Offers from Gmail addresses

[NLP]

I'm getting more and more offers from people using Gmail addresses, and I'd like to know how people deal with this.

I'm not talking about appraisal scams or spam, but genuine emails asking if the domain is for sale, and the price.

The most recent one came in this morning, for a domain that's not listed at Sedo (I'd forgotten to park it there after acquiring it last year).

I know some people refuse to deal with "free" email addresses at yahoo, Gmail, etc. - so do you tell them that? Or just name my price (which, for this particular name, is 5 figures) and move on?

It's impossible to tell the IP address, or whether this is a big domainer hiding behind an alias, an end user, or someone's real email address.

 

[indiegrind]

I would never reject inquires or offers because of their email address. I'd just require escrow.com be used.

 

[NPer]

I know some people refuse to deal with "free" email addresses at yahoo, Gmail, etc. - so do you tell them that? Or just name my price (which, for this particular name, is 5 figures) and move on?

It's impossible to tell the IP address, or whether this is a big domainer hiding behind an alias, an end user, or someone's real email address.

I do not like free email services at all.

But- I've actually sold names to persons who approached me using free email.

If the individual asked for a price in the email, you can give it him or ask him to make an offer.
If he has already made an offer which is a bit low for you, respond with your price.

I know that there are people out there who will create a free email account specifically for approaching the owner of a domain.

Domainers have obvious reason to do this-not wanting the seller to know what kind of names he owns, his location, real name/company name- important info which can affect his chances of getting the name for a reasonable or at a bargain price.

End-users also do this. They may want to conceal their true identity to prevent overpaying or to perhaps score a bargain. I dealt with an individual in my country who was using a free email address... a few days later whois changed: was a very large company. Was a good sale-even knowing the true buyer.

If you are going to quote a price, quote one as you would for an end-user. And negotiate from there if it's too steep for the potential buyer.

 

[biggie]

:talk:


i've sold more names to @gmail.com addresses, than to @qq.com

 

[NLP]

Thank you.

Yes, I know this is a tactic domain buyers sometimes use to try to get a better deal.

I think someone has outsourced their price shopping - upon further inspection, there's a slight awkward wording to the email.

My reply was short - I named the mid 5-figure price to buy the domain outright. This is what I've done for all of these "mystery sender" emails I've gotten. If they want to pay that price, great. More than likely, I won't hear anything back.

It's just funny...I actually prefer anonymous offers via Sedo to getting a mystery email. Either way, the price is going to be the same - it's just that I'd feel a little better knowing who was on the other end.

 

[Ms Domainer]

*

Makes no difference to me what email is used.

I use Sedo for my sales. Genuine buyers are delighted once they know they aren't responsible for the commission (I build the commission into the price).

*

 

[Havela]

I would never disregard a free email address sender. Personally I almost always use gmail for two reasons:

1) I do not want any of my own domains punished, or even worse blacklisted, in Google because my email address has been picked up by a spoofer, which I have experienced.

2) Many large Internet providers, e.g. AOL, target email addresses from unknown domains. You actually have to "whitelist" a new domain email address before you start using it, otherwise it goes straight into the spam filter of many large providers. Gmail on the other hand, as the cunning little Google device it is, slips through almost all the cracks.

Just my 2c.

 

[the_poet]

I myself use a gmail address and 70% of the people I've successfully dealt with used gmail addresses I guess it's because people perceive gmail not just as another email provider but THE email provider and consider it far more reliable than others like hotmail or yahoo.

 

[DomainAgents]

I've never taken issue with Gmail addresses. I have seen a few very large offers come from Hotmail addresses and that's given me pause.

Like was said above, if you use Escrow.com, you're probably OK.

We prequalify offers on DA, so we at least have a valid Paypal account. Haven't had any issues.

