In Rejecting Offers I’ve Been Called Every Name In The Book But Today Apparently I Also Have A Small Penis
Over the years in rejecting offers I have been called every name in the book, cybersquatter of cause or just squatter are the most popular but yesterday was one for the record books.
The domain in question was motorcyclehelmets.com, a domain I bought in January 2010 at the TRAFFIC Las Vegas Auction.
The domain was actually listed with a $50K reserve but immediately after it didn’t meet reserve I asked Rick Latona (the auction company) to reach out to the Seller, and he agreed to put it back up at auction with a $35K reserve and i won it on one bid.
Since owing the domain I have turned down offers of $50K and $75K (although they are more tha six months old and therefore not listed on WWMI.com).
On December 2, 2010, I got an inquiry for the domain,and I responded “we will only consider offers into the six figures for this category killer domain”.
So now we fast forward to last week, when some 2/12 months later I get this reply from a Mr. Grant Aldrich:
“”i Michael, thanks for the reply.
I apologize for the delayed response. Your ballbark was enough to scare off my client initially. They are looking to build a cool review resource, and a price tag like that is prohibitive. I want them to use this domain because I think its intuitive, but the reality is that in this Web 2.0 age, creative domains are more in vogue. Plus, with the rise of the mobile platforms, keyword domains are becoming far less valuable. Hard to justify that kind of a large expense.
I have been given a budget for the development and I would like to come to a middle ground with you that will be fair…I can offer $11,000 for the domain. No nonsense, here is what I can do. Well above the average for most .com’s being sold, and a nice chunk of change. I know its not the high end you were expecting when you first purchased the domain, but is a nice payday though.
Let me know if you think that’s fair. Hopefully we can have this work out. Thanks.”"
Typically I wouldn’t waste my time negotiating or even responding with someone who considers buying a domain at $35K and selling it at $11K a “nice payday”
However the response from Mr. Aldrich pissed me off to be honest, based on his statements which I placed in bold above.
So I wrote him back:
Grant the reason this domain is priced into the six figures is because its simply the best domain you can possibly have for the topic it covers.”
“A similar name sportinggoods.com sold for $475,000.
“Grant let me ask you when your offering $11K and playing the “Well above the average for most .com’s being sold” do you really believe it or are you just hoping that someone doesn’t know any better?
So here is the response I got last night from Mr Aldrich (word for word unedited):
“”Mike, you’re a very pompous guy…and quite frankly, I’m not exactly sure why. You’re blog material is second-rate, and bland at best. Which probably indicates your below-average intelligence. You’re business model of waiting for domains to sell lacks sophistication, and is equivalent to used car speculating.
My statement is 100% accurate. MOST domains don’t sell for that rate. I purchased Dermatologist.net for $13k. AcneScars.com for 1200. etc. Those denominations make up the bulk of the purchasing world. Just because you point out a few outliers like sportinggoods.com or Vodka.com, or Business.com, doesnt mean that your domain portfolio should command a similar price.
So, Mike…maybe you have a little dick, or maybe you have a little man complex. Either way, you should try to be more professional in your dealings with people, and not take things so personal. Just because I make an offer for a domain that you dont like, you don’t need to reply with offensive sarcasm.
I’m no longer interested in your domain…good luck.”
So if you happen to get an offer from Mr. Aldrich (he uses the email address of grantaldrich@hotmail.com) you now know what your dealing with.
and at least this post wasn’t Bland.
Loading ...
I wouldn’t compare SportingGoods.com to MotorcycleHelmets.com. SportingGoods.com is a far superior domain.
Furthermore, your pricing formula for VisitStockholm.com to measure the price of VisitBerlin.com at above $100K is inaccurate. Have you ever considered that fetching $77K for VisitStockholm.com (your past domain) was possibly an excellent deal on your part?
The new owner may have overpaid on that domain – or should we say a Stockholm travel agency or whomever paid that amount in Europe. Your Berlin.com is a 7 figure domain, but VisitBerlin.com is not a 6 figure domain – only to you and Germany travel agency that got rejected. You can get 6 figures because you own the only .com in that category. The travel agency will probably increase their offer when they realize their mistake.
