question What is your best domaining story?

[AndrewRice]

One of my best domaining stories is from many years ago:

I bought the domain i/m/g/a/r/t .com for my good friend who was an aspiring graphic designer. I bought it through SnapNames drops and spent the $69 dollar fee, (it was a big purchase for me in those days).

When it came down to it, my friend didn't want the name. I wasn't worried though, told him i'd resell it for a few thousand bucks to someone else. I submitted the domain to BrandBucket but it got rejected and I forgot about the name completely.

Then one day about six months later I was contacted by an end user who offered me 1k for the name. I was short on cash at the time, so I gladly accepted the first offer. (Looking back on it, I think I could probably have negotiated a better price!)

My friend and I had a good laugh and I bought him a six pack of beer that night.

What is your best domaining story?

 

[Shams]

I bought a short domain name for $175 and sold it later for high figure. The story started from godaddy expired auction. I bearly got this domain from bidding war. There were total 13 bidders and all other bidders stopped at 85$. Only bidder 2 me and bidder 9 keep bidding on that domain
Until it reached at $175 and that was maximum bid and luckily he didn't bid after that. I keep that domain in my protofolio and offer that domain to many domainers but no one offer me more than 150$. I was really disappointed because those days were my intial days in domaining. So i stopped offering that domain to anyone. Luckily that domain sold at good price to an end user. Which was my first biggest sale of that time. Domaining is really unpredictable business.

 

[Magicpig2]

I've told this tale before on NP but thought it's worth adding here. It's also probably one of the only positive anecdotes to be written about a particular Mr Dicker when he used to be on DomainSherpa.
So basically, I was watching the show as it was back then, with Berkens, Howe and Schwartz, and Adam mentioned he'd had an $8000 offer on one of his domains, 4DPrinter.net and asked the others if he should take it or not. My first thought was 'that's my domain!' and quickly checked to make sure I still had it. And I did, having registered it a few months before. It was quite surreal watching all these domain legends commenting favourably on MY domain! So I contacted him and broke the news that he must have forgotten to renew it as I'd picked up a few of his including 4dprinting.org etc. But I also added that as I would never have even asked that much at the time I'd be happy to split the proceeds if he took care of the commission. And that's what we did. I got to bank $4K and also have something to tell the grandkids :D

 

[NikolicN]

bump for more stories

 

[Shams]

I will post 3 interesting stories on my website...

 

[NikolicN]

So are there new stories,old :D ?

 

[Raimond]

I have many, some that happened while buying names and some while selling.

Several years ago I get an email asking me if a name is for sale, I reply yes and say the price is $4,000

A week later, same person emails again and asks, "is the domain still for sale?"

I reply yes.

He now emails me every few days asking if it's still for sale. In some emails he is telling me I am not realistic with my price, but he is very hostile and is kinda making fun of me. I didn't take it personal I just found it very weired. I started feeling that maybe someone I know is pranking me or something of that kind.

After a while (months) I replied sorry the domain has been sold. I changed the whois to privacy and took down the simple HTML page that said domain for sale with my email. I could have just blocked his email, however a side of me was curious where this is going.

He replies and asks me something in the lines of "how much did it sell for", I replied 2500 bucks, I really forgot already what I quoted him, I do tend to just come up with prices as I see fit and at this point I didn't care to even look up any of my prior communications with him.

All of a sudden I get an email at my whois privacy (different email) from this guy, he states he knows I (thinking hes talking to new owner) recently purchased the name and if I would be interested in selling it for a quick profit. I reply if he makes an aggressive offer maybe or else I will move to develop the site.

At this point I am still suspicious that someone is trolling me bad, but I am going with the flow.

He replies and offers me $2800. I turn it down, I tell him that is only a bit more than I paid and I rather go forward with my business plan. At this point I really feel whatever game someone is playing with me, it is about to come to an end.

We go back and forth and settle for $3400, he sends me a bank check(never had anyone pay with that), I do the verification and wait a bit, he agrees and it all checks out ok. He has no clue what just took place.

A bit after transferring the name he emails me (the real me lol) from his new domain asking me "guess who as****e?" He thinks I will assume it is the guy (made up guy) who paid $2500 for the name emailing me. I replied back, "why the anger? 100 bucks for the name was very fair, if you are not happy with the purchase I will buy it back for $110".

I never heard from him since.

The domain expires in May, if it drops ill try to catch it lol doubt it will drop, but if it does I have an email I would like to send him.

Hahahahaha, very funny story, I'm still laughing... Thank you for sharing this! This could be scenario for some good comedy...!

