Appraisal Scam Alive And Well!

[shendia]

Hi All,

Received an email from this guy about one of my domain names I have parked and for sale. I told him that while I would sell it, I was thinking of developing it and wasn't really all that interested in selling it. Anyway, here are the emails I got back from him and that's when I realized this was a scam.

Email Content>

Is it a developed site or just a domain name? We are mostly interested in domains without web content.

I need an appraisal for domains priced in your range.

Our partners (webmasters and domain owners) always recommend us to verify an independent appraisal first. It would be fair for both of us.

Do you have an appraisal certificate for your name? Please note that I don't trust free or unprofessional appraisals. It can be an appraisal certificate from www.FastDomainSales.com or www.GreatDomains.com or www.HollywoodDomains.com. It does not matter because they were recommended to me by experienced experts.

After I receive your appraisal we'll continue negotiations.

How do you prefer to get paid: PayPal, check or wire?

Looking forward to your reply.

Best regards,

Marc Miller

CEO

MCSD, MSCE

I responded with>

Hi Marc,

No it's not appraised and no, I'm not going to go there. As a business person (and I assume you are one from the emails you've been sending), you know that a product is worth whatever you can get for it above your cost. I own the domain name (no it is not yet a website), and that's the price it takes to buy it no matter if it's worth $5 or $5,000. I don't need an appraisal and neither do you. Appraisals fluctuate so widely as to be ridiculous anyway. If you are still interested in the name, fine, if not, I really didn't care if I sold it or not. I'm not trying to be rude, just honest.
Best Regards,
Sheila

His Resonse>

I understand you, but usually sellers provide buyers with appraisals. It's a common practice. Independent appraisers are involved in any serious purchase. It's a good practice to do business because nobody is going to lose money.>>>


After this, I told him he was more than welcome to get his own appraisal from any company he chose but I wouldn't be doing it.

Don't know the result of that yet.

A lot of you know about this scam, others of you don't. Don't fall for it. The scam is to get you to spend your money for the appraisal at the site they choose and then they decide they don't want to buy your domain name after all. (They've already got your money on appraisal and didn't want to buy it to start with.)

The real question I have here, is how could they lose money? If the potential buyer is not comfortable enough with the domain that he could do something with it, why would he want the thing in the first place? 2 of these sites have already made the rounds as a scam for this very same thing about a year ago.

Be careful, don't fall for this.

Thanks,
shendia

 

[esger]

From this reponse :

"Their motive... It's looking like they work for the competitor to ruin the reputation of FastDomainSales.com, HollywoodDomains and others sites mentioned in his letter. Perhaps he is hired by one of our competitors."

Yeah sure... I have think about this possibility. BUT.. As I said, by doing so, he "advertise" and generate sales for these companies (Some of these, logically choose by the "victim"..). He doesn't really ruin their reputation. Only a very very small % of domain owners read domain news, read forum etc.

As discuss on the thread Regleg post, no warnings on their websites, no refunds, nothing?

Strange, no?

 

[Redleg]

As discuss on the thread Regleg post, no warning on their website, no refund, nothing?

Strange, no? [/B]

I think it may be a very good reason why mr. Andrew Gordon did not reply to his own post... :lol:

 

[Bebadomains]

pff (:

>
> Hi there,
>
> Have found your name listed for sale.
>
> Is this domain still available for sale? Have you received any bids from
other buyers?
>
> If it's still available for sale please email me your asking price.
>
> If you have other good domains for sale feel free to email me the full
list with asking prices.
>
> If I can afford your domain I will contact you. Please don't send me
multiple emails if you don't receive a reply from me and keep my email
address confidential.
> Just email me your asking price. If I decide to buy I will contact you as
soon as possible.
>
> I run a software development company. We provide custom software
development in Linux, Windows XP, MS Access, MS SQL, PHP and Delphi for our
clients in USA, Hong Kong, UK and Switzerland. Selling & buying names is not
my main business. Just another way to invest free money and make some
income.
>
> Kindest regards,
>
> Mark Miller
>
> CEO
>
> MCSE, MCSD

re i

Helló !

