Telepathy...really?

[Keith]

I'm sorry but not a chance I'll ever pay $19 in order to negotiate on a domain. This is a clear money grab. You get bombarded with emails? Set up an automated system to field offers and go from there. This is the kind of shit that gives the domain industry a black eye!

 

[cocaseco]

I'd be happy to post my opinion, but to weed out all the requests, please send me $10 first.

 

[James Iles]

Nat from Telepathy has a portfolio of around 10,000 names. Within that, he has many two and three letter .COMs, and hundreds of valuable one word .COMs.

He'll get hundreds, if not thousands of enquiry emails per week, and I believe he's only interested in dealing with those who will pay the six or seven figure fees necessary to buy a domain from him.

When you're talking about that kind of money, $19 pales into insignificance

 

[wormfood]

What if you offer fair price, pay $19 and they counter with $1M for a name that should be more like $10K. Do they refund you for not serious price?

They'd get a bad name in the industry. Unless anyone has proof that they've done something like that, there's not much reason to be bashing them.

 

[Recons.Com]

It does not have to be that extreme, but just shows that it can go both ways. If they wanted really to weed off the spammers and lowballers, even $1-$5 would have done the trick. No need to price your 10 seconds of considering an offer at $19.

 

[tha-she]

Nat from Telepathy has a portfolio of around 10,000 names. Within that, he has many two and three letter .COMs, and hundreds of valuable one word .COMs.

He'll get hundreds, if not thousands of enquiry emails per week, and I believe he's only interested in dealing with those who will pay the six or seven figure fees necessary to buy a domain from him.

When you're talking about that kind of money, $19 pales into insignificance

I see people complaining all day about lowball offers, if the above is the case, charging to take a look at the offer is a fair way out, and in all seriousness if you NEED/WANT a domain and you are serious about it, whats $19, you say its not the $19 its the principal, i dont see anything wrong with the principal.

This person would stack in probably 24 hours a day and couldnt make it to reply/look at all the offers he would get daily, this is a fair way out, that allows you to get in contact with him and start a negotiation and does not waste hes time incase you are just interested in making a low-ball offer.

 

[Argentum]

Telepathy has best portfolio in domain industry. Only LLL.com's they own more than 1k! And they have funds to keep their portfolio for end users only and quotes starts from $100k, and that works! But with end users. So they are not interested in reseller/low ball offers and $19 is perfect filter for such kind of offers.

 

[Keith]

Telepathy has best portfolio in domain industry. Only LLL.com's they own more than 1k! And they have funds to keep their portfolio for end users only and quotes starts from $100k, and that works! But with end users. So they are not interested in reseller/low ball offers and $19 is perfect filter for such kind of offers.

If they have tons of valuable domains, just build an offer page that rejects anything under $100k. These exact pages are used by other companies in the business. Problem solved.

Charging any amount is ridiculous.

 

[Michael R.]

If they have tons of valuable domains, just build an offer page that rejects anything under $100k. These exact pages are used by other companies in the business. Problem solved.

Charging any amount is ridiculous.

Yes, but anyone can always make an offer greater that $100k. Very easy. And Telepathy will lose one week in negotiations before understanding the buyer is not serious...

And what if it was $0.019 just to avoid spam, non serious offers, etc...? Would you pay?
Then, I imagine that $19 for serious buyers of Telepathy's names is like $0.019 for me... Nothing.

 

[Keith]

Yes, but anyone can always make an offer greater that $100k. Very easy. And Telepathy will lose one week in negotiations before understanding the buyer is not serious...

And what if it was $0.019 just to avoid spam, non serious offers, etc...? Would you pay?
Then, I imagine that $19 for serious buyers of Telepathy's names is like $0.019 for me... Nothing.

$19 isn't going to change most lives. Anyone can pay the fee and waste time negotiating just as easy as if there wasn't a fee. But at the end of the day, serious or not, telepathy profits simply from an inquiry. They could easily put a free system in place if they want...

 

[Michael R.]

$19 isn't going to change most lives. Anyone can pay the fee and waste time negotiating just as easy as if there wasn't a fee. But at the end of the day, serious or not, telepathy profits simply from an inquiry. They could easily put a free system in place if they want...

No, I don't think so. Some people just like making offers they can't afford, in order to dream, or... I don't know. With a free system, they will always be there. The goal here is to face a real potential and motivated buyer only. And exclude curious people.

 

[Keith]

No, I don't think so. Some people just like making offers they can't afford, in order to dream, or... I don't know. With a free system, they will always be there. The goal here is to face a real potential and motivated buyer only. And exclude curious people.

I've never been presented with an offer where the potential buyer ran away upon my reply, unless my counter was absurd. In most cases buyers offer less than they're willing to pay and find a happy medium with the seller.

It's understandable that telepathy doesn't want to field $100 offers for domains worth $100k. There are easy, free solutions to solve the problem. They choose instead to charge for the privilege of email communication. Poor business practice IMO.

 

[Michael R.]

I've never been presented with an offer where the potential buyer ran away upon my reply, unless my counter was absurd. In most cases buyers offer less than they're willing to pay and find a happy medium with the seller.

It's understandable that telepathy doesn't want to field $100 offers for domains worth $100k. There are easy, free solutions to solve the problem. They choose instead to charge for the privilege of email communication. Poor business practice IMO.

Just look at some offers here on LLL.com: some people are offering low xxxx... That's just an example of what I'm explaining above. They are dreaming, are out of the market, are stupid... etc...

But what type of free solutions to you have to avoid these non-serious buyers?

