Dear Daniel Capusan,
I don't see the need for knowing JudgeMind's real location, operating singly or with a team, or being a broker, first owner or last owner of a particular domain name as a great excuse to not purchase the domain from him.
It's clear simple. He did what any other domainer might do if they were in his place. He saw you interested in a particular domain name. He researched about it. Saw it being sold on another platform. Got an idea to make a little profit out of it. Both of you agreed on a payment amount. He might have contacted the original user, purchased the domain from him for a little less amount and tried to initiate the transaction which you both agreed upon.
He may or may not have pretended to be the original owner, but as long as he didn't steal or hacked the domain, I don't see any real reason for you not keeping your word. If you really wanted the domain, you would have gotten from him or previous owner anyhow.
Domaining is just like any other offline/online business and all business owners do lie a little bit to attract their clients. It's a common business tactic. One may say that they got a great offer from another end user to inflate the inbound/outbound inquiries, or something similar to keep their business going.
JudgeMind (or any other person on this earth) could be an American or a Canadian. They could be brokers, end users or resellers. They might have a team or might not have. But as long as they are legally buying/selling domains or any other legal stuff from you or to you, all other things shouldn't be a matter of concern for you.
I will give you a real-life incident which might help you understand what I am trying to convey exactly.
I went to a local cloth market and stopped at a store a while back. I needed a particular kind of designer dress which I described to the store owner. The store owner told that they had a dress that fits my requirements perfectly. He asked me to wait for sometime till his employees get it from their warehouse a block or two away. He called one of his employees and told something in his ear. His employee went out of the store and I could see his whereabouts because the store had see-through glasses all around.
At first, the guy went to a store beside, waited outside, a person came out, he told him something, the other person told him something and that employee moved on. Stopped at another store, talked to a person, then moved away. Did something at next 2-3 stores and finally, a person at the last store he went, spoke to him and came out with a few dresses that matched my requirements. He grabbed those dresses, thanked the store owner or employee (from what I figured out) and came back to the store.
He showed me all of those dresses. While the employee was showing me those dresses, the owner was boasting of how their shop was the only specialist in the city dealing with these kinds of dresses. How they get the cloth woven in a special mill that no other cloth store owners have access to. How they get designers from other cities and countries to add sequins, shimmer, stones and other stuff on their dresses. How their warehouse contains highly customized pieces of designer wears and blah blah.
I knew he was lying to my face, but I just didn't want to mess with him and I know these are commonly practiced business methodologies that are in vogue since forever. I pretended to go with his lies. I picked the dress that I liked the most. Asked for the price, he gave me a really escalated price. I kept bargaining. He kept boasting about his dresses and how my choice was unique and all. I wanted to move to the next store due to budget constraints, but I really liked the dress so I was firmly bargaining over and over. Finally, we both agreed on a particular price. I paid him and took my lovely loot back to my home.
So why did I purchased the dress from him if I knew all along that he was a plain liar?
1. He saved my time and energy. If not for him, I would have to stop at every store and return empty-handed.
2. Got a great discount. Since I chose to keep mum for his non-sensical talks, he thought I was a good client and allowed me to bargain my heart out. I can say this because few of my cousins got similar kinds of dresses elsewhere at 2-3 times more the prices.
3. I discovered a store that's going to give me value for money and even save my time. He got a customer that recommends his store to all her friends and family. It was a win-win situation for both of us.
4. I got exactly what I wanted, under my budget, while coolly seated inside an air-conditioned store.
But just not to make a fool of myself, I returned to the market a few days later, went to the other store that actually had that dress, again described what I wanted. That store's employee guided me to a mannequin that was wearing the same dress that I purchased. I asked for its price and the same old escalated plumpy amount was given. Tried to reason out and bargain, the store owner got pissed off and clearly expressed that his shop was a fixed-price one and they don't entertain any bargaining. I left the store and neither the owner nor the employees were keen to talk to me about selling out that dress to me.
So here are the lessons I learned that day:
1. The business owners should have a great convincing power. if your attitude isn't great, nobody will care to get anything from you even if you are distributing things for FREE.
2. A little lie is always a great backbone to make business prosperous. Although I don't endorse lying.
3. Resellers do help each other to clear out each other's inventories. They may sell things to other resellers at cost-to cost or for a loss, but they will never let their end users know this because this might be bad for their business.
4. Word of mouth, real-life ratings and experiences are the most powerful form of advertising and marketing.
5. Work on what client wants and not on whatever you like to sell.
I am not trying to accuse anyone or anybody here nor trying to take up sides, but if you really want something, you get it in any way possible (legal of course). So as long as JudgeMind, hasn't stolen or hacked the domain name nor forcefully or deceitfully acquired the domain from the previous owner, and tried to complete the transaction in a timely manner, nothing else should be on your mind.
And everybody knows that sometimes, the previous owners forget to remove domains from the various auction houses they previously submitted to sell.
Just my two cents.
Have a great day, peeps
