|
Welcome to NewVeracityNow.com!
Articles » Internet-Business » Scams >> View Article
|
 |
|
 |
| Domain Appraisal Scam |
By:
Teri Trantanella |
|
I'm embarrassed to say I fell for an old spam domain appraisal scam. I'm new to selling domain names, but I have a few that are pretty good and decided to try and sell one on Ebay after receiving a pretty decent appraisal from nameboy.com. I received an email a couple of days after listing it on Ebay. Below (in blue) are copies of the emails (misspellings & all) I received over the next few days, which, unfortunately, excited about my first possible profitable sale, I totally fell for and blew $260.00 for domain name appraisals at securenamesale.com. After reading several forums (after the fact), I discovered I'm not the only idiot who fell for this asshole's scam. Although it's embarrassing and makes me the fool, I felt it's my duty as an honest Internet Marketer to inform as many people as I can about this scam. If you Google "Domain Appraisal Scam", you will find several forum discussions concerning this very scam. Wish I'd have done that before purchasing appraisals from his rip-off website!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello,
I've found your domain listed for sale.
Just send an email with your asking price in Euro or USD for the domain name.
Domain market is so hot now. Have you heard about recent multi-million dollars sales?
Our company develops software for a large corporation. Domain names is not our
business but a new way to earn on reselling. We are going to buy domains to resell them at higher prices. Our company has a large database of clients interested in good domains.
If you offer more domains for sale with good reselling potential please email us your list.
Looking forward to do business with you.
Regards,
John Champoux, Ph. D.
CEO
UTS Technologies
===============================================================
NOTICE - This communication may contain confidential and privileged information that is for the sole use of the intended recipient. Any viewing, copying or distribution of, or reliance on this message by unintended recipients is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify us immediately by replying to the message and deleting it from your computer.
===============================================================
The email itself looked legitimate, and, since this the was first domain name I’ve tried to sell, I was extremely excited about being contacted, so I answered him with my price. The next day after sending the reply, I received this email from him:
Looks like domain market is hot now. Porn.om sold recently for $9,000,000!
http://www.901am.com/2007/porncom-sold-for-9m.html
Let's talk about our deal now.
4,500 USD. Ok.
Do you sell the name only without web site? I'm interested in the name so web site is not so important.
Do you have an appraisal certificates for your domain names? As fas I know it's a common practice to show appraisal of domain name (even without traffic and web site) before doing business.
Without appraisal I risk to overpay. In other words I won't be able to make a profit on reselling this name. It's very important for you and me to know the current market value of your domains.
Of course, we must be sure that you are engaging an appraisal company with REAL manual service. I heard many appraisal companies often made inaccurate auto-generated appraisals. I will only accept appraisals from independent sources I trust. To avoid mistakes I asked domain experts about reputable appraisal companies in a forum
http://domaintalk.ourplace.com/Archive/417295.htm
Just check this posting.
If the appraisal comes higher you can adjust your asking price accordingly. I also hope you can give me 10% - 15% discount of the appraised value.After I get an appraisal from you we'll continue our negotiations.How do you prefer to get paid: www.escrow.com, www.PayPal.com check or wire?
Hope we can come to an agreement fast.
Looking forward to your reply.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After answering this email and enclosing a copy of the appraisal I received from nameboy.com, I received this email the very next day:
I cannot accept auto-generated appraisal from Nameboy.
I thought about several companies including Afternic.com, but found very interesting information: http://www.igoldrush.com/links3.htm
"Capsule Review: After lots of complaints, Afternic is no longer a recommended service. We will re-review the service in the near future."
I also found the following information about them http://www.out-law.com/page-1630 So Afternic.com is NOT acceptable.
Reading responses from experienced sellers I was impressed by one reply: "Many Internet users are not smart enough and popular domain brokers are using this fact to make money. They offer them cheap appraisal services. But if their customers would have something in their heads they'd understand experts could not make a professional research for $15-$20.
These appraisals are made by machines. Easy money for such appraisers as http://www.afternic.com/ and several other major brokers that offer cheap auto-generated appraisals. In my eyes, all services under $50-$55 are not manual and the results are generated by special scripts. I don't trust auto-generated appraisals.
"The same is true for GoDaddy and SEDO. Their services are not manual. They are just collecting money using their well-known names. I heard many appraisal companies often overpriced domains. So I cannot accept appraisal from each and every site.
To avoid mistakes I asked about reputable appraisers in a forum. Several experts recommended me Securenamesale's appraisal service -http://www.securenamesale.com/appraise.asp as a fast, accurate and non-expensive manual service.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Like a total idiot, I fall for the bait and order, not one, but eight appraisals from securenamesale.com and received high dollar appraisals for all eight domain names. Of course, that excited me even more! After sending him a copy of the appraisal for the name he was supposedly interested in, I received this response about 4 days later:
From: director@utepils.com
Sent: Sat, 2 Jun 2007 12:39 AM
Subject: Re: TheBestBabySite.com (sent 05-24-07)
Your result looks reasonable and I accept it. I asked about other appraisers with good reputation and people recommended DomainSystems.com, GreatDomains.com and DomainMart.com.
I paid for the second appraisal myself. Hope you understand me because it's not wise to rely on opinion of one appraiser only. Now I've got the results. My results are close to the results from your appraiser. To be honest I expected a lower estimation. So I see from different independent sources including yours that your name has a good potential
I made a lot of research about how to sell/buy a domain and I founded an ICANN rule that prohibits any domain reselling before two months from registration. But I want o make money on reselling within one month.
So I offer you the following:
I set the starting price based on our appraisals. Then I find a buyer and arrange the transaction for 15%. I wrote about my reselling intentions in first emails.
Moreover, also don't claim exclusive rights to sell your domain. You can try to sell your domains too.
I've already bought opt-in lists from http://www.1-bulk-email-mailing-address-list.com/ site to promote your domains.
I invested about $250 in these lists. Unfortunately, I cannot list your names with brokers and auctions because I'm not the owner. Listing on different sites will increase exposure so we can find buyers fast. So I think you should list your names with several brokers. I think http://www.amazon.com/ , http://www.securenamesale.com/ and http://www.ebay.com/ are good sites to start with. If your list your names there please don't forget to send your auction links.
May I use your appraisal in my promotional emails?
P.S. If you have other names for sale we can work on reselling them. The more names the higher chances to sell your domains.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Notice how securenamesale.com is included as a site to list my domains with. The fees to list your domains are high, so thankfully, I finally did a Google inquiry on his website and found several scam reports. Sure wish I had done that before ordering appraisals from them. In the meantime, I've filed complaints with IC3 and the FTC and sent proof of the scam to my credit card company requesting a chargback.
If it seems too good to be true...it's probably a scam. Check it out first by Google-ing the website with the word "scam" after it. If it's a scam, somebody has probably already written warnings about it in their blog or on a forum. |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
