debate Ethics vs. Profit: Ever Said No to a Domain Buyer?

[Future Sensors]

Have you ever hesitated, or even flat-out refused to sell a domain, simply because you didn’t like the buyer’s industry, mission or business goals? Or regretted a sale afterwards, when you noticed the purpose for which your sold domain was used by the buyer?

I’m curious how often moral or ethical objections come into play, and how you handle turning down a sale on those grounds. Would love to hear your stories and any tips on politely saying No. Even when large sums of money are at stake.

 

[DomainNature]

Yes, I have refused lots of offers, but they were low ball, some were up to 20K usd, this is because those domains will be worth more, I feel they will come later with better offers, I m sure of that, this will happen after they will learn why I asked so much for them.
Patience is key in such situations.

 

[Synozeer]

Yes, I have refused lots of offers, but they were low ball, some were up to 20K usd, this is because those domains will be worth more, I feel they will come later with better offers, I m sure of that, this will happen after they will learn why I asked so much for them.
Patience is key in such situations.

I think he's asking if you've refused to sell a domain because of ethical reasons instead of valuation.

 

[johnn]

Years ago I registered an .org name when the owner did not renew it.
Two months after I got the name the owner sent me an email and asked me to sell it back to him. The organization is a nonprofit organization so I refused to sell it back to him.

I gave the name to him free.

 

[DomainNature]

I think he's asking if you've refused to sell a domain because of ethical reasons instead of valuation.

Oh, I get it now, I not remember proper, but I have such domains where I would abstain from selling them, due to their possible huge influence in such specific industry, such domains I would keep only to prevent anyone from using them, the industry could be p**n, s*x or gambling.
So if someone would approach to buy those domains I will tell them straight, to leave.
There is biotech which can grow meat in lab, I was against such biotech, but I might sell my biotech domains some day, I think the animal slaughter should end one day.

 

[bmugford]

Two times that come to mind.

1.) The buyer was interested in a .org. Their intended usage really did not line up with my values.

Even though the price range was acceptable, I rejected the offer.

2.) A "non-profit" offer coming from a reverend, via his church email.

It turned out it was not actually non-profit at all. He was trying to create some board game for his own personal financial gain.

I called him out for lying. He apologized.

I refused to sell the domain.

The domain wasn't even that high quality. He screwed his opportunity by lying.

Brad

 

[AEProgram]

never had a situation like this but wonder how many domainers myself included would decline the sale if the price is high enough. So if the offer was a billion dollars, would you still say no? Or would you take it with justification that you will give a lot of charity?

Money and morals get very tricky. Reminds me of that old story (it has many versions)

Guy asks a woman, would you sleep with me for $100 dollars?

She replies extremely angry, NO!

He asks, what about for $500

She get's even more angry, NO!

He asks, how about a million dollars?

She says, for a million dollars, yes!

He says ok, now that we established you have no morals, let's negotiate.

My point is, in our domain discussion, morals is being certain that you would turn down any amount because of a moral reason. If there is an amount you would take.

 

[pb]

I mostly sell via marketplaces so I don't really have a chance to check the buyer's background and don't make the price dependent on who is buying. But I often check what happens to my domain later and sometimes I don't like what I see... but what can we do, it's the same everywhere. You can sell a plot of land but you can't control what is built there. You can sell a car but you can't control who drives it. You can sell a baseball bat but you can't control how it is used. We can be sellers, brokers, creatives, whatever you call it, but once all is said and done, the domain is no longer ours to decide how it's used.

 

[pb]

Something I thought about just now:
Let's say there's a presidential election and there are two candidates, one whom you like and one with whom you vehemently disagree. It so happened that you registered exact-match domains with names of both candidates, and put them up for sale. Now there are three possible scenarios for each domain (aside from udrp/lawsuit ), it can be bought and: a) used in support of that candidate; b) used against that candidate; c) used in an unrelated way, maybe just divert traffic to some shop, or maybe to scam people.
There is no way to control that. You can even "screen" buyers, but will they tell the truth about who they are and what they will do with the domain? Some will, some will not. So in the end you just need to accept that you have no control. If it's a huge problem, maybe just don't sell any domains and start building websites.

