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Marksmen, a brand protection agency, made a lowball offer for one of my domains using a GoDaddy domain name appraisal.
Everybody in the domain name industry knows that all automated domain name appraisals are useless. And GoDaddy appraisals have not gained any credibility despite being offered by the most popular domain name registrar in the world. I have written my opinion on this so-called GoDaddy appraisal system.
So the question here is: is Marksmen completely ignorant or are they just using GoDaddy appraisals to lowball unsuspecting people outside the industry?
Almost certainly the latter.
This was not happening so much in the past but these days buyers try to exploit the famous GoDaddy brand to pass around its domain appraisals as legit.
But it is surprising Marksmen didn’t make a bit of research on me and used the same “trick” they use on anyone else. BTW Marksmen follows me on Twitter and has regularly retweeted my articles.
So this is what happened…
A “Senior Acquisitions Analyst Marksmen” emailed me about one of my domains. She wrote the email both in English and Greek. I didn’t reply very fast so she send me another email.
I replied with a $12,500 price and then she replied with this:
“Thank you for your email. Unfortunately, your price is well above our budget for the ********* domain.
We have done some research and cannot find justification to pay that much money for *********. Godaddy appraises the domain at $1035.
[Link to GoDaddy appraisal]
We would like to offer you $1500 for the domain. This is our max budget and final offer. Can you please let me know if this is acceptable and we can have a deal?”
Of course I didn’t take this very well given that they have almost certainly have read my opinion on GoDaddy appraisals.
This was my reply:
“I don’t really care what you budget is.
So Marksmen is using GoDaddy appraisals to evaluate domains? Are you totally clueless or do you just throw out a godaddy appraisal when it is low and you want to justify your lowball offer?
I offer you $10,437 for marksmen.com.
This is our max budget and final offer. Can you please let me know if this is acceptable and we can have a deal?”
Should I be expecting a reply?
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I think your negotiating style is too brusque and rude.
You seem to take the negotiation too personally.
JMHO.
Negotiating? Where did you see negotiations here?
They are decided to lowball me and how to do it before even contacting me. They wasted my time.
I am kind to people that are kind.
I am rude to people that waste my time on purpose. If you waste my time, yes I take it personally.
Although making lowball offers is unethical, I think what Matthew said is thought-provoking.
Etiquette is important in our daily lives and also in business.
Imagine the customer support of Google or Facebook replies or talks to you with such a manner. I would regret to see that kind of attitude and their brand images would certainly devalue in my eyes.
Imho, a more appropriate approach in this case is making clear politely to bot users that those estimation bots are often misleading. If they still persist, it’s fine to simply stop replying them.
You can be disrespectful by saying “dear sir and best regards”. Etiquette is deserving to people that actually deserve it.
Marksmen is not a paying customer. Big difference. They came to me and made a lowball offer base on a bullshit appraisal (which they know I have written about).
You need to understand context. This is not some random business owner. I got that and replied differently.
ya man, it’s just business…
tell them $12,500 take it or leave it. Why even bother. The guy at Marksmen is just doing his fxxxx job, trying to get the best price for his customer.
Because:
1) They know me.
2) They use a stupid trick.
If you put up with this kind of tactics you are validating them. Let them know you see through the BS and that its not ok.
@Matthew – rude…wtf are you talking about!!!
He is already being rude by lowballing and do you really care how he feels …oh I hurt his feeling by lowballing.
There is no such thing as feeling when comes to the internet as you don’t see the guy in person and best of all you not going to have sex with him or marry him, so who cares about being rude
Just show me the money and shut the f up!!
When comes to business, it is all about a fair value of $$$$
If you sell too low, you will be called a sucker
Matthew you are wrong and clueless, plain and simple. Perhaps you are in the wrong industry, or on the wrong side of it.
Matthew,
You are absolutely right; however, the largely uneducated and cash-poor domainer crowd don’t, and will never get it. You are wasting your words of wisdom in this den of fools.
Somehow I didn’t feel compelled to post the other 999 out 1000 polite replies I write every month but this one because I had a reason to.
Sigh…
What a joke. Tell him to sell you his house for $550 bucks.
You’ve made me laugh a lot. A very nice response and I really like it 😀 😀
Tell them to buy the name from Godaddy
lol. good one!