Thank you for interesting for the domain.
We have already received some emails,but we havent made a business yet,thats
why we still saleing the cost is 3900 $

re mark :

3900. Ok.

Is it a developed site or just a domain name? We are mostly interested in
domains without web content.

We need an appraisal for domains priced in your range.

Our partners (webmasters and domain owners) always recommend us to verify an
independent appraisal first. It would be fair for both of us.

Do you have an appraisal certificate for your name? Please note that we
don't trust free or unprofessional appraisals. It can be an appraisal
certificate from www.FastDomainSales.com or www.GreatDomains.com or
www.HollywoodDomains.com. It does not matter because they were recommended
to me by experienced experts.

After we receive your appraisal we'll continue negotiations.

How do you prefer to get paid: PayPal, check or wire?

Looking forward to your reply.

Best regards,

Mark Miller

CEO

MCSD, MSCE


re i

It's too early to speak about sending money.

I understand you, but usually sellers provide buyers with appraisals. It's a
common practice. Independent appraisers are involved in any serious
purchase. It's a good practice to do business because nobody is going to
lose money.

etc ....

and finish : mark :

Thank you. Nice to work with you. Looks reasonable but I expected a lower
valuation. 3150 is out of my budget at this moment. Do you have appraisals
from other sources ? It would be interesting to compare your appraisal with
GreatDomains.com appraisals.

Anyway now I see that your name has a very good potential and offer you the
following. I can try to resell your name . I will set the starting price
based on your appraisal.

I find a buyer. Then I pay you the appraised value and earn the difference.
It takes time to find a buyer. Can you wait for 30-40 days before I find
someone?

I'm going to buy several direct emailing services (opt-in lists) in order
topromote your domain. May I use your appraisal im my promotional emails?

I don't claim exclusive rights to sell your domain. You can try to sell your
domains too.

I will try to do my best. Deal ?

 

[Redleg]

Sorry to hear that Bebadomains...

What e-mail address did he use this time??

 

[kaliboy2g]

I doubt that many people fall for this. Most of the people with great domains have probably been in the biz for a while and are educated on this

 

[Badger]

Firstly I have to say, this guy cant be the sharpest in the tool box because (from a sales person point of view) what do you think his conversion rate is.... $39 for an appraisal... Lets say he cons (no other word for it) 20 people a week (which would amount to a good deal of work) and lets say he is either the owner of the appraisal company or an affiliate, that means he makes a gross income of $700 a week. ok a rough guestimation)

I have one thing to say ------ "real sales jobs pay a good deal more......!"

 

[Lord]

similar to the nigerian scam :\ only thing i would say is that, stringing along the nigerian scammer is funner than stringing along a domain appraisal scammer.

 

[armstrong]

Originally posted by collieri
that means he makes a gross income of $700 a week. ok a rough guestimation)

I have one thing to say ------ "real sales jobs pay a good deal more......!"

That depends on where the scammer resides. In some parts of the world, $700 is a few months' salary for a programmer.

 

[Bebadomains]

Mark Miler mail adres :

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[gnradaza]

Thank God! He lead me to this link...

Hi there,

Just received your ad from dnsales.Profit.com via email. Thank you.

I run a software development company. Selling & buying names is not my main business. Just another way to invest free money and make some income.

We are interested in purchasing netprofitmachine.com .

Do you sell a developed site or just domain name? We are mostly interested in domains without web content.

We need an appraisal before making an offer.

Our partners (webmasters and domain owners) always recommend us to verify an independent appraisal first. It would be fair for both of us.

Do you have an appraisal certificate for your name? Please note that we don't trust free or unprofessional appraisals. It can be an appraisal certificate from www.FastDomainSales.com or www.GreatDomains.com or www.HollywoodDomains.com. It does not matter because they were recommended to me by experienced experts.

Moreover,I have not found your names listed on those sites, so they are really independent.


After we receive your appraisal we'll continue negotiations.

How do you prefer to get paid: PayPal, check or wire?

Looking forward to your reply.

Best regards,

Michael Spillman

CEO

MCSE, MCSD


<<----Too damn I almost have lost my $55 to that damn appraisals...Thank all his new email: "M Spillman" <[email protected]>