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!

 

[S-B]

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

 

[LucidDomains]

I thought about this last night, initially I like "what, really?". But the more I think about it, the more I think its a good idea. If you're getting 100s of emails a week and 99% of those are timewaster. Weeding them out with a small fee does not seem like a bad plan to me.

Obviously there will be some who will be 'rubbed' the wrong way by this, but it's no skin of the owner's nose/back when they are the ones with the assets in demand.

 

[Keith]

A business needs to make and maximise profits, so what's wrong with charging for a service? How is $19 "greedy"? And why do you think they deserve such harsh punishment? They've done nothing wrong.

They don't have a monopoly on the market, it's just a website with a service who charge for it.
These gripes are fine with mandatory things like petrol/gas, mortgage rates, etc, but it's not an issue for an online service which can only be used if you have tens/hundreds of thousands of dollars to spend anyway. So then $19 is acceptable. If they removed the $19 fee, would you suddenly use the service?



They are not being disrespectful to anyone. All businesses have different protocols, and individual needs dictate different specific approaches to manage the business. Maybe they get 100 or more spam and lowball offers every week. I wouldn't want to deal with all that when I only have 5 and 6 figure premium names to sell, would you?

Also, "window shopping"? You think they should spend time or money trying to accommodate people who are just window shopping? Bearing in mind in context of the discussion, "Window shopping" is sending lowball offers (as the $19 is all about not being able to send offers, nothing else).

Are you against members only clubs? Because you should be entitled to enter and use the facilities?





"Superiority complex", "need to feel above someone"? Why, how, have you turned a business' basic payment charge for a service into something entirely emotional? You said yourself you run a business, do you provide your services for free?

Name one other product that requires payment just to find out the asking price of that product? Think cars, travel, sports, food, homes...inquiries are what business is all about. How much is a plane ticket? How much is a car? How much is a ticket to an event? How much is the house I'm interested in? People don't want to pay to find out how much something costs!

 

[JB Lions]

I agree with Keith. You can set minimums to weed out lowball offers, just like you can at Sedo. Then I read the terms:

"In exchange for Your payment of the Offer Fee and Your agreement to these Terms, we will send Your offer to the email address of the administrative contact of the registrant as reflected in the WHOIS database of the registrar currently sponsoring the Domain Name, or other email address if so designated to us by the Seller. You acknowledge that the information in the WHOIS database might not be accurate and that we have no obligation to, and will not, confirm the accuracy of any WHOIS information. The full extent of the SOS is the attempt to deliver Your offer to Seller. Any further communication between You and Seller is beyond the scope of the SOS."

http://www.securedoffers.com/terms-of-service/

If I paid $19, I would have an expectation and would want a receipt of the offer being received by the owner.

 

[wwwweb]

I don't think many here understand the value of the portfolio.

This is not a fish and chip shop that needs to advertise it's products. These are one off assets, and they are not priced for speculative nature. These are assets someone needs, and if they are going to buy them, they are going to need to dig deep.

2 months ago they bought all these names in a single sale, can you imagine the spam they get.


ctx.com
dyy.com
fkj.com
flq.com
fzz.com
hjn.com
hkq.com
hqq.com
jjq.com
jjx.com
jzq.com
kyj.com
kyy.com
lqd.com
lqs.com
lxh.com
lxj.com
lxm.com
lyk.com
lym.com
mfk.com
mqj.com
mqk.com
mqr.com
mzz.com
nbq.com
ncz.com
nqd.com
nqh.com
nqk.com
nqq.com
nxd.com
nxk.com
nzt.com
pqj.com
pqy.com
qbj.com
qfj.com
qnz.com
qzb.com
qzl.com
rxk.com
rzz.com
sxl.com
sxn.com
szt.com
szz.com
tkx.com
wjx.com
wrj.com
wtq.com
wzt.com
yff.com
yzc.com
yzd.com

 

[JB Lions]

So the problem is lowball offers. So then you find a solution.