You own the only variation in .com, so you can call the shots. You dictate the market. VisitFlorida.com sold for $186,000 because the website already had traffic and Florida has one of the world’s most visited tourist spots. Berlin is a big city, but is not comparable to Florida.
Listing the e-mail address of the misinformed will only push more spam to his box. You know how crude many domainers are. Conflict works to increase traffic. Many domainers don’t think twice before commenting. They think that tossing about their knowledge is going to impress others.
The owner is misinformed. I would have provided a few examples within the price point you want. SportingGoods.com is not a good example. SportingGoods.com is a multi-billion dollar industry. That domain is worth more than a million.
The $11,000 offer may be insulting, but think about it from a person who requires more information. If you want to be professional, then refer the misinformed to the DnJournal.com. They will figure out that many bad domains are overpriced, and then would understand your reasoning. Professionalism is a skill that many domainers lack.
Many of your fans are going to agree with you because they are followers. They will rarely challenge you. Your MotorCycleHelmets.com domain is worth over 6 figures, but I wouldn’t have mentioned SportingGoods.com in the same discussion. Build value into the domain instead of tossing around your elitist status. VisitBerlin.com is not in the same ballpark as VisitFlorida.com.
Prove to the buyer the domain is worth $150K, $175k, or even $200K. Use same examples you demonstrated when you rejected VisitBerlin.com for $100K. The misinformed probably assumed he was paying top money to acquire the domain. Point out a few companies that own keyword domains that make them money.
You don’t need the buyer’s business. The conflict involved in the dead sale won’t hurt your business in any way. There are a few people on this board that hide behind their computers, insulting people and trying to affirm their elitist status. They will laugh and think the buyer is ignorant.
The buyer demonstrated anger because he knew MotorcycleHelmets.com will never be sold at a domainer price. In order to acquire the domain for his client, he would have to pay end-user value. It’s the same discussion on the TheProfessors.com.
On the opposing side, people usually insult others because they have insecurities of their own. Your reply back showed some sarcasm, but not enough to spark a person. The buyer wanted the domain enough to be a poor sport, or a loser mentality.
I wanted a specific writing domain. The owner said he could make a deal. The domain is probably worth no more than $10K (6-10k) The owner said that he could work out a lease-to-own deal, and noted the domain would command far above 6 figures.
I responded back that I couldn’t possibly afford the domain. I thanked him. I told him I’m only a small time domainer. I wanted the domain to write about the writing category. That was the truth. I was trying to convince him to sell for less because I had less to offer. He wasn’t even advertising the domain for sell. I used the Whois to contact him.
I thought I had a fair shot at acquiring the domain. I mentioned a few other superior domains that sold for $60k and another that sold for far less that are worth 20 times more than his domain. I was professional throughout the reply. He never responded again.
Your post is comedic to entertain the domainers that enjoy insulting others. In order to operate in the domain industry, you must have thick skin. You can’t let people influence you to inform others. Your VisitBerlin.com example worked to demonstrate the reason you rejected $100K.
When you do sell MotorcycleHelmets.com for 6 figures, send Grant an e-mail to inform him that another end-user realized the value. In any case, good article. Thanks.
correction – “I was trying to convince him to sell for less because I had less to offer” I meant I wasn’t trying to….. thanks.
Some of you obviously got emotionally involved…and butt hurt
Nearly everything in sales is BS, where the buyer tries to beat you down, insults etc..
Or did you forget the big post earlier in the year (& Rick S blog about sales & lies?
ps All a bit petty for all you lot to do a character assassination on Aldrich
It’s obvious that he & other SEO guys have the same template for domain inquiries
Disrespectfully,
Aggro (Not Schneider’s Contact group) (Not Small Penis Group)
No one cares what you think Aggro, same comment different article.
pen.is is already “taken” while smallpen.is is still available
This story sounds odd ??????????
pen.is and pus.sy are two great domains for p0rn sites’ short-URLs, but I doubt the last one TLD country may allow this kind of “service” …
“Any domain I sell now will be much more in 10 years.”
Future value is often irrelevant, because the proceeds from a domain sale can be reinvested in other domains, and they can rise in value instead.
