Shane Bellone Thinks It's Ok To Bypass Broker.

[talhahassan]

Hi

I sent two LLL.com domains which I was brokering to Shane Bellone in response to his thread in Domains Wanted.

He replied to me first about dropping the price.

I asked how much is his client's highest offer . To which he said how many months finance would be agreeable.

I told him owners won't agree to financing options.

He then asked me why I messaged him in the first place as his requirement was related to financing the domain and he will contact the owners now to see if they will agree.

I apologized to him for missing the financing part and asked when did it become a good business practice to bypass brokers and contact the owners directly.

His reply was " My business is to get the best price for myself and my clients. Bypassing a broker who may or may not have an exclusive contract makes sense. Saves them a commission which therefore saves me or my client money."

I am attaching the link to the screenshot as well.

imgur. com/a/l4VDz
I think it's totally unethical to bypass a broker . What are your thoughts on this?

 

[S-B]

Did someone read correctly what OP said in his initial post? Let me paste it below:

Bypassing a broker who may or may not have an exclusive contract makes sense.

Really? Even if I have an exclusive contact with some broker and I still end up selling that particular domain through some other channel!! That's just disgusting. A clear cut thinking of greedy mind who is just running after money blindly.

I hate to sound like a broken record but maybe it takes you an unusually long time to understand things... the contract is between the owner and broker not between anyone else. It would be unethical and potentially illegal for the owner to break the contract but that's their prerogative.

 

[Azwan Asban]

Haha.. i wish i posted something like that early

 

[HUKU]

I think it's totally unethical to take 15% on every domain(or any other value)

No-one can take 15% on every domain. It only happens when you form an agreement and you can avoid it quite simply by not forming an agreement to work with a broker.

It looks like 15% is now industry standard and with good reason. It's very hard work selling domains through marketing and direct sales strategies and its very easy for a seller to simply cushion the cost of the broker by increasing their prices by half the amount of the broker commission.

If you don't want to pay a broker commission, don't work with a broker but if you don't have basic business principles, you shouldn't be in business.

 

[fitkhan]

So "Broker" has no exclusive contract with the owner of the domain..
He ignored or missed the buyer request regarding financing and "wasted" buyer's time.
So the buyer decides to contact the owner directly and said that bypassing a broker who may or may not have an exclusive contract makes sense because it saves him and his client some money.... So saving money is more important .... No business ethics .... because he doesn't care if there is any exclusive contract or there isn't any...
Now the broker is upset and uploads a screen shot of personal conversation publicly on namepros.... Money is important for him as well.. No ethics ...

Now some folks talking technically that how a deal is done and telling the broker about the "Exclusive Contract" blah blah.... But they are ignoring the fact that the buyer damn care about any contract.... Why you guys are ignoring this part and are teaching the broker that how the business should be done...... Very sad...
The broker is not innocent as well.. He shouldn't have uploaded the screen shots.... He must be well prepared and well protected....

 

[HUKU]

It may be unethical, but it's smart business.

How is this smart business? You hire a broker and they work very long hours for you for months on end, and you don't credit them with commission on a sale generated by their lead?

How is that any different from hiring a bunch of newbie domainers to work for you and refusing to pay them as promised? We know a long thread about that....

 

[trampoline]

If you don't want to pay a broker commission, don't work with a broker but if you don't have basic business principles, you shouldn't be in business.

You should see it in a whole context meaning, compared with the situation.
I am not contrary the commissions in general situations. I just stated that comparing it to this situation, is more unethical getting a profit of 10% - 15% or whatever the value may be, than bypassing the Broker.

As i said in my first post, i see the problem between the Owner and the Broker.

It's very hard work selling domains through marketing and direct sales strategies and its very easy for a seller to simply cushion the cost of the broker by increasing their prices by half the amount of the broker commission.

