl:

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

 

[Aular]

Thanks for the previous posters' information regarding Acquirethisname.com. First time poster, too, looking for info on why a domain I used to own is now owned by Acquirethisname.com.

I did a little digging as well. They're registered with the Better Business Bureau in the Pacific Northwest. If you're unhappy with the service, you can visit the BBB webpage and file a consumer complaint with them. The BBB works between you and the Company to resolve the complaint.

The BBB website for Acquirethisname.org is:
http://alaskaoregonwesternwashington.bbb.org/WWWRoot/Report.aspx?site=114&bbb=1296&firm=64002064

Good luck. They're listed as "Satisfactory" with the BBB, but with this technically legal but morally questionable business practice, I'm surprised they've retained a satisfactory rating.

 

[OnlineDomainCom]

BBB is crap.

 

[Midnight]

HAS ANYONE ACTUALLY BOUGHT A DOMAIN FROM THEM? (complete transaction)
How did it go? Were you able to transfer the domain to another registrar instead of enom?

As posted earlier in this thread, I successfully bought a domain name from them a couple of months ago. They transferred the domain to my eNom account within a few days after I wired my payment to them, and I then immediately moved the domain to my preferred registrar. No problems at all, quite thankfully.

 

[Roustam]

Hi everyone,

Newbie here too. Sorry about that, but this thread is very easily googled.


I am currently having an issue with "ACQUIRE THIS NAME" too. I was the owner of a domain name that was linked to an actual website and its content. I have unwillingly let the domain name expire ; they bought it.
Fair enough... until I saw they were putting it on sell, making themselves obvious cybersquatters.


+ I tried and get in touch with their sales team ; I was willing to pay a "fair" price for this name.
- I offered 30$, they asked 1000$.
- I offered 45$ they asked 3000$...

+ I wrote to [email protected] ; to let them know about this trademark infrigement.
- No answer yet

+ I wrote to [email protected] ; to let them know about ACQUIRE THIS NAME practice of trademark infrigement.
- No answer yet

+ I have also raised a complaint with the BBB.
- Someone said the BBB was "crap", I'll let you know how it goes with me.


If none of the above works out and they still want to sell this name at the outrageous price of 3000$, I am seriously considering raising a UDRP with the WIPO, since this will "only" cost me around 1000$.

I am also considering going to court, however as this option seems more expensive, this should be my second option, after the UDRP.


This practice is a shame.