IT.COM

discuss Doing the right thing - How I could have made $35,000 but decided to move on.

Spaceship Spaceship
Watch

Arfy

Shrew.comTop Member
Impact
1,404
I just wanted to take a few minutes to write about a major crossroads that I was faced with today. To the left was $35,000 in profit and to the right, doing the right thing and $0. Let me explain from the beginning.

I recently acquired a few domain names as part of a cash+domains deal for one of my premium names. After a few weeks, I decided to add these to Uniregistry for sale. Uniregistry displayed an error after adding my domains to the account but some were added. One of the names wasn't showing and I wasn't sure if I would get an inquiry if one was to come through. To make sure, I decided to log a test inquiry from a different email address with a random 100k offer to see if it comes through to me.

After logging the inquiry, I carried on working on some other tasks and forgot all about it. A short while later, I received a message on Skype from the previous owner asking if I want to sell back a domain name he previously sold to me. I said, I'm looking for what would be a 50k profit for the name, thinking he would say too high (seeing as he sold it to me). He replied back with a 30k offer which shocked me, we quickly settled on what would be a 35k profit for me. A few minutes later he sent an Escrow agreement which I accepted. Wow, that was a nice surprise!

After a while I checked my emails and saw that a Uniregistry broker had sent me an email to my secondary email address. He mentioned that he would be discussing the 100k offer I had made as a test inquiry with the seller and get back to me ASAP. I checked my primary email address expected a message from him and saw nothing ... then it clicked. The domain was still under the previous owner's name and the broker had contacted him not me! That was the reason he was buying the name back from me and why he was so quick to do it. I felt a bit angry that he didn't let them know he doesn't own it nor did he tell me about the inquiry but rather tried to buy it back from me at a much lower price... if it was a genuine offer I would have paid him commission if he had brought me a lead.

I was now at a crossroads, do I take a $35,000 profit on the name? After all, I never told him to buy it back from me, he is doing it to make a quick buck (and he is very well off already). Or do I tell him that the offer he is basing this on is not real and do the right thing. After all, if I was willing to sell it to him he wasn't really ripping me off. Maybe he was just good a business. Does that mean I should also be good at business and just sell him the name and make the profit? What do I do?

After a few minutes I told myself that it would be against my morals and beliefs as a Muslim to profit from something that was not entirely right. It just feels wrong to proceed and I'm not that kind of person. I messaged him and explained what had happened. He cancelled the deal after hearing it. I also contacted the broker to let him know that inquiries need to come to me.

The morale of the story is: Money isn't everything, do what's right.

What would you have done in this situation?

thanks,

Arfy
 
59
•••
The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
Your honesty is everything, realy like for this " The morale of the story is: Money isn't everything, do what's right" , I believe that you have done the right thing.
 
3
•••
Your honesty is everything, realy like for this " The morale of the story is: Money isn't everything, do what's right" , I believe that you have done the right thing.

Thank you
 
Last edited:
3
•••
Yea, it is not all about the money, good relationships matter. I remembered last month Dan bot sent me another payment of $273 for a domain I sold late last year and for which I have been paid. I had to chat them up and return their money, then I keep wondering how more of that mistakes had been committed by same bot.
 
3
•••
If you took the deal you still have to go through the process perhaps not to have a deal after all. I don't think your moral radar would cope with that as it would only be a sign of bad faith. Nothing wrong with a few morals so good for you.
 
2
•••
You did the right thing being honest and transparent. Reputation is more important & I'm sure you will that profit even more in the future.

Good luck and thank you for sharing your story and hopefully some bad people will learn and not use this as a sales tactic.
 
4
•••
If you took the deal you still have to go through the process perhaps not to have a deal after all. I don't think your moral radar would cope with that as it would only be a sign of bad faith. Nothing wrong with a few morals so good for you.
Thanks lock, you're right. The deal itself would have done through very quickly, he was eager to close it down ASAP - the Escrow agreement came through immediately after I said yes to the offer. It only stopped because I made it stop when I saw what happened.
 