A. Set minimums, so lowball offers don't go thru. That works right? I've sent offers thru Sedo and they didn't go thru because the seller set a minimum. It works. Was just playing around with the contact form plugin I use for Wordpress, looks like you can set it up to do the same thing.

B. Use a service where you pay $19. That can cut down on lowball offers as well. But can it also cut down on legit offers? It stopped Keith. That's a real thing. That's a potential lost sale. A. wouldn't have stopped him. I'm trying to look at it as an enduser. Somebody who just wants to make an offer on a domain and sees they have to pay $19 first. There are so many scams on the internet, just look at all the appraisal scams out there. Does the possibility exist that people might think this is one as well? Does the possibility exist that will put somebody off?

So I end up with, how is B better than A? Why is that a better solution to the issue of lowball offers? I'm open to hearing it because I haven't thought of it myself, unless somebody has a reason I haven't thought of.

End of day, it's your business, you do with what you're comfortable with, but A looks better to me. It takes care of lowball offers, people that want to make offers on my domains, don't have to pay a fee, don't have to take extra steps.

 

[Domainace]

$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 you didn't. And, like you, most people will not pay that fee unless they really want that name (in other words, they are end users). If you desperately need a name for your company and are willing to go 6 figures or more, $19 is completely inconsequential. And nobody is going tell their boss/investors that they are going with secondbestdomain.com because they object to paying $19 in principle.

Equally, I can't see anyone saying "I'll never buy another million dollar domain from them again because they ripped me off with that $19 fee." To many people, we are all squatters anyway. In this case, telepathy.com is telling a buyer right at the start "you have to play by our rules." That's an immense psychological advantage to start a negotiation that way. Might be worth risking the sacrifice of a possible serious buyer for that advantage.

 

[Ms Domainer]

BJ's, Sam's Club, and Costco charge a yearly membership fee.

 

[bmugford]

I don't blame Telepathy. With an incredible portfolio it is a good way to weed out the time wasters and lowballers.

I receive lots of low quality inquiries myself. There is not enough time in the day to educate every potential buyer. It is easier just to ignore the lowest quality inquiries in my view and focus your efforts on the ones more likely to pan out. This is exactly what they are doing. If you are not willing to pay $19 to open negotiations, you are probably not a serious buyer.

GoDaddy offers essentially the same thing with GoDaddy Buy Service -
https://www.godaddy.com/domains/domain-broker.aspx

GoDaddy charges $49.99, as well as a 20% buyer's premium if the sale completes.

Network Solutions also offers a similar service called Certified Offer - http://www.networksolutions.com/domain-name-registration/certified-offer.jsp

They charge $39 per offer (under $25K) / $69 (over $25K) as well as a 5% buyer's premium.

DomainAgents.com also is another service that does this.

I have received multiple offers via all these services, so people are willing to pay it.
Overall the % that pans out via these services is so much higher than contacts via other methods.

Brad

 

[LucidDomains]

A customer walks into the Ford showroom and the agent shows them the cars.

Customer: where the ultra premium cars e.g. the ones that are above $500K.

Agent: we have those too but in a different building, viewing are by appointment only and there is a fee of $19.

Customer: $19? Are you kidding me? I'm not paying $19 to view your $500,000 cars.

Agent: we get 1000s of people per months asking to see the cars, 99% of those people never actually want to buy the car. Also there is an upkeep for the agent, and cleaning for the car.

Customer has two choices:

Customer: I am very interested and more than happy to pay $19, thank you for your time and best regards to the cleaners.

OR

Customer: I'm not paying $19 to see the $500,000 car. Goodbye.


Which option do you choose?

 

[TheFifty9Sound]

Anyone who is familiar with the Pareto 80 / 20 principle will know that this $19 thing makes perfect sense.

 

[deez007]

You make an interesting point indeed. I do get what you are saying...

