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Why do people tell me they will register an available domain and never do?

This happened to me 3 times in the past month. I had 3 domain name inquiries (for 1 .com, 1 .org and 1 .info) where the buyers said my price was too high (surprise!).

All 3 said that they were going to register an available domain name. But they never did!

Do you know how I know? They actually told me the available domain name they were going to register.

Needless to say the domains were pretty bad and the best they could accomplice was to drive traffic to my names. They told me the domains so I could actually go out and register them. I never did and the main reason was that these domains were not even worth the registration fee. I actually told of them that they should not go out telling people what domains they were going to buy BEFORE they bought them.

But I believe it was either a play to make me lower my price (not happening) or they were not serious buyers that never got to buying any domain or building a website.

Have this happened to anyone? I bet it has. What did you do? Did you ever register the available domain they told you to teach them a lesson?

Sold.Domains

About Konstantinos Zournas

I studied Computer Engineering and Computer Science in London, UK and I am now living in Athens, Greece. I went online in 1995, started coding in 1996 and began buying domain names and creating websites in 2000. I started the OnlineDomain.com blog in 2012.

10 comments

  1. I’ve had inquiries on .com or .ca domains where the .net, .org, and so on were available to hand reg. And some of the inquirers get pretty heated when they think the price is too high or can’t even make a decent offer. But they hardly ever go and register the .net .org .info or .biz, so I don’t know what they do. It shows the power and value of a .com domain when someone really wants it, but won’t go and pay $10 for an alternative extension.

  2. When the tell you they’d register that other domain, unless you drop the price, just tell them the price went up 😀

  3. One tactic someone pulled on me when trying to get a great ExampleExample.com for only $5k was, “Okay well I guess I’ll have to go with ExampleExtraShortWordExample.com (only three words). This “plan B” domain they pulled out of a hat certainly made sense, but was weaker, less appealing and much less valuable than mine. And this was a company negotiating in the open, clearly doing well and no doubt could have afforded a decent price for mine. It was years ago, and I must admit even though it was obviously a well played negotiating tactic at the time, it did have some impact when the rabbit was pulled out of the hat.

    So they did use their back up domain for a while, and some time later I found it had already dropped. The bottom line was that while that tack can be a bit more effective than not even having substitute domain in hand for the “threat,” there is often no substitute for the best.

  4. They normally don’t tell me the name but rather I found something cheaper when doing a follow up email.

    Most inquiries are tire kickers or someone blowing hot air for the most part. Sure you can land a nice fish once in a while but it’s few a far between…

  5. Domain Observer

    As I never replied to any incoming how-much inquiry, I have been lucky enough not to get any bs mails about the domain from the same guy.

    • You don’t even reply at all? Not even to tell them to make an offer if they want? So if anyone contacts you about a domain, do you ever sell any that way or even discuss it?

      • If they don’t open up negotiations with an offer in their first email, they are not likely to understand the value of the domain name. The opening offer they send shows their understanding of the value. Most “how much?” openers are simply time wasters who will balk at your price and whine and complain anyway. An opening offer shows a professional buyer ready to negotiate and make a deal on something they clearly value. Those are the ones at least worth talking to.

      • I see what you mean. I just replied today to someone I think is probably just going to hit me with the old appraisal scam. I was actually partly fishing to see if that’s what it was.

  6. Been there and done that too. I end up registering the name, but do a bulk sale should inquirer want. I actually wrote about my experience too. http://www.kickstartcommerce.com/thanks-ill-register-another-domain-name.html

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