1
•••
You did the right thing being honest and transparent. Reputation is more important & I'm sure you will that profit even more in the future.

Good luck and thank you for sharing your story and hopefully some bad people will learn and not use this as a sales tactic.
I hope so! That money would have been nice :P.

Yeah, I had already told him to remove the name from all market places when I took ownership so that annoyed me. The worst thing is people front-running your names (i.e. not owning them but trying to sell them before they buy it cheaper themselves).
 
0
•••
I just wanted to take a few minutes to write about a major crossroads that I was faced with today. To the left was $35,000 in profit and to the right, doing the right thing and $0. Let me explain from the beginning.

I recently acquired a few domain names as part of a cash+domains deal for one of my premium names. After a few weeks, I decided to add these to Uniregistry for sale. Uniregistry displayed an error after adding my domains to the account but some were added. One of the names wasn't showing and I wasn't sure if I would get an inquiry if one was to come through. To make sure, I decided to log a test inquiry from a different email address with a random 100k offer to see if it comes through to me.

After logging the inquiry, I carried on working on some other tasks and forgot all about it. A short while later, I received a message on Skype from the previous owner asking if I want to sell back a domain name he previously sold to me. I said, I'm looking for what would be a 50k profit for the name, thinking he would say too high (seeing as he sold it to me). He replied back with a 30k offer which shocked me, we quickly settled on what would be a 35k profit for me. A few minutes later he sent an Escrow agreement which I accepted. Wow, that was a nice surprise!

After a while I checked my emails and saw that a Uniregistry broker had sent me an email to my secondary email address. He mentioned that he would be discussing the 100k offer I had made as a test inquiry with the seller and get back to me ASAP. I checked my primary email address expected a message from him and saw nothing ... then it clicked. The domain was still under the previous owner's name and the broker had contacted him not me! That was the reason he was buying the name back from me and why he was so quick to do it. I felt a bit angry that he didn't let them know he doesn't own it nor did he tell me about the inquiry but rather tried to buy it back from me at a much lower price... if it was a genuine offer I would have paid him commission if he had brought me a lead.

I was now at a crossroads, do I take a $35,000 profit on the name? After all, I never told him to buy it back from me, he is doing it to make a quick buck (and he is very well off already). Or do I tell him that the offer he is basing this on is not real and do the right thing. After all, if I was willing to sell it to him he wasn't really ripping me off. Maybe he was just good a business. Does that mean I should also be good at business and just sell him the name and make the profit? What do I do?

After a few minutes I told myself that it would be against my morals and beliefs as a Muslim to profit from something that was not entirely right. It just feels wrong to proceed and I'm not that kind of person. I messaged him and explained what had happened. He cancelled the deal after hearing it. I also contacted the broker to let him know that inquiries need to come to me.

The morale of the story is: Money isn't everything, do what's right.

What would you have done in this situation?

thanks,

Arfy

the only problem I see here is:
where would you get $100K USD from to honor the deal?
 
3
•••
I just wanted to take a few minutes to write about a major crossroads that I was faced with today. To the left was $35,000 in profit and to the right, doing the right thing and $0. Let me explain from the beginning.

I recently acquired a few domain names as part of a cash+domains deal for one of my premium names. After a few weeks, I decided to add these to Uniregistry for sale. Uniregistry displayed an error after adding my domains to the account but some were added. One of the names wasn't showing and I wasn't sure if I would get an inquiry if one was to come through. To make sure, I decided to log a test inquiry from a different email address with a random 100k offer to see if it comes through to me.

After logging the inquiry, I carried on working on some other tasks and forgot all about it. A short while later, I received a message on Skype from the previous owner asking if I want to sell back a domain name he previously sold to me. I said, I'm looking for what would be a 50k profit for the name, thinking he would say too high (seeing as he sold it to me). He replied back with a 30k offer which shocked me, we quickly settled on what would be a 35k profit for me. A few minutes later he sent an Escrow agreement which I accepted. Wow, that was a nice surprise!