I wonder how much they are charing their customer for their service?
Do you think the service is free for their Fortune 1000 customers? They are such a great company, sure, we will get that name for free for you.
Naw, I imagine they charge $1,000 and up for their service.
So, maybe their customer has small/tight budget, they take $1500 for their service (a few emails) and have a grand or so left to buy the name.
I like the idea of buying Marksmen.com for GD appraisal…funny.
There is no way anything is free.
It makes me wonder how an organization such as this would negotiate the development and hosting of the website to be used under the desired domain name. If the domain is only worth $1500, and the domain is what makes or breaks a business, how much do you think they’re willing to invest in the design and development? As far as I know, a quality logo alone will cost well over $1000…and that’s just the logo.
This is probably a brand protection purchase and not the main domain name but nevertheless…
The domain is not “what makes or breaks a business”, step out of the domain industry bubble.
The domain is not what makes or breaks a business BUT it COULD make or break a business. Especially an online business.
By now, most people know the value of a domain name and they know who the owners are.
They are hiding behind a skirt pretending to know nothing and lowballing .
Konstantinos- You made me laugh today, and I think instead of replying to them your reacted.
“I don’t really care what you budget is.” (they might suspect that and you know it, so you are setting the tone to be argumentative/disagreement )
Instead do this: “Hey, I AGREE with you $12,500 is a lot of money and I can see why you would be concerned. Let’s do it anyways! What escrow service do you prefer? ”
Feel free to reach out, I would love to follow up with them and broker this deal for you.
Cheers!
Alex Verdea
What a joke! DNStination (AKA MarkMonitor) did they same thing to me last year through an Afternic broker.
I found GoDaddy so annoying that I moved every domain and do not want them to contact me. Snakes, shenanigans are words I like. I could go in detail with proof, but busy with real deals.
-They have a duty to get the best price they can for their client, they aren’t there to act in the sellers best interests:
-Without knowing the name it is impossible to know whether it is a “lowball” or not.
Well, $1,500 is almost always a lowball offer. I don’t ever sell at these prices.
What did you pay for the name?
What does this have to do with anything?
You said $1500 is a “lowball”, did you pay more yourself or were you lowballing when you bought it?
So if I find a Picasso in the trash I am lowballing?
I sold a domain I bought for $8 for 6 figures 14 years later. Should I return the money and only keep $100?
What is the ROI you allow domainers to have?
It is about you calling offers lowballs whilst you’d never pay that price yourself. Pot calling the kettle black. I’m pretty sure this not some amazing where $1500 would be a lowball. I think you are angry because they have hired an expensive broker but won’t pay your price.
I have no idea what you are talking about. I buy to resell. If I buy and sell at the same price then I would be losing money.
Of course I don’t buy at end-user prices. I am looking for a deal and it takes work to find one.
I don’t care who they hired. Why would I care?
I am angry at the ridiculous godaddy appraisals and that the godaddy brand makes these ridiculous appraisals look legit.
Why not say the name then, what is to hide if $1500 is truly ridiculous for this name?
Because I don’t want to!!! I don’t have to reveal my niche because you want to!
This people know what they are doing.Like one offered me high 3 figures and withing 24hours after my reply offered me almost mid figures when he knows I replied name is worth 5 figures. I ain’t biding for any brand people that mostly disguise and offer low 4 figures for name they think I dont know the value.I just renew my names for extra years and let them see if it’s worth their miserly GD valuation. I have been moving my names off afternic once I see that it shows other extensions when buyers make offers and their crappy valuations just makes matters worst to sell a name as buyer thinks it’s the final say .
I appraise this at – “priceless”:
“I offer you $10,437 for marksmen.com.
This is our max budget and final offer. Can you please let me know if this is acceptable and we can have a deal?”
Konstantinos is to be commended for doing this. Others are to be condemned for not doing this. If we had more of this, maybe there would even be some meaningful change to “the problem” of how this whole automated “appraisal” phenomenon has most definitely harmed the industry. Doubtless even harmed what could have been the Go Daddy bottom line itself.
And by “this” I mean this public blog post.
Godaddy lists for 4 figures domains I sold for 6 figures. Lol what planet are they from.
Sorry, that should read Godaddy appraises domains for 4 figures that I sold for 6.