The domain industry is almost unique in that one individual may be willing to pay far more for an asset than anyone else. He shouldn’t have to – an asset’s fair price is determined by the second highest bidder.
The motorcylehelmets bidder is one who didn’t have cause for complaint.
someone had put online the bu.tt short-URL but now this service is no longer available
ps – last comment about the porn-short-url series
wow.. another clueless seo expert LOL
Mike, you should do a conference call and get Rick in there. Do a blog post on this as a follow up, LOL
Michael
We have owned MotorcycleHelmets.com for just over a year.
The page is basically a parked page with 0 SEO.
So to the extent it ranks at all in the search engines tells you the domain would be on the 1st page if it was a proper site and with a minimal SEO
Reputation DNS does not seem to mention MALE.BODY.PART.SIZE
://domain.opendns.com/thedomains.com
by the way, TheDomains.COM DNS is not technically configured properly
It is interesting people with 75,000+ domains can not configure DNS
://dnssy.com/report.php?q=thedomains.com
“None of your nameservers returned an SOA record for your domain. This is very bad. Skipping SOA tests.”
Just amazing how some end users think. Oh well let me check my email.
Geniuses are born out of frustration every day in the .com Internet space.
Where were these “geniuses” when the Dow Jones was at 6500 – maybe they would have got what they wanted back then and at their valuations today !!!
“VisitBerlin.com is not in the same ballpark as VisitFlorida.com. ”
I disagree, maybe not if you just compare it purely from a domainers/parking/ppc perspective but we don’t know how much traffic either gets or how much they are/were earning in ppc.
We do know however the official website for Berlin is currently using the .de so buying the .com would benefit them vastly in the long run and eliminate further competition.
Also the VisitFlorida.com happened 7 years ago in 2004 so did you take inflation into account in your evaluation comparison equation?
Most of the visit prefix domains have been taken since 2000 or before and its one of the most used country, island, city, town, village prefixes there is, many of which are now held by the official/local tourism boards …..loads of them.
In some ways for marketing a visitGEO.com domain could be perceived as being far BETTER than a pure city.com as it is also a call-to-action domain plus they are still only a tiny fraction of the price compared to a pure GEO.com
Even if they did own the pure geo.com they would still need to/want to spend a fortune on advertising it in print, tv etc to keep it in the spotlight.
How much is Berlin.com ? 2 million? 3 million +? ..more?
How much was Scotland.com the last time it was up for auction ?
2 million? 3 million + ? …more?
The last time it was up for auction a guy from visit scotland was on the phone with me about something else so I mentioned that it was coming up for sale and (as far as I remember the reserve was around 1 or 2 million mark)…..he just laughed.
At the end of the day traffic can be build, more so when you have an advertising budget in the tens of millions per year.
Disclaimer: I’m slightly biased as I own a few of them
MotorcycleHelmets.com = Peachy Domain for anyone with a brain
“Have you ever considered that fetching $77K for VisitStockholm.com (your past domain) was possibly an excellent deal on your part? ”
Now number 3 in google for just the word Stockholm, all within a few weeks……I doubt they feel hard done by at that price TBH, more so considering that Swedens official site is VisitSweden.com
If they are a END USER then it is a Domainers Right …
to give it to them in the END …
you know, the way Yunny /Big Cheese/Cheese Slice, prefer it.
Wow, I just heard a moment ago from Elliot that you already sold VisitBerlin
SWEEEEET…Congrats to ya MHB ! ….and them
very nice
He says…
“So, Mike…maybe you have a little dick, or maybe you have a little man complex. Either way, you should try to be more professional in your dealings with people”
What a riot. Looks like Mr. Aldrich needs to take his own advice.
Now when people search for Grant Aldrich, they will find this post.
If that transaction is true for VisitBerlin.com – does that make up for Mike’s apparant small genital area.
I wonder – would me running a blog make my penis even smaller than it is already ?
Congrats
Brian (tiny penis in hand) Wick
Hello Mike
Top oh the day to you!
We all have small penises, its just that we think ours is bigger than the other guys.
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger)
SHOO!