 

[Keith]

But what type of free solutions to you have to avoid these non-serious buyers?

Inquiry pages like several entities already use. You enter the desired domain and it gives you a minimum requirement in order for a successful submission. Simple and free!

 

[james haw]

Telepathy...really?

I knew you were going to say that...

 

[james haw]

There is nothing forcing you to buy a domain from them.

100% agree. I don't see any problem as the service is niche and entirely voluntary (ie it's not like griping over mandatory taxes or gas bills etc).

If they have tons of valuable domains, just build an offer page that rejects anything under $100k.

But they don't need to. And who would they be trying to accommodate?

Besides, that doesn't stop people sending an offer for 100K and then once discussions are underway stating "Oh actually my offer is $5000". $19 upfront means anyone who pays is likely serious, it at leasts weeds out the spam as spammers don't very often pay to spam.

Charging any amount is ridiculous.

They only charge if you use their services, as per the rest of the world. $0 is about the going rate for obtaining no products or services

 

[Keith]

Besides, that doesn't stop people sending an offer for 100K and then once discussions are underway stating "Oh actually my offer is $5000".

They only charge if you use their services, as per the rest of the world. $0 is about the going rate for obtaining no products or services

The first paragraph is a ridiculous statement. They won't be fending off buyers making $100k offers and then having second thoughts. That's simply not how the majority of potential buyers operate.

An email exchange is no more a service than my response to your post. Again, a ridiculous statement. They want to make an easy buck, or $19 as it turns out. Poor business model IMO.

 

[james haw]

They won't be fending off buyers making $100k offers and then having second thoughts. That's simply not how the majority of potential buyers operate.

Of course not, I agree entirely. But I don't believe their issue is "potential buyers" with a 100K budget who are having "second thoughts", not at all. It's tyre kickers, spammers, time wasters, low ballers, people without a clue trying to see if they'll sell for $500 or $1000 etc.

With a portfolio of 10K names all of a premium nature, you'll get a lot of emails flooding in or contact forms filled out. So they have to have a way to ensure they only receive serious offers. Tyre kickers and spammers are not likely to pay $19, and your idea makes it easy to just fill in a form (as they normally would anyway) and just put $100K for their offer to get their message through.

 

[Keith]

With a portfolio of 10K names all of a premium nature, you'll get a lot of emails flooding in or contact forms filled out. So they have to have a way to ensure they only receive serious offers. Tyre kickers and spammers are not likely to pay $19, and your idea makes it easy to just fill in a form (as they normally would anyway) and just put $100K for their offer to get their message through.

The scenario you're suggesting is few and far in between. Not enough to justify charging every real buyer $19 for the privilege to make contact.

 

[hookbox]

I think most here are missing the point of the $19 fee. Outstanding domains receive hundreds of offers monthly if not daily. These offers are ignored by most major portfolio owners because most are lowballers. If you choose to opt into SecuredOffers.com network then the $19 fee assures you that your offer/email will not be ignored and you are guaranteed to receive a response from the owner of that domain. Everyone assumes that Telepathy only sells their own domains but that's not true. They have a large network of portfolio owners under the SecuredOffers.com network. The $19 fee guarantees that you will be in contact with the owner of the domain in 5 business days or less.

 

[offersity]

The scenario you're suggesting is few and far in between. Not enough to justify charging every real buyer $19 for the privilege to make contact.

Id beg to differ. If a buyer or someone has a real need of something, he in my opinion wouldnt mind paying a very small fee to get the job done, be it domain, a very important person, a celeb, or a doctor, or anything.

If you have something really really special, someone on the otherside wont mind going just a little bit further.

I know it is not the ideal.

 

[Keith]

Don't make the mistake of equating opening offers to "real" buyers. Real buyers are savvy. I seem to recall eBet.com having an opening offer of $10k and ultimately selling for over $1.3 million. Oh, and the seller, he doesn't charge to accept incoming emails...

 

[jkm]

If they have tons of valuable domains, just build an offer page that rejects anything under $100k. These exact pages are used by other companies in the business. Problem solved.

I agree, the best solution.

In other hand if I pay $19, I still don't know the bottom line, I can send $25k, $30k, $50k offer. It's does not mean that who pays $19 already offering $100k and more

 

[mwzd]

So your problem essentially is with a domain investor charging you for their time in replying?

Sedo, Afternic, GoDaddy etc have been charging for years to make unsolicited offers and I think it's in the $50 range, without ANY guarantee that the domain owner would even see the offer, unlike here, I don't see anyone complaining about that.

I think this is a really smart option:
1. it provides positive id on the person making the offer, no more 'poor college student' emails
2. by making the payment the person can't say "oh we didn't make the offer seriously"
3. it offers legal protection from people who will make an offer and then file a UDRP if the price is "too high" for their liking.
There are a ton of other reasons too, but I think these will suffice for now.

 

[Keith]

So your problem essentially is with a domain investor charging you for their time in replying?

Sedo, Afternic, GoDaddy etc have been charging for years to make unsolicited offers and I think it's in the $50 range, without ANY guarantee that the domain owner would even see the offer, unlike here, I don't see anyone complaining about that.

Sedo, Godaddy, Afternic do not charge a dime to accept offers for domains listed with them. But each one of those sites uses a feature that allows the user to set a minimum offer requirement. That's exactly the type of FREE tool that Telepathy could use

Those sites that you mentioned are also not the domain owners. They are paid as a third party to act on a buyers behalf. That's not the same thing that we're discussing in this thread.

 

[S-B]

Honestly, it's a great way to qualify leads. I have no problem with this strategy.