However, in a real world situation. An established brand like lets say Porsche, have their showrooms open to everyone. So even if you ride into their car park on a bicycle they will let you into the showroom to view the cars. If however you wanted a test drive then off course you will need to be pre-qualified to make sure you can actually afford to buy the car. Why would they let anyone into the showroom in the first place? Well, because they understand the kid riding into the car park today with a bicycle could be a multi millionaire in a few years time.

Consider the possibility that what if that simple act of letting this kid into the showroom to see the cars changed the course of his life BY giving him a taste of his "dream car" and this ended up giving him the motivation to do something spectacular with his life and he ends up being highly successful. What if the visit to the showroom was what set off the chain of events that ended up with him being a success. I;m not saying this is how things work for sure, but all I am saying is consider the possibility.

 

[johnn]

It's simple solution.

If you don't like the service then don't use it.

The time that we spent to post to complain costs more than $19. We could use the time to sell or buy something else and make money.

 

[Ms Domainer]

If I want to buy a TV, I don't have to go to Sam's Club or BJ's (which charges an annual membership fee); I can go to Wal-Mart, Best Buy, or my local electronics store. Even so, this membership model seems to work because a shopper can save money overall by coughing up the fee (for example, the price of tires at BJ's justifies the membership fee).

However, domain names are one-of-a-kind. If someone holds a name that a potential buyer wants, then the seller gets to decide how to accept queries. Quite frankly, I don't blame Telepathy; three of my recent "sales" went south because of idiot malicious bidders, fraudulent bidding, or front runners.

It doesn't matter what WE think about it Telepathy's model; it is what it is.

 

[Keith]

What do you mean. Are you talking about Telepathy.com? Do they offer a negotiation service for $19?

Yes telepathy.com. You send them an inquiry and they reply with the below response. Note that securedoffers charges $19 to facilitate your email!

Thank you for your email. Telepathy Inc. owns one of the world's top domain portfolios, assembled through 18 years of continuous reinvestment in acquiring premium domain names.

For inquiries about domain names registered to Telepathy, Inc. please use the SecuredOffers.com service to submit your inquiry. Due to this email address being bombarded by bulk emailers sending inquiry emails on our domain names, we do not respond to domain inquiries sent to this email address.

 

[iowadawg]

Damn! That is greedy domaining upped another level!
How soon before more domainers do the same?

 

[Domainace]

I think, as domainers, we are on thin ice when we talk about greed.

 

[Silentptnr]

It's a little different but think about it. Even sites like Brandbucket charge a fee. For what, a simple logo? I don't put many domains there because I don't like paying the listing fee.

 

[DomainVP]

Damn! That is greedy domaining upped another level!
How soon before more domainers do the same?

I've actually seen this done many times on top-tier dictionary words. It's an effective way to weed out $500 offers for sure. Who knows how many inquiries they are getting daily, it's a great tech name.

 

[Keith]

Keith, I think you are completely missing the point here. It is not about the $19 fee. If you own tens of thousands of domains, maybe more do you want 1000+ emails coming in a day with most offering nothing? Of course not. Telepathy will only sell their names to end users and in this industry if an end user wants the name they will pay a measly $19 to get through to the relevant person. If you are serious about making a $10m offer and moaning about $19 I am shocked. If I owned a portfolio that size I wouldn't want all these Chinese spam emails and other people offering stupid prices for premium names. Its not about the $19 its about the principal of if you are serious or not. Simple.

They could set up an automated system for people to submit offers and it could reject lowball bids. I'll never pay to use their inquiry service and in all seriousness I was prepared to offer 5 figures on a domain. That's money I'll spend elsewhere now.

Godaddy, Sedo, Flippa...they handle millions of domains and somehow manage to let customers submit offers for free. If telepathy is such a giant then they could do the same, without ripping people at every turn.

 

[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.

 

[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.]

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?

 

[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]

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...