OnlineDomain.com Domain Name News & Opinions
Please beware of domain “broker” Andy Kelly, CEO of UpMarketDNs.com. He presents himself as a broker of several domain names that he has no authority to do so.
He contacted me about a 1-word .com and the conversation didn’t go well. (see below)
On his website he claims to be the broker of several premium domain names including many 2-letter .coms like:
xt.com
zi.com
zc.com
yt.com
bu.com
ke.com
fe.com
wt.com
For example yt.com is owned by Google, Inc. and certainly they are not selling the domain name and even if they did thy wouldn’t use Andy Kelly as their broker.
He also claims to be the broker of NewYork.net that is owned by NameFind LLC that is a Go Daddy company. Go Daddy brokers all their names internally using Afternic. The list of domains Andy Kelly claims to broker is endless.
I was contacted by Andy Kelly offering me a 1-word .com:
Dear Sirs,
We are premium domain brokers and we are exclusively handling the sale of one of our clients domain names.
The domain in question is *******.com
Clearly this is a perfect fit for your website and perfect for your online marketing campaign.
The sales price of this domain is $1,000,000 USD and any sale would be required to go via escrow.com to ensure a safe transaction for all parties.
Clearly the domain was not worth a million dollars and I was avoiding contact with Mr. Andy Kelly for a few years after a past incident that he had with some other domainer.
Nevertheless I made a small offer as the domain name is in my broad interests to see where this could lead. This was his first reply:
Would need a lot more unfortunately.
We have literally only started marketing this in the last couple of hours and already
have a 225k offer.
We have had contact previously.
Let me know if you want us to market any of your domains but would need your prices incl our 10% fee.
I replied with a simple “No, you didn’t get a 225k offer.” to call his bluff and this is when it all started.
Here are some of his emails to me:
are you sure? anyway do you think 2k is to be taken seriously? no offence but thats a joke I know you want it cheap but how can I take 2k seriously?
you know me??? really??? are you god???? 2k is a total joke, a very bad joke get real. lets leave it at that should we? before this degenerates further. Seriously I always thought you were ok but this entire conversation is ludicrous and you started the non sense not me.
I told him he was a liar and this was his reply:
and I know you are a total as***le
now why dont you take your 2k and stick it where the sun doesnt shine?
yes we got that offer from a ****** manufacturer in the UK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I phoned them direct ok?????
offer was flat refused you muppet
Liar?, who are you saint Konstant?????
I repeat F***K OFF
I suggested you to quit spamming me with your utter BS but no you had to carry it on – i knew it would degenerate in to this s**t and its your fault
you moron
any further replies from you will be deleted, cretin
not even going to waste another second arguing with you
At that point I checked whois and put the name of the owner into the email “conversation”.
The owner emailed me and asked me what it this all about:
I received this in my mailbox today.
What is this very strange e-mail all about???
When I explained to him what had happened with Andy Kelly the owner replied:
He has neither the authority to sell my domains nor to talk to you in such a harsh manner.
Please disregard any e-mails from this Andy person.
I communicated with him once, showed him a few of my names but never signed any agreement.
After that I only received one email from Andy Kelly with the subject “piece of s**t” and the words “u rotten greek piece of s**t :)”.
So Andy Kelly is presenting himself as a broker of domain names he has no authority to do so. Beware of him either if you are a seller or a buyer.
The email addresses he is using is andy@upmarketdns.com and urlbrokers@gmail.com.
If you are a buyer you should contact the domain name whois and talk to the owner directly when Andy Kelly contacts you. If you are a seller/owner then you don’t have a lot of options. If he contacts you and ask you to be your broker you should say no and not show him a list of your domains. If he goes out selling your domains then you are out of luck.
You have been warned.
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He is a nice and professional
He did the same thing to me on 3 LLL.com I own
I saw my own LLL up for sale in his newsletter and he had no right to list them at all
I emailed right away and he said:
How did you get some of my names to list
XXX
XXX
XXX
All mine and I did not approve this
Please explain yourself
— His response was weak at best —
Hi Sam
Massive apology for this!
I take full blame for this. I assumed they belonged to a client of mine ~but he must be brokering these on your behalf.
—
It made no sense that he saw some LLL and just decided why not.. I should list them…
The ‘client’ of his did NOT ask him to list these names either
I was really pissed
as the names were NOT for newsletters
Well you clearly have a grudge. Surprise me and post this.
You made a ludicrously small offer for a premium domain and now you want to slate me in public as I you could not buy a domain for $2k. This tactic is plainly malicious and meant to discredit me clearly.
