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question Email from Harvard Professor today on Domain Name! HELP!

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DomainBarracksRob

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Need some advice here, Still new to all this and this is my first major"talk/negation".

So about a month ago I reg'd APOPS. org on the drop I liked it for several reasons.

Today I got a email from Jerold S. Kayden - simply saying -"Have you purchased the domain name apops.org?"....I looked at the Email name tag and it said, GSD Harvard . edu . Of course I was like Wow this is cool. Naturally I looked him up and Turns out he is Professor of Urban Planning and Design at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. Also Founder of Advocates of Privately Owned Public Spaces....(apops)!!!! Wow again....turns out his other title is "Urban planner and LAWYER"!!:wideyed:.......How safe am I here????I did not look up Trademarks or anything like that on the name, could him being a Lawyer make this more difficult??

Please read this link here with The info on him and APOPS, he has a large team of pre$tigiou$ people and ceo's
https://apops.mas.org/about/people/

I have not responed to his email yet. I need suggestions , thoughts, opinions , appraisals, and maybe even legal advice ;)

Thank You

Robert
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
I suppose you paid about 6 bucks for the name. IMHO, threre are very slim chanches to sell it even for 50. Just give him the name back. You'll make him happy, and you'll be pleased you did a good thing.
 
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I'm not sure what a domain processor is. If he means a registrar, then point out that the registrar should have sent him several renewal notices. If he used an advisor who missed the renewal, then he may be liable. It might be worth suggesting that he may be able to get the third party to purchase the name for him if they were negligent.

I think your most important consideration is the potential market - are there any other buyers. If not, it may be worth you agreeing to a quick flip for a small profit. After all, it may be useful to have a Harvard law professor as a friend. :)
 
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I used to work for a non profit organisation, the reason why theres no profit is because all the directors drain all the money from it.

All the ones i used to work for all owned aston martins, audi r8's etc

Also university professors are paid a fortune
 
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Lol... nice sob story. Ain't buying the BS.
 
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Had something like this happen for several names
https://www.namepros.com/threads/do...ue-to-registrar-went-out-of-business.1006179/
but in that situation we allowed the former owners to sit on the domains for four years, kept trying to contact them repeatedly they ignored us, and then finally four years later a couple of them complained (four years late) about whatever had happened, four years prior! Of course, in those instances, especially given that four years had passed, that we had been trying to contact them repeatedly for four years and they had ignored us, I sold the domains back to the previous owners if they still wanted them, and they gladly paid, or if they were not willing to pay, sold them on the open market.

In your situation, the former domain owner is contacting you immediately. Also, it is a non profit. Comments like "NON-Profits make more money then the Prince" are a little ignorant. Some non profits do bring in a lot of revenue, but in order to be a nonprofit at the end of the year there must have been...no profit. Yes, they might be paying themselves a prince's salary, but still at the end of the year there must be nothing left over.

This APOPS doesn't seem like it is in the business of selling anything, just providing a public information and venting service. I doubt anyone is making a prince's salary in this situation. What exactly is the domain they lost, anyway? Is it worth anything on the open market, or just to these people?

Anyway, I'd just take into consideration that this outfit is contacting you immediately and that they had the domain all that time. Even when I sold the domains back to the prior owners, I sold them at relatively low prices did not try to extract blood. The offer I gave the former owners was that they could match - first right of refusal - any open market offer to buy. Given the four years that had lapsed, I felt this first right of refusal was more than fair.
 
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The interesting thing about the inquiry from the Harvard Professor, he includes a link that shows that they are already using the .org, which is the purpose of .org for 'non-profit purposes'. With that said, you should sell or hold the domain based on your own valuation of the asset, not any sob story negotiation tactic.
 
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Sell it as fast as you can, don't go with $1000 or $10000.

I will be happy if I get $100 from a name which I had registered 2 days back at $5.99.
 
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What a dreadful site that mas.org one is. Every time you start to read a post, they change it. I gave up after about 3 of them, and I still don't really know what the project is.
 
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There is nothing in the web archives since 2005 and your "for sale" page in Sept 2017. In 2005 the domain forwarded to a geocities website. If the lawyer had the name he didn't make good use of it. The non profit may not have any money but I bet the lawyer does. Personally I may have been willing to deal with him until I got the "I'm broke" BS. Heard that so many times that it usually makes me go the other way now. But it all depends on how bad do you want to keep the domain or how generous you are. Even if you only get low $xxx for it, it may be better than keeping it for 5 years then letting it expire unsold.
 
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They are stupidly rich. Don't sell cheap
Really ? Who is rich exactly ? Besides, the entity may have money but the department may have no budget. Unless you are talking to a decision maker, the guy is not in a position to release any serious money. That's it. So quote a price, and they will walk away, end of the story. But surely there are other end users ? Or you will end up developing it ?
 
