Oops! Wrong email : My first ever domain sale was an accident

When responding to emails, or composing a new email, one has to be careful about the recipient’s address being correct.

I tend to double check or triple check the email address, particularly since many corporate emails share the same first part.

Sending an email to the wrong recipient can be embarrassing, but it can also cost you proprietary information or other private credentials.

I believe I shared before the anecdote about my first ever domain sale, 15 years ago, that was the result of a typo.

Having registered a “matrix” domain a year prior, all of a sudden I started receiving emails intended for the other party, a company in Singapore that used the term “metrix”. After several weeks of forwarding them emails with proprietary information, I offered them the domain for low four figures and they wired the money in a great display of trust.

Back then, domain transfers from one registrant to another required the signing of documents, and I had to notarize stuff and mail it off to Singapore, and then all this was sent to Network Solutions. The process took 3 weeks to complete!

While great things can come out of a typo, it’s prudent to double-check your recipient’s email address as you might end up sharing info that was meant to remain private.

Comments

  1. Mary Shaver says

    I get seven to ten propitiatory emails for a typo of one of my domain names. Most are very important business emails with business set up details to open one of their accounts. I own the .com and they own the com.au

    They tried to buy the domain from me a couple of times over the years always using middlemen posing as a student, an author and last time as a housewife wanting to start a home business. The highest offer was for $10,000 USD. They lost patience and this year finalized a trademark on the name.

    You wonder why they just can not come out and directly offer to buy it. I am afraid to contact them now as they have a trademark. I will just have to wait for then to contact me again.

    I wonder if I should forward all those important emails to them or if that would stir up a hornets nest. Leading to a UDRP filing. Surely some of the senders must mention they emailed numerous times and received no answer.

  2. Mary Shaver says

    That was 7-10 emails a week

  3. Mary – Interesting situation. As they have now secured a trademark it’d be rather risky to reach out and offer them the domain, demonstrating the amount of proprietary information that fails to reach them via email.

    That being said, they have a specific budget and depending on your counter-offers they might be unwilling to cross it.

    It doesn’t mean you’re in danger of losing the domain in a UDRP, however if this is your only buyer you might need to keep that in mind in a future attempt to buy the domain from you.

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