After a while I checked my emails and saw that a Uniregistry broker had sent me an email to my secondary email address. He mentioned that he would be discussing the 100k offer I had made as a test inquiry with the seller and get back to me ASAP. I checked my primary email address expected a message from him and saw nothing ... then it clicked. The domain was still under the previous owner's name and the broker had contacted him not me! That was the reason he was buying the name back from me and why he was so quick to do it. I felt a bit angry that he didn't let them know he doesn't own it nor did he tell me about the inquiry but rather tried to buy it back from me at a much lower price... if it was a genuine offer I would have paid him commission if he had brought me a lead.

I was now at a crossroads, do I take a $35,000 profit on the name? After all, I never told him to buy it back from me, he is doing it to make a quick buck (and he is very well off already). Or do I tell him that the offer he is basing this on is not real and do the right thing. After all, if I was willing to sell it to him he wasn't really ripping me off. Maybe he was just good a business. Does that mean I should also be good at business and just sell him the name and make the profit? What do I do?

After a few minutes I told myself that it would be against my morals and beliefs as a Muslim to profit from something that was not entirely right. It just feels wrong to proceed and I'm not that kind of person. I messaged him and explained what had happened. He cancelled the deal after hearing it. I also contacted the broker to let him know that inquiries need to come to me.

The morale of the story is: Money isn't everything, do what's right.

What would you have done in this situation?

thanks,

Arfy
people have been talking about not getting the inquiries and brokers getting them. Now , @Windoms would not accept this happens. As for the issue , you did the right thing.
 
1
•••
the only problem I see here is:
where would you get $100K USD from to honor the deal?
No problem really. It is his own domain and the seller would never be able to deliver it. Hence, him offering 35K so he could deliver.
 
1
•••
the only problem I see here is:
where would you get $100K USD from to honor the deal?

It is my own name, I could just reject the offer. I was checking to see if I get the inquiry as this is a known problem.I had no idea it would lead to the previous owner getting it and offering me a 35k profit whilst banking almost double for himself.
 
Last edited:
4
•••
It is my own name, I could just reject the offer. I was checking to see if I get the inquiry as this is a known problem.I had no idea it would lead to the previous owner getting it and offering me a 35k profit whilst banking almost double for himself.
The only problem I see here, is your buyer (presumably the previous owner), trying to sell a domain that he doesn't own to somebody else (to you! in this case).
He should just have let you know that he wasn't the current owner of the domain, when you made the 100k offer. If he would be honest.

Another option would be this: The previous owner could have contacted you and let you know about the 100k offer for your domain. Then you could easily have given him a % of the sale. This would be another fair way to go.
 
Last edited:
6
•••
I just wanted to take a few minutes to write about a major crossroads that I was faced with today. To the left was $35,000 in profit and to the right, doing the right thing and $0. Let me explain from the beginning.

I recently acquired a few domain names as part of a cash+domains deal for one of my premium names. After a few weeks, I decided to add these to Uniregistry for sale. Uniregistry displayed an error after adding my domains to the account but some were added. One of the names wasn't showing and I wasn't sure if I would get an inquiry if one was to come through. To make sure, I decided to log a test inquiry from a different email address with a random 100k offer to see if it comes through to me.

After logging the inquiry, I carried on working on some other tasks and forgot all about it. A short while later, I received a message on Skype from the previous owner asking if I want to sell back a domain name he previously sold to me. I said, I'm looking for what would be a 50k profit for the name, thinking he would say too high (seeing as he sold it to me). He replied back with a 30k offer which shocked me, we quickly settled on what would be a 35k profit for me. A few minutes later he sent an Escrow agreement which I accepted. Wow, that was a nice surprise!

