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.
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That was funny
- TBC
Tell him your dick only “appears” to be small because your Balls are so big.
In ancient Rome a small penis was considered a thing of beauty.
Cheese
Please email directly about any proposals you have, regarding domains names, its not appropriate for commenting here so I’m going to delete those comments
Dealing with the same mentality on one of my fashion domains right now.Fashion industry people can’t BEEEELEEEEVE you won’t just hand over their “dream domain”
for basically the price of a nice dinner at Spago.Of course the very DNA of that industry demands cattiness when things don’t go your way.Their insults only raise the price.
Same Grant Aldrich as registrant for http://www.professionalservicesmarketing.org/?
If so, it’s just another demonstration of just how far behind these dime-a-dozen “professional marketers” are with respect to domains.
Mike, thanks for sharing this. We have a wall in our office where we print out the most ‘colourful’ fan mail we receive from folks. You will have to stop by one day for a visit and enjoy some laughs.
And yet another example of an Asshat. The positive is it takes ignorance and slight forms of mental retardation to make me appear brilliant. If your blog is “second rate” then damn, mine is probably 4th rate.
I think this happens in domaining more than other industries because the prospective buyers and self-proclaimed brokers (the ones who make proactive contact anyway) are more emotionally involved in the process. This doesn’t happen for instance when you’re just looking to get the best price on a commodity item. When I was selling software for a living no one really cared all that much to get so emotionally involved, on either end. It was all business, always business. If we couldn’t agree on price and one party walked away from the deal there was never any school-yard insults thrown around. I fear Mr. Aldrich will be looking for a new email address since the top 3 current Google search results on grantaldrich@hotmail.com now point to this article or articles about this article.
Grant Aldrich isn’t his real name. Take a look at the pic I had taken with him at DomainFest last year. I think I know why he says your penis is small.
http://twitter.com/#!/jurovich
Thanks for the warning.
I’m glad I hand-registered CHILDSAFETYHELMETS.COM
in the past:-).
Vern
In the pic, are you the one on the left or right?
))::
Grant says :”…maybe you have a little dick…”
then suggests that Mike “should try to be more professional in your dealings with people.”
I guess Grant doesn’t like to follow his own advice.
Grant’s over-the-top, offensive response suggests high motivation (hint of desperation) to get that domain cheap. I’m wondering if he oversold his abilities to a prospective client and is mad because he cannot deliver. As Mike said, the domain has no equal. This guy apparently wanted Mike to buy into his “give it to me cheap” logic, and then gave in to frustration when he couldn’t have what he wanted.
Something like “Thanks Mike, but I’ll pass” would have been better. So much for civility. His ranting tells you he really wanted/needed that domain, or else wouldn’t have sparked the outrage.
Well with small + dick in your title you can guarantee a high view count.
Typical ignorant, disrespectful asshole here. Outsmarting them never works. I’ve turned a few around with off-the-wall funny responses. If someone has done so other ways, would love to know.
Just found this picture of a Grant Aldrich:
http://www.leadtank.com/about-us.html
… and an article:
http://www.itworldcanada.com/news/marketings-data-dtente/102923
Maybe this is the same guy.
Mike,
Having come down from my latest cocaine high I wish to remove and sincerely apologise for my “small dick” jibe. I hope I haven’t burnt my bridge with you. Lets do a deal.
If it makes my apology seem more sincere. It is I who was the “small dick”, if the truth be told it’s minute. All my life I’ve suffered with TWS (tiny weener syndrome) My cocaine snorting habits exacerbate his dreadful condition.
bye for now
The name sounded familiar, so I searched my email. His first contact was in 2007 for a cosmetic industry keyword .net. It was clear that he wasn’t willing to spend much on it so negotiations failed. A year later, he tried again via Sedo, exchanged several messages; one was a lengthy diatribe on why my .net was “worthless”. He always plays the card of an industry expert, when in fact all he wants is to get the lowest possible amount of money. He states that he’s buying for a client, who has instructed him to pay this much etc. I canceled that offer. A few months later, he used another person as a front to get the domain at my lowest asking price of the previous negotiation. In other words, Mike: he does want your domain and he knows it’s worth your asking price but he’s being a PITA himself.
Ron
Nice find.
Interesting his is using the phrase “Of Counsel”
The term “Of Counsel” is usually reserved for attorneys who are acting as a consultant to a firm or acting as outside counsel.
