Selling reputation for $100

[johnn]

I made an offer $1,000 on 2 domains and the seller accepted my offer.
He sent me his paypal email and asked me to pay.
I said I am on the road and I will pay when I get home. He said OK.

15 minutes later he sent me an email and said he sold the 2 names to someone for $1,100 because he needs more money.

So technically he sold his reputation for $100. I even offer $1,000 Mass Pay so he would net $1,000 even.
Is this the way you conduct a business? I told him he needs to refund the money to the buyer and sell the names to me as we agreed, The reason he needs money has nothing to do with the agreement for the transaction.

I am not desperately needed the names but I feel like I am being cheated.

The member is NP member and all the conversation happened in the PM.
I want to give him the last chance to do it right!!!

 

[gilescoley]

Im surprised at the some of the comments above, I guess thats why I wont sell domains to fellow domainers..

Its not about whats on paper and what the "rules" are, its just about agreeing to something and then following through with it, forget what you are allowed to do and what your obligations are, its just about keeping your word when making a deal. If you arent sure about the price, rather ask for a few more days to consider it and then make your decisions and stick to it.

When a man breaks his word, he breaks all credibility with that party

I would give him/her the same 15 minutes courtesy to make it right then put their name on public display for everyone to see what $100 gets you in the professional world.

Im all for that too, it will at least warn other people to be aware

 

[Konga]

They agreed on the amount? Yes

They agreed when the payment will be done? Yes

The seller didnt keep his word and sold it to another? Yes - Thats the problem

Do you need rules to know this? No, thats basic, you made an agreement you stick to it, Simple

 

[Kate]

I have lost much more money in a similar situation, but I honored my word.
Trust is everything in business. It takes years to build reputation, but you can lose it in one second

 

[cyc]

Nothing wrong here.

You sent the payment to them? No.

They received your payment, another no.

They agreed with another party within more positive reasons and they made an explaination also.

"I told him he needs to refund the money to the buyer and sell the names to me as we agreed,"

They don't have any obligation to do this, even if it's not ethical.

That's all.

Don't be such a poor guy please.

 

[Michael R.]

I'm shocked by what I read here, and I will reconsider the confidence I had, by default, in all members on this forum.

A lot of people here want/hope/dream to become domains professionals. I think first step is to behave like a professional, and honour a deal when it is agreed.

 

[gilescoley]

I cant understand how people do business like this, where has professionalism and integrity gone these days

 

[SirDrago]

When a man breaks his word, he breaks all credibility with that party

I rather lose $100 and gain a client for future purchases.
Companies today pay hundreds of thousands to advertise themselves to the general public in hopes of seeing ROI.
Here in this case the seller sold out their credibility for a mere $100 and lost not only a client who might of purchased more in the near future but is about to be plastered for greed and unprofessionalism.

 

[SirDrago]

15 minutes later he sent me an email and said he sold the 2 names to someone for $1,100 because he needs more money.

The member is NP member and all the conversation happened in the PM.
I want to give him the last chance to do it right!!!

I would give him/her the same 15 minutes courtesy to make it right then put their name on public display for everyone to see what $100 gets you in the professional world.

 

[Domain Lead Finder]

"There is something wrong with your character if opportunity controls your loyalty"

 

[Soofi]

There is/was no auction. Buyer messaged an offer here on NP to seller and seller saw a deal, agreed to sell at $1000. It was privately dealt, and now seller is backing out friends (OP please correct me if I am wrong).

As outlined in the NamePros rules, it clearly states that all sales agreements are binding. That means that this agreement between buyer/seller is binding regardless of being in private messages. Payment was agreed to be made after sometime. I would suggest that the seller (@busyj) must go through with the sale that was agreed upon between him and the buyer (@johnn).

Per Forum rules, failure to honor a binding agreement can result in a bad business infraction that could limit an accounts access to NamePros.

I suggest buyer should add Admin to the conversation so that he can go through the whole incident and decide per forum rules.

Good luck both of you!

 

[mibworld]

This situation could have been completely avoided if the seller had just said, "I received a counter-offer of # amount, would you like to go higher?" If it's within a few days, that would be reasonable. However, if the agreed transaction took place over a longer period such as a month, they should honor the original buyer.

With that said, I've always found it easier to agree to something when I'm 100% sure I won't regret a better deal later. It's business.

It seems like "selling reputation for $100" is a sensationalist title, but I understand OP's frustration.

I don't think the situation would be avoided in the way you say. I you received an offer and agreed to it, you just can't consider other offers. You can't ask the buyer to increase his offer if you already accepted his first one.

 

[RJ]

This situation comes up quite frequently in a forum setting because transactions don't always happen instantly for various reasons. People are online at different times, bank transfers take time, etc.

Soofi is right. When you accept an offer from someone, you are bound to complete it. PM communication accepting an offer is like verbal contract and is still a contract. Any other offers coming in should be considered only if the first does not follow through with whatever was agreed upon or disappears or what have you.

It sucks sometimes to have a bigger offer come in after you just agreed with someone else (believe me, I know,) but violating contracts does put you at risk of legal action from the other member, and is at the very least, worthy of a negative trader rating on this forum.

