My tolerance of unsavory commentary is relatively high – unless it involves unfounded accusations that are borderline libelous.
Then, I would snap; this is part one of an ongoing exchange with a ‘buyer’ over at Domain Name Sales.
The Dutch lady “N.V.” is a brand specialist for a company in Rotterdam, and she inquired about a generic, dictionary word domain that has been in my portfolio since 2005. It once belonged to the great Igal Lichtman, and over the years I’ve received many inquiries, mostly from European companies.
I involved a DNS broker, who contacted the buyer a total of four times over the course of 18 days, every time without a response. One would expect to hear back at least with a “not interested, thanks” note, but what came back instead was this:
“Some people make money by contributing something – others by stealing!”
I found this statement and accusation to be not only an unfounded, insulting response devoid of any truth, but also an angry acknowledgement that my asking price did not fit her budget.
I’m ok with people being unable or unwilling to invest in a domain name, when it costs anything beyond registration fees. To display such ignorance and pompous attitude about a product one is unfamiliar with, is downright worthy of exposure.
I gave her 24 hours to issue an apology and full retraction, after this, I will publish her full name with a closing statement.
You have balls, Acro. Well done.
Mike – It’s all about setting the record straight. Imagine, having someone knock on your door to buy your house, then leaving a “thief” note behind when they cannot afford it.
I wonder what sort of unsavory activities are perpetrated by companies like hers on consumers every day. Stealing takes shape in many ways and the list of companies that have been prosecuted for various types of theft is long indeed. As a brand specialist, she knows well how advertising manipulates consumer behavior to goad people to purchase things they often don’t need at prices they often can’t afford. That’s why it is very hypocritical indeed to hear negative comments like this cast toward owners of domain names who are well within their right to purchase, own, and sell a digital asset. People are quick to get unpleasant when they can’t have something they want but rarely like to hold a mirror up to themselves and see the unpleasantness in the reflection.
I totally agree with what Ridicolous just said.
The list of companies more or less “legally” stealing, in many ways, would be very long … without mentioning frauds, mismanagement cases, unfair commercial practices, “legalized” monopoly situations, abuse of powers, and so on …
As regards domains, here there is no “stealing” involved, you are the owner, you state the price, and if the buyer does not feel comfortable with it, as my friend Adam Dicker says, they can go pick up another domain … lol 😀
@Acro – I fully understood and I do support your activity and statement. It is shame that there is no protection mechanism for domain investor. Until ICANN is under US governance, this will not change, due to lack of its interest. How can buying gold without actually using it can be allowed and same does not apply for domain name? I am not lawyer, but what law protect gold investment without applying same rules to domain investing? I don’t believe such law explicitly specify gold to be okay and domain name not. When IRS classifies profit from domain sales as a taxable source, then de-facto this kind of business if legal, otherwise it cannot be taxable. I will never understand this legal mess. US legislation does not allow discrimination in many fields, but for some reason domaining is not protected.
I’ve seen this kind of response from cold inquiries we I first entered the domain aftermarket business. This kind of ignorance comes from not understanding everything that goes into selling a domain. It’s not all about just sitting on a name until someone decides to try and buy it. Mainly people respond this way because they can’t afford the domain, or have no idea the value of an exact match or a short brandable domain. Besides releasing her name, the best thing you can do is to just not sell her the domain at all, or notify her that the domain is no longer available to be acquired by her or anyone at her company. Also send a letter to the company she works for detailing why you will not do business with them. If an owner who wanted that domain sees that she messed up the transaction, then she will gain the ire of her boss.
My wrath has subsided – there’s no point in revealing the name.
Still, there’s a lesson to be learned by this incident: there are plenty of public misconceptions about domain ownership, and the right to treat domains as property to sell as seen fit.
Time is up. What is next?
Theo,
The funny thing is that this kind of situation has happened to me too today.
The buyer who inquired about one of our .com (an Austrian consultant acting on behalf of a start-up) didn’t like my price and replied saying that “I’ve handled this kind of domain transfers all over the world several times, but this is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen! Sorry, but you are totally disqualifying yourself as a serious businessman. ”
I didn’t even reply to their offensive rant.
According to their attitude and way of thinking, you are “a serious businessman” only if you accept their offers … lol … that’s ridiculous! …
As I say, they have to pay if they wanna play 😀