 

[Tank]

I will need to post here in about 3 yrs so keep your eyes out for me

 

[ivey]

My best domaining story would have to be the sale of bolt.org. It's the best not just because of the sale price, which I will reveal later, but because it really set me free, tested me and built my character in alot of ways. I thought of sharing this story before but hesitated, so this thread is definitely a refresher and confirmation for me.
I purchased the name on eBay in 2013 for a whopping $209.. It just took my breath away. I became very attached to this name. I mean it was the name of my favorite athlete and country man Usain bolt, among other things. I got 10's and 10's of inquiries on this name literally. The challenge started for me when I got an offer for 1.5k(started out at around ($100). Honestly that's a great price for most .orgs, but this just wasn't any .org in my book. So I had to pass on the offer.

The ultimate test came when other buyer contacted me by email about bolt. Sometime during the holidays around early December. I really had in mind 5 figures but I asked them to make an offer.They came out the gate swinging with 1.5k. Now, that's a no-brainer, so they increased their offer to around 2,500. Again I said no. They went silent for some time. I thought it was over.
Then they came back more serious with $5,000 offer. They said they doubled so they felt it was more than reasonable. I was really, tempted to take it and I needed the money. But I again said no, while letting them know that indeed the offer was solid.

I gave them the reasons why I values the name so much. Usain bolt being one, one word, four letters, taken in about every extension or almost, a possible new messaging app by Facebook with the same name among other things. I value names not base on current market, but on its marketing power and unique potential uses.. Etc. They understood and raised their offer to $7,500. I was like wow!! It feels like my birthday. I'm broke like a glass and I'm still thinking of negotiating? I mean I'm desperate for money. I even went to my pastors for advice lol. They said to hold to what I wanted and prayed. So I said $8,500 and we have a deal!

The buyer then gets very upset, rejects my offer and just went missing in action. Weeks go by.. And by. I was hurting a bit and then I held heart. I couldn't believe I was desperate for money yet I was rejecting 7.5k on a .org?? I must be on drugs.. But I just had a strong conviction and vision for that name. I really believed that value would only go up! So in that moment I put my foot down and said I was nice at quoting 8.5k. I sent them an email saying the name is now 10k. And left it there believing the value would increase and the buyer would come back if they really wanted the name. A month later, in February 2016 they came back and said they would pay the 8.5k. At this stage I had already made up my mind that 5 figures is the only way I'll sell. To finally bring the back and forth to some conclusion for both parties.

The buyer was again upset and messaged me angrily saying I said this and that. I didn't even respond because I had already made it clear to them in my previous email that price was no longer valid. Well, finally we agreed to a sale of 10k!!!. My first 5 figure sale!!

Why was this more than money to me?

1. I was attached to the name so much and letting it go would change how I do domaining thereafter. This is business. It set me free.
2. It showed me I could negotiate by myself. I learn a lot from brokers but I had too little faith in myself. This gave me confidence to start taking steps to having my own business where I don't have to depend on brokers or third party market places that take high commissions and screw up over 100 of my inquiries. I think a real person talking to someone makes a difference that buyers getting pre written responses. So today I now own GotBrands.com which I have big plans for.
3. I learned to put my convictions and vision over the love of money. I would have given at 1.5k if it was just about money.
4. I also learned not to make market or people value my domains. You know the man who started Victoria Secret, sold it when it was successful but in the early stages. He let someone gave him a value of its worth. His vision of it should have been its value. Even if it meant selling and owning part of it still. He failed in every other business he tried to start and the more he saw Vitoria secret grow to billions.. He couldn't take it and committed suicide at 48 yrs old I think. True story.
5. I was able to pay off my domaining debt I accumulated among others at the time. And it help my family to take what I was doing a little bit more seriously.

I know other great stories will come about in my domaining or brand business! Right now I still have much to do and so its in to the next step! Thanks for taking the time to read my story!

 

[equity78]

I've told this tale before on NP but thought it's worth adding here. It's also probably one of the only positive anecdotes to be written about a particular Mr Dicker when he used to be on DomainSherpa.
So basically, I was watching the show as it was back then, with Berkens, Howe and Schwartz, and Adam mentioned he'd had an $8000 offer on one of his domains, 4DPrinter.net and asked the others if he should take it or not. My first thought was 'that's my domain!' and quickly checked to make sure I still had it. And I did, having registered it a few months before. It was quite surreal watching all these domain legends commenting favourably on MY domain! So I contacted him and broke the news that he must have forgotten to renew it as I'd picked up a few of his including 4dprinting.org etc. But I also added that as I would never have even asked that much at the time I'd be happy to split the proceeds if he took care of the commission. And that's what we did. I got to bank $4K and also have something to tell the grandkids :D

Cool story