A lot of lazy brokers are using such methods, another one that goes by the name of KATE does so also.
It is just a strategy to get a lower price, I don’t think it is “lazy”.
Had one from csc corporate services 6 years ago and they talked a lot about Estibot. It is not a new strategy, it probably works because they keep using it, and it is unlikely it will ever go away.
Understood it is a strategy that works on yuppies, these guys are smart, they play the parked servers more than the owners pretty much. They got lazy with their cut, and paste template maybe, as maybe they were sending it out.
Hey, many of us are buyers also we don’t go around quoting estibot, it is actually embarassing, and it is very lazy.
The right thing to do is show similar comps, talk about how long it has been sitting in parked status etc… if estibot comes in low, than save the speech, it’s meaningless, and we all know it.
Real estate brokers make about a blended 4.5% on an average sale, greedy domain brokers charge 15-20% with very little costs, time for us to turn these FKRS upside down, and make them work for their keep.
Yeah, that is why everyone and their dog wants to be a domain broker.
Konman,
You are leaving out the domain name on purpose but why? Because it isn’t worth what you are asking I’m sure. They have every right to offer you what the appraisal is. That’s what an appraisal is for. You always think you “got it” and I don’t think you do. Tell the name or STFU!!!
This is not an “apraisal”, it is a joke. Didn’t you get the memo?
I will write whatever I fucking want. Go read some other blog now.
In fact you writing this article without divulging name is WAY more stupid than a $1500 offer…but you need your filler space to get ad revenue nothing new from you I get it.
What ad revenue? Haha….
Thank you, you ignorant smart guy offering nothing…
Look baklava B!@#$ you are the one that is so lame you can’t post name. You make excuses all the time. Just because others don’t know how you play doesn’t mean I don’t. Get a blog that isn’t 93% regurgitation from someone elses news. And ya the ladies cosmetics ad is real sweet. Get a real blog
Please tell me how I play.
I guess you don’t know how google ads work, do you? Hahaha…
Please read a blog that is 100% bullshit and leave this 93% one.
What is a troll like you even doing here? And baklava is one of the most delicious things on earth. Greek baklava is also the best on earth. I’m long overdue for some since I’m not doing gluten free anymore…
Truth is your style isn’t cool. All of these people are taking up for you and the name might be HollywoodHairDoos.com. If you are straight up you will include name. I am not here to hurl insults and in fact I apologize but my friend your thinking overall in this blog can be very askew. I recently had a domain that had a $5300 appraisal and I was offered “between $50-$100”. I just chalked it up as they were never a buyer and dropped it…I kept the attitude at bay. Besides there are opening offers correct?
Since you mentioned baklava, have you had real Greek feta imported from Greece? There is no feta in all the world like it. Used to get it all the time in NYC…
If my name was HollywoodHairDoos.com they would not contact me in the first place.
I will not include the name because I have my reasons. And I don’t need to explain myself for everything I write or don’t write.
I get 10s of $50 offers every month. I don’t go around talking about everyone of these people. This is marksmen I am talking about.
O.k. so maybe my problem is there is not enough information for a quality post. It’s like talking about how pretty or ugly…if you have no pic who knows. I see generally you never post names folks ask about. I simply think this post is completely incomplete without the name. If it did turn out to be not so hot let everybody make their own judgement. I have bad blood over some past issues with you and it has not gone away. Do you want me to let it out here on your forum because I think it is pretty damning.
Sorry but I don’t know who you are. I only know you have made 10-15 comments on my blog.
We have never met. I happen to have been in the domain business since 2005. I am the best at what I do in the industry. I have read and or watched your blog for many years and know your style. I would say it reminds me of MBS of Saudi Arabia. If you don’t like something you attack it or in my case change the information. What is so funny is all the people that follow yet never ask for proof or domain names you speak of ect. That’s is dog lapping and that ain’t me. I know this is a close knit industry where everybody is in bed together but I don’t need that to sell domains. It is what it is.
“I am the best at what I do in the industry.”
Whatever…
“I would say it reminds me of MBS of Saudi Arabia.”
You have fucking lost it…
“If you don’t like something you attack it or in my case change the information.”
YOU are full of shit…
Since probably 2010 (or that range I do not know how long you have been blogging) I have made over 15+ posts on different topics over the years.
