Got a "F*ck You" response from a domainer

[MapleDots]

I made a number of inquiries on domain names lately and am still shocked how many domainers do not respond to an inquiry. Granted I did not open with a price, I always ask what are you looking to get for the domain. I end by saying I am very interested and please do not ignore my inquiry.

In the last month I have sent 6 inquiries and received only two responses and one response ended in a sale. So from 6 domains one was what I would call a great transaction and the other one at least an attempt for a sale.

That said, I have a tendency to send the inquiry at least twice and this month I send the following to 4 of my inquiries. that failed to respond.

Hello. I made several attempts to start dialogue to purchase domain.com and have received no response from you. I stated both times that I was very interested in the domain and would appreciate either a call or email back. At this point I will terminate any negotiation on this domain and wish you well in your endeavors. That said, I was very interested in your domain and it is your loss not to have responded. As a domainer myself I feel this is very poor business management on your behalf.

Got one response back from a domainer

Was two words

Guess what they were?

"F*ck You"

Wow.... just wow

 

[platey]

It is definitely frustrating, but you can post the thread for 48 hours.... the close + delete it, and then trawl through the responses in your own time and reply to any which are of interest.

I had about 200 messages in 24 hours to a thread asking for pronounceable 5 L's.... and got an annoyingly large number of people sending messages which started with "I know these are 6 letter domains, but....", if I wanted 6 letter I would have asked for them!

The most annoying thing is the people who follow up with "so do you want it", before you've even reached their message, don't think people realise just how many responses these threads get.

I've got 20 x 5L pronounceable dot coms sitting gathering dust lol

 

[MapleDots]

Not worth burning bridges over, and you can take the moral high ground.

Oh trust me, I took the moral high ground because I did not respond back and I did him the courtesy by not naming the domain here.

I'm simply shaking my head for the lack of a professional response.

 

[DomainGist]

I've got 20 x 5L pronounceable dot coms sitting gathering dust lol

Not buying right now, spent too much in the past couple of weeks

 

[platey]

At least they didn't call you a sh*thole.

I've pre registered something similar lol

 

[DN_Hunter]

I think FU is a harsh response. But the wording in your follow up email rubs me the wrong way. I read your example emails in your original post, and never saw you actually make an initial offer -- but if you did I would expect that to get a polite "thanks, but no thanks" reply.

Also, you have stated that you are serious buyer because you acquired a domain from a responsive domainer. But how in the world would the owner know you're a serious buyer? Did you state that in your follow up emails? If you stated something like I recently purchased xxxxxxx.com for $x,xxx, the owner might know you are a serious buyer and then reply ASAP.

As stated above -- put yourself in their shoes. Your first email they think oh great, another domainer looking for "reseller" prices, not "End User" prices. And they get a nice follow up email that goes on to ridicule and lecture them (it's just how I read it).

 

[platey]

Not buying right now, spent too much in the past couple of weeks

No worries

 

[MapleDots]

I've pre registered something similar lol

Problem with that domain is namepros filters out some letters

I can never link to pigeonshitnames.com

 

[DaveX]

Problem with that domain is namepros filters out some letters

I can never link to pigeonsh*tnames.com

You dislike my comment then proceed to make fun....makes no sense!

 

[GeorgeK]

Both times I reiterated I was seriously interested in acquiring the domain.

I think I wasn't clear enough in my first post. Instead of saying that you're "seriously interested", show that you're seriously interested, i.e. demonstrate it in some manner (e.g. making a serious offer).

There are multiple types of domain owners. You seem to be targeting "Type 1":

Type 1: Excited to even receive a domain name inquiry; responds to all inquiries; desperate to sell.

But, there are a large number of other types of owners, e.g. "Type 2"

Type 2: Inundated with many domain name inquiries; annoyed at lowballers, spammers, etc.; filters inquiries accordingly

e.g. consider Webmagic, who owns elite domain names like Ace.com, etc. You have to pay them a non-refundable $20 just to contact them about a domain name;

https://www.webmagic.com/domains/domain-advertising-contact-guidelines/
https://www.webmagic.com/domains/

Some other people do the same thing.

While your approach might be successful with "Type 1", it's not going to work for "Type 2".

 

[MapleDots]

As stated above -- put yourself in their shoes. Your first email they think oh great, another domainer looking for "reseller" prices, not "End User" prices. And they get a nice follow up email that goes on to ridicule and lecture them (it's just how I read it).

I did not say I was a domainer and a point that we as domainers must understand is that the general public is not educated enough about domains to know how to respond. In your scenario he would have assumed a domainer because of how it was worded. Real world though, the end user is just trying to make contact and ignoring them can mean the loss of a sale. Hell a lot of end users don't even know about whois and are just following the form to inquire about a purchase. Imagine going to a store with no prices, the first thing a client would ask is WHAT IS THE PRICE.

Some domainers forget they are dealing with the public and in my case I did not disclose domainer until the 3rd contact.

 

[Grilled]

Also don't forget

I did purchase one of the domains so he was dealing with a REAL buyer.

Define REAL buyer...?

Is the requirement of a REAL buyer somebody who have bought a domain before? If so, there are millions of real buyers. Why SHOULD he have to deal with you?

As a domainer myself

As others pointed out, you don't know he is a domainer. Not everybody who sells domains, identify themselves as a domainer. Some who sell domains refuse to sell to a domain another domainer, simply because when they put in time to acquire a domain, they hold, and deal only with endusers. Who are you to fault one of these domain sellers because they didn't want to waste their time with you, a domainer?