After a while I checked my emails and saw that a Uniregistry broker had sent me an email to my secondary email address. He mentioned that he would be discussing the 100k offer I had made as a test inquiry with the seller and get back to me ASAP. I checked my primary email address expected a message from him and saw nothing ... then it clicked. The domain was still under the previous owner's name and the broker had contacted him not me! That was the reason he was buying the name back from me and why he was so quick to do it. I felt a bit angry that he didn't let them know he doesn't own it nor did he tell me about the inquiry but rather tried to buy it back from me at a much lower price... if it was a genuine offer I would have paid him commission if he had brought me a lead.

I was now at a crossroads, do I take a $35,000 profit on the name? After all, I never told him to buy it back from me, he is doing it to make a quick buck (and he is very well off already). Or do I tell him that the offer he is basing this on is not real and do the right thing. After all, if I was willing to sell it to him he wasn't really ripping me off. Maybe he was just good a business. Does that mean I should also be good at business and just sell him the name and make the profit? What do I do?

After a few minutes I told myself that it would be against my morals and beliefs as a Muslim to profit from something that was not entirely right. It just feels wrong to proceed and I'm not that kind of person. I messaged him and explained what had happened. He cancelled the deal after hearing it. I also contacted the broker to let him know that inquiries need to come to me.

The morale of the story is: Money isn't everything, do what's right.

What would you have done in this situation?

thanks,

Arfy


He probably wouldn’t have funded escrow until he had payment from your side confirmed.

Sometimes people list so many places, and change services, and forget if they listed at 3, or 4th type venue they no longer use.

You kind of started this fake chain of events with a fake offer, self inflicted, if that $100K offer was $1, this would have been squashed with a simple delete. All you had to to do was remind seller, to delete at Uni, or contact their support with new info of chnage in ownership.

Don’t take a bow just yet, it’s just really a game of words. No real money moved, just agreements in place to leverage one transfer, against the guarantee of another. You entered into a fake contract knowing you already own this domain. You were never going to profit, because deal was never going to be funded by you.

It’s an imaginary scenario, and a fairytale a best started by your actions, and imaginary offer. Seller would probably never do business with you again, for playing with him like this, as you took it to this level.
 
Last edited:
8
•••
I just wanted to take a few minutes to write about a major crossroads that I was faced with today. To the left was $35,000 in profit and to the right, doing the right thing and $0. Let me explain from the beginning.

I recently acquired a few domain names as part of a cash+domains deal for one of my premium names. After a few weeks, I decided to add these to Uniregistry for sale. Uniregistry displayed an error after adding my domains to the account but some were added. One of the names wasn't showing and I wasn't sure if I would get an inquiry if one was to come through. To make sure, I decided to log a test inquiry from a different email address with a random 100k offer to see if it comes through to me.

After logging the inquiry, I carried on working on some other tasks and forgot all about it. A short while later, I received a message on Skype from the previous owner asking if I want to sell back a domain name he previously sold to me. I said, I'm looking for what would be a 50k profit for the name, thinking he would say too high (seeing as he sold it to me). He replied back with a 30k offer which shocked me, we quickly settled on what would be a 35k profit for me. A few minutes later he sent an Escrow agreement which I accepted. Wow, that was a nice surprise!

After a while I checked my emails and saw that a Uniregistry broker had sent me an email to my secondary email address. He mentioned that he would be discussing the 100k offer I had made as a test inquiry with the seller and get back to me ASAP. I checked my primary email address expected a message from him and saw nothing ... then it clicked. The domain was still under the previous owner's name and the broker had contacted him not me! That was the reason he was buying the name back from me and why he was so quick to do it. I felt a bit angry that he didn't let them know he doesn't own it nor did he tell me about the inquiry but rather tried to buy it back from me at a much lower price... if it was a genuine offer I would have paid him commission if he had brought me a lead.

