Appraisal scam or legit? Thanks in advance.

[izmas]

Hi,

I got an email today in the morning from Jeff Miller. Was pretty surprised to get this for my hyphenated domain. At least his grammar was good unlike other ones I have seen. :hehe:

"Dear Sir or Madam,

We are interested to buy your domain name Domain.COM and offer to buy it from you for 65% of the appraised market value.

As of now we accept appraisals from either one of the following leading appraisal companies:

sedo.com
flyappraisals.com
accuratedomains.com


If you already have an appraisal please forward it to us.

As soon as we have received your appraisal we will send you our payment (we use Paypal for amounts less than $2,000 and escrow.com for amounts above $2,000) as well as further instructions on how to complete the transfer of the domain name.

We appreciate your business,

Yours truly,

Jeff Miller"

What do you guys think? Legit? Thanks...

 

[SeanPreston]

EDIT: Seems to be a scam mate.

 

[gazzip]

100% scam - just type appraisal scam into the NPros search, loads of threads on it.



.

 

[samuelhr]

It's a scam. If they ask you to get your domain evaluated for value and supply the websites it's a scam.

 

[izmas]

Why would they send business to Sedo? Is Sedo more expensive, therefore most people just opt for the cheaper appraisal through the other sites? Thanks for your replies.

100% scam - just type appraisal scam into the NPros search, loads of threads on it.



.

 

[SeanPreston]

Why would they send business to Sedo? Is Sedo more expensive, therefore most people just opt for the cheaper appraisal through the other sites? Thanks for your replies.

I can't see SEDO been behind this at all mate.

but yet I still don't understand how this would work, because there asking for a thrid party appraisal, how do they make money?

or is there plan to steal the domain?

Sean

 

[gazzip]

Why would they send business to Sedo? Is Sedo more expensive, therefore most people just opt for the cheaper appraisal through the other sites? Thanks for your replies.

Its a lame attempt to make it look more official, most domainers know who sedo is, the scammers have a 2 in 3 chance of getting lucky and generating an appraisal...you would never hear from them again once you paid for an appraisal.


.

 

[samuelhr]

I can't see SEDO been behind this at all mate.

but yet I still don't understand how this would work, because there asking for a thrid party appraisal, how do they make money?

or is there plan to steal the domain?

Sean

They own the appraisal company.

---------- Post added at 11:31 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:31 AM ----------

Its a lame attempt to make it look more official, most domainers know who sedo is, the scammers have a 2 in 3 chance of getting lucky and generating an appraisal...you would never hear from them again once you paid for an appraisal.


.

Sedo is vastly more expensive, they assume you'll go for the cheapest option.

 

[John Baron]

looks like a scam, i guess they are trying to get more sophisticated .
if you are not sure that this is a scam, u can just tell them to pay for the estimate and that you will cut it from the final price

 

[enlytend]

They put the other companies on there to try to look more legit.

There's a the recipient will be clueless and pick their shady "appraisal service" to begin with.

Let's say instead you pay for a SEDO appraisal and send them the results - and they'll come back and say "We need another opinion before we commit to buying ..." and THEN they push you to use their "service".

 

[John Baron]

They put the other companies on there to try to look more legit.

There's a the recipient will be clueless and pick their shady "appraisal service" to begin with.

Let's say instead you pay for a SEDO appraisal and send them the results - and they'll come back and say "We need another opinion before we commit to buying ..." and THEN they push you to use their "service".

yeah thats a good point, its possible that all those 3 companys are legit, but after the first appraise they will tell they need second opinion and then send you to there company.
the strategy is that after you already spend some money you will not want to lose the deal , so they can play around with you.

 

[shane mac]

I think better still,if anyone gets an email like this they should simply say...

If your are truly interested in this domain make an offer to me that is a reflection of your valuation of it.I will not,do not,pay for appraisals.

Best regards...

 

[tetrapak]

I got it too. SCAMMERS!

 

[shane mac]

Np should make a sticky on this subject.It would help to identify the scammers as soon as they appear.

 

[onlinelife]

Beware!

I got it too!

Dear Sir or Madam,
We are interested to buy your domain name BOLLYWOODED.COM and offer to buy it from you for 65% of the appraised market value.
As of now we accept appraisals from either one of the following leading appraisal companies:

sedo.com
flyappraisals.com
accuratedomains.com

If you already have an appraisal please forward it to us.
As soon as we have received your appraisal we will send you our payment (we use Paypal for amounts less than $2,000 and escrow.com for amounts above $2,000) as well as further instructions on how to complete the transfer of the domain name.
We appreciate your business,
Yours truly,
Mr. Parker

 

[DotWeekly]

Sedo posted a comment about this scam on it's site also on 5-27-09.

In the last few weeks many domain owners have been contacted by a third party who has expressed an interest in purchasing their domain. Many domain owners have recently been contacted by a third party who has expressed an interest in purchasing their domain. The email that domain owners receive is virtually identical each time and requests that the owner has the domain appraised by one of a few companies (including Sedo), before an offer is made. We believe the email is in an attempt to get people to order an appraisal from them and Sedo is mentioned to make the email seem legitimate. The appraisal site operates under different names, including NameOrange.com, TropicalNames.com and Pozde.com. A genuine appraisal from a recognized expert is a valuable tool for domain owners. However Sedo has no affiliation with the organization/individual that made this offer and we do not endorse them. We encourage domain owners to instruct interest parties to place bids through an online market place such as Sedo.com, as all genuinely motivated buyers will be willing to negotiate through a secure platform.

 

[gazzip]

LOL - I just got the exact same email from [email protected] for a domain I have already dropped.. :tri:

If you want it...go get it for reg fee _\|/_


they're lurking on the forums IMO

.

 

[AdoptableDomains]

Appraisal scammers and nigerian scams just don't die.

Just got one today as follows:

We are interested to buy your domain name [***].COM and offer to buy it from you for 80% of the appraised market value.

As of now we accept appraisals from either one of the following leading appraisal companies:

- fly**ting.com
- sedo.com

If you already have an appraisal please forward it to us.

As soon as we have received your appraisal we will send you our payment (we use Paypal for amounts less than $2,000 and escrow.com for amounts above $2,000) as well as further instructions on how to complete the transfer of the domain name.

We appreciate your business,

Yours truly,

David Williams

Don't fall for any of these people! The cheapest appraisal will be the one they own or get a commission from. You won't get an offer or payment, and probably not even a reply unless they see another way to milk you for money. BTW, the domain I partially obscured fly**ting.com is register in Malysia under partial whois privacy. Legitimate business don't need whois privacy! After the registerfly fiasco, I don't know why anyone would use "fly" in a business name in this industry without being associated with a scam.

 

[omnia]

Scam....................

The Sedo link is probably an affiliate link if you have a close look ("promoter" gets 25% of the fee). I reckon it's in there to add some authenticity, and to get the cash in no matter which appraisal method is picked by the recipient ............