However based off of his resume as listed on the site, he does not appear to be a lawyer:
Grant’s technical background includes information retrieval, object-oriented programming, markup languages, webanalytics, and project management. Grant has published articles appearing in ComputerWorld and the Canadian Marketing Association, and is a graduate of UC Irvine where he earned a B.A. in Business Economics. Grant Aldrich: Grant’s technical background includes 6 years of enterprise SEO experience, information retrieval, object-oriented programming, markup languages, webanalytics, and project management. Grant has published articles appearing in ComputerWorld and the Canadian Marketing Association, and is a graduate of UC Irvine where he earned a B.A. in Business Economics.
“Grant’s technical background includes
information retrieval, object-oriented programming, markup languages…”
I think ”…maybe you have a little dick…” is an example
of “markup languages”.
@MHB
IMHO you shouldn’t reply at all to such an email.
The linkage to leadtank.com confirms it’s the same Grant Aldrich.
The registrant email for the site posted earlier http://www.professionalservicesmarketing.org coincides (ga@leadtank.com).
Any others?
This is a great example of why it’s often useful to have a brokerage firm to serve as the verbal exchange buffer between the emotions, insults, cussing and negotiating tactics of buyers and sellers. LOL
I’ve had buyers say stuff like “You can tell him (the seller) to go f_ck himself with that insane price for his piece of crap domain.” And yet despite a terse cuss filled comment like that eventually closed the deal. Had the buyer said that directly to the seller it would have surely escalated to even stronger language and been the end of the deal there and then.
@MHB, no problem.
After reading the article and seeing the author mentioning “web 2.0″ (which is what he mentioned in his email, I knew that this could be the same guy.
Also, one of their clients is in the motorcycle business … which could explain their interest in your domain.
On Tuesday I will be making a post about my February Sales/Inquiries. Out of the last 100 domain inquiries, I have responded to less than 10 and that was a couple too many.
Thanks for the heads up on this one!
Kevin,
I’d rather have the pleasure to tell them to go fuck themselves. Why let a broker have all the fun!
Also,
According to his facebook page, he is also co-founder of two other lead gen companies:
http://www.facebook.com/grantaldrich
http://www.callcompass.com/about/
http://patientsguide.com/about/
At least you have a penis not like him…he has none!!!
i have seen it happen many times. when a potential buyer does not want to pay your asking price for an item the buyer attacks you personally.and what i do is turn around and then attack the buyer because he iniated the response and i am prepared to respond to his actions.
i have done it over the last 20 yrs numerous times. you get satisfaction for putting the potential buyer in his place, and you still have the item in your possession and can continue to market and sell the item to the correct buyer.i have also learned and heard it numerous times from the buyer i have never been treated this way before.the correct motto.
the buyer is wrong….you have the asset use it to its highest potential
Its astonishing that a domain like motorcyclehelmets.com has’nt already been bought by one of the big manufacturers like Arai, Bell, Shoei etc – never mind the extra exposure it could bring to their brand, you’de think it would be worth it just to stop the competition getting it…dumb asses
“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.”
Lol, no loss there, what a generous no nonsense fun kinda guy. Nice of him to do YOU the favour
….NEXT!
“you get satisfaction for putting the potential buyer in his place”
You can’t do that when the moron remarks/offers come through sedo, I tried last week to reply to one and my sarky reply + counter offer was cancelled within a couple of seconds.
It must have been sedo who did that, there’s no way the buyer would have managed to cancell it so quickly after the comment was viewed…not a chance.
I’m missing out on so much fun
I’m also beginning to think Sedo is an acronym for “Sixty Euro Domain Offers”
Write him back telling him bobbieshelmet.com is free to reg if he’s looking to make a personal site about himself.
(bobbies helmet is a UK term for – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glans_penis )
What I have learned on the Net is when you make someone mad you are doing something right.
I think Tom Garret’s comment is on the money. This is not a commodity business, these are one-of-a-kind assets and they can’t be replaced. Only one person or company can own it. This is why passions and insults run so high.
EVERY time I have had an insult comment from a “buyer” its been from developers or SEO folks. They really know how to dish out the insults. I hate to say it is typical of the developers and SEO guys, but it is, just look at Michael Arrington and how egotistical, arrogant, condescending, and ignorant he is of the domain investor community. These guys are a dime a dozen…..and it is too bad b/c just like lawyers they ruin deals for their clients every day. They have no business representing them when they don’t even understand domain name basics.
Also, if he thinks fanciful, creative domains are in vogue…..then go buy one. Why even reply if those are better than the generic domain.
He would not have even wasted his time making initial contact, and especially the second insulting comment, if the domain was just an afterthought that was just kind of neat to have but not necessary.
I hate to judge someone by their photo but some of those Grant Aldrich photos sure like he is a jerkoff punk.
What a shallow soul he must have.