To tell you the truth, i am not sure on that. Its been quite a few months that i spent some time reading and focusing my mind in Domaining, and i've seen a lot of people who call themselves Brokers(i don't want to judge nobody), and they just do brokerage of LL.com LLL.com LLLL.com or oneword.com, or short numerics and so on. If you don't have one of those, your out. You cannot hire a Broker.

In my opinion, a Broker actually should be able to find the market or endusers for the vast majority of domains(whatever the price maybe XX or XX.XXX). That's his job, to find the market.

I own a few domains(150-200), but this doesn't make me a domainer. And i guess not all the Brokers can be called Brokers.

All the best

PS: i think we got a bit off topic

 

[promo]

I think that since we work in such an informal industry, ethics, morale and reliability become paramount to being successful in the long run. Especially as a broker; you burn your bridges today you wont be able to cross them tomorrow.

Even when you have an exclusive contract, you are relying on your seller to honour that and secondly on your leads to not go around you. If any of these chains fail, you wont get paid. So it becomes very important for you as a broker only to commit to trustworthy sellers and only do cooperation with trustworthy brokers and buyers. From what I am hearing here, Shane is neither. Shame shame.

I personally am appalled by @Shane Bellone behaviour in this situation and I will certainly remember this for future reference.

 

[S-B]

I personally am appalled by @Shane Bellone behaviour in this situation and I will certainly remember this for future reference.

My heart is broken.

 

[promo]

Money talks. As long as I'm paying, most will do business with me. Plain and simple.

Money talks yes.. And if we come to you to sell names then there is a large chance that we get NO money since you apparently can be trusted as far as I can throw you. So I think you will find that your rep will have an affect on which and how many deals you will be able to find in future.

 

[promo]

My heart is broken.

We had a long convo a few weeks back about brokerage business. I gave you some pointers and at the time I thought that we might do business in future. You are probably not really heartbroken, but you certainly wont be doing any business with me either.

Yeah yeah.. Boohoo you dont need me. But do you need to be respected and trusted as a business person? Frankly you age shines through in your attitude.

 

[B0NES]

Business is not for everyone. If you take things personally like this or you expect anything different you will have some rough deals in the future.

You go into a store to see a TV, you then realize you can get it 15% cheaper buying off amazon. Cut out the middleman, and saved yourself 15%

Business is about making money, if a seller or buyer finds a way to save themselves more money they will go for it. This should be a lesson to you to always cover your own back in situations like this.

 

[S-B]

Money talks yes.. And if we come to you to sell names then there is a large chance that we get NO money since you apparently can be trusted as far as I can throw you. So I think you will find that your rep will have an affect on which and how many deals you will be able to find in future.

Last year, I did just shy of $180,000 in sales, about $60,000 of that was through Paypal, and around $15,000 in checks. I'm pretty confident that enough people trust me. Do not insinuate that I'm some type of thief. That is laughable and I am quite sure you will regret it.

 

[promo]

Yeah Shane your the bomb. We all love you and think the world of you. You simply cant fail and flaunting your frayed ethics wont ever hurt your reputation. You are trusthworthy and would never steal.

You believe what you want. But dont try to threaten me in any way you low life. We will see who will be sorry.

 

[S-B]

Yeah Shane your the bomb. We all love you and think the world of you. You simply cant fail and flaunting your frayed ethics wont ever hurt your reputation. You are trusthworthy and would never steal.

You believe what you want. But dont try to threaten me in any way you low life. We will see who will be sorry.

Lol. Resulting to petty name calling and threats you will not follow through with. It's interesting to see what passes for a man in 2016.

 

[promo]

I am NOT threatening you. You told me I would be sorry for thinking you a thief. I did not accuse you of theft. But to me you are on the same shelf for sure.

Besides its not petty name calling its an accurate description of your person. Thats different.

 

[S-B]

I did not accuse you of theft.

there is a large chance that we get NO money

 

[promo]

Yes. Since we as brokers trust that we can bring buyers leads without them trying to go around us. If they do there is a large chance we get no money. Exclusive or not.