 

[Future Sensors]

Thank you for sharing your insights so far.

There are countless scenarios where this issue manifests, and I'd like to share some personal reflections.

For certain domains—especially those that once hosted websites noted in reputable research whitepapers—I follow a strict guideline: I never sell these domains to any organization unless they are fully committed to the same mission. No financial offer would ever be enough to compromise this principle. Preserving the integrity of the information is essential, as it underpins my own credibility.

In another instance, I discovered that I had sold a domain via DAN to individuals associated with a disreputable regime. I now regret that the domain sold, because, in that context, activists might scrutinize past ownership.

 

[biggie]

I mostly sell via marketplaces so I don't really have a chance to check the buyer's background and don't make the price dependent on who is buying.

Hi

i think majority of sellers fall in that scenario, so they/we don't get to communicate with buyer about their intent for usage of the name.

now when you're leasing a name, it's important that you know or have some idea what the buyer plans to do with the name.
you don't want them using it for spam or posting any malicious content and then they default on the lto, leaving your name with a bad rep.

hopefully, marketplaces that offer such options, have language included that prohibits such actions.

imo...

 

[sellian]

Many of us might refuse a decent offer from a buyer we dislike, but very few would turn down a $10 million offer for a .net domain, regardless of who the buyer is.

Money always wins, unless you have true 'FU' money.

The paradox is that achieving that level of wealth often requires compromising your ethics.

 

[bmugford]

never had a situation like this but wonder how many domainers myself included would decline the sale if the price is high enough. So if the offer was a billion dollars, would you still say no? Or would you take it with justification that you will give a lot of charity?

Money and morals get very tricky. Reminds me of that old story (it has many versions)

Guy asks a woman, would you sleep with me for $100 dollars?

She replies extremely angry, NO!

He asks, what about for $500

She get's even more angry, NO!

He asks, how about a million dollars?

She says, for a million dollars, yes!

He says ok, now that we established you have no morals, let's negotiate.

My point is, in our domain discussion, morals is being certain that you would turn down any amount because of a moral reason. If there is an amount you would take.

Realistically speaking, is someone going to turn down a crazy offer? Probably not.

In that situation, the income could be put to good use including supporting whatever cause you want.

Brad

 

[william]

never had a situation like this but wonder how many domainers myself included would decline the sale if the price is high enough. So if the offer was a billion dollars, would you still say no? Or would you take it with justification that you will give a lot of charity?

Money and morals get very tricky. Reminds me of that old story (it has many versions)

Guy asks a woman, would you sleep with me for $100 dollars?

She replies extremely angry, NO!

He asks, what about for $500

She get's even more angry, NO!

He asks, how about a million dollars?

She says, for a million dollars, yes!

He says ok, now that we established you have no morals, let's negotiate.

My point is, in our domain discussion, morals is being certain that you would turn down any amount because of a moral reason. If there is an amount you would take.

Absolutely this. If there is a price attached to your morals, it's not morals, it's greed and ego. If a friend won't betray his friend for $100 but will do it for $1M is it morals?

 

[Chris CPD]

Realistically speaking, is someone going to turn down a crazy offer? Probably not.

In that situation, the income could be put to good use including supporting whatever cause you want.

Brad

Yup. After all, if it comes down to it, I'll be weighing keeping the lights on and the kids well fed over some potential negative issue that may or may not occur because I sold a domain.

I own TheUSSR.com. Would I sell it to Putin? Actually probably yes

At the end of the day, I doubt it will have much of an effect on anything. If I didn't sell it, they'd probably just find another one pretty similar anyway.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Yes I agree that one should not sell to some buyers.
That said, much of the time you have no idea who the buyer is or what their plans are for a name.
Thanks for starting a really interesting discussion topic, @Future Sensors.
-Bob

 

[jberryhill]

Yeah, I had PuppyKillingVideos.com and I was shocked and disgusted by what someone wanted to do with it.

 

[Future Sensors]

Yeah, I had PuppyKillingVideos.com and I was shocked and disgusted by what someone wanted to do with it.

The tragedy. I'm sure you were just as shocked as Kabosu (may she rest in peace) when she discovered that a Department had been named in her honor.