... attorney as they own a trademark for "SOCIALPOST"

[stevegpan]

After I agreed to buyers offer of $8,000 for socialpost.com, I received below email buyer claiming they have a trademark for "socialpost" and will only pay $2,000 .
What should I do? Thanks !
--------------------------------
We have received a response from the buyer and unfortunately, they are only willing to offer $2,000 USD at this time. After receiving your initial asking price, they consulted with their attorney as they own a trademark for "SOCIALPOST" and they believe that $2,000 USD is a fair price for the domain given their intellectual property rights.

 

[DigiNames]

Tell them to kick rocks. Don't sell them the domain name and raise the price... I am not an attorney obviously.

 

[stevegpan]

Tell them to kick rocks. Don't sell them the domain name and raise the price... I am not an attorney obviously.

Thanks much for the advice. Yeah I was thinking same way also to raise the price and will tell them I will honor their current offer within a short time frame. After that price will rise

 

[D Haynes]

Yeah I'd tell them to suck a bag of dicks. 15k now thanks.

 

[Jannes]

Your asking price ($28,999 on Atom) seems fair, especially now that the buyer has upped the value.

Send them a link to this thread.

 

[pb]

I don't believe they consulted an attorney, and if they did, it was a shitty one. Your domain predates their TM by 22 years and btw their TM is just filed and pending, and not registered. My initial gut reaction would be to rise the price to 20k but it would be a bit iffy. After consulting my brain instead, I would just respond that my offer is valid for X more days and then we're back to square one (which is your BIN asking price).

 

[BaileyUK]

Seems to me you were offering them a very good price at $8,000. Keep the high-ground and don't be tempted to respond off-the-cuff. Now let them stew in the uncertainty of you ever completing the sale. Keep any responses short and factual, Such as the facts mentioned by pb above.

Don't be in any rush to complete this sale and don't try to negotiate while your being threatened. By all means tell them your acting in good faith and that to your understanding your holding of such a common wording domain is protected.

I would even send them a link to the UDRP process and advise them to consult an attorney familiar with the process. They'll probably try to offer you $3 to $4k as some sort of reconciliation between the two of you. I wouldn't even acknowledge that or any other shenanigans. Just hold firm and don't get into any correspondence that could be used to show your intentions in a bad light.

 

[johnn]

Years ago a Japanese company own a name in .jp extension and I own the .com
They sent an email and said they will sue me. I said "Go ahead and make my day"
After 2 weeks talking back and forth I sold the name to them for $25,000

 

[Gabriel360]

End the conversation.
Don't negotiate with bullies who threaten you with legal action.

End the negotiation and don't try to reason with them. Anything you say to them now could be used as evidence against you in a UDRP or a court dispute.

Also, don't increase the price. Leave it at the original price of $28k. That way, they cannot claim that you increased the price as a bad faith attempt to punish them.

It's merely a return to the status quo.

Also making an offer of $8,000 and then rescinding the offer after filing a rush job of a TM is shady and dishonest.

Never do business with shady and dishonest people.

If you did not outbound the domain name and they reached out first with their offer, chances are 85% in your favour in a UDRP and a finding of a RDNH is at 70%.

But in the meantime, close ALL channels of communication with them. Don't negotiate with bullies.

 

[stevegpan]

Yeah I'd tell them to suck a bag of dicks. 15k now thanks.

Yes thanks. now I will set my minimum price of $15k. The longer they wait, the higher the price

 

[stevegpan]

Your asking price ($28,999 on Atom) seems fair, especially now that the buyer has upped the value.

Send them a link to this thread.

Yes indeed. They are basically saying they want it but don’t want to pay, even socialpost.net sold for $7000

 

[stevegpan]

I don't believe they consulted an attorney, and if they did, it was a shitty one. Your domain predates their TM by 22 years and btw their TM is just filed and pending, and not registered. My initial gut reaction would be to rise the price to 20k but it would be a bit iffy. After consulting my brain instead, I would just respond that my offer is valid for X more days and then we're back to square one (which is your BIN asking price).