He,He, is that the same Yunny /Big Cheese/Cheese Slice pest
who elliot personaly told to post else where?
Now the pest is over here!
Thanks guys did in fact sell VisitStockholm.com and VisitBerlin.com
You can see all our recent sales as well as declines offers on our corporate site:
wwmi.com
As almost always the buyers got great deals and whatever they bought today will be worth more later on.
Some years ago, had an attorney inquire about buying one of our legal domains.
When I told him the negotiable range we were looking for (very reasonable; less than 10k as I recall), he said that was too much for a domain that wasn’t that great.
After I e-mailed back that if it wasn’t that great why would he want it so much . . . never heard from him again.
I was offered 3 k for VisitMuscat.c*m in Dec, I was’nt tempted in the slightest
Have you had many offers for VisitOman MHB ?
Gazzip
A few but no one will to come up to the six figures
Keep flappin’ your lips, Landon. Cheeseburger dot tv is now taking on an average of 40-unique’s per hour…it will be RANKED as a top 90,000 domain within 90-days.
- TBC
Granted, 38 of those 40 uniques per hour are in re-directed traffic
No one cares what you think BS Cheese, same comment different article.
Anyone want to give me a ball-park idea of the possible value of my two below domains that relate a bit to this thread? I’d appreciate your expertise. Even a “guess” would be very appreciated. Thanks.
TRICYCLEHELMETS.COM
and
CHILDSAFETYHELMETS.COM
@David,
ChildSafetyHelmets.com —– $30K-$35K
GAKT (phrase): “child safety helmets”
Global: 22
Local: 12
Est.CPC: $0.05
@ David Conners
I’d appreciate your expertise
—–
LOL, The Village Idiot above answered your self serving post…
@Landon,
Do you have any domains? If so, name the 3 you think are most valuable…I’d love to see ‘em.
- TBC
@ SMELLY CHEESE
Cracking Up!
I didn’t say your name but you knew you were the Village Idiot .. lmao
Before Elliot’s Blog Gave you the permanent BOOT! (banned You for good)
you asked this question and Elliot answered instead and said what is your’s
and you posted your ridiculous childlike portfolio and Elliot replied with a LOL.
No i do not WHORE myself EVERY POST like you about MY DOMAINS
and this shall not be a chance for you to show your retarded domain choice’s.
MY DOG SAID HE COULD PICK BETTER DOMAINS, WITH HIS PAWS …
you VILLAGE IDIOT!
I find it incomprehensible that Mr. Aldrich would use the first person plural of the verb ‘to be” [you're (you are)] rather than the posessive pronoun ‘your’ in the construction “You’re blog material is second-rate, and bland at best.”
Why would a person use a construction which is just ignorant doggerel, when he has a vested interest in writing with authority to project credibility. Are you absolutely sure you haven’t taken liberties with the quote?
Unfortunately, this and other examples of ‘phonetic English’, a pidgin-like approximation of the language, based on sounds the writer has memorized, abounds in domaining circles, even though computer search arguments have to be spelled punctiliously, with no margin for best guesses as to how words might be spelled.
More to the point, domain name registrations leave no room at all for mangled spelling and syntax. They have to be letter perfect, as do the registrant details required by ICANN et al.
Carl
“Unfortunately, this and other examples of ‘phonetic English’, a pidgin-like approximation of the language, based on sounds the writer has memorized, abounds in domaining circles”
Sum of us peeps are a bit fickr than others butt theirs also monie to be maid in tiepose.
Carl, do yoo yoos spell cheque alot ?
“ICANN et al”
Whoos Al?
Hi,
The headline of this post has sure caused the ‘comments’ section to be ‘vigorously beaten’…over the past couple days…I think it has gotten a bit bigger.
I was referring to the large amount of ‘comments’…
Peace!
Dan
Dan
Of course you were
A domain is only worth what a buyer thinks it’s worth. There is no factual way to appraise words. I may think a domain I own is worth 6 figures, but only when a buyer agrees with me and is willing to part with cash fot it, is it truly “worth” my valuation. In fact a buyer may believe it’s worth 7 figures or more, but that can never be factually foretold.
This is one time it’s arguably good you’re not a bigger dick.