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

 

[DomainGist]

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

When I did outbound (I quit domaining for 2 years, just now returning so building up a portfolio slowly over 2018...)...

... but when I was domaining properly, I would do one outbound email, and then I'd follow up with a phone call about 3 days later (no more than 7 days).

And that was hugely successful for me. Email planted the seed into the buyers head, telephone call sealed the deal.

And people are scared of using the telephone these days, in the whats app age, but I can promise you I got told to "F off" more over email than I did on the telephone.

In fact the "F off" email reply = obviously this saves me a phone call

 

[GeorgeK]

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.

If the domain owner wanted felt they were being "spammed" (remember, this is the 3rd email from the same person, about the same domain name without an offer), perhaps the "rude" response was intended to burn bridges, to stop getting spammed?

NB: That wasn't me in this case, but you can understand that sometimes it might be appropriate to burn bridges (e.g. when the other side is simply wasting time, being insulting themselves, etc.). I've blocked entire domains from contacting me, e.g. :

https://support.google.com/a/answer/2364632?hl=en

and that can help reduce the spam.

 

[Grilled]

I did not say I was a domainer

You didn't have to. Your email obviously told the domain owner you weren't a real buyer. And even if you believe you were (or are), you failed to convey that message to the domain owner(s) standard of real buyer.

Did your come from a generic gmail?

 

[MapleDots]

You didn't have to. Your email obviously told the domain owner you weren't a real buyer. And even if you believe you were, you failed to convey that message to the domain owner.

Did it come from a generic gmail?

Nope, used his form 3 times, until the 3rd contact I would have been a retail client.

 

[MapleDots]

Seriously though guys

We are professionals, we can NEVER assume when dealing with the public. We can try to put our procedures and protocols toward each other but I made the inquiry as a retail client following his procedure. He asked for contact information, there was no field for an offer to be made. There was simply a text field and to the general public that means they get to ask and inquire.

 

[platey]

So am I to understand that you are the ultimate judge as to what is or is not "poor business management"???

There are many reasons someone might not reply. Maybe the person recently experienced a personal tragedy. Maybe they were on an extended holiday. Maybe they blah, blah, blah...

Whatever the reason, it's not someone else's right to pass judgment on them or the way they operate. Notice in my initial reply I did not say you and you're email demonstrated a poor understanding of business communication practices. I said "personally I..."

I suggest you pick up a copy of "How to win friends and influence people" by Dale Carnegie. It has been around for decades but the general ideas in it are still relevant today.

I saw that book back in the day and touched it lol but never read it tho lol

I did buy a similar book

The secrets to my success? I by? I can't remember now

And the lazy man's way to riches etc which if you accelerate the years to today I suppose could be classed as domain name investing etc

Eg 4 mins to handreg a quality two word dot com and sit on it lol

 

[Grilled]

Nope, used his form 3 times, until the 3rd contact I would have been a retail client.

Did you give an email for him to respond to?

If so, was it a gmail?

And regardless if it was gmail or not, did you give any information which the buyer could have used to identify you prior to ignoring your request?

 

[MapleDots]

Did you give an email for him to respond to?

If so, was it a gmail?

And regardless if it was gmail or not, did you give any information which the buyer could have used to identify you prior to ignoring your request?

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.

 

[GeorgeK]

and it is your loss not to have responded. As a domainer myself I feel this is very poor business management on your behalf.

(emphasis added)

Actually, going back to the exact text you used in the first email, I can fully understand why you got the response you did:

1. "it is your loss"
2. "I feel this is very poor business management on your behalf."

Both are insults. What do you expect them to come back with, when you gave unsolicited advice like that?

Suppose you're a man, and ask a woman to go out on a date (2 times). To then follow that up with "It's your loss" and "I feel this is very poor dating management" would probably earn a slap in the face.

 

[TestCase]

Communication of an idea is a two part process: 1) the sender's "encoding" of the message and 2) the receiver's "decoding" of the message.

Both parts are dependent on each individual's point of view, personal experiences, emotional status at any given moment, personal situation, reading comprehension, and a ton of additional subjective factors. No two people are the same and not all messages will be interpreted the same way by everyone..

