Selling to Russians

[TIJH]

Hi everyone,

I recently sold a domain but am having trouble communicating with the Russian buyer who is - by his own admission - google translating his emails to me.

Here is his last email, word-for-word:

send! secret key domain !!!!!!!!!! money as you send, pay Bargain !!!!!!!!!!!!!! you understand ??????????? while the domain is not me, the money you or who do not pay !!!!!!

Any idea what he actually means?

Cheers.

 

[RTM]

Ouch... I hope it's not for a high value transaction since things could get messy if details get lost in, err... the translation.

"secret key domain" ? Perhaps he means the auth code him to transfer it out ?

The rest isn't too coherent... (at least to me)... You may be better off asking him to send you the text in Russian and have you translate it (using tools, or a trusted Russian - English person.. ?

Good luck with it!
Rob

 

[nielsencl]

Did they alredy pay you for the domain?

If not, you may want to reconsider the sale or use a service like Escrow.com. Russia is one country that seems to be the source of many scams and greater care should be taken when dealing with them.

 

[gazzip]

I'd ask Sedo.com to broker the deal or forget it.


send! secret key domain !!!!!!!!!! money as you send, pay Bargain !!!!!!!!!!!!!! you understand ??????????? while the domain is not me, the money you or who do not pay !!!!!!


EEEEK, what with all the !!!!!! ??????? Smells a bit scammy to me TBH



.

 

[RTM]

Good points (and idea) about using - reputable - domain escrow service that does business with Russia.

Incidentally on SEDO, Russia is one of the countries they have "classified as high risk countries and are blocked from making credit card payments to Sedo."

 

[mitok]

LLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLL ))))))))

I am sorry, i couldnt resist, i can imagine this My english is far away from fluent, but i really get laugh on this

Now to be serious......i had few deals with persons who think they speak english but they dont, and i can say that we havent finished any deal, so i guess you get the point. If i were you, i would ask to receive money or domain first (depend if you are buyer or seller), or would ask him to hire someone who speak his language and also english

 

[DnEbook]

you can reply via yahoo bablefish or freetranslation/com

send your reply with both translations to be sure he understands

 

[kriss05]

Ask him to write in Russian and post the answer here/PM me for Russian-to-English translation

 

[DutchBoyd]

It sounds like he wants you to send the authorization code for the domain and that he will pay you after he has control of the name.

 

[ssamriga]

I know Russian too if you need any help translating.

From the message it seems to me he wants you to transfer first and then pay, so clearly that's not an option. Then again scammers for sure would know English, so this may be a legitimate enduser. But I would never transfer the name without payment in my pocket to someone who writes such emails

 

[SiberForum]

I know Russian too if you need any help translating.

From the message it seems to me he wants you to transfer first and then pay, so clearly that's not an option. Then again scammers for sure would know English, so this may be a legitimate enduser. But I would never transfer the name without payment in my pocket to someone who writes such emails

I suppose that would be better for both sides to run thi operation through trusted marketplace only. That is recommended.

 

[alistair80]

Ask him to write in Russian and post the answer here/PM me for Russian-to-English translation

I second that!! Tell him ya panimayu pa-ruski...once he sends it to you in Russian, it'd be clear as crystal. I do believe Russia hosts scammers as other countries too I haven't yet come any Russian that scammed me though!

 

[lincolndsp]

in fact many scammers also live in EU and USA.
in this case I would not deal without an escrow.

 

[TIJH]

Thanks all, I backed out of the sale now, better to be safe than sorry.

That said, it would be an excellent resource if someone were to offer these language services to domainers at cut-price fees. I am fluent in German and often laugh when I see the google translations from English into German, I'm sure many deals have been called off as they end up looking so dodgy but no-one wants to pay a professional translator for email correspondence either.

 

[DubDubDubDot]

in fact many scammers also live in EU and USA.

Africa, Middle East, Asia, East Europe and Russia have a far higher number of scammers per capita than North America, EU and Australia.

Russia is best known for stealing credit card numbers and doing joins at xxx affiliate programs. I'm not sure of the extent they steal domains. It seems like most of that activity is out of the Middle East.

 

[fleshas]

Africa, Middle East, Asia, East Europe and Russia have a far higher number of scammers per capita than North America, EU and Australia.

Russia is best known for stealing credit card numbers and doing joins at xxx affiliate programs. I'm not sure of the extent they steal domains. It seems like most of that activity is out of the Middle East.

In all countries you can find scamers. Our main customers - from Russia and we have no problems with them.
I am from Easter europe and what i can say: Open your minds and don't look tu us as potential scamers and frouders.

 

[alistair80]

In all countries you can find scamers. Our main customers - from Russia and we have no problems with them.
I am from Easter europe and what i can say: Open your minds and don't look tu us as potential scamers and frouders.

You are from Lithuania: one of my most trusted and brilliant colleague developers is from your country too. He is the kind of person that would refund you in full if a project isn't completed on time let alone stealing stuff from others. I am sure that there are exceptions like him. As a directory owner, I know most top directory owners around the world and one of em is from Russia; one of the most trustworthy dudes I've ever come across.

However, as DubDubDubDot mentioned the amount of internet scammers outside North America and Western Europe significantly outnumbers the ones from them. The vast majority of complaints I've seen seem to relate to those countries (for some odd reason). However...fortunately for me, I've never been scammed on the net in 15 years!