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

[DomainBarracksRob]

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"!!.......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

 

[.NJ]

Get ready....

 

[Haykay2005]

They are stupidly rich. Don't sell cheap

 

[DomainBarracksRob]

They are stupidly rich. Don't sell cheap

Thank You! Thats what I'm saying , I'm not sucker nor stupid

 

[lambo.com]

It's your domain now.

I wouldn't ask more than $1000.

You don't owe him anything.

I'd respond, "$1000 today or price goes up +$50 every day.

Do we have a deal?"

 

[DomainBarracksRob]

Get ready....

ready for a sale...as Blair stated it's mine! His bs glitch ...he meant "I forgot to renew"..the TM ..well it's not his!...Only thing he can do lawyer or not at this point is Pay up or move on!

It's your domain now.

I wouldn't ask more than $1000.

You don't owe him anything.

I'd respond, "$1000 today or price goes up +$50 every day.

Do we have a deal?"

That's right about where my mind is on this right now......I'm going to wait awhile , probably until tmrw to respond....I'd be feeling more kindly towards him, If it wasn't for all his bs.

 

[pinkdragon]

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.

 

[Kuffy]

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.

 

[stewmath]

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

 

[creataweb]

Lol... nice sob story. Ain't buying the BS.

 

[xynames]

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.

 

[J.D.]

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.

 

[Lox]

I'm not sure what a domain processor is.

accredited registrar

 

[Lox]

but we are in this for the money right??

money can do many things but to keep your head in peace and normal heart pulse rate - not

 

[Furquan]

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.

 

[Kuffy]

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.

 

[WeSell-Domains]

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.

 

[Kate]

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 ?

 

[mems]

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.

 

[mems]

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.

 

[DaveX]

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.