Its exactly what you did. If you equate that to theft. Thats your assesment.

 

[S-B]

Yes. Since we as brokers trust that we can bring buyers leads without them trying to go around us. If they do there is a large chance we get no money. Exclusive or not.

Its exactly what you did. If you equate that to theft. Thats your assesment.

If you read the thread through and through you would realize this "broker" claims to be "brokering" domains without permission. Defend him all you want. The fact remains the majority of this forum does it all day everyday. I would love to hear from someone who just BINs domains at GoDaddy with the hope of reselling them. There's no difference. The only thing that changes is how you view the "little guy" in comparison to the "big guy."

 

[Domainatic]

I think that since we work in such an informal industry, ethics, morale and reliability become paramount to being successful in the long run. Especially as a broker; you burn your bridges today you wont be able to cross them tomorrow.

Even when you have an exclusive contract, you are relying on your seller to honour that and secondly on your leads to not go around you. If any of these chains fail, you wont get paid. So it becomes very important for you as a broker only to commit to trustworthy sellers and only do cooperation with trustworthy brokers and buyers. From what I am hearing here, Shane is neither. Shame shame.

I personally am appalled by @Shane Bellone behaviour in this situation and I will certainly remember this for future reference.

Agree with @promo on the part where he says that we need to rely on sellers to honour the deal even if we have the exclusive contract...
Honouring the deals is what leads to great business relationships and trust...

 

[promo]

I guess how you view this depends on your outlook. In my country we have a saying: "the thief thinks that all men steal".

But fact is that a majority of the people I deal with are respectable business partners. When I hit a bad apple, I delete them as contact and move on. But luckily that is NOT the norm.

 

[talhahassan]

@talhahassan let's talk about ethics huh lol

You contact me on a LLL you want to sell to me I tell you I'll only try and sell it if your the EXCLUSIVE BROKER. you tell me you are. So I contact a connection of mine to pitch the domain. Turns out they where the exclusive broker and had no idea who you where. I felt like a idiot!!!!!!! But makes me wonder did you try to go around the exclusive broker.

I have you blocked because of this

Another pathetic liar Mr IMADOER spotted.
To others who supported him and shane . Ask your proofs before believing such guys.

Links to the conversation between me and Imadoer attached.
I never claimed exclusive over those domains.

http://imgur. com/a/KECRP

http://imgur. com/a/IeWhz

Plus Shane is again lying against me. I never broker domains without permission.

I created this post to warn brokers like me of people like Shane.
i think the purpose is achieved.

 

[S-B]

Another pathetic liar Mr IMADOER spotted.
To others who supported him and shane . Ask your proofs before believing such guys.

Links to the conversation between me and Imadoer attached.
I never claimed exclusive over those domains.

http://imgur. com/a/KECRP

http://imgur. com/a/IeWhz

Plus Shane is again lying against me. I never broker domains without permission.

I created this post to warn brokers like me of people like Shane.
i think the purpose is achieved.

You achieved nothing. Most people here seem to disagree with you.

Oh well. Some people just don't connect the dots.

 

[johnn]

I am not sure why it's so difficult to understand the situation?

Broker: People who are Broke
Exclusive: The owner grants permission to ONE person to sell
Non-Exclusive: Anyone can buy from any broker or directly from the owner.

 

[Domainatic]

I guess how you view this depends on your outlook. In my country we have a saying: "the thief thinks that all men steal".

But fact is that a majority of the people I deal with are respectable business partners. When I hit a bad apple, I delete them as contact and move on. But luckily that is NOT the norm.

I've had some bad apples and I just went away from them...
You know the road is not always easy....you take a few turns,hit some bad spots...but we can improve more...

 

[promo]

Two wrongs does not make a right. I do not condone front running in any shape or form. I dont know if that is what happened here.

What I DO know is what you wrote yourself. That you think its OK to go around the broker and try to get seller to break his contract. And that is what I am reacting to.