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Jerold S. Kayden, an urban planner and lawyer, is the Frank Backus Williams Professor of Urban Planning and Design at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. He recently served as principal investigator for the Harvard-Netherlands Project on Climate Change, Water, Land Development, and Adaptation.
 
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Here is the whois history from 8-22-17

apops.org
Registrant Name: Jerold Kayden
Registrant Organization: Harvard Graduate School of Design
Updated Date: 2017-08-21T16:01:50Z
Creation Date: 2003-07-22T15:06:29Z
Registry Expiry Date: 2018-07-22T15:06:29Z
Domain Status: pendingDelete https://icann.org/epp#pendingDelete

If you note the Expiry Date, it shows 2018 while he was still listed in the whois as owner.
Whois history then shows this on 9-26-2017
Creation Date: 2017-09-26T17:13:39Z

Looks like it was a glitch and he is being truthful.
 
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Their social networks are are linked to apops.mas.org. They seem set on apops.mas.org. They probably won't miss it a bit.
 
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Okay so the lost domain is apops.org ? That domain has no value except to these people....

In my opinion, it's not relevant how much this professor makes, or doesn't make, but all my family including me went to Ivy League colleges and while our professors were all comfortable none that I was aware of was rich.
 
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If it was so important, they should have managed it properly. I think it was rude of them to not make a decent offer of compensation for any inconvenience to the buyer. Domain names are serious business and if they are not continuously registered, they become available.

You could respond saying that you are just a person that needed a domain and got that one. If they want the domain, they make a donation to you. Maybe a months salary of whoever made the mistake. :)

If they would rather file a UDRP, they can pay the $1500, prove their trademark, etc.

I wouldn't even respond.
 
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Here is the whois history from 8-22-17

apops.org
Registrant Name: Jerold Kayden
Registrant Organization: Harvard Graduate School of Design
Updated Date: 2017-08-21T16:01:50Z
Creation Date: 2003-07-22T15:06:29Z
Registry Expiry Date: 2018-07-22T15:06:29Z
Domain Status: pendingDelete https://icann.org/epp#pendingDelete

If you note the Expiry Date, it shows 2018 while he was still listed in the whois as owner.
Whois history then shows this on 9-26-2017
Creation Date: 2017-09-26T17:13:39Z

Looks like it was a glitch and he is being truthful.
 
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Okay so the lost domain is apops.org ? That domain has no value except to these people....

Oops I was wrong, so there is another apops...here's another apops non-profit, Association for Pelvic Organ Prolapse Support
http://www.pelvicorganprolapsesupport.org/
maybe they will want it?

Will there be a bidding war?

Just kidding, :zippermouth: that wouldn't be right....
 
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it's their service, their software, their rules and let's say resposibility. I moved out years ago
 
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....if you haven't looked up "Harvard Professor Salary" on google....you should!!!!

Also ..he is not Just a professor!...forget about the organization, this guy is Farrrrr from broke!

I've done sales and have a friend which is the best salesperson I know, he has told me this guy is a Shark..DO NOT BE A MINNOW.

It was mentioned that it would be nice to have a Harvard Law Professor as a friend.......this guy would forget my First name the second I "gave" it to him for nothing. No favors would come about .

I respect Honesty and I would be more generous had he not try to take me for a fool in the email.

But he is smart, a business man, trying to buy/regain at lowest price possible. That's not poor, that's could thinking thinking. Being to soft tin the past has just left me the runner up, and you know what a shark likes more than a minnow, a sucker.

If you haven't looked up "Harvard Professor Salary" just yet as of 2012 the average was $131,200 and the high was $198,400.

As I said before he is not just a professor at Harvard, he is a Business man with other investments , and has invested in this APOPS .org no matter how crappy or useful we can debate on about this name, it's valued by him and ...me!

I have learned a lot from reading on this forum as you all recommend to do. TOO many times have I seen the post, offthe push over story and the story of how they said they would Never pay that price, .....the domainer set a BIN, and the enduser came back a snatched it up at 5x times what everyone was expecting . My gut tells me this guy Wants it, and is someone who could easly drop 1500 on a item if he or she decided they want it.

I like what Silentptner said best, about didn't even offer, and not responding! Therefore I appreciate you all......and believe my choice of action is to set my BIN price on GD and ignore him for a week if nothing happens then I will write him! I personally will not let it go for less than $999 because it's my name and that's what I see in it..........and if I'm never able to sell it again if he passes, well I'm out $8.99 and life goes on! :) That's my risk I'm willing to take.

"Great reward comes at the risks of enormous failure"
 
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Well, please keep us posted on what transpires. Since we all went to the trouble of posting here, please don't disappear on us and let us know!
 
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