I was now at a crossroads, do I take a $35,000 profit on the name? After all, I never told him to buy it back from me, he is doing it to make a quick buck (and he is very well off already). Or do I tell him that the offer he is basing this on is not real and do the right thing. After all, if I was willing to sell it to him he wasn't really ripping me off. Maybe he was just good a business. Does that mean I should also be good at business and just sell him the name and make the profit? What do I do?

After a few minutes I told myself that it would be against my morals and beliefs as a Muslim to profit from something that was not entirely right. It just feels wrong to proceed and I'm not that kind of person. I messaged him and explained what had happened. He cancelled the deal after hearing it. I also contacted the broker to let him know that inquiries need to come to me.

The morale of the story is: Money isn't everything, do what's right.

What would you have done in this situation?

thanks,

Arfy

Money comes money goes but you have to live with yourself forever :)
 
11
•••
I need money, but even I wouldn't do this.

Everyday you wake up to the 35k, realizing how you made it... after a while it would just drive you to a telltale heart by Poe.
 
2
•••
Good on you mate.. That's the right thing to do.
 
2
•••
Let say you sold it for 35k. Now, would you be on the hook for 100k? You cannot cancel your 100k offer, the other guy can.
 
1
•••
This has to do with the morals. Right thing to do irrespective of religion.
 
3
•••
It’s an imaginary scenario, and a fairytale a best started by your actions, and imaginary offer. Seller would probably never do business with you again, for playing with him like this, as you took it to this level, and even entered escrow knowing you had submitted a fake offer of purchase.

The two were playing, not just the OP. One for making a 100k offer knowing he owns the domain, and the other, for playing when he wanted to sell a domain he doesn't own. In my opinion.
As you said, it was a fake chain of events, supported by the two.

In fact, recently happened to me something similar. I found a domain listed for sale presumably by the previous owner. But my response was not to make an offer on the previous listing, but to contact the Marketplace to remove the previous listing.

This should have been the proper way to go, and not starting a fake chain of events.
 
Last edited:
5
•••
It is my own name, I could just reject the offer. I was checking to see if I get the inquiry as this is a known problem.I had no idea it would lead to the previous owner getting it and offering me a 35k profit whilst banking almost double for himself.


guess you don't get it:

you sell him the name for $30K
next, he wants to sell it to you for $100K
now:
will you honor the deal?

you have done nothing
to brag about
 
4
•••
The two were playing, not just the OP. One for making a 100k offer knowing he owns the domain, and the other, for playing when he wanted to sell a domain he doesn't own. In my opinion.
As you said, it was a fake chain of events, supported by the two.
Agreed, but OP didn’t have to put $100K offer, could have put $1 offer, and person would have deleted it, and this would be a non event.

So most likely escrow would have 2 contracts for the same domain in play, and it would have got flagged.
 
1
•••
Good for you. I wouldve done the same.
 
2
•••
Agreed, but OP didn’t have to put $100K offer, could have put $1 offer, and person would have deleted it, and this would be a non event.

So most likely escrow would have 2 contracts for the same domain in play, and it would have got flagged.
Totally agree. In fact, recently happened to me something similar. I found a domain listed for sale presumably by the previous owner.

But my response was not to make an offer on the previous listing, but to contact the Marketplace to remove the previous listing.

This should have been the proper way to go, and not starting a fake chain of events.
 
2
•••
Totally agree. In fact, recently happened to me something similar. I found a domain listed for sale presumably by the previous owner.

But my response was not to make an offer on the previous listing, but to contact the Marketplace to remove the previous listing.

This should have been the proper way to go, and not starting a fake chain of events.
There are a lot of listing at sedo, and afternic that belong to old, or dropped domain accounts. Don’t go placing 6 figure offers, your just going to get your accounts suspended, and get your hopes up on Peter Pan deals.

As Frank mentioned the OP could have exposed themselves as if they did not follow thru on their $100K buy, as the first buyer could have put a long inspection period on the domain, essentially being able to service the buy, and sell at the same time, but if the $100K was not funded, they could get their funds back by using the inspection period to back out.
 
Last edited:
5
•••
Back