The jist of this article would suggest I’ve been guilty of heinous crimes such as stealing money off buyers or sellers. Come on get real here?
My site currently needs updating as I have been unable to recently due to hackers. Now that is sorted – hopefully i will update the inventory on my site.
Brokers are only human there are only so many crazy lowball offers a broker can take in any given day.
Sam I was informed by a guy claiming to represent you that those particular lll.com were ok to list. Email me I have proof of those emails.
No grudge. Just the truth. Unlike you.
About two weeks ago I received an email from him offering ModelAgency.com for $250k. I have this same keyword in another TLD as well as a similar domain in .COM.
I thought the price was a bit high but each seller can price as they choose. We did exchange a few emails about the possibility of me listing some of my domains on his newsletter. From what I could gather the list went to other investors. My prior experience with such lists is that they do not produce sales unless you are willing to sell for less than 5% of retail.
LOL! wow, he’s not exactly a polite professional … 😀
Wait till you see what this slanderous individual had to say to me! Get the popcorn folks
Can’t wait Andy!!!
That’s disappointing. I’ve been subscribed to his newsletter for years – never paying it much attention because the prices struck me as outlandish. Still, I figured that was just wishful thinking, which is any seller or broker’s right.
Pretending to have big offers on the table is pretty common, unfortunately. Plenty of “bids” at auction amount to the same thing – bogus interest. Experienced buyers will usually see through such shenanigans, although newbies do fall for it. Pretty rare to find a newbie willing to spend 6 figures, though. And the long-term damage to a broker’s reputation isn’t worth the small chance of a short-term gain.
Marketing domains for sale without the domain owner’s permission is potentially serious. It can put the domain owner at risk of a UDRP. High prices can scare away the domain owner’s potential buyers. Meanwhile, low prices may cause people to view a domain as less valuable. All these things can adversely affect a domain owner. So “brokers” engaging in such practices are putting themselves at risk. Eventually they’ll run afoul of somebody ready to sue.
There are better ways to succeed in this business, guys.
I have never knowingly brokered any domain without the owners permission.
I have made errors though I admit – tell me a broker that hasn’t?
I did have permission to market the name that Mr Blog is writing this article about. Not a written contract but an arrangement via email.
You wouldn’t know the truth if it bit you on your ass.
I will be publishing a blog post shortly detailing your malicious comments and pathetic attempts to discredit me. There are two sides to every story!
Yes, sure. Most people know what you do. Now everyone will. You keep talking that I made you a $2,000 offer. That is because I knew you and what you do and wanted to see your reply. You contacted me, remember? What if I had made you a $50,000 offer? Would you have accepted it? Oh, I forgot, you are not the broker of the domain. If I wanted to buy the domain I would have contacted the owner.
“There are two kinds of people – Greeks, and everyone else who wish they was Greek.” — Gus Portokalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding) 🙂
wouldn’t it properly be “wish they WERE Greek?”
Yes, although I think the quote was verbatim from the movie (i.e. from IMDB), so it purposefully might not have been grammatically correct given the character in the film had a mother tongue that wasn’t English.
don’t want to defend the guy as I do not know him, but. the above mentioned sales including yt.com whicj Konstantinos made as an example of supposedly fake listing, check out the date, it is June, 2011
Did he ever broker the domain?
He is a compulsive liar and when the truth comes out he calls people names.
in fact he offered me to broker one, but I didn’t answer, so I have no any idea on how he’s good as a businessman. but I wanted to stress out specifically on that date of the listing ’cause this is not a good example you made. it is outdated 5 years, and that specific domain went from a Japanese guy to Google in an around one year ago. I know that because I kept track on that particular domain
For the record, he called me some names too in 2014. It was pretty funny. (he claimed to have a client interested in one of my company’s 2-letter .com domain names, and I told him that his client could contact me directly, without the use of an intermediary)
“You think you can sit on your big fat ass, workshy wanker and make a million for a low grade letter com?”
“You grubby, greedy, arrogant piece a shit.”
Then a year later (2015), he seemingly forgot his past emails, and wanted to broker one of my company’s 3-digit dot-com domains! LOL
But wait, there’s more! In 2016, he emailed again, asking to broker one of our 2-letter .com domains (a different one than 2014). [time to upgrade the CRM, to keep track of folks you’ve already contacted before, even if it’s a different domain]
“grow up for god sake”
(after asking to be removed from the mailing list for future solicitations)
I guess I’m not alone, given the above comments. It’s time to brush up on the email etiquette!
