Negotiating with Chinese domainers and the language barrier

Almost three months ago I mentioned an important tip that George Hong of Guta.com gave me during NamesCon.

George has both studied and lived in the US for years, and his command of English is excellent. The average Chinese domainer, however, speaks very little English; for such monosyllabic inquiries, I utilize Google translate to communicate in Chinese.

Having just closed on a four figure sale for a four number .net domain, I can say that I was lucky to have came across a Chinese domain investor with good command of English. Initially, the time difference created some anxiety for both parties as the sale closed at Domain Name Sales and moved onto Escrow.com.

Breaking the language barrier and other social differences, is the first step in order to understand and interact with other cultures.

At my end, I reassured the buyer, that despite the delays due to the 12 hour difference, I was on top of the transaction; apparently, so was he, because the wire payment was made while I was asleep. Amicably, the domain was transferred promptly, while it was night time in China.

Having completed numerous domain transactions internationally, I thoroughly enjoy this type of honest exchange, even if the words cannot be expressed in one’s native language. I made up for that, by incorporating the word “thank you” in Chinese, within the account’s password.