 

[SpareDomains]

generally from the wording of the email I either respond or hit delete, sounds stupid but after getting so many offers over the years gets easier to see patterns of bullshit emails, believe me if you accidentally deleted one and they were the perfect end user with a budget they will be back, I deleted one on accident a while ago and he came back through moniker and we closed at high xxxx, today generally I respond to anything if it's a domain I wanna sell, if it's in my premium stash and it's an anonymous email with no initial offer made I don't respond as my site specifically says inquiries without offers will be deleted, the "hey I found your domain on sedo, what is your price?" straight to the trash can as usually appraisal scam and if they found it on sedo then they can find it again on sedo and make the offer there if I don't respond

 

[alien51]

If an End-User wants to buy a domain because he doesn't own any domain yet, then how could he get an email address to contact you via email in the first place ??

Perhaps what you mean, is that you are only interested with End-User domain buyers who can prove that they have lots of money, and who already own famous domains.

If i were a popular End-User running a famous domain, i would more likely not use my famous company email address to buy your stuff, because i know you will jack-up the price tag of your merchandise to astronomical proportions if you knew i have boatloads of money to spend.

 

[Fonzie]

I'm getting more and more offers from people using Gmail addresses, and I'd like to know how people deal with this.

I'm not talking about appraisal scams or spam, but genuine emails asking if the domain is for sale, and the price.

The most recent one came in this morning, for a domain that's not listed at Sedo (I'd forgotten to park it there after acquiring it last year).

I know some people refuse to deal with "free" email addresses at yahoo, Gmail, etc. - so do you tell them that? Or just name my price (which, for this particular name, is 5 figures) and move on?

It's impossible to tell the IP address, or whether this is a big domainer hiding behind an alias, an end user, or someone's real email address.

FFS

What is it about gmail addresses that makes you want to potentially turn away money on the basis of someone using one?

Dumbest Domainer Model #2: Never makes a sale because he's too afraid the counterparty is someone who could 'afford more', winds up blowing every deal out of fear and greed, has plenty of domain names, has no money.

 

[alien51]

If i was Apple.COM, and i'm planning to buy a domain from some smart aleck domainer, i'll probably just get a third-party poser who can pretend to be some Mom-and-Pops small timer (complete with a landing page, or some phony website using a .NET or some .COM with dashes). Convince the domainer to sell to some country grandma for a decent $500, in the pretext of hoping the domain will help boost grandma's novelty shop.

Then after 6 months, "grandma" transfers the domain to Apple.COM.

 

[NLP]

FFS

What is it about gmail addresses that makes you want to potentially turn away money on the basis of someone using one?

Dumbest Domainer Model #2: Never makes a sale because he's too afraid the counterparty is someone who could 'afford more', winds up blowing every deal out of fear and greed, has plenty of domain names, has no money.

With all due respect, before you call me "dumb" - I was referring to statements made by OTHER domainers, on this board, DNF, and elsewhere. There are people out there who insist on dealing with people with company email addresses, as well as people whose entire negotiating position/strategy revolves around NOT replying (i.e., Rick Schwartz does this all the time, as well as another guy I know down in FL who has had way more high 5-figure sales than the average person reading this thread).

I was posing a question to the board to see what methods people have, if any, of trying to ascertain who's contacting them when it's a buyer who has tried to remain anonymous.

This is isn't a "dumb" question - name me a domainer on the planet that doesn't immediately put an email address into Google, DomainTools, or FB after getting an offer. Information is power, and the more information you have, the more leverage you have.

The price is not dependent on who's doing the asking. At least, for this particular name it's not, because it's not priced at a reseller level to begin with.

 

[SpareDomains]

Information is power, and the more information you have, the more leverage you have.

agreed, reason all of my domains redirect to my own sales pages or the parking page link does, name, email, phone, ip etc... better than negotiating blind Sedo etc...

The price is not dependent on who's doing the asking. At least, for this particular name it's not, because it's not priced at a reseller level to begin with.

You just described 99.9% of my portfolio, every domain of mine has a ballpark range to sell, if an end user comes through price is xxxx-xxxxxx and if a domainer comes through or anonymous email price is the same, doesn't mean their offer isn't the best they could do just means they are not the buyer I'm looking to sell to, helps to be in a position financially where you can afford to say no if the offer is under valued, reseller pricing doesn't exist in my world, I'll buy from resellers all day long but not looking to sell back to one as I wouldn't have bought the domain from them unless I thought it had multiple end users