Where Did These People Get Their Domaining Education?
Popularity can be a good thing, but it also has its downside as well. Celebrities may have screaming fans and may get that special treatment here, there and everywhere, but it is no pleasure when their private lives are laid bare open for all to see in the press.
Well the same thing happens with having a popular website. You get the traffic and the money, but you also get the “unwanted” attention. In my case, I am referring to the countless emails I get on a daily basis from people offering to sell me crappy domains. Then, there is another set that requests brokerage of rubbish domains or domains that clearly infringe on registered trademarks.
Don’t get me wrong, I do welcome email communication. So please don’t be afraid to email me with any queries or question you may have. The issue that I am blogging about here in this post does not apply to everyone. I write abrasive posts, but I’m not really a horrible person 
I just hate people wasting my time.
Today I got an email requesting brokerage service for a domain name that has trouble written all over it. A UDRP proceeding and lawsuit would be almost unavoidable, or in my case, a Cease and Desist letter.
The seller was trying to sell the personal name of the founder of one of the biggest retailers in the whole wide world. Although the company is based in the USA, it is known globally as it has subsidiaries in quite a few countries.
I have published the email below, but instead of using the actual name(s) of the person and company, I have substituted Bill Branson and “Super Big Store” as the company instead.
Here is the email:
Dear sir/madam.
Introduce myself, my name Joe McDomainer. We want to sale our domain: www.BillJoeBranson.com. Mr. Bill Joe Branson (Bud Branson) he is one of founder Super Big Store. The Branson Family is one of the richest families in the world, their wealth inherited from Bud and Sam Branson, founders of the world’s largest retailer, Super Big Store. will you to be our brokerage? Because we don’t have connection to Branson family. Please start to sell our domain with your best price.
We wait your replay at: owner@BillJoeBranson.com.
Thank you.
best regard,
Joe McDomainer
Why is it that some people think that they can actually sell such domain names? I used “people” instead of “domainers”, as I believe the word “domainer” is used a bit too loosely.
A domainer is not someone who just owns a domain name or who has listed a domain name for sale. A domainer is someone who is making money by selling domain names or monetizing them, successfully.
The seller in this case would be as far from making any profits as the east is far from the west.
Where did these people learn about domaining? Who educated them? Who gave them the wrong impression? I know a lot of people are not happy with me preaching the gospel of quality domain names, but do I really care?
There are people who openly give advice to others to sell their crappy domain names to newcomers. These newcomers inevitably have to resort to trying to sell those said crappy domains to the newcomers that joined the domain industry after them, as no one else will want them. It is really like a pyramid/ponzi scheme.
This happens in every industry. People make boat loads of money at the expense of people’s ignorance. The domain name industry is no exception. Far from it.
There are even well established blogs that help to “send the fool a little further”. I don’t want to criticise anyone here, but I am genuinely surprised when I see some bloggers trying to market some crappy domains from their blogs. It makes me ask, if he/she pretends to know so much about domains and domaining, how is it that they had such rubbish domains in their portfolio in the first place? What is even worse is when they try to sell it, and use their blogging authority to try and force value to the useless crappy domains.
I am not going to preach any doom and gloom, but if we don’t start doing our best to educate newcomers, these uneducated and ignorant Johnny come lately domainers will bring the whole industry into disrepute.
Some domainers claim that they are patriots of the domain industry, but all they seem to do is start controversy and mislead the unsuspecting public.
Domain marketplaces I believe should also do a lot more to weed out inappropriate domain listings, especially those that infringe on registered trademarks.
In the email example above, there is no trademark infringement as such. However given the tone of the email, it is quite clear that the seller is trying to profit from the sale of a domain name that he may not have the legal rights to own.
If you want to learn about quality domains, I have published the perfect definition of a premium domain name here.
To learn more about the types of domains that we broker here at eBusinessDomains.com, read our selling domains guidelines here.
Learn more about our domain brokerage service here.
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