Domain Name Appraisal Scam – NameSaleShop.com
I recently listed a domain for sale – www.ukcabs.net (incidentally, it’s still for sale if anyone is legitimately interested, please feel free to contact me)
It was listed on places like Sedo, I advertised it on twitter and eBay.
On Saturday, 9th May, 2009, I received an email from weisberg@theonlinebrokerage.com with the subject “ukcabs.net sent (05/09/09)”
Hello,
What is the price of your domain?
We are very interested in it. Good domains are wise investment in the
future. Our company is interested in easy-to-remember domain names.
If you have other domains for sale feel free to send your list.
Looking forward to do business with you.
Regards,
Andrew Weisberg
CEO
OB Real Estate LLC
Naturally, I replied a few days later. Initially believing it to be a genuine interest in the domain name.
Hi there,
Apologies for the late reply
I’m interested in offers on the domain, please feel free to send me one.
Regards,
Alex
I didn’t hear anything for a few months, so in September, i resent the above message, and asked if he was still interested in the domain.
Around a week later, I received this reply:
Yes.
As a seller you should provide me with an appraisal first. This is a reasonable practice.
I’ve found not all the appraisals are accurate. So I accept real manual appraisals from trusted sources only.
I don’t trust $14-$20 services. Nobody will do a research for $14. We need a real manual service.
I researched several companies and here are the results:
I wanted to engage AccurateDomains.com as appraiser but looks like this company has very bad reputation Just read this blog http://accuratedomains.blogspot.com/
So I’m not going to accept this fraudulent service.
I also considered www.Afternic.com, but now it’s clear their service is not reliable enough.
Just read this:
http://www.igoldrush.com/links3.htm
"Capsule Review: After lots of complaints, Afternic is no longer a recommended service. We will re-review the service in the near future."
Another complaint
http://www.out-law.com/page-1630
I was told about manual research service from http://www.DomainMart.com. It costs – $200/hour.
Many experienced sellers suggested us http://www.Namesaleshop.com as a trustworth manual service. They charge per name not per hour. We’ve read only positive comments about them. And I have my own positive experience with this company and their support.
Just by googling “namesaleshop scam” it brings up plenty of information.
What this guy does, is pretend to be interested in buying the domain, but make you pay €60 to get it appraised by a “reputable” company, which just so happens to be his company.
Then, needless to say, vanishes.
November 2nd, 2009 at 6:49 am
i received similar mail from one David Lawrence with d mail netrealestate@hotmail.com for d purchase of my domain. He also insisted on namesaleshop, he even wanted to rush me to quickly do d appraisal by telling me he was going on vacation soon, what a knucklehead. Besides domainmart does manual appraisal for 40 dollars not 200 per hour as stated by him. Cant this website be reported to necessary authorities?
November 3rd, 2009 at 8:13 am
Just received an email from someone interested in buying one of my 1999 domains for $5,000 – $7,000. They suggested I get an appraisal through namesaleshop.com, LOL. Of course the scammer didn’t like the idea of using an alternative service like domainappraisal.org.
Note that I received this scam email less than 24 hours after putting up some of my domains for sale at sedo.com. It appears that the scammers are using sedo.com to find targets.
SCAMMER’S FIRST EMAIL
——————————————————–
Hello,
Our company is in online business for several years. We are investing in domains and web sites. What is your price for the domain name?
We have a solid budget but we offer reasonable offers only. We will not overpay. If you have other domains for sale feel free to send your list.
Looking forward to do business with you.
Regards,
Joseph Sullivan
President
Domain & Web Site Brokerage
——————————————————–
MY FIRST REPLY
——————————————————–
As you are probably already aware, the domain was first registered in 1999. I don’t have a price, but will consider any offer.
——————————————————–
SCAMMER’S SECOND EMAIL
——————————————————–
I think your name is worth about 5,000 – 7,000 USD. Do you agree with this price range?
Have you had your domain names evaluated in the past? I mean domain appraisals. Without valuation we cannot be sure in the sale price. It’s very important for me in terms of reselling too. But we must engage a valuation company with REAL manual service. So I will only accept valuations from independent sources I and my partners trust.
To avoid mistakes I asked domain experts about reputable appraisal companies. Please check this blog with suggestions from other sellers and buyers:
http://webdiscuss.007sites.com/Archive-07-2009/91731628.htm
Do you sell domain with a web site or just the name?
Domain without content is ok with me. Web site is not necessary. If, for example, the valuation comes higher you can adjust your asking price accordingly. It will be fair. I also hope you can give me 12% – 15% discount.
After you send me the valuation via email (usually it takes 1-2 days to obtain it) we’ll continue our negotiations.
What is your preferred payment method: Escrow.com, International wire transfer, PayPal.com or something else?
Hope we can come to an agreement fast.
Looking forward to your reply.
——————————————————–
MY REPLY
——————————————————–
Hi Joseph,
I will only accept Escrow.com because this is the only way to protect both of us. To determine whether you are serious or not about buying the domain, I would like you to pay half the cost for a human appraisal. This would cost $20 for each of us from DomainAppraisal.org:
If you are interested, you can send $20 to my paypal account. I would refund the $20 after an agreement is made and the escrow process is started.
