Domain squatter trying to sell my domain name!!

[jimmyray]

Hello all,
I am a new member, and I am hoping someone can help me please >>>

I currently own a few domain names. Recently I received an email saying that one of my domain names was due for renewal.

When I was in renewing it, I checked on a few other names that I own in my account >

One of the names had a landing page saying that the domain in question was "for sale".

I used an alternative email address and made an offer on the domain name in question, and within 1 hour, I had received an email from the "squatter" of the domain name offering to buy the domain name from me.

Could someone tell me how he was able to set up a landing page on my domain name without my knowledge/consent please?

This is obviously illegal and I was wondering how I can get the perpetrator prosecuted?

Any help appreciated.
Thanks,
JR

 

[bulkdomainz]

History of the domain name? Previous DNS/URL forwarding settings not changed? Quite a number of domains are listed for sale that are not actually for sale because they have changed hands but DNS/URL settings were never changed. Check the settings for the name in your account.

This 'squatter' (as you call him) has seen an opportunity for a quick flip. He wants to buy from you and sell to you (not knowing it's you)!

You have the following options:

1. Selling the name to him, and then buying it back from him
2. Selling it to him, and NOT buying it back from him
3. Very nicely tell him you own the name he is trying to sell you.

Before you do anything, be sure it is not a rnoil/moil mix-up! LOL!

 

[dompro]

if you have it parked (for example) at sedo, are you sure it is in your (not somebody else's) sedo parking account? Setting the nameservers on the domain name is not enough, you have to add it to your parking account + if it was previously parked with the same company, you have to prove that you are a new owner.

It is likely that this domain is still in the old owner's parking account.

Please keep us posted.

 

[cache]

maybe it is your own legit parking page, and you are offering "yourself" to buy this domain?

 

[jimmyray]

Just an update >>> It was the seller of the domain prior to me me buying it! I hadn't updated the name servers upon buying it, and they had it listed "for sale". I hadn't checked on it for months...

Rather than tell me that I had received an offer on the domain name, via their landing page, they emailed me to try and buy it from me, after I had made an offer on the name under an alias.

They offered me less than $100 for the name, and then contacted the "buyer" who had made an inquiry and asked for $5000.

I offered them $1750, and they sent me an escrow payment.

I then informed them who I was, and they sent me a vulgar and threating email. They are a member of this forum.

No doubt I won't be allowed to post their details here, but anyone interested in their name, should be allowed to pm to find out, so that they don't have to deal with them in future.

 

[dompro]

technically, I don't see anything unethical in what they were doing:

1) They have obtained a (false) information that your domain might be worth much more than you were thinking.
2) They thought of buying it back from you to make a quick profit.

And that was very stupid of them to put that kind of money at stake based on anonymous offer they received and assuming that sale it for $5000 is guaranteed.

 

[jimmyray]

Personally, if the shoe was on the other foot, I would have probably -
Contacted the owner of the domain name and said that the domain name in question was still using it's old nameservers, and was still on my landing page, where I had been offering it for sale. I would tell them that I had received and offer, told them how much, and ask them for a 50-50 split, if I was able to secure the sale...

I would personally feel much better about this "business" rather than trying to shaft the person who purchased the domain name from me in the first place.

 

[Havela]

I agree with dompro.

They had accidentally (because you had not changed nameservers) come across information that the domain might have a surprising sales prospect, and thus contacted the current owner to make a quick flip. I can't see that they had any obligation to inform the current owner about this business opportunity.

This happens all the time. I think I read on Elliot's Blog about a month back how he sometimes contacts domain owners to buy a domain because he has a particular buyer in mind. He has no obligation to inform the current owners about this buyer. It is up to the owner to charge what ever he considers it is worth.

I just feel sorry for the person who paid you so much for the domain and then discovered that it was you - in bad faith - who had made the purchase offer. Maybe that was not thought through from their side, but you were in bad faith.

Update: I might perhaps have considered it differently if you missed a real sales opportunity because the previous owner mistakenly received an email intended for you. Perhaps.

But in this case it was you who created the entire chain of events. You mistakenly felt that the previous owner was "squatting" on your domain because you had not changed name servers and the previous owner had forgotten to delete the domain from some auction site. Then you made a bad faith purchase offer after which you negotiated up a very high sales price, still in bad faith, and then took his money. I do not think there is any court of law that would protect your side in this.

 

[jimmyray]

^^ Hav, you have nearly all of it "back to front"

- "I just feel sorry for the person who paid you so much for the domain and then discovered that it was you" - The "person" offered me <$100 for my domain, and tried to sell it for >$5000.

- "Update: I might perhaps have considered it differently if you missed a real sales opportunity because the previous owner mistakenly received an email intended for you. Perhaps." - The previous owner seen that I had not updated the nameservers, AND THEN offered my domain name for sale, trying to cash in on a domain name that they had previously sold.

- "But in this case it was you who created the entire chain of events. You mistakenly felt that the previous owner was "squatting" on your domain because you had not changed name servers and the previous owner had forgotten to delete the domain from some auction site. Then you made a bad faith purchase offer after which you negotiated up a very high sales price, still in bad faith, and then took his money. I do not think there is any court of law that would protect your side in this." - No money changed hands, apart from the original purchase of the domain name in question.