He is creative with words and kinda religious. He keeps mentioning god! 🙂
What a loser for replying like that to you guys, and a obviously a xenophobe who has a strong hate bone for Greeks.
Andy Kelly will never get any of my business again.
Kostas,
I’ve heard that Zournas vs Kelly will replace Diaz vs McGregor at UFC 200 … so I’ve brought some popcorn, where is the fight? LOL ! 😀
Andy is fighting the world as it seems.
As is often the case, Andy’s worst enemy appears to be himself.
Andy Kelly is toxic. Nothing more, nothing less. He has been for a long time, since I started in this business a decade ago really. I believe it is unfortunate, but George’s words are spot on: “…Andy’s worst enemy appears to be himself.”
In an even more colorful exchange with Andy Kelly several years ago (one of many) he even went so far as to register AndrewRosenerSuck.com and point it at quite inappropriate porn and then even post the link in several forums. I’m not sensitive, and frankly it doesn’t bother me as much as amuse me, but as an entrepreneur I do need to protect my reputation and it took a LOT of nausea to solve that problem (and two years).
To his credit however, I must say that I’m impressed with his will to survive! How a man of such disdain can not only physically survive without rupture, but also sustain a business, is beyond me. Hats off…
If you were to read Ayn Rand, Andy Kelly is the classic protagonist. He believes he is a capitalist / businessman / entrepreneur, but inside, he’s truly a socialist, borderline communist that feels entitled to the World and everything that everyone else has got. But he’s incapable of earning it himself so he feels the need, almost like a sickness, to TAKE IT by whatever means necessary.
Andrew – LMAO…How ironic?…..You inquired on a domain of mine and I would not sell it to you. You went ballistic!….Spewing words of hatred… I suggest you take your own advice if your concerned about reputations.
Same here
“.You inquired on a domain of mine and I would not sell it to you. You went ballistic!….Spewing words of hatred…”
lol great comments guys keep them coming – all from the whiter than white brigade.
Have to admit the greek comment was wrong and I withdraw it.
However I still maintain this blogger is a complete idiot.
“I withdraw it” ? That does not work. You have to apologize.
Try that line with your wife or girlfriend and see how far it gets you.
re “He is creative with words and kinda religious. He keeps mentioning god! :)”
What do you believe in apart from attempted character assassinations?
I refuse to stoop to your level, will continue to comment here but now decided to not write a blog post about you. You’re not worth the time and effort.
Maybe you should next target some seriously dodgy brokers? like the ones who buy their own clients domains for rock bottom prices? keeping whois private in order to do so?
I am still laughing that someone used the word ‘wanker’…. in an email. my goodness. And what does whiter than white mean?
There is a thread on domainboardroom.com that is called “I think Andy Kelly stole my identity”. I don’t know much else cause I am not a member. I just saw the backlink.
lol come on this is getting hilarious
Now I steal ID’s? you really are scraping the barrel now.
Maybe you are in the wrong business? you could always be a “private dick”
Once again you are way off the mark I’m afraid.
and Rosener you registered a “sucks” name too right? but of course like Mr Blog you generally only post one side of the story. Formally we worked on co brokered sales remember? Until you tried to reduce our agreed share for actually bringing the buyer in. Then I parted ways with you thankfully. *************************************************
****************************************************
How did that stolen name Prince.com work out for you? Got off lightly there I see but it’s a matter of time before the whole domaining community discovers a few home truths about you. Tick tock and all that.
lol Rosener borderline communist? you are clearly insane
I wouldn’t have piped up here if I was you as there are a good few who have much more serious dirt on you!
Are you still claiming that 10% of your profits go to help the rain forest? You used to list that on your site oh I see it’s disappeared now.
There are quite a few more much more serious skeletons in your closed Rosener – so I am told by a few folks in the “know”
Wonder how long it will be until you are exposed for all your tricks. And all of them way more serious than the stuff posted here. Your pure greed knows no bounds.
Maybe you should run for president?
Konstantinos – Thanks for the heads up. It looks like I will have to use a different broker for my premium “STEM” .GUIDE domains. I was going to ask Andy to broker:
Math.guide
Algebra.guide
Geometry.guide
Trigonometry.guide
Calculus.guide
Along with:
Science.guide
Biology.guide
Physics.guide
Chemistry.guide
Now that you’ve warned us who do avoid, feel free to make a couple of solid broker recommendations for single word premium gTLD’s.
Thanks Konstantinos!