Always try to put yourself in the other person's shoes and work from there. If someone starts off by questioning my business skills/management style, I'm not going to give them the time of day.

I would never try to initiate/instigate a dialogue by criticizing them or their business. In my day job, I make every effort I can NOT to do business with people that rub me the wrong way. And yes I've turned away a bunch of business over the years as a result. To paraphrase someone from this thread. "it is their loss..." - but I never admonished them for their business style or interaction with me -- though God knows I would have liked to!.

Fortunately I do business on my terms 100% in my "Domainer Life™".

 

[DaveX]

Was the domain publicly for sale?

 

[Grilled]

gave my real (full) name and supplied my phone number

Depending on what type of domainer you are, and how your WHOIS info is stored, this is more than enough info to identify you as a domainer.

both times begged not to be ignored.

Yet, if he deemed you were a domainer, and were not (Facebook) or some other buyer he's holding out for with deep pockets. And as such, didn't want to waste time negotiating.

Maybe he will only sell for $XX,XXX.

If you offer $5,000, then maybe he will consider your offer (even if too low), and you will receive a response.

But if you are not prepared to pay, or even offer $1,000, then why would he want to waste his time by beginning a negotiation where you are so far off? He may have a standing $2,000 offer, so your max $1,000 offer may in fact be a waste of time.

Point being, if you would have sent your max offer for him to consider, you might have received a response if that max offer sparked a level of his interest. But again, if your max is $1,000, and he already received $2,000. Then, he will not bat an eye to your max offer. Maybe then, he will respond, and say you are off, but without the seller knowing what ballpark of a buyer you are, he is just left to assume you as another domainer (if this was identified or assumed based off what can be found with the info you provided)

 

[MapleDots]

BY the way guys....

I gave my full business email address from my other

Depending on what type of domainer you are, and how your WHOIS info is stored, this is more than enough info to identify you as a domainer.



Yet, if he deemed you were a domainer, and were not (Facebook) or some other buyer he's holding out for with deep pockets. And as such, didn't want to waste time negotiating.

Maybe he will only sell for $XX,XXX.

If you offer $5,000, then maybe he will consider your offer (even if too low), and you will receive a response.

But if you are not prepared to pay, or even offer $1,000, then why would he want to waste his time by beginning a negotiation where you are so far off? He may have a standing $2,000 offer, so your max $1,000 offer may in fact be a waste of time.

Point being, if you would have sent your max offer for him to consider, you might have received a response if that max offer sparked a level of his interest. But again, if your max is $1,000, and he already received $2,000. Then, he will not bat an eye to your max offer. Maybe then, he will respond, and say you are off, but without the seller knowing what ballpark of a buyer you are, he is just left to assume you as another domainer (if this was identified or assumed based off what can be found with the info you provided)

Question is

An inquiry via the form supplied

Do we assume it to be from a domainer or a retail client?

 

[DomainGist]

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.

'Begging' probably isn't the best way to find a domain at a good price by the way, makes you sound too keen. That's why namepros 'make offer' threads are good, you know the seller is motivated to sell and you can make yourself sound reluctant to buy (Shane Bellone ITmagazine negotiation is a good example of this, even if he was a one hit wonder)/.

The domainers may have been trying to entice you into making an opening offer, especially when you sound very keen on the domain. Its a well known negotiating tactic to never be the first to mention price. I've read an entire article on that methodology.

So their thinking may have been "I'll ignore him, see if he emails again with a firm financial offer".

Lots of people have different ways of doing things, and usually its based on things they've read or their experience. That's why they don't like being told how to do things.

Some people don't put the number 7 in any of their prices, because they think the two syllables makes the price sound bigger to the buyer. Meanwhile federer is happy to use sevens and is successful with it.

... different people have different methods, based on their own perceived wisdom, so its easy to image why people don't appreciate being told how they should conduct business by a peer.

If I had a domain priced at one-eight-eight-eight and you told me I should price at one-seven-seven-seven, I would disagree because I subscribe to that 'no sevens' thing.

