Is domaining ethical?

[james2002]

I understand there are people including myself looking for bargains and we do get domains at bargain prices.

I wonder it is ethical to do that as we know that certain domains are worth much more than the seller ask for.

I understand there are some people who got domains at fraction of their value recently due to IREIT's error.

Is domaining (esp at bargain prices) ethical?

 

[Michael]

If someone is going to sell something, it is their responsibility to find out what it is worth, it isn't my job to tell them. If the seller is happy with the price, and I'm happy with the price, I don't see any problem.

The only time it would ever be unethical to not tell a seller what a domain is worth is if you are brokering the deal for the seller. I've heard of brokers getting hired to sell a domain, telling the seller it was sold when really the broker bought it himself, and then flipping it for much, much higher.

 

[-REECE-]

Bought DATO for 3145, resold for 9 inside of a month. Original owner has no regrets, calls me Mr. Reece and recently asked me for some advice regarding domains + prices

I think many non-domainers are more than happy to get a "reasonable" amount, knowing full well they don't have the skills or knowledge necessary to see a higher price. I highly doubt the original owner in my case would have seen a higher offer via whois anytime soon and we were both happy with the outcome.

If someone is going to sell something, it is their responsibility to find out what it is worth, it isn't my job to tell them. If the seller is happy with the price, and I'm happy with the price, I don't see any problem.

The only time it would ever be unethical to not tell a seller what a domain is worth is if you are brokering the deal for the seller. I've heard of brokers getting hired to sell a domain, telling the seller it was sold when really the broker bought it himself, and then flipping it for much, much higher.

 

[rafaelrls]

Warren Buffet, you need to read his biography and reports for his company (berkshire hataway). It is the way the world work

 

[Dave_Z]

The same question about ethics could be asked for every market.

Or for practically every other aspect of life for that matter.

 

[weblord]

business is all about research and finding good values for your stuff in this case a domain it's their loss if you find a good bargain for that stuff.

 

[DDC_Cyn]

I believe that if you put something out there for sale, it finds its own real value. What I mean is, if I list a domain at auction for $100 and it's worth $1,000, chances are I'm going to have a lot of people bidding it up to close to what its worth. There are too many people in the game who know what they're doing to have someone swoop in and buy up a bargain like that.

Now, a private sale, someone who privately makes a very lowball offer then walks away with a gem. . .well, then he's good at what he does. Can't fault a person for getting a good deal.

 

[tyggemannen]

If you endorse the capitalistic system every business deal is ethical.

 

[Krossat]

As two people canhave the same name, so is true for domains. Who has legal right to the domain? If two countries have the exact same companies, who has the right to own a related name?
If you register a name , and can prove you intend to use it, and you havent regged in bad faith, there should be no problem. Problem comes when you INTEND to make profits off a similar company in question and take steps to do it.
As far as ethics goes, its a business where your selling something for profit. You regged it, and you own it, and have the right to sell.

 

[james0306]

It depends.

Ethical - register domain by finding its potential or creating value, promote it to end users

non-ethical - register Trademark domain, ask high prices from the trademark holder ( mostly happen in Asia )

 

[Hurley4540]

People worry to much about ethics with buying and selling.

 

[DomainMayhem.com]

Of course finding bargains is ethical.

If I own a car, and I don't know how much it's worth and don't bother to look it up, while a car collector makes me an offer for it and I sell, isn't it my own loss for not taking the time to find the value of something I own?

:imho: It crosses the ethical/unethical boundary when you provide a potential seller with misinformation about recent sales prices to gauge a false value for their domain.

Spot on!

 

[fixxation]

This happened to be just a few days ago... would any of you consider this ethical?

There was a .com domain I wanted to buy, so I wrote to the seller asking what the asking price was. Before I wrote the email, the domain was free any every other major gTLD. A couple hours later, I noticed that the domain was registered in net/org/info/biz/us ! Then about another hour after that, I get a reply back saying they're looking for $x,xxx for the domain. So he basically just saw that I was interested in the .com, and then grabbed all the other extensions with hopes of selling them as well, however he claimed he got them all as a protective measure for the overall benefit of the potential purchaser... blah!