I guess Assclown of the week goes to Grant lol.I am sure he could get MotorcycleHelmets.xxx.music.disney.starbucks for a song and a dance.Never dismiss the power of the .Com
Wonder what body parts Grant Aldrich is planning to insult in his patent infringement letters?
http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20100205004
“Dear Sirs,
It appears that you are infringing on my patent ‘Method Of Patient-Staff Analytics’.
If you are interested in obtaining a license under this patent, please contact me. If you are not interested in obtaining a license, please confirm that your company has terminated its infringing activities.
In either case you have a tiny weiner and insignificant testicles. Your dog does too.
Sincerely,
Grant Aldrich”
He is pissing on your leg and telling you it’s raining.
As a still-performing porn star (Google my stage name– Dave Cummings), I can tell you that penis size, muscular build, good looks, etc mean far far far less than “functionality”.
Dave
Given GAKT shows 74K exact searches, I would imagine this domain makes quite a bit of money in parking. The real world just doesn’t view domains the way the domaining community does. The industry probably hasn’t done the best job of communicating / illustrating why a domain should be worth X rather than 5-10% of X. Thus brandables with zero search volume are widely used because “why should I pay thousands of dollars for a domain when I can register a good enough alternative for $10?”
Mike, I just saw dnjournal report that you sold TheMeditator.com for $35,000. That’s some mad sales skills. By compare motorcyclehelmets.com should be in the six digit range easy.
Phil
I would say this
Any domain I sell now will be much more in 10 years.
Including the one your referring to
But I’m not going to live forever so stuff has to move.
If I was going to be around for 500 years I wouldn’t sell anything
Maybe change your headline Mike to
Grant Aldrich, “you have a little dick”
that way you can rank for his name and the phrase and his name are locked in on google when someone searches for his name
woops sorry I don’t know why i put phil in there as my user name
HI,
“Funny’s ‘Headline’ From A Domain Blog Post” (in a long time)
Well done, and with great ‘decorum’ … a very fine line to walk most of the time.
Peace!
Dan
Is this him?
http://twitter.com/grantaldrich
This is nothing more than a typical bull-shit negotiation argument…nothing wrong with that…no need for either party to get pissed off.
As a buyer, i always offer extremely low-ball offers with bull-shit negotiation argument.
As a seller, i always ask extremely more with bull-shit negotiation argument.
Out of 500 to 1000 emails, only one deal will go thru…but that one deal will mean huge profits…so its hard work..but its all worth it!
Nothing wrong with that…no need for either party to get pissed off.
Good Luck,
Shit Happens as a buyer and as a seller!
Thanks Mike; my laugh for the evening.
SL–well; if it’s the same guy, he’s a long way from getting a patent, as he only has an application at this time.
And I note that some of his claims have a major problem if he ever tries to assert them; which I won’t be informing him of.
You know what is interesting, if you type in “motorcycle helmet” into Google motorcyclehelmet.com has been in business for years and the site is on page Three. So if you don’t know how to make a good site and spend that much money on a domain name, your not going to make anything and the best you can do is maybe sell your domain to someone else.
It just tells me that their is a lot on competition in this category so it would be hard to make your domain name number one in Google search.
LOL. I love when they try to downplay your domain- or, domains in general- in the context of soliciting you to sell it.
He’s a recent one of mine for a .org name.
___
My name is XXX and I see you own XXX.org although I have a preference for the .com(obviously) or .net over the .org I still may be interested in acquiring the name XXX.org if you price is right please advise if you are looking to sell the name and what you are your price expectations for the .org
___
He then goes on to talk about how awful .org is, reference what Estibot says, how he’d rather have a .co, etc, etc, etc… It was a pretty amusing exchange. I concluded with this:
______
Unless your offer thusfar is simply testing the waters and you have a
lot more powder in the cannon, I can pretty much say with certainty
that we won’t be coming to terms on this name. Perhaps a .co or .ws
owner with the eponymous keyword might be able to help you out.
Oh, and I don’t know if anyone mentioned this yet, but I love it when someone challenges your intelligence within a sentence or two of screwing the pooch on use of the word “your”
“Which probably indicates your below-average intelligence. You’re business model…”
LOL. Muppet.
“Well above the average for most .com’s being sold”…
Lol
On his logic $11K for a Picasso is a good deal
Firstly, it seems he’s done a bit of fibbing. Dermatologist.net is owned by Jasson Gilmore. It also appears that Mr. Aldrich bounces between various forums (of many types) with a slew of different email addresses, but the same generally poor attitude. Among these are: net_wolf@excite.com and zeroed4x@hotmail.com