 

[james haw]

I told him that I totally understand that but that I need to accept the higher offer because of the situation I am in right now.
(I would've never sold these names for 1k nor 1100 USD if it would not have been for the situation I was in)

If you have money issues, then I sincerely sympathise with your circumstances, and hope you manage to resolve whatever (financial) issues you have. But trying to resolve your issues by leaning on others is not excusable or decent.

Also, this wasn't even the best thing you could have done even with a desperate situation. What if your 2nd buyer had later cancelled? Do you go back to johnn and try to sell to him again? This was risking losing two buyers and a $1000 solid deal for the sake of $100 extra, and this is a gamble and if you're desperate for money you shouldn't gamble
Not to mention it was unfair to johnn and a loss of potential future sales with him.

Taking the $1000 with johnn should have helped solve whatever issue you claim to have. And if johnn had backed out you still had another buyer, and this was the safest move for you as well as the honourable one.

Biting the hand which feeds you is not the best way to resolve your hunger


Realistically, you were not 100% happy with the offer johnn gave and you would have preferred more, and this then requires negotiations with johnn before agreeing on a sum, or waiting to see other offers. But accepting johnn's $1000 offer because you were desperate to sell and then pushing it aside for another offer is not fair, it shows desperation (or greed and a lack of honour if your story is not true) and this is not fair on other people who are buying in good faith.
What if a 3rd offer came in for $1200? Where do you stop?


I hope you resolve whatever issues you currently have, but try not to make them worse through rash decisions and by alienating those around you, especially those you need to help resolve your issue by selling names to them.

And keep your integrity, no matter how desperate you are. Otherwise once you have steamed through and eventually resolved your issue, you may find you just created other issues along the way

 

[AlokDomain]

I have made losses on this forum due to lower bids, but I have never complained this to the Seller and sold the name at auctioned price only, so once you are agree, you have to be agree with the deal

 

[johnn]

I gave him enough time to make it up and do it right but he seems to ignore me so here is the sale thread

https://www.namepros.com/threads/sold-lll-org.908743/#post-5279981

 

[ProvenPro]

Very disappointing to see so many people think it is acceptable to break a deal that has been mutually agreed-upon.

 

[1NiteStand]

To some people, 100 is nothing, to others, it is every thing, mostly to those who need money urgently or the opposite end, those who collect coupons and think 100 is huge, and do everything they can to save save save and reduce cost/expense.

It would be best if you gave negative feedback at this point if he didn't correct his mistake, because that function serves to warn others who would be doing any transactions with this person that s/he is not to be trusted.

People are not going to land on this page before doing transactions with him.. they will just see their profile and rep as an indication of trust.. so use the rep system, it has purpose.


People "sell" their rep for a lot less, even for nothing.

 

[ulterios]

That's just crazy. Getting a bad reputation as a seller can cost them more in the long run. I am a firm believer that once an offer is accepted then the seller should go through with it.

I had someone that wasn't honoring their prices on domains I won in an auction to me(external auction). All because they got pumped up thinking the domain is worth more because someone said they think it's worth more. I even did an article on my personal blog about one of these happenings. I didn't mention names but he's a member here as well.

In your case since he had the option to decline your offer in the first place but accepted, then he should honor it.

 

[cocaseco]

Nothing wrong here.

You sent the payment to them? No.

They received your payment, another no.

They agreed with another party within more positive reasons and they made an explanation also.

"I told him he needs to refund the money to the buyer and sell the names to me as we agreed,"

They don't have any obligation to do this, even if it's not ethical.

That's all.

Don't be such a poor guy please.

Agreed. Unless there was a written and executed contract, there is no legal obligation. That's why you don't buy a house on a handshake. There is no obligation, and the deal is never done until the money is in the bank. It's bad form for sure, but that is not a crime. It's a risk, one of many, we run in this business.

I would add that if the deal had been done through the auction here, which I'm understanding it was not, then there would have been some recourse as they would have been removed from NP, for whatever that is worth.

Publish his name to warn others though. Then someone can decide if they want to deal with this person from an informed position.

 

[DomainVP]

Once an offer is accepted then the seller should go through with it.

 

[Domainace]

What about the dude who poached your purchase by offering an extra $100? .

He didn't break his word and skip out on an agreement, so I don't see the relevance. It's fairly standard behavior to try to top another offer.

If you read his post carefully, you will see that he's not really sorry; in fact, he tries to make a case for his actions.
He's just sorry that he was called out on it.

He explained that he was having money problems, and acknowledged what he did was wrong.
Whether he is sincerely sorry or not is a question that cant be answered here. It's up to each person who chooses to deal with him whether they are OK with it.

In my opinion, there is not much more he can do. He broke his word, got called out on it, and apologized while explaining his circumstances. In my opinion, it's time to move on. It's not like we have the crime of the century here. He screwed up, and it has been noted.

 

[DNScholar]

Not good on the part of seller. Atleast 48 hrs non-compete agreement should be there (Ethically)

 

[Flipsbay]

Business is all about your words you keep it or you lose it

There is no bigger contract then your own words. What if you create a paper contract and burn it after you get the payment. That should't be a problem then as there is no prove for that deal.

Domain might seems a virtual business but you are making thousands of real money why not play it real

Thanks.

 

[deez007]

That definitely sucks man....but on a positive note, perhaps it was just not meant to be and u might end up seeing. another two domains that u want even more for the same price...

Who knows.