——————————————————–
SCAMMER’S THIRD EMAIL
——————————————————–
As a seller you should provide me with an appraisal first. This is a reasonable practice.
I’ve found not all the appraisals are accurate. So I accept real manual appraisals from trusted sources only.
I don’t trust $14-$20 services. Nobody will do a research for $14. We need a real manual service.
I researched several companies and here are the results:
I wanted to engage AccurateDomains.com as appraiser but looks like this company has very bad reputation
Just read this blog
{{{SPLOG URL DELETED BY ME}}}
So I’m not going to accept this fraudulent service.
I also considered http://www.Afternic.com, but now it’s clear their service is not reliable enough.
Just read this:
{{{SPLOG URL DELETED BY ME}}}
“Capsule Review: After lots of complaints, Afternic is no longer a recommended service. We will re-review the service in the near future.”
Another complaint
{{{SPLOG URL DELETED BY ME}}}
I was told about manual research service from DomainMart.com. It costs – $200/hour.
Many experienced sellers suggested us Namesaleshop.com as a trustworth manual service. They charge per name not per hour. We’ve read only positive comments about them. And I have my own positive experience with this company and their support
——————————————————–
MY FINAL REPLY
——————————————————–
LOL
http://www.alexjamesbrown.com/scams/domain-name-appraisal-scam/
——————————————————–
November 4th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
i received mail subject iphone5g.net (sent 11/03/09) and he asked send valuation of my domain name.
he recommend http://www.namesaleshop.com to do the appraisal. i goggle ‘www.namesaleshop.com scam’ and found this blog. thank you very much.
i got offered from him to buy this domain 5k-7k USD range.
November 7th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
LOLzzzzzz
I am at this point:
SCAMMER’S SECOND EMAIL
——————————————————–
I think your name is worth about 5,000 – 7,000 USD. Do you agree with this price range?………………..
….
Lolzz luckily I searched on google before sending him any reply.
Thanks.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:49 pm
Wow, I’m glad I did some research before falling for this. I got an email from Burnstein@domainsecondhand.com with the EXACT same messages that you guys are saying came from different email addresses. Seems like these guys have a template that they send everyone to try and scam them.
They all try to get you to use namesaleshop.com for the appraisal. Go into Google and type namesaleshop.com and the whole 1st page is about how they are a scam. Stay away from this company!
Good blog though, we need to get the word out there so these types of companies go out of business.
December 7th, 2009 at 1:46 am
Do yoou offer a feed?
December 8th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
Thank you for the intelligent critique. Me and my neighbour were just preparing to do some research about this. I am very grateful to see such great information being shared freely out there.
December 8th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
RSS? yes:
http://www.alexjamesbrown.com/feed/
January 21st, 2010 at 2:23 pm
the same happened to me! after 24 hours i got an email with a guy interested in my domain. Awfull ! Is there any serious appraisal comapny you guys know of ???
Thanks ahead
February 11th, 2010 at 10:46 pm
I got this email and fell for the “forum” about http://www.researchappraisals.com. LEARN FROM MY MISTAKE – TOTAL SCAM!!! I have been on the phone with paypal and my credit card to stop the transaction today. I have also reported them to the CBBB. I can’t believe I fell for that crap. Times are tough and I wanted it to be true I guess. I have NEVER done something so stupid. I had also recently listed sites on sedo.com I got the same “will you take $5k” email as well.
So, that forum took me to researchappraisals, which sends you to SWREG Inc to make the transaction with PayPal. Dummy company with no working customer service number. I then asked the person who sent the appraisal for a phone number and tried that one which goes straight to a generic answering machine.
posting some emails to beware of….
From: brucker@thedomaininvestors.com
Sent: Sun, Feb 7, 2010 2:33 am
Subject: (sent 02/07/10)
Hello,
We buy and sell domains and web pr®jects. What is your price for the domain?
If you have other domains for sale feel free to send your list.
Looking forward to do business with you.
Regards,
Sebastian Brucker
CEO
Web Investment & Consulting LLC
here is when I asked for the phone number from the appraisal email that was sent from info@namesaleshop.com non-working number.
Dear JC,
509 271-0875
You ma also contact us via email. We respond fast
We invite you to auction your domains with us at
http://www.researchappraisals.com/sell.ht
Unlike free listing services that simply list your domains, we regularly promote domain names via our potential buyer database (over 12,000 potential
buyers).
1. Our listing period is not limited. We sell all names until they are sold.
2. There is NO a commission upon sale
3. There is NO a listing period. We list all names until they are sold. All
bids will be resent to your e-mail address along with a buyer’s contact
information.
4. Free and fast domain transfer and escrow for our customers.
5. One time small listing fee.
If you list your domains with us it does not prohibit you from listing it
elsewhere. We do not require exclusive representation.
We also provide discounts on bulk listings.
More information at
http://www.researchappraisals.com/sell.htm
You can join our domains wanted ads at
http://www.researchappraisals.com/wanted.asp
Sincerely,
Sara Almudhaf
Customer Support