Its difficult to tell whether these domainers have not replied to your messages because they are sloppy / unorganised / haven't woken up from the holiday season yet, or whether there were signals which set off something in their brain which instinctively told them that you weren't a lead worth chasing.

They may not have liked your enquiry for one reason or another, possibly felt a bit too obvious that you were a domainer even though you didn't identify yourself as one. Or they did due diligence and found your domain portfolio (with name + email this takes 30 seconds).

If you don't get a reply to an enquiry then move on, find another domain. Simple.

 

[Grilled]

Do we assume it to be from a domainer or a retail client?

We don't assume; we research.

And IF he researched, he may have been able to deem you as a domainer.

Depending on his experience with other domainers, he may feel their offers are a waste of time.

Did you not waste his time?

 

[tonyk2000]

Just my 2c (after processing all sorts of inquiries during 15 years):

- If I have a landing or parking page where the domain is marked as being for sale, the last question I'd like to hear would be "is the domain for sale and if so what price". Somebody is able to write but unable to read - how serious he is?

- If I have a landing page with a contact form, then an inquiry made using this form has much more chances to be read and responded in timely fashion. Whois email is full of spam.

- Openly disclosing the fact that an inquirer is a domainer would not help the sale in any aspect. I am sure there is no evidence anywhere that my pricing is based on user type or may be variable for college students, business startups or anybody else.

- I have a bin price set, then a domainer sending an offer of about 5%-10% of showed bin would be ignored (with the "f" phrase in mind, but - in my case - not typed as a response). I see an epidemic sequence of such "offers", and, yes, from domainers, whether they disclose this fact or not.

- If I have a bin sale configured through an instant-transfer marketplace, then I knowingly did so. I wish to sell the domain using fast transfer on the particular marketplace. Normal time management rules. Sometimes (more frequently domiainers) are trying to buy directly trying to save on marketplace fees. Well direct sale is not impossible, but the price would be higher and not lower. Manual processing vs automated processing - just this, nothing personal.

 

[MapleDots]

Gotta go for a bit now...

I understand my 3rd response was harsh but I still kinda expected a dialogue of some kind. Imagine if he would have responded something like this....

Sorry about the delay, I don't usually ignore clients. I am looking for x amount for the domain. Are you still interested?

I bought the other domain so obviously I negotiated a fair price but one cannot get to a price if negotiations never start. It is but a select few on this forum who are fortunate enough to be in those shoes and the rest of us would gladly get a sale.

 

[Grilled]

In the last month I have sent 6 inquiries and received only two responses and one response ended in a sale.

What was the purchase price for the domain you were able to acquire?

 

[SpareDomains]

I get a ton of inbound emails. I research who is inquiring and if it points to a domainer rare I would respond unless an initial price was mentioned that falls into my ballpark range.

My last sale $15,900+ profit on a 16k sale, the one before that $3,400+ profit on a $3500 sale etc... I buy and hold for end user only sales so rare that a domainer would jump up to my end user pricing. Same reason I buy domains at domain forums but never sell here as I'm only looking for end user money.

Would I say FU=Absolutely Not

But why respond to another domainer that will tell me my price is crazy when my business model isn't pricing for domainers. Domainer wants a response insert an offer that makes me respond or show me end user money as I have zero interest in selling a domain to someone like myself=Domainer as it defeats the buy low/sell high business model.

The right offer begins negotiations. Email from domainer fishing for prices ends up in the spam box with a few hundred other ones. I discuss prices with end users not with domainers that can then spam end users to try to sell my domains for more than my price quote. End user only negotiations/sales from my end.

 

[TestCase]

Gotta go for a bit now...

I understand my 3rd response was harsh but I still kinda expected a dialogue of some kind. Imagine if he would have responded something like this....

Sorry about the delay, I don't usually ignore clients. I am looking for x amount for the domain. Are you still interested?

I bought the other domain so obviously I negotiated a fair price but one cannot get to a price if negotiations never start. It is but a select few on this forum who are fortunate enough to be in those shoes and the rest of us would gladly get a sale.

And his/her expectation/perspective may have been,

"If I haven't responded to your first two emails, I'm likely not interested in interacting with you."