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question How common are fake buyers these days?

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Vincent Rijnbeek

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How common are fake buyers these days? Past posts show it was pretty rampant in 2020, any opinions on this? Is this still the case?

Last Tuesday I had an offer for a domain for a price of $1000,-, I then countered with $38.000 and it was accepted the next day, but since then nothing is happening. The sale isn't being completed. Since this is happening on dan.com I could check the IP address and when I searched it I discovered the offer was placed through a proxy.

I'd love to hear what think.
 
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Hi

"fake offers" can happen anywhere, so i always anticipate that something may happen.

but a "fake buyer" is something different.
these are the folks who buy for someone else.

imo...
 
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@biggie you mean as if that person is a middle man of sorts?
 
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Unfortunately this seems to happen quite often. I don't take any offer serious unless it comes from a legit broker or the very least, I can trace who the person is.

Lately, I just send a generic response basically telling them it is for sale, I want xxxx and tell them to make an offer via email or by going to godaddy/afternic (send the link as well).
 
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Well, my issue is that
yes, it could be a middleman or a middlewoman

imo...
But do you think this person accepts the counter offer just to lobby to see if he/she can make a quick buck above it by shopping it around afterwards? Or actually does have a client and is waiting on their client to pay up? I did hear from the dan.com representative that they've tried calling the person today, but no response. I'm quite curious if this is just someone that is waiting it out,.

The whole concept that someone would just accept my counter offer to eventually just ghost everyone seems strange to me.
 
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Unfortunately this seems to happen quite often. I don't take any offer serious unless it comes from a legit broker or the very least, I can trace who the person is.

Lately, I just send a generic response basically telling them it is for sale, I want xxxx and tell them to make an offer via email or by going to godaddy/afternic (send the link as well).
Things is that the my counter offer was accepted through dan.com. So what I'm curious about is if this accepted counter offer could be fake or not, since the buyer pretty much ghosted after accepting my counter offer through Dan.com.
 
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Hi

i suggest you forget about it, until you get an update.

it could be a fake acceptance of your counter-offer, with no intention to buy.

it also depends on the domain and whether it is worth $38K

don't waste mental energy trying to figure out what their motive is or their intentions are.

imo....
 
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Hi

i suggest you forget about it, until you get an update.

it could be a fake acceptance of your counter-offer, with no intention to buy.

it also depends on the domain and whether it is worth $38K

don't waste mental energy trying to figure out what their motive is or their intentions are.

imo....

You're completely right.
 
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How common are fake buyers these days? Past posts show it was pretty rampant in 2020, any opinions on this? Is this still the case?

Last Tuesday I had an offer for a domain for a price of $1000,-, I then countered with $38.000 and it was accepted the next day, but since then nothing is happening. The sale isn't being completed. Since this is happening on dan.com I could check the IP address and when I searched it I discovered the offer was placed through a proxy.

I'd love to hear what think.

well u won't just be selling any whatever name for 38k... u need quality.. of course it can happen u sell new reg or 20usd buy domain for 38k ..but lotto win can happen too

so as u see from yer case...fake buyers are very common.. part of domaining... u will never get paid.. just move on. gl
 
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How common are fake buyers these days? Past posts show it was pretty rampant in 2020, any opinions on this? Is this still the case?

Last Tuesday I had an offer for a domain for a price of $1000,-, I then countered with $38.000 and it was accepted the next day, but since then nothing is happening. The sale isn't being completed. Since this is happening on dan.com I could check the IP address and when I searched it I discovered the offer was placed through a proxy.

I'd love to hear what think.


This is only an issue if your sales process allows it. For years, and before developing biix, I made it so buyers had to pay a setup fee for the transaction to occur. The setup fee was nominal, and it was just applied to the total balance, but it was intentional so I didn't get bothered by fake sales. Why? Because besides dealing with having to clean it up, you also have the emotional up and down if you think the sale is going through.

Also, for years I haven't allowed offers on landing pages. If they feel compelled to send an offer, they need to submit a support request on a different page an engage in a discussion. I also don't see this happen with Afternic either, most likely because the buyer has to engage in an actual discussion with a broker, wasting their own time.

If you think of it, by allowing an offer page where people can send over a value by just clicking a button, they can do it for whatever reason they want. Maybe they used to own the domain, maybe they think your price is crazy high, who knows? But better to make it a burden for them to bother you, rather than as easy as creating an account and clicking a button.

I made it a burden, and I rarely or close to never get bothered and that's with nearly 8,000 domains.
 
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I think I've had a fake offer at Godaddy.
It started with 200 USD and through counter offers it went up to 3000 USD. (the domains have BIN price for 5K) I accepted a few days ago and I don't know anything. Godaddy hasn't sent me any emal either, only view in my panel... "Buyer acquisition pending"

I understand that it is a fake but I find it strange that the lying prospective buyer wastes his time counter-offering with different prices.
In these cases Godaddy has left the domain on their list again or do I have to contact them?
 
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