Ok big man play stupid. Here is the deal. I answered a post which to this day is still up under my name. It is also under my full name AND the first name Donnie which I do not use at all and never have. YOU kept numerous posts I have added to your site hidden from being seen yet the posts that make me look negative you kept up. It was 100% intentional. I have never had my name as Donnie ever yet your post put it there. All the other posts some very long…never seen! It was intentional. You kept numerous posts down while showing what you chose to make me look bad. Plain and simple. I don’t use fake names single names or hide. You know you did it and acting like you don’t just fits your character.
I am telling you to your face you have modified results to show me to look bad period
Hahaha. You are fucking crazy. I have no idea what you talking about. WTF?
So what did I do? I changed your name from Don to Donnie? Why did I do that? So that you look bad? hahahahaha
I don’t even know you and don’t care to know you.
BTW I don’t delete comments unless there is a serious reason.
Onlinedomain.com good place for domainer. So i kindly request please stop this war
So I did a search on Onlinedomain.com to find wtf you are talking about.
I found most of your comments use “Don Edmands” and this aol email address you use today.
I found 4 comments using “Don/Donald Edmands” and a different aol email address.
And I found 1 comment using “Donald Edmands” and yet a fifferent aol email address.
I was able to find the first email address in Google. Couldn’t find the other 2.
It seems that you had this imaginary “problem” on other blogs so it MUST be a conspiracy to make you look like a Don/Donald or a Donald.
BTW I can’t find you as Donnie.
Yes you cannot find me as Donnie because I never left a post as that. It was INDEXED as that.
Godaddy Apraisal Very Funny
Domain price defending on Buyer Not in Word.
sorry “depending” (my phone keyboard auto suggest)
What would you say to an end user that actually believes the godaddy appraisal number is highly accurate? How would you counter that argument? Would appreciate someone’s advice as I’m in this situation right now.
The truth is the Godaddy appraisal is not that off at all. Daniel domain sales are up to the salesman way more than the domain. Godaddy uses thousands and thousands of past sales to generate the amounts they show. If you look at the “domain game” you will get an idea what I am saying. I believe people that say it is off are once again just hoping it was more and if they are great over the top salespersons it can go to infinity…ask Mike Mann.
No conspiracy at all just a jerk doing what jerks do to
Avoid the truth. I know you intentionally did that. I know my name as Donnie with a comment that to outsiders looks negative was intentional.All three names ranked high and it was there for a long time. The countless other posts I left here over years? Nothing. You can play stupid all you want. People don’t claim things like this if truth is not involved. Just like you didn’t post “topcoin sale has started- anybody that buys topcoin is an idiot” No that was not you. Remember your little contest back 5-6 years ago guess what I paid for this name and so many people tried guessing? What was the amount? Was it $100? Just curious. I would like to know. The pattern is the same. Like you not posting the name in question for $1500 in this post. Why the hell talk about how someone is wrong when the proof is hidden? I personally dare you to show the name this post is about AND change your picture you use from what 10+ years ago??? Big lol! Stop bullshitting and be honest man I ain’t going for it. Anybody can do what you are doing.
Post the link where it says Donnie dickhead! It says Donald and you wrote it! And how is Donnie negative you crazy man????
Rank high by who???
Sorry to say but you belong in an institution.
Dork I would give anything if you were in reaching distance you would last about 14 seconds and you would collapse under your own weight and heart attack out! It was there for years! My name was Don or Donald but when you type in “Donnie Edmands” there it was. The only thing in my life ever posted was there from you and it appeared negative. I am claiming you intentionally did that so IF I tried to use Donnie for in or outbound I would be found. You had already left the only other negative post under Don AND Donald. Had the numerous other posts I left here showed up I would have never said a thing period. You intentionally indexed the two comments under my name three different ways to make it found. No other comments any other place…not page after page…nothing!
So you have no proof of what you say yet somehow I did all this to make you look bad but no one can see it. Yeah this makes sense.
Do you have screenshots from all these years of anger? Something from Archive.org? Or have I deleted all that too?
“The only thing in my life ever posted was there from you and it appeared negative.”
??? You don’t even make sense in the crazy house.
“I am claiming you intentionally did that so IF I tried to use Donnie for in or outbound I would be found.”