I own a few domains were I don't plan on selling to another domainer. I don't want to leave meat on the bone for domains that will sell eventually sell themselves for more than I could get at market value simply by #HODL'ing. However, if a strong offer came in from a domainer, how would I know they were a domainer, or if they were the REAL buyer I was holding out for?

[Last year, I had received a few text messages from a domainer interested in wanting to buy one of my domains. I thought, "Great, spam is now finding its way into my text messages...." given all the WHOIS spam I receive.

Anyways, I had really liked the name, and didn't bat an eye to a $100 offer. I didn't respond, and the next day I received a $250 offer. At this point, I don't know if the buyer is a domainer or not, but I was in no mood to sell what I felt was a valuable domain, for $XXX. So I told the buyer the domain was not for sale at this time, however, if they had dev plans, that we may be able to work something out, because the domain (if developed) could bring a cool new service to the world wide web.

The buyer then capitalizes on my domainer mistake by purchasing it for $999 via AfterNic. I had messed up the upload for some of my listings, duplicating make offer of $999 with the same $999 BIN. The buyer and I talk on the phone shortly after, one of the first questions is, "Are you on NamePros", and we recognized each others usernames. I obviously honored the sale, but the point is, domainers receive a lot of time wasting spam already, some don't want to waste their time if they don't feel it will be worth their time. The funny thing is, if the buyer would have said he was on NP before purchasing it, he probably could have got the domain from me for at least 50% less then he paid -- if at a future time when I needed cashflow, I might have contacted him on NP with a reseller offer. I mean, would the domain (a hand reg) have reached anywhere close to $500 on NP auction? Doubtful. Therefore no quick reseller outlet.]

Point of the story, if you say you are a domainer, that doesn't mean you are a real buyer. If you offer what he feels is REAL buyer kind of offers, then he will prob engage. But if you planned on wasting his time with domainer offers that he considers (not real) as in not enough of an offer for him to bat an eye to, then can you blame him by protecting his investment (and time) by not considering low ball offers? And I am not saying you were going to low ball him, simply saying, generally when domainers try to buy a domain from another domainer, and they tell the seller they are also a domainer, a lot of the time the domainer buyer is trying to get reseller prices from the seller.

Out of curiousity, what is the highest offer you would have paid for the domain in question?

 

[MapleDots]

You dislike my comment then proceed to make fun....makes no sense!

Humor is the best response sometimes, it keeps one out of trouble.

Besides, you are entitled, you have given thousands of great responses, how could I possibly feel offended by that?

 

[Kate]

If you are going to bother to reply, of course you don't reply in such a rude manner. It's burning bridges for nothing.

Now I have to say I hate fishing expeditions from domainers, especially when they can't even spam right ie inquiring on multiple LLL.com that are all registered to the same E-mail address, and sending the same boilerplate mail multiple times.
Like GeorgeK says, when you own a certain class of domains you can see those fishing expeditions in real time.
They may be real buyers but in all reality they are looking for a steal.

If you don't get a reply first, your next step may be to pick up the phone and leave a message if you don't get through to a live person.
Sending E-mail is cheap and easy and bestows little credibility.

Also, there is no need to mention you are a domainer, this is counterproductive. The other party will figure out if you use your real name (if you don't - expect that they will take you even less seriously). Saying you are a domainer suggests you were not looking to pay retail price in the first place, even though a domainer can also buy domains in end user capacity.

 

[MapleDots]

As others pointed out, you don't know he is a domainer.

Yup, I can count on you to look at all sides grilled

I used the online response for and assumed I was dealing with someone who had the knowledge to park the domain and ask for a sales inquiry. It stated clearly "This domain is for sale"

One assumes that is a wholesaler one is dealing with.

PS. I stated on 2 responses I was very interested and please do not ignore my inquiry. To him I was a retail buyer.

 

[platey]

Why not put your np username in email etc just a thought

As it carries some weight etc as you come across as a genuine buyer as you do try to buy domains etc

 

[Grilled]

To him I was a retail buyer.

Don't assume this unless you covered all your basis.

Did you use an email connected to your name, or any other registrations?

Some sellers research their inquiries before responding... Not saying he even did that. Just learning not to assume anything.

Didn't FB send a $20k offer to a recent hand reg. and the domainer (@omelet) accepted? That is a REAL buyer.

 

[GeorgeK]

Sending E-mail is cheap and easy and bestows little credibility.

(emphasis added)

Re-read that sentence by Kate 20 times. That's gold right there!

 

[MapleDots]

RESTATE

I did not say I was a domainer and a point that we as domainers must understand is that the general public is not educated enough about domains to know how to respond. Real world though, the end user is just trying to make contact and ignoring them can mean the loss of a sale. Hell a lot of end users don't even know about whois (or our protocols) and are just following the form to inquire about a purchase. Imagine going to a store with no prices, the first thing a client would ask is WHAT IS THE PRICE. Let us not forget we are dealing with the public, we cannot expect them to know our lingo or procedures.

 

[strugar]

As a domainer myself I feel this is very poor business management on your behalf.

If you indeed contacted someone who didn't show interest in contacting you back, and you wrote this sentence in your mail, then the answer was mild, you deserved much harsher.

 

[MapleDots]

Don't assume this unless you covered all your basis.

Did you use an email connected to your name, or any other registrations?

Some sellers research their inquiries before responding... Not saying he even did that. Just learning not to assume anything.

Didn't FB send a $20k offer to a recent hand reg. and the domainer (@omelet) accepted? That is a REAL buyer.

I responded with a full non generic email address, gave my real (full) name and supplied my phone number and both times begged not to be ignored.