Unfortunately there are people who try to scam newby domainers by persuading them to use expensive domain appraisal services and they promise that once the owner of the domain has the certificate they will buy it. In most cases, after the owner paid for the service these scammers loose interst in the domain and dissapear.

They usually contact you right after you list your domain name on a major marketplace, like sedo or godaddy.

Their emails usually contain this:

Quote:Hello,

I've seen your domain for sale. Please email your price. Our company is
interested in new domains.

If you have a list of other domains for sale, please send the list with
prices in plain text. We prefer "dot coms" and easy-to-remember names.

Regards,

Daniel Sullivan

MBA, MSCE

Founder

Web Hosting & Domain Investment LLC
========================================================
NOTICE - This communication may contain confidential and privileged
information that is for the sole use of the intended recipient. Any
viewing, copying or distribution of, or reliance on this message by
unintended recipients is strictly prohibited. If you have received this
message in error, please notify us immediately by replying to the message
and deleting it from your computer.
========================================================

or

Quote: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,

Brian Samuelson

CEO

Names may vary.
If you reply to their email, they may answer something like this:

Quote:I've discussed the price with my partners.

Can you accept 24,000 USD?

Do you sell domain with a web site or just the name?

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.


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.

or


They may try to convince you with something like this:

Quote:I see, but it's a standard practice to show independent valuation to
buyers/resellers. Nobody will do business without it. I'm a businessman and
have no intention of changing rules which help both parties to avoid
additional risks.

Of course, investors never take into account auto-generated valuations. So
manual valuation is a "must" too.

I read the following information about appraisals at:

_http://www.domainexplorer.org/Archive/96359207.htm

Without the independent valuation from a trusted source we don't spend a
penny. This is our financial policy. So our offer is just a rought estimate.
If the appraisal comes higher we are ready to offer a bit more. If it comes
lower we will discuss the price with you again.


It's a big risk to proceed without professional valuation. I already spoke
to industry experts and they prohibited me to do business without
valuation..

Without manual valuation nobody will buy. You'll sit on your domain for
years in this case, paying renewal fees to your registrar. Just think about
it. So sooner or later, you'll have to obtain an appraisal. Why waste time
now?

As a seller, you can use a valuation certificate to sell names to other
buyers. I cannot do the same because I don't keep control over your domain.

I'm still interested in your domain. Hope you'll change your position. I
simply don't want to take additional risks.

Let's stop these bastards! If you are contacted by one of these idiots, please report it in this topic. Please tell us the links/sites they suggest, their names (probably they don't use their own names, but it won't hurt), and their email addresses. I will keep this first post updated and hopefully it will help others not to fall for this crap.


Sites to avoid (sites used by these scammers)

• http://www.domainexplorer.org/Archive/87469105.htm
• http://www.bestdomainexperts.com/ (Domain Services) or _http://www.certifieddomainvalue.com/ (they're the same)
• http://thenamepros.com/
• http://www.webhostingclue.com/
  

Emails and names used by them

• brucker@thedomaininvestors.com (Sebastian Brucker)
• sullivan@webhostingandmail.com (Daniel Sullivan)
• ceo@elitenethosting.com (Jason Bergeron)
• ridding@elitenethosting.com (Brad Ridding)
• young@elitenethosting.com (Joseph Young)
• goncalves@elitenethosting.com (Daniel Golcaves) This guy has been prosecuted before.
• davis@elitenethosting.com (Ross Davis)
• stolz@elitenethosting.com (Andrew Stolz)
• hardeman@elitenethosting.com or michael-hardeman@your-domain-hosting.com (Michael Hardeman)
• leighton@thenamepros.com (Mark Leighton)
  

nielsencl at namepros.com summarized very well what the victims can/should do:

Quote:- If you have been scammed, try to get a refund from your credit card comapny. Even if you fail, the more complaints they get, the better for them to notice the scammers and close their account.

- If you receive the above scan message which is clearly unsolicited commercial email or SPAM, report it to the hosting company and domain registrar. If you don't know how to report it send me a PM and I can explain how to do it. It will take a few minutes of your time, but it is very effective in shutting down the accounts of spammers and scammers.

Please note: From what I can tell the scam seems to be from one or more persons that provide apprasisals. They seem to be working through a company that has a web site and provides other services and the company contracts with the apprasier(s) to provide the appraisal. The company may or may not know about the scam, or which person is doing the scam. The company mentioned in this thread had been notified of what is happening and I have told them that if they are not involved, they need to warn EVERY appraisal customer that if a buyer has asked for an apprasial that it may be a scam, and that they buyer may just go away no matter what the appraisal turns out to be.

The scammer seems to be telling people that they have several choices for appraisals including SEDO's service and they are hoping that the seller will pick the site where they stand to make some money. This is a very subtle and low-key type of scam since YOU make the choice of where to get an un-needed and potentially worthless appraisal.

ALL APPRAISAL COMPANIES that use subcontractors or have an affiliate programs need to provide this warning to domain sellers.

And domain sellers should NEVER get an appraisal because a buyer wants one. If the buyer does not know the value of the domain and wants it, THEY need to first get an automated appraisal from sites like Estibot.com, then pay for an appraisal themself. If they then don't want to buy the domain, they should offer to sell it, AT A DISCOUNT, to the domain seller.

Summary:

- Make a LOT of noise and try to get your money back. If the credit card company doesn't work, email the scammer. Keep emailing them. If a company was involved, keep emailing them.

Post on forums and blogs and tell your story. But just state the FACTS of what happened and do not call them scammers or other names as it may cause problems for you. Only state the facts of the situation.

- Report offers like this. SPAM reporting can be very effective and it is the reason I can still use the same email address today that I started with back in 1999. Spam reporting works!

- Talk to appraisal companies. If they don't warn you about this kind of scam, ask them why not? Tell them about this thread and others like it.

Free Web Directory - Professional Webhosting

Wow thanks a lot.
lucky i didn't get is before =P
beware everyone!

Hey I was contacted about one of my domains and he has been using the exact same letters as those written above.

All these were from "Anthony Arbuckle" anthony-arbuckle@name-deals.com

"Hello,

We are interested in your domain name for sale.

Please email us your desired price in USD or euros for the domain name in the subject line.

If you have other names for sale please email us yiur full list with prices for consideration.

Looking forward to doing business with you.

Regards,

Anthony Arbuckle

CEO

Web Hosting & Domains LLC

anthony-arbuckle@name-deals.com"

"I'm thinking about 6,000 - 8,000 USD for your domain. What do you think about 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://www.thenamepros.com/Archive/81205364.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."

"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.

As to the most known brands: the more orders the company gets, the less time they can afford to spend on each appraisal.

I wanted to use AccurateDomains.com but looks like this company has a bad reputation. I also read some bad review about Afternic's appraisal service.

I was told about manual research service from _http://www.DomainMart.com. It costs - $200/hour.

Many experienced sellers suggested us _http://www.CertifiedDomainValue.com as a trustworth manual service. They charge about 50 eur 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. "

Once again, these were from "Anthony Arbuckle" anthony-arbuckle@name-deals.com

i received one of these letters a few months ago. Unfortunately I bought their crap. Cost me $50, but learnt the lesson

Hi all,


I am new to all this but am glad i found this before i replied to the bellow:

I've checked your prices.

1890 eur is ok. I'm also interested in freegadgets.co.uk
freethingstodo.co.uk


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:

LINK GIVEN BUT CANT BE SHOWN

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.

[/i]

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