So I knew that someday you would use Donnie in an email and my master plan was to edit one of your comments years ago before you did that (if ever) so you would look bad because Donnie sounds bad somehow.
Yeah ok. It makes sense…
“You had already left the only other negative post under Don AND Donald.”
Which posts are negative and which positive?
“Had the numerous other posts I left here showed up I would have never said a thing period. You intentionally indexed the two comments under my name three different ways to make it found.”
Showed up where? You think I own Google or something?
Now search “site:onlinedomain.com edmands” at google to find your comments.
BTW I also have backups of my blog. Let me know what date you want and I will provide it.
And I have all the emails that wordpress sends with all your comments, name and email address. (That is before I supposedly edited them and then deleted them.)
You aren’t going to own it. You did need to be put on blast for your future bullshit so others can be aware of it. I ain’t trolling shit just getting years of anger off my chest cause I know for a fact it was intentional. Nobody on this earth is so lame to claim something like this for no reason. I will do what I can to find comment. You could easily pull it. Why it isn’t there I know not. Truthfully it stayed so long I stopped looking. I am dropping this. I wanted to be heard and I have been. You do the things requested or I leave here totally vindicated. Fake news? No, fake Konstantinous!
Please share your evidence of this master plan of mine that no one can see.
I am starting to feel sorry for you.
Grandiose delusions and a persecution complex is what would better describe you.
Of course I am not the first one you accuse and certainly not the last one. Good luck.
I am simply stating you intentionally indexed me under the name Donnie so I could not use it to avoid the other names if I responded to inbound or outbound sales leads. You are a walking human joke for acting the way you are. First, why is no other comments from the past there? Yes I am totally agreeing that I posted the other comment as you are not the only one that has pulled this type move. Play stupid for infinity. I notice at no time have you said you did not do it. You have not answered other questions at all just hurling insults. You yourself said I’ll write anything I want” …you think that type person would not do this?
Right.
I couldn’t give two shits about this forum or the usual handstroke comments it’s packed with. I didn’t start in this industry last week and have no need to comment other than to say you intentionally removed MANY past comments to show only two that made me look negative in some way. I guess you think that is such an incredible reach for someone to do huh?
You are paltry as they come…blaming Godaddy auctions for losing names you bid on and you having to fill out the paperwork when you didn’t win name but you can’t move to the states because your wife likes it in Greece…simply stupid beyond all words.
Contest amount? Never answered.
Tell name your are going on about? Refused
Add a picture from this past Century? Declined.
Your kind will be outed it always happens!
Please explain that “indexed” means in your mind because I am starting to think you don’t know how this internet thing works.
“First, why is no other comments from the past there?”
There where?
“Yes I am totally agreeing that I posted the other comment as you are not the only one that has pulled this type move.”
The conspiracy we were talking about…
“I notice at no time have you said you did not do it.”
I DID NOT DO ANYTHING THAT HAS TO DO WITH YOU OR ANY OF YOUR IMAGINARY NAMES!
I’ll write anything I want on my posts! That is what I said! I don’t go around changing people’s names and then delete them so that aliens will index them!
BTW this is a blog. Not a forum.
All your comments are here/there. Learn to use google to find them.
“Contest amount? Never answered.”
Contest amount: $260. You waited almost 4 years to ask that?
https://onlinedomain.com/2015/05/17/domain-name-news/and-the-contest-winner-is/
“Tell name your are going on about?”
No, thanks.
“Add a picture from this past Century? Declined.”
You want me to do a 10 year challenge?
” Be kind to one another. ” – Ellen DeGeneres
False attribution.
Ephesians 4:32, Holy Bible
32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
This is an awesome read, both the original post and the comments. So is this the summary at the end of comments? Donnie Edmands is mad his names Donnie Edmands was posted, and the top search result for Donnie Edmands on Google. But is no longer ranked on Google, but then posted his name Donnie Edmands again here, so it can get ranked again?
Only thing is that “Donnie” was never posted anywhere until yesterday when he posted it himself here!
There is a comment from 2017 where he complains here about Michael Cyger doing something similar to him on domainsherpa.com.
