Have you ever purchased a domain with an intention of selling it. I am sure whenever a domain is sold at a big, fat, obnoxious price we all think of buying a great domain name at cheap price and sell it. Being in the industry for more than 5 years has helped me understand the difference between scam and real time buyers.
I recently purchased a domain as soon as it was released after expiration. My idea was to flip the domain for a couple of hundred bucks. Within the next couple of days, I received an email from someone who called himself as DOMAIN LAWYER. Interestingly, the guy was ready to offer me $10,000 - $13,000 for a domain that I just registered.
Approach Email: "I represent a private investor from Canada. He needs "*****.info" for his new project. The project will be launched in September. My client would be prepared to pay a sum between $11,000 and US$13,000 to secure this domain name. Time is of the essence as he needs to secure the domain name as soon as possible, so his Corporate Communications department can prepare the relevant logos and letterheads. I am available to discuss this transaction at your earliest convenience. I look forward to your reply. If you have more domain names for sale, please email me the list. I may help you to find buyers for them."
It was an offer too hard to ignore and I sent a response back confirming my interest in selling this domain.
The Real Story Now:
Being in the industry for more than 5 years, I understood that there is a high probability of being submitting myself to a scam. The first check point that I did was to find more information about these domain lawyers. The good thing about Google is that it speaks truth and can expose anything. There were a lot of stories that confirmed my doubt on the email from being a scam artist.
Over the next few days, I this domain lawyer wanted me to get my domain validated by paying a fee. It was clever of him to offer help in getting the domain validation done asap. We kept haggling for days about this and in the end to play with him more.I confirmed with him that I paid the company of his choice. Then he responded to give me the transaction information and the URL where the payment was made. This went on for the next 5-7 days and then there was a last response.
My Final Response:
Needless to say that I was not interested in paying anything. My last email to him below and I never heard of him again.
Dear David,
By this time, you must have realized that just like the way you wanted to scam me. I wanted to poke some fun at you. It was great talking to you and I really hope that you are not that embarrassed for being duped in your own game. It was a good 10 day entertainment that you provided. Your desperation was so good that kept me going on and on to respond back to you and enjoy. Now Smile sweet lad.
There are a lot of scam artists out there. It is important to be careful and be sensible.