discuss Weird domain requests / stories with buyers (or previous domain owners)

[twiki]

How about we post some interesting / weird / funny etc domain related stories that happened?

I'm gonna start with a lady who previously owned a domain I've captured at drop. She started sending emails via the whois, firstly said that someone hacked her account and domain is missing, so we should give it back to her.

Then she threatened she's gonna complain at registrar and ICANN and police that we hacked her account and get us in real trouble.

Then she threatened lawsuit.

Then she came back and asked that we should be decent and give her the domain so this thing gets closed and no harsh feelings. I never replied, I knew that would only get more emails from her.

Lady, this domain has DROPPED - do you understand what that means? Next time, make sure your domains are always renewed, will you? BTW she realized she lost the domain only more than half a year later.

Was both really funny and sort of aggravating.

How about yours?

 

[VadimK]

How about we post some interesting / weird / funny etc domain related stories that happened?

I'm gonna start with a lady who previously owned a domain I've captured at drop. She started sending emails via the whois, firstly said that someone hacked her account and domain is missing, so we should give it back to her.

Then she threatened she's gonna complain at registrar and ICANN and police that we hacked her account and get us in real trouble.

Then she threatened lawsuit.

Then she came back and asked that we should be decent and give her the domain so this thing gets closed and no harsh feelings. I never replied, I knew that would only get more emails from her.

Lady, this domain has DROPPED - do you understand what that means? Next time, make sure your domains are always renewed, will you? BTW she realized she lost the domain only more than half a year later.

Was both really funny and sort of aggravating.

How about yours?

So, how did the story end? Did you try to sell it to her? Why wouldn't you try to settle for some sort of special discounted price for her (if there was ever a chance she'd buy of course)? Make profit and +1000 to your karma at the same time (however of course I don't know the name).

 

[twiki]

So, how did the story end? Did you try to sell it to her? Why wouldn't you try to settle for some sort of special discounted price for her (if there was ever a chance she'd buy of course)? Make profit and +1000 to your karma at the same time (however of course I don't know the name).

I never replied. She didn't want to buy anything, the sort of person that feels entitled to everything.

Edit: The domain was valuable and the kind you renew and wait for the right buyer. Besides it was already for sale, and she knew it was for sale. BIN + decent min offer. She had all the options to buy it.

Note, I don't deal with people who make threats, I just show them the door.

 

[Revisiting]

This one goes back to 2005, and finally resolved this year. Registered a dotcom (already had the .co.uk since 2003) months after registering the dotcom, the previous owner came on to me explaining it was his business name and website since 1999 and an active site. Obviously this wasn't true given the time-lapse (6 months since I registered) - so I questioned his use and there was none to be found except a static page of a educational history. Around 2009 he came back again saying he had all the Tm's in place since 1999 and would now consider other legal means to recover. Once again NOT TRUE, he did indeed have the trademarks but they were cancelled in 2007. My own sense of wanting to do the right-thing always played on my mind but this guy just kept stringing out lie after lie. his emails became more and more bizarre - How can I deal with someone who wont play off a 'straight bat'.
Well finally this year he purchased at a buy-now price (just under 3k) I just wish we could have saved 15 years of back and forth counter claims - I would have always wanted to resolve amicably If only he would come clean about the domains history - but he just wanted to play on the guilt trip.
Why do apparently well educated and technology background individuals not realise all this information they try to hoodwink us with is available on Public record is beyond me

 

[Armageddon]

I never replied. She didn't want to buy anything, the sort of person that feels entitled to everything.

Edit: The domain was valuable and the kind you renew and wait for the right buyer. Besides it was already for sale, and she knew it was for sale. BIN + decent min offer. She had all the options to buy it.

Note, I don't deal with people who make threats, I just show them the door.

Or a doctor

 

[twiki]

Or a doctor

Yep, much needed...

This one goes back to 2005, and finally resolved this year. Registered a dotcom (already had the .co.uk since 2003) months after registering the dotcom, the previous owner came on to me explaining it was his business name and website since 1999 and an active site. Obviously this wasn't true given the time-lapse - so I questioned his use and there was none to be found except a static page of a educational history. Around 2009 he came back again saying he had all the Tm's in place since 1999 and would now consider other legal means to recover. Once again NOT TRUE, he did indeed have the trademarks but they were cancelled in 2007. My own sense of wanting to do the right-thing always played on my mind but this guy just kept stringing out lie after lie. his emails became more and more bizarre - How can I deal with someone who wont play off a 'straight bat'.
Well finally this year he purchased at a buy-now price (just under 3k) I just wish we could have saved 15 years of back and forth counter claims - I would have always wanted to resolve amicably If only he would come clean about the domains history - but he just wanted to play on the guilt trip

The same would have worked in my case.

