opinion No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

[DomainRecap]

Damn, it's infuriating trying to help some people.

I was on GoDaddy going through the latest Closeouts when a .COM brand I recognized just popped up. I made sure I wasn't imagining it and then decided to play Good Samaritan (it's a small company I read about in an online article) and advise them through their website that their 6-letter brand (they operate under a much longer name) was available for an $11 Buy it Now at GoDaddy.

It's a small company and I had no desire to try and squeeze any profit out of them, so I just provided the GoDaddy link and thought my job was done.

The first reply was was immediate, and from the owner, with the usual "is this legit?" type questions, so I reply... "Yes, it's available on GoDaddy", which is essentially the Walmart of domains, and tell him to act fast because short & brandable Closeouts go fast. At this point the domain is still available.

His second reply thanks me and tells me that he's going to "look into it". So I reply back one more time to act fast if he wants to own the online brand as short domains like this go fast. I check and the domain is still available.

The third reply is asking more questions, like I'm some font of information, and I again recommend he just spend the BIN price and secure his online brand. I check again and the domain is still available.

About 30 minutes later, I get an irate reply back that he has finally decided to buy it, but the domain is no longer available and what I can do about it. That's it for me, bye bye.

Seriously, helping people is often just not worth it, as it progressed from me being a possible scammer to me being a guardian angel to me being a bad guy, since it took him almost an hour to decide on an $11 BIN.

 

[Nahdism]

$1

How about adding a few zeroes after 1? :P

 

[Domains - Wanted]

How about adding a few zeroes after 1? :P

For a trademarked cat in a bag?

What's happened to "wasn't able to gift them, nor can sell it anywhere. Feeling trapped" ??

 

[Nahdism]

Still trapped ... but $1 is of no use I guess :D It's either them (for free) or some other end user (a big fat escalated price). I guess a banking and financial related domain shouldn't be of much use to resellers like us. I think I will wait till some end-user offers something, or will sell in a simple bargain BIN when it's renew date approaches. Till then I can imagine big bucks or a big thank you note from a CEO of a company :D
Meanwhile, feel free to throw some cool offers. Who knows I might consider it

 

[Rick Ace]

From the "All's Well That Ends Well" file, I was up late last night working and found that the domain had popped up again on Closeout for $11 - someone must have been revolve-holding it in their Cart as that locks it from being purchased or viewed.

So I sent another email out (I know), and miraculously the owner emailed to let me know he was also up late and immediately grabbed it last night, thanking me and offering a free gift.

Well, that changed quickly. Thread title should be updated. Congratulations, you deserved it.

 

[DomainRecap]

In another tidbit of information, after the owner finally got the domain, I found out through WHOIS that it had been owned by a big domain company since 2003 (!) and I guess they didn't want it anymore and decided to drop it.

Then it slid through auction, to Closeout and to me seeing it right after it hit, and making the connection to his business, then the subsequent screw-ups, until the owner finally bought it that night.

Weird how random life is.

 

[Domaineer1]

In another tidbit of information, after the owner finally got the domain, I found out through WHOIS that it had been owned by a big domain company since 2003 (!) and I guess they didn't want it anymore and decided to drop it.

Then it slid through auction, to Closeout and to me seeing it right after it hit, and making the connection to his business, then the subsequent screw-ups, until the owner finally bought it that night.

Weird how random life is.

Hey man heart felt thread and all friend but you know I could use this gift you speak of to fill my pickets since they are a bit empty. I'll trade you one if my domains :D

P.S im joking but I'm in if you're in

 

[TestCase]

Damn, it's infuriating trying to help some people....

Just bask in the afterglow of knowing YOU were a good guy and tried to do someone a BIG favor -- but HIS procrastination is going to end up costing him MUCH more in the long run...

 

[WingMan]

Good Samaritan? Hahaha, lemme tell you my story.

Was going through auctions one day. Saw a lovely brandable domain which had only a minute or less for the auction to get closed.

Just didn't had time to go through all those trademark checks or all those checks I usually do before buying a domain.

I thought it's a cool name and will do the checks later since it was now just a few seconds away from closing down.

Anyway, purchased it. It was supposed to be in my account 3-4 days later. Now went back to do those trademark checks and all.

Saw it was an 18 years old domain with an existing trademark. And it was some company's very first product.

Let's say for example there is this somecompany.com who owns 3-4 products:

ProductA.Com
ProductB.Com
ProductC.Com
ProductD.Com

That feels even more hurtful
Do you still own the domain name?

 

[offthehandle]

You need to work a few years in sales. Doing demos. Traveling 50,000 miles driving in traffic jams on sales calls, explaining, assisting, “free consulting”, wasting your time with people insisting on brain picking, user people, late appointments, no shows, Group decisions where one decision maker isnt enough... ugh the worst, etc. and you will become immune to these type of people. It’s just normal. Keep smiling.

 

[DrJacoby]

You need to work a few years in sales. Doing demos. Traveling 50,000 miles driving in traffic jams on sales calls, explaining, assisting, “free consulting”, wasting your time with people insisting on brain picking, user people, late appointments, no shows, Group decisions where one decision maker isnt enough... ugh the worst, etc. and you will become immune to these type of people. It’s just normal. Keep smiling.

Sounds like a terrible life.

 

[Nahdism]

That feels even more hurtful
Do you still own the domain name?

Yup

 

[Banezer]

i remember around 2yrs ago when one can still renew a domain that is on expire auction. The domain chidi.com was own by my country man and this was his real name which has value because i came from same tribe....domain was already $17,000 plus bid via godaddy auction with about 2days to go, i tried my best to reach him even @jideofor tried reaching him without success, i was able to reach the son and daughter of the owner explain myself and told them to hurry and ask their dad to renew his domain because it was less than a day before it expire. Too bad they did not take it serous....the domain sold for $18250, ahh godaddy pocketed the $18250 that my country man should have renewed for only $80. He lost this valuable domain that means alot in our tribe. I felt like crying for this big mistake...well it is gone....forward ever.

 

[DrJacoby]

The domain chidi.com was own by my country man and this was his real name which has value because i came from same tribe....

Wait, what?!

 

[Haris]

thanking me and offering a free gift.

What's the gift?

 

[DomainRecap]

What's the gift?

Hint: It's not a gold bar.

 

[Karen Vaughn]

I would like to comment at the risk of making some feel uncomfortable. The domain business is just that, a business. I too, have been in this position, but what I started to do was send an email, and offer my service of obtaining the domain name on their behalf, for a $20.00 fee, but I always included how to obtain the domain name on their own. What I realized, that most general business owners have no idea what the word domain name means, let alone the steps of obtaining it. I would say 99% of the time, I am asked to go ahead and purchase the domain name for them. I set up a seperate GoDaddy account for them and release the username/password once they pay me on paypal. Now, once they pay you for the domain name, ask if they need a website. If they say yes, sell that information to a web design company and collect a commision for the lead. Try turning the table and make a few bucks for 5 minutes of your time.