Yes their trademark application is pending , and it’s also for a special icon with socialpost. Social post words themselves are generic words . I don’t think they can be trademarked. I am thinking to wait a few days then go back to square one the BIN price. Thanks for advice

 

[stevegpan]

Seems to me you were offering them a very good price at $8,000. Keep the high-ground and don't be tempted to respond off-the-cuff. Now let them stew in the uncertainty of you ever completing the sale. Keep any responses short and factual, Such as the facts mentioned by pb above.

Don't be in any rush to complete this sale and don't try to negotiate while your being threatened. By all means tell them your acting in good faith and that to your understanding your holding of such a common wording domain is protected.

I would even send them a link to the UDRP process and advise them to consult an attorney familiar with the process. They'll probably try to offer you $3 to $4k as some sort of reconciliation between the two of you. I wouldn't even acknowledge that or any other shenanigans. Just hold firm and don't get into any correspondence that could be used to show your intentions in a bad light.

Thanks for the advice Bailey. They offered $8000 themselves and in good faith I agreed their low price offer, Now they came back with bully tactics pretty much trying to get the name free . I will stop negotiating and hold firm

 

[stevegpan]

Years ago a Japanese company own a name in .jp extension and I own the .com
They sent an email and said they will sue me. I said "Go ahead and make my day"
After 2 weeks talking back and forth I sold the name to them for $25,000

Thanks John for the encouraging story !

 

[stevegpan]

End the conversation.
Don't negotiate with bullies who threaten you with legal action.

End the negotiation and don't try to reason with them. Anything you say to them now could be used as evidence against you in a UDRP or a court dispute.

Also, don't increase the price. Leave it at the original price of $28k. That way, they cannot claim that you increased the price as a bad faith attempt to punish them.

It's merely a return to the status quo.

Also making an offer of $8,000 and then rescinding the offer after filing a rush job of a TM is shady and dishonest.

Never do business with shady and dishonest people.

If you did not outbound the domain name and they reached out first with their offer, chances are 85% in your favour in a UDRP and a finding of a RDNH is at 70%.

But in the meantime, close ALL channels of communication with them. Don't negotiate with bullies.

Thanks much for your advice Gabriel! I did not outbound reach them. They came to me through an agent 101 domain and asked me if I have the domain for sale and they offered initial $6000. I count offered and they came back with $8000. And I agreed their offer and they said they were going to confirm and use escrow. Suddenly they came back with the trademark crap.

 

[Synozeer]

I think the fact they approached you and offered to buy it before filing a UDRP works against them, if I'm correctly remembering some previous cases where this happened. Not only that, but they don't even own the trademark yet.

Just my opinion as I'm not a lawyer.

 

[stevegpan]

Grok:
Final Answer

The socialpost.com domain is estimated to be worth $20,000–$80,000, with a reseller price of $20,000–$40,000 and an end-user price of $40,000–$80,000. In optimal conditions (e.g., strong branding, no trademark issues), it could reach $80,000–$150,000. Its value stems from its keyword relevance to social media, brandability, and the premium .com TLD, though trademark concerns may pose risks. For a precise valuation, consult a domain broker or list it on a marketplace like Sedo. If you have specific details (e.g., intended use or buyer interest), let me know, and I can refine the estimate[Image]

 

[jberryhill]

After I agreed to buyers offer of $8,000 for socialpost.com

After you agree to an offer, you have a contract to sell the domain name. End of story.

 

[Gabriel360]

After you agree to an offer, you have a contract to sell the domain name. End of story.

This sounds like something the buyer needs to read.

They are the ones breaching the contract. They made an offer of $8,000. OP accepted it.

But after that, they claimed to have consulted an attorney who advised them that they'd have a real chance of hijacking the domain name in a UDRP or a court dispute because they now have a pending TM registration for the term.

So they breached the existing contract of $8,000 for the domain name and made a new offer of $2,000 for the domain name with a footnote threatening legal action if he doesn't accept the new offer.

He's definitely not obligated to honour the sales contract after the price was reduced by 75% post-contract.

 

[jberryhill]

They are the ones breaching the contract. They made an offer of $8,000. OP accepted it.

Yes.

Obviously, the original poster believed $8k to be an acceptable price which, I assume, is what they would like to have received.

What kind of phony-baloney brokerage puts up with this nonsense?