roiBert

Yesterday I had posted about an email I had received from a Mr. Abram Weinstein, Ph.D. who was interested in buying one of my domain names and my suspicions that his email was a domain appraisal scam. To see where this would lead, I went ahead and replied to the email with a price that I personally feel is a little high for that particular domain name – $10,000.

Today, I received the following response:

Robert,

I offer 9000 usd. I have 45,000 usd budget for 12-15 domain names.

How can I pay you (PayPal, Western Union, escrow.com etc.)? If this is your first time domain sale I may help you with the sale/transfer process.

Are you a member of domain seller communities/forums? Probably, we know each other under some nicknames?

Best regards,
Abram Weinstein
CEO

A little more digging turns up great threads over at NamePros.com about the same type of domain appraisal scam here and here with users posting similar responses but from different CEOs.

Naturally, I know where these emails are going… and I really should stop wasting my time replying. But by replying, I am also wasting their time and by following this to it’s inevitable end I will find out which “appraisal service” they are wanting me to use and once I have that information, I might be able to report them.

Plus, this process will hopefully help protect some young domainer out there that thinks that they have just hit pay dirt because someone is wanting to pay them much more than what their domains are actually worth.

So tune in tomorrow, when I reveal “Mr. Weinstein’s” follow up reply in Part 3 of this ongoing saga.

I own several domain names so it is not unusual for me to get an email asking if I would be interested in selling. I typically respond that for the right price, I am interested. However, something about today’s unsolicited email struck me as a little off. Here is the message body:

Hello!

I’m interested in buying gothandglamour.com.

I’ve found it through Sedo.

Please respond with how much you are looking for it. Just specify this price in the subject line.

If you have other names for sale please email me your list with prices.

Regards,
Abram Weinstein, Ph.D.
Best Web Hosting Services

So I did a little research which turned up this blog post by domain name investor Morgan Linton. It was a very interesting read about how the domain appraisal scam works. In a nut shell, a prospective buyer of your domain name contacts you agrees to your price if XYZ domain appraisal company (which is owned by the scammer) agrees with the valuation of the domain. You pay for the appraisal and then never hear back from the prospect.

The comments were equally as informative and several readers had posted similar stories, with emails very similar to the one I received above.

Suffice to say, I replied to the email, stating that “bidding woudl start at $10,000 USD” and I am awaiting the return reply as to which “domain appraiser” they want me to use. I will keep you posted.