 

[bulkdomainz]

If I sold a name to someone and I later received a higher offer from elsewhere, I would direct them to the new owner or agree a commission with the new owner.

 

[Havela]

No money changed hands, apart from the original purchase of the domain name in question.

Well, that's a relief then.

Remember that the only reason the previous owner "saw" that you had not changed name servers was because you made him an illegitimate purchase offer. They had probably forgotten about the entire domain a long time ago and never checked up on it.

Please remember that you engineered this whole scenario, and the only reason why you set out on this mission in the first place was because you mistakenly thought they were squatting on your domain.

The fact that the previous owner originally had the domain listed for sale is not a morally reprehensible act. If they own hundreds of domains it is very easy to forget to remove a dropped domain from auction sites and parking companies. I have seen this with several of my newly acquired domains and it has never occurred to me to send the previous owner a bogus purchase offer. I'm sorry but I think this would be considered entrapment.

I don't think they were right to threaten you, but I can understand that they got p***ed off. I think you need to reconsider your own part in this.

 

[jimmyray]

"If I sold a name to someone and I later received a higher offer from elsewhere, I would direct them to the new owner or agree a commission with the new owner." - This is what I would have done.

What "they" did try to do was low ball me, keep me out the loop, and make a quick profit from an oversight on my part. Yes, I should have changed the nameservers or made the domain name re-direct, or utilise it in some way, but you don't do what is listed above, and then when you realize that it is actually the owner of the domain name that made you the offer, send them a foul and vulgar email. At the very least, I would have seen the funny side of the situation

 

[Ms Domainer]

*

Negotiating a sale of a domain that one does not own (without the owner's permission) is definitely unethical and probably illegal.

The "seller" got exactly what he/she deserved.

*

 

[Havela]

Negotiating a sale of a domain that one does not own (without the owner's permission) is definitely unethical and probably illegal. The "seller" got exactly what he/she deserved.

Yes, negotiating and initiating a sale of a domain one does not own would be unethical.

But receiving an unsolicited purchase offer and trying to buy back the domain on the basis of this information? If he had heard at a cocktail party that someone might be willing to pay $5000 for a domain, would it be unethical for him to try to procure it at a lower price the next day?

What makes this less than honourable on the part of the previous owner, IMO, is the fact that he withheld and acted on personal communication not intended for him (on the appearance of it).

However, this is where the whole perceived transgression falls apart, because the email was indeed intended for the previous owner. It was a false purchase offer sent by the new owner in the knowledge that it would be received by the previous owner. Only good-faith buyers/sellers are protected by the law.

Also, the whole reason why the new owner started this was due to a perceived transgression by the previous owner, a mistaken perception caused by the new owner's limited knowledge of name servers.

So, yes, the previous owner might be less than squeeky clean, but I do not fully sympathise with the new owner's indignation.

 

[Ms Domainer]

Yes, negotiating and initiating a sale of a domain one does not own would be unethical.

But receiving an unsolicited purchase offer and trying to buy back the domain on the basis of this information? If he had heard at a cocktail party that someone might be willing to pay $5000 for a domain, would it be unethical for him to try to procure it at a lower price the next day?

What makes this less than honourable on the part of the previous owner, IMO, is the fact that he withheld and acted on personal communication not intended for him (on the appearance of it).

However, this is where the whole perceived transgression falls apart, because the email was indeed intended for the previous owner. It was a false purchase offer sent by the new owner in the knowledge that it would be received by the previous owner. Only good-faith buyers/sellers are protected by the law.

Also, the whole reason why the new owner started this was due to a perceived transgression by the previous owner, a mistaken perception caused by the new owner's limited knowledge of name servers.

So, yes, the previous owner might be less than squeeky clean, but I do not fully sympathise with the new owner's indignation.

*

One could make the argument that OP was doing a bit of investigative sleuthing, which is a time honored tradition in journalistic circles; it sounds like OP did not rip off anyone but merely set up a sting operation.

Having said that, I would have handled it differently by letting the "seller" know that I already owned the domain.

I must say that I like when sleazy behavior is unmasked.

*

 

[Havela]

One could make the argument that OP was doing a bit of investigative sleuthing, which is a time honored tradition in journalistic circles

Nice retort. :sold:

 

[dompro]

I can't see that they had any obligation to inform the current owner about this business opportunity.

agree

"If I sold a name to someone and I later received a higher offer from elsewhere, I would direct them to the new owner or agree a commission with the new owner." - This is what I would have done.

That would be eliminating themself from the loop, why would you need a middle man?

I would tell them that I had received and offer, told them how much, and ask them for a 50-50 split, if I was able to secure the sale...

I like this better.

What "they" did try to do was low ball me, keep me out the loop, and make a quick profit from an oversight on my part.

They did not low ball you, they decided to take a chance of putting $100 or $1750 upfront (play lottery) for a profit that they might never get.

If it was not you, but some teenager kidding around on the other end, you would walk away with their money and clear conscious, and they would stuck with a worthless domain the just have paid $1750 for.

There are always 2 sides of the coin..