He then complained about “Donald”:
https://onlinedomain.com/2017/09/06/domain-name-news/michael-cyger-retiring-publishing-domainsherpa-videos/
That’s the thing. I DID NOT USE DONNIE AS A NAME YOU INDEXED IT THAT WAY>>>>>THAT IS THE ARGUMENT HERE! IT’S NOT DONNIE TRUMP SO YOU AREN’T GOING TO FIND IT THAT WAY. MY NAME ISN’T WITH AN O SO YOU WON’T FIND THAT EITHER! GET ME?????
No, I don’t. And probably nobody gets you.
You should go change his name to whatever bothers him! haha
that would be funNY !!
I am alerting all what has happened. I whole heartedly expected to get jumped on by those that make light of a very serious accusation. If you truly are paying attention you see he is totally avoiding what I am claiming.
Nick the takeaway is I am telling the truth. The fact it is no longer there I have zero idea but I can assure you it has been there for at least 5+ years
Is there truly no one who will rise up and speak on behalf of real Greek baklava and real imported feta cheese from Greece, the really real kind that comes in a barrel?
Very well, but at least rise up and do more of this then:
https://onlinedomain.com/2019/02/11/domain-name-news/marksmen-makes-lowball-offer-using-a-godaddy-domain-appraisal/#comment-335108.
And “you’re welcome” for my commendation, Konstantinos. 😉
Again! I am claiming you indexed my name under “Donnie” so if I decided to use that to avoid the comments I could not. That is simple to understand. What is also simple to understand is where did all the other comments go? Why don’t you start by showing my comment when I guessed at the amount you paid for that name contest many years ago. FIND IT!
Show the post when you talked about the ATM’s not working when Greece went through the monetary shutdown years ago…find it
Your comments from 2015 are here:
https://onlinedomain.com/2015/05/07/domain-name-news/contest-guess-the-domain-name-purchase-price-win-100/
You guessed $100. You lost.
This is the other post you are looking for:
https://onlinedomain.com/2015/09/14/domain-name-news/my-greek-bank-adventure-a-hard-economics-lesson/
Any other posts you can’t find master Don?
And for the record you didn’t edit anything. You added my comment of one of two posts under Donnie to be indexed as that.This is the malicious part. No posts that were positive that had much much more content. It was intentional.
Donnie Don Edmonds you sound like one of those nuts that Verisign hires, calm it down
Mike who? See what I mean your comment is worthless. Mike could be anybody. For those of you using fake names single names and such now you see why it’s best to use BS handles on sites like this.
Yeah. Still no one understands what you are saying…
If no one understands English, the word Donnie or the fact you intentionally indexed it that way to keep up a negative comment then you should all be ashamed.I have clearly written what is going on and your joke ass is trying to muddy it. Period
I am done talking. I made my point and if anybody can’t follow I would recommend language lessons. You have not at anytime said ” I absolutely did not index your name under Donnie”. It is easy to see you think you are the domain warrior from past posts how you attack. It’s in your character. Just like your pic from what 2002? Why do that? Most people find it funny using pics from the past to avoid showing what you ACTUALLY look like. Show your look. Don’t hide it. Let the world see what you look like today man.
It fits perfectly with my comments.
I don’t understand what you mean by “index” because indexing is something Google and search engines do (which you clearly don’t understand) but since I didn’t even know you existed until yesterday and have never done anything similar to anyone then sure:
“I absolutely did not index your name under Donnie”
Do I have to sign too?
Dear Don. The photo is from 2010. I have posted a few photos of me in the past few years on this blog. You missed them too?
Also there are a lot of photos from the 4 NamesCon conferences I have attended and a couple of video interviews (with my new face) at Namescon from Namepros. Look them up!
Meanwhile there is no photo of you on LinkedIn.
This guy fucks. 👍
I don’t post pics. Don’t need to for business. The indexing did not happen naturally that is the argument. I am stating that the chances only two negative comments show under three names is literally impossible.
I said what I wanted to and will stick with it. The domain name industry is way too small for you to just now hear of me based if only on posts made to your blog.
To act as though you could not change how a name was represented is simply false. To act like you would not be someone that would do that I believe is false as well. I do appreciate you answering questions and I will now drop this. Your blog appears very successful and you should be comended for keeping it up. If there are no more comments reflecting me I will not in the future post nor read your blog. I hope you every bit of success in the domain name business and I mean that.