Limited .com advice please

[goldnugget]

Hi all, I had a strange email today from a domain agency in China. They would have pulled my contact details from the registry list.

It looks legit but basically saying they have a client that came to them this month in China that is registering all keyword relevant domains for their business.

Apparently they have all the China extension ones (about half a dozen variants) but it appears they would like my .com equivalent which I have had for several years and have a cheap affiliate type website attached to it (my very first website project so rough as and I am not really that attached to but still have it and is live).

They haven't made any offer yet but just putting the feelers out at this stage as a first contact. By return email I said that if they are interested in suggesting an offer that I would review it.

I guess if they want it, it would be worth what ever they are willing to pay for it (though they seem to have gone to a bit of trouble to secure their brand/name/intention).

I have sold a couple of au domains on netfleet when they had aftermarket auctions but if this particular enquiry goes further (and is in fact legit) I think I would like to have an agent of sorts that have dealt with this sort of thing before (negotiating with a Chinese agency to complete a sale and transfer).

So I would like any of your experiences (that you are able to discuss)where you have been approached by an international making enquiries about your domains and who in Australia (or anywhere) would be the best people to handle it.

Thanks in advance

Jay

 

[Data Glasses]

"for me to lose my website i will need $x,xxx" "we both know that a .com is the best for a worldwide business name"
~
“对我来说，失去了我的网站，我将需要$ X，XXX”“我们都知道，一个.com是最适合全球的企业名称”
~
Do escrow.com or list at sedo.com and let them chase the money, good luck, keep us updated

 

[goldnugget]

Thanks for the quick reply, are you able to link me to an example of their email template for comparison?

 

[goldnugget]

Return the email with the listing link (it is listed i assume) if they are serious they will buy, sedo.com can handle the details without worry from your end

No I don't have it listed on the market anywhere...just a cold contact coming in.

Thanks, I will keep SEDO in mind

 

[Data Glasses]

I just went to google translate and did english to simplified chinese
~
If that's what you are asking ?

 

[goldnugget]

Cheers, doesn't come across as a regular scam (yet). They haven't asked whether I would be interested in purchasing cn domains but told me of their clients intention to (Quote: They want to register " xxxxxxx " as their Internet Keyword :End Quote) as well as other similar domains. x's naturally covering up my domain name.

I don't know, will keep you posted

 

[bunstar]

I've gotten similar type emails in the past which were spam. Are you sure it's not spam? Have you tried googling some of the email content to see if it's a common email?

 

[Data Glasses]

At first i misread the post and thought it was the trademark scam "we have a client registering a name the same as yours, register all the alternatives to protect yourself" But you never know, it might pan out ?

 

[goldnugget]

I'm still not sure about it myself. I did do a quick search as suggested on the first line of the email and did bring up some scam alerts however the emails were worded differently and this one says nothing about asking me to acquire any domains but they could be using a 2 step process to see how I reply. Instead I put it back on them 'Show me the money ' if you want it.

When I googled the line and closed it into a recent timeframe there was only a couple similarly worded emails but the discussion on their forums was a little mixed in the sense that the older domainers said 'Scam' but others said, hang on they haven't asked you to buy anything, just want (at this stage) to ensure you are the right person to talk to about it.

I didn't send any details to them other than 'Yes I own it' and 'It may be for sale if you are making an offer'.

Will update when (if) I hear more

 

[findtim]

SCAM

if the domain is worth a lot of money , go create a new account at a bank specifically for this transaction , not your bank !!!! as banks will transfer from one account to another if put under pressure.

bankwest is free and you do it online.

tell them to make an offer, then tell them to deposit into your escrow and once processed into your account you will give them the domain details, THEN don't , make them chase you for 90 days + that way they can't charge back the $$$ , then give them the domain.

withdraw the money, close the bank account, and give them the website details

but basically its a scam , it just depends on who out wits who.

tim

 

[goldnugget]

Quick update on this.
It looks like a 2 step 'register the CN domains to protect your brand' process.

I had a reply from the first contact saying that if I wanted to protect then I could register the various CN equivalents which I will ignore.

I also got another from who ever it is that supposedly requested the services of the agent who contacted me that they would still be going ahead with their CN registrations even though it was against their agents advice which was for them to select new domains.

Bottom line is I sent that email sender a reply by way of 'You are welcome to register your CN domains, my .com is running independent of your operations and wont be affected. If you would like to buy my .com then I am open to offers. Good luck in business'..blah blah.

I'm not expecting any further replies from either of them.

 

[Data Glasses]

http://domainnamewire.com/2014/12/15/best-fake-name-used-in-a-domain-name-scam-ever/