question How much do you trust the reported domain name sales?

[winst]

Being both an "end user" and a domain "investor", I generally believed that most domain sales were legit. There are many transactions done privately and not reported. But a recent unsolicited domain offering caused me to question the legitimacy of some of the transactions.

A "brandable" domain name I was monitoring, steady increased price over the last couple of years, was "sold" for low 5 figures. 2 days later, I was contacted by a "broker" asked if I would be interested in the domain name for mid 5 figures. The e-mail conversation were very coy and claiming by the broker had no official relationship with the "owner". The timing seemed highly suspicious.

I wonder how many domain name investors actually works using aliases and create "fake" sales to have the appearance of real sales?

How much do you trust the reported sales and how often do you think this is happening?

 

[equity78]

https://www.namepros.com/threads/wh...in-sales-do-you-believe.1162995/#post-7486808

 

[equity78]

What percentage of sales reports do you believe
100% 9% 9
75% 39% 41
50% 32% 33
25% 9% 9
Less than 25% 11% 11
None 1% 1

104 votes in 218 days

https://www.thedomains.com/2019/11/11/percentage-of-sales/

 

[Samer]

Not very much for ngtld sales.

Those require double the due diligence.

Be cynical of those the most.

Samer

 

[NLP]

For me, it depends on the source/platform. There have been some sales via investor-owned auction platforms and brokers that have fallen through, or never materialized. There will always be people in the industry who are all about smoke and mirrors, and once somebody loses credibility, that's it.

As far as well-known, reputable brokers disclosing big sales, it's pretty easy to check after the fact to see if the domain/site has changed hands, and is under new ownership. Someone could pose as a new business by using a fake site (although that seems pretty insane), but you're not going to be able to fake being a 20 year-old company with a national customer base and hundreds of reviews on Glassdoor, etc.

My guess is that the number of 5, 6, and even 7 figure sales that aren't reported (due to NDAs, or other reasons) is greater than the number of sales at that level that are made up.

But that could just be my optimism speaking.

Trust, but verify.

 

[winst]

I guess I’m morally conflicted. As a domain investor, I can understand the tactics to negotiate for highest amount from the end users. But as a small startup, I don’t appreciate the heavy handed approach.

As a side note, I don’t “need” the name. I have already registered all the appropriate names we need.

I see 3 possibilities:

1, a well funded end user purchased the name for $16k. We have the trademark, we’ll see what happens.

2, a 3rd party domain investor bought the name from the large, well known portfolio holder with the intention to flip it to the trademark holder

3, This well known portfolio owner could be working with a broker to fake the “sale” to creat an urgency and putting pressure on the trademark owner, implies the price could go even higher if not act quickly.

I have to say I’m leaning toward #3, and what does it say about the domaining industry? We are a bunch of used car salesmen?

 

[BaileyUK]

How much do you trust the reported sales and how often do you think this is happening?

Hi Winst, Seems your question is a bit of a misnomer, seeing you are referring to a specific instance of potential shenanigans that effects you directly. However, I do agree that there is always going to be questionable sales reported when there is an ulterior-motive driving that report (in your case the target appears to be you)

I think Ntld registries are the worst these days, Reporting sales to end-users (to hype their extension) whereas we all know, this may have been the list price - But it certainly wasn't the amount the buyer paid after all sorts of discounts are factored in. Paid price could be as low as a third of the report.(or less)

But we still have members here on NP quoting that reported price (just their blindness to the reality of domain sales) which shows

In your instance I wouldn't be too worried about what is going-on. If the original Owner felt it necessary to go down the road of creating a fictitious reported sale in order to capture your (or others) attention then they are clearly getting desperate. It's far to easy for two complicit parties to get together to create a fictitious transfer of ownership and Report it as Sale. Whereas it really is nothing more than a false paper-trail leading nowhere.

If I was in your situation I may even be tempted to play a similar game. Show interest, then late in the game say you've changed your mind and decided not to continue (your looking at re branding etc) that should help show where the cards really lay.

Note - We would really need to know the domain to know whether it had a wide enough audience to be worth a speculator purchase

 

[winst]

Some people consider it as "brandable" or "typo". It has no real meaning. If this one sale is not real transaction, it made me question how many REAL sales are out there.