Possible scam?

melat0nin · Jun 3, 2008

Hi all

My uncle owns the domain watchblog.us. He was contacted the other day by someone purporting to be interested in buying the domain, with the following email:

"Hello,

watchblog.us has been found via online auctions.

Please let us know the your price and we will consider it.

Our company is investing in High Tech and IT projects. Now the domain market is very attractive for us, since every business in the Internet requires a domain.

Looking forward to do business with you."

We replied that we would be interested to hear their offer, then we received this in return:

"Can you accept 9,000 USD?

Do you sell domain with a web site or just the name?

Domain without content is ok with me. Web site is not necessary.

Have you had your domain names evaluated in the past? I mean domain appraisals.

Without valuation we cannot be sure in the sale price. It's very important for me in terms of reselling too.

But we must engage a valuation company with REAL manual service. So I will only accept valuations from independent sources I trust.

To avoid mistakes I asked domain experts about reputable appraisal companies.

Please check this posting from archive:

http://domainmarket.007sites.com/Archive/418360.htm

If, for example, the valuation comes higher you can adjust your asking price accordingly. It will be fair. I also hope you can give me 12% - 15% discount.

After you send me the valuation via email (usually it takes 1-2 days to obtain it) we'll continue our negotiations.

What is your preferred payment method: Escrow.com, International wire transfer, PayPal.com or something else?

Hope we can come to an agreement fast.

Looking forward to your reply."

All the stuff about valuations seems dodgy to me, since why would you offer a price and still want a valuation? Either you buy subject to the valuation or you put forward your offer and stick to it.

What do you guys think?

itrends · Jun 3, 2008

I would ask for additional company details

Details of other purchases they have made recently of whom you can contact the sellers... they should not have such broken English and can let you know how things went.

Personally, I would be very dubious about this and FOR THE LOVE OF GOD do not use paypal!

itrends · Jun 3, 2008

I think that the "buyer" may have written most of the posts on that page they link to.

This stinks of scam. The consistant language, the talk of using paypal etc, all very smelly. I would run away to be honest. Or have some fun

itrends · Jun 3, 2008

Did a little more research for you (as I like to try and protect people on here)

http://www.freelance-database.com/2007/04/05/domain-appraisal-scam-email/

found with this search

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=e...r+asking+price+accordingly"&btnG=Search&meta=

Confirmed SCAM

accelerator · Jun 3, 2008

Just to confirm, this is a scam. Any time someone tries to buy a domain and then insists on an independent valuation first, it's a scam. Any serious domainer would know the value of a domain themselves.

Rgds

WaftyCrank · Jun 3, 2008

I had the same scam on one of my domains last year. He did me a favour though. I actually obtained an appraisal by Sedo and GoDaddy to have it valued. From then I parked it and discovered it had natural type in traffic. Had owned it for 2 years previous and just had it sat at 123 reg.

Now gets over 200 UV per day and decent adsense revenue. Money for nothing.

itrends · Jun 3, 2008

And ya chicks for free

melat0nin · Jun 3, 2008

Thanks for the replies folks.

We sent this back to them:

Dear Mr Huffmann,
We have discussed your proposal and have decided that it is not in our interests to spend money seeking a valuation of watchblog.us. We believe that the buyer of watchblog.us will have a great opportunity to develop the domain in a successful online presence. If you require an appraisal or valuation, we therefore ask that you make your own independent enquiries before making us an offer.

If you intend to purchase the domain, we will be happy to discuss the practicalities of transfer and payment in more detail.

To which we received this in reply:

Let's do business professional way.

It's a standard practice to show independent valuation to buyers/resellers.
Nobody will do business without it. I'm a businessman and have no intention
of changing rules which help both parties to avoid additional risks.

Of course, investors never take into account auto-generated vlauations. So
manual valuation is a "must" too.

I read the following information about appraisals at:
http://domainmarket.007sites.com/Archive/418360.htm

Thank you for understanding. I'm looking forward to do business with you.