If she would have politely said "Look, I made a mistake and let it expire, how can I get it back?" then I would have made her a very good offer below my min.

I can be sympathetic to any reasonable and polite person, and especially those who would admit making a mistake, but not to someone like this.

 

[inforg]

Back in the day, it was a lot easier to lose your domain name. Most of my first business model was flipping dropped domains back to the original owners. a lot of angry people to deal with, literally had people come to my house

These days, not much excuse for losing your domain and I rarely get a former owner hounding me anymore.

The most annoying thing now is just the low ballers with the $10-$100 offers. Will always have those.

 

[twiki]

Back in the day, it was a lot easier to lose your domain name. Most of my first business model was flipping dropped domains back to the original owners. a lot of angry people to deal with, literally had people come to my house

These days, not much excuse for losing your domain and I rarely get a former owner hounding me anymore.

The most annoying thing now is just the low ballers with the $10-$100 offers. Will always have those.

Ditch lowballers. Set a decent min.

My minimal min offer is $280. Anything below that is not something I'm interested in. This weeds out all of them.

Oh, not to mention that most of those are also non-payers if you agree to their BS offer.

 

[VadimK]

the sort of person that feels entitled to everything.

She was a ''Karen'' of domaining!

 

[redemo]

This one goes back to 2005, and finally resolved this year. Registered a dotcom (already had the .co.uk since 2003) months after registering the dotcom, the previous owner came on to me explaining it was his business name and website since 1999 and an active site. Obviously this wasn't true given the time-lapse (6 months since I registered) - so I questioned his use and there was none to be found except a static page of a educational history. Around 2009 he came back again saying he had all the Tm's in place since 1999 and would now consider other legal means to recover. Once again NOT TRUE, he did indeed have the trademarks but they were cancelled in 2007. My own sense of wanting to do the right-thing always played on my mind but this guy just kept stringing out lie after lie. his emails became more and more bizarre - How can I deal with someone who wont play off a 'straight bat'.
Well finally this year he purchased at a buy-now price (just under 3k) I just wish we could have saved 15 years of back and forth counter claims - I would have always wanted to resolve amicably If only he would come clean about the domains history - but he just wanted to play on the guilt trip.
Why do apparently well educated and technology background individuals not realise all this information they try to hoodwink us with is available on Public record is beyond me

Do you think many such purchases are motivated by access to old e-mail accounts and online services using e-mail addresses from old domain names? Could be linked to an old cryptocurrency account. Best way to find out when registering a domain name is to set up a catch-them-all e-mail address or forwarding command. Not certain of the legalities of such activity though? Reading other people's mail may be a criminal offence depending upon your location and the national law.

 

[redemo]

Back in the day, it was a lot easier to lose your domain name. Most of my first business model was flipping dropped domains back to the original owners. a lot of angry people to deal with, literally had people come to my house

These days, not much excuse for losing your domain and I rarely get a former owner hounding me anymore.

The most annoying thing now is just the low ballers with the $10-$100 offers. Will always have those.

Best way to protect domain names in the event of your death is to list them in your will along with renewal dates and account passwords (usable only by a lawyer with a valid death certificate).

 

[redemo]

I get a wide variety of e-mails after I create catch-them-all e-mail addresses on new domain names (which I do by default on all new registrations).

 

[twiki]

I get a wide variety of e-mails after I create catch-them-all e-mail addresses on new domain names (which I do by default on all new registrations).

Are these emails of any use? Cause spam I'm sure you get enough.

 

[hn]

I had a similar case a few years back. Got a 3 word domain at expiry, after a month the previous owner contacted and was very polite, said due to oversight did not renew the domain which was I think almost 15 or 20 years old and is core to his business, offered me $500, which I took and immediately transferred. Did not even bother to counter as story seemed genuine.

 

[twiki]

I had a similar case a few years back. Got a 3 word domain at expiry, after a month the previous owner contacted and was very polite, said due to oversight did not renew the domain which was I think almost 15 or 20 years old and is core to his business, offered me $500, which I took and immediately transferred. Did not even bother to counter as story seemed genuine.

That's cool - and normal in such situation. Congrats.

Not what I experienced...