Ethical/unethical? ... whatever it is, it certinaly was annoying and I felt I couldn't do business with him as he couldn't be trusted after a move like that...

 

[james2002]

This happened to be just a few days ago... would any of you consider this ethical?

There was a .com domain I wanted to buy, so I wrote to the seller asking what the asking price was. Before I wrote the email, the domain was free any every other major gTLD. A couple hours later, I noticed that the domain was registered in net/org/info/biz/us ! Then about another hour after that, I get a reply back saying they're looking for $x,xxx for the domain. So he basically just saw that I was interested in the .com, and then grabbed all the other extensions with hopes of selling them as well, however he claimed he got them all as a protective measure for the overall benefit of the potential purchaser... blah!

Ethical/unethical? ... whatever it is, it certinaly was annoying and I felt I couldn't do business with him as he couldn't be trusted after a move like that...

Did you check the whois data of domains with other extensions? Might be different people registering them.

 

[fixxation]

Did you check the whois data of domains with other extensions? Might be different people registering them.

Yeah, that was the first thing I checked when saw they all went taken... all by the exact same registrant that I was approaching for the .com -- he only registered them the moment he saw that I was interested in the .com ... shockin!

 

[james2002]

Yeah, that was the first thing I checked when saw they all went taken... all by the exact same registrant that I was approaching for the .com -- he only registered them the moment he saw that I was interested in the .com ... shockin!

I see. But I think you can't say he or she is unethical for this.

 

[fixxation]

I see. But I think you can't say he or she is unethical for this.

Well, maybe not unethical - but definitely in bad faith IMHO. Just because I approached them, with hopes of a purchasse, they intentionally monopolized the other gTLD with hopes of making even more money from me, or preventing me from buying the other extensions.

If I hadn't sent the email, the other extensions would have still been free today and perhaps I would be the owner of them. It's just a dodgy move IMHO...

 

[maximum]

People worry to much about ethics with buying and selling.

I do believe that I'd be highly qualified to get into a discussion about ethics. However, the very actions of myself recently, if I were to try doing so here, would make me a hypocrite. So, that said, I just wanted to point out that the statement you made above, Hurley, is about as sorry and scary as any I have seen in some time; and, I've seen some doosies recently. Maybe you should rethink that IMHO.

 

[Michael]

Well, maybe not unethical - but definitely in bad faith IMHO. Just because I approached them, with hopes of a purchasse, they intentionally monopolized the other gTLD with hopes of making even more money from me, or preventing me from buying the other extensions.

If I hadn't sent the email, the other extensions would have still been free today and perhaps I would be the owner of them. It's just a dodgy move IMHO...

I say it was smart. They probably weren't really trying to make that much more from you, but rather trying to make sure you don't have an out. If you're staring at an available .net it is a lot less likely you'll pay much more than reg fee for the .com.

Rick Schwartz did the same thing when CNN created iReport, he already owned iReport.com but he regged every variation so when they wanted to make a site they had to come to him. Sold it for $750k and everyone said he was a genius.

This is a tough business and you have to be shrewd to get ahead. I'm not saying to not have ethics, I'm just saying a puritan will not make it in this business.

 

[dotnom]

Domain are real Virtual Real Estate
The same terms that exist in real estate business also exist in Domain Names

There is nothing unethical
You don't try to take advantage of anyone

However trademarks must be avoided and protected so as people said above if you take this path yes it's not only unethical but also not profitable too

Unfortunately most of the new domainers find this as an easy and fast solution

 

[james2002]

Domain are real Virtual Real Estate
The same terms that exist in real estate business also exist in Domain Names

There is nothing unethical
You don't try to take advantage of anyone

However trademarks must be avoided and protected so as people said above if you take this path yes it's not only unethical but also not profitable too

Unfortunately most of the new domainers find this as an easy and fast solution

But we are taking advantage of people who don't know how to check domain sale history etc....

Isn't it?