In recent weeks, there seems to be an increase in domain inquiries placed by unqualified buyers.
By “unqualified buyers” I’m not referring to the barrage of spam that arrives from a well-known source with fake female identities.
The domain inquiries I’m talking about are placed by prospective buyers, whose role within the company or partnership that is interested in the domain, is unimportant.
For example, a junior web designer contacting me about a domain that his part time employer would like to buy – that’s an unqualified buyer.
Or, a person who ‘dabbles with things’ on behalf of a church that would like a particular generic, that’s another unqualified domainer.
A twist of this can include the imaginary partner scenario: an inquiry reaches a point that requires the input or action of a “third party” that is otherwise uninvolved in the exchange.
I will try to expand on the latter once I have some more data to share, but for now, my focus is that of the buyer who has no authority to complete a domain acquisition on behalf of the other party.
To these inquiries, I simply state that they need to get a qualified person to contact me, if they are interested in a domain name. Anything beyond that is a waste of time, that can also create complicated scenarios involving assumptions on pricing.
Always ask for proof of qualification to negotiate, when you receive domain inquiries from a buyer that claims to do so on behalf of a company or partnership.
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