Unsolicited Offers....Pitfalls, Problems??

[DryHeat]

I’ve unexpectedly acquired much greater than anticipated number of very decent, highly generic, names in the new tlds (.info, .biz & .us). I cannot possibly use/develop all of them. We all know that the secondary market is currently down in the dumps. I was wondering would there be a greater likelihood of getting a decent price by sending few unsolicited sale offers to highly select established players/businesses in the relevant area. For instance, offering autoinsirance.info (.biz, .us) to Geico, Progressive, Allstate, State Farm, etc. If so, how the offer should be worded? How the potential buyers should be selected (for instance, first ten sites on Google or Overture)? Any potential problems?

Please provide your thoughts, ideas, experience? I’d really appreciate that.

 

[NewSeller]

Your Internet account can be closed for SPAM

 

[DryHeat]

What internet account can be closed? Do you mean the e-mail account with hotmail or yahoo? But then I (and I guess everybody else) get unsolicited mail/offers all the time? How often there is an action taken by recepient against an un-solicited e-mail sender in the real world?

Just read this following paragraph about "SPAM" in a related article:

Electronic junk mail or junk newsgroup postings. Some people define spam even more generally as any unsolicited e-mail. However, if a long-lost friend or relative finds your e-mail address and sends you a message, this could hardly be called spam, even though it's unsolicited. Real spam is generally e-mail advertising for some product sent to a mailing list or newsgroup without any screening as to whether the recepient might be interested in the product.

In addition to wasting people's time with unwanted e-mail, spam also eats up a lot of network bandwidth. Consequently, there are many organizations, as well as individuals, who have taken it upon themselves to fight spam with a variety of techniques. But because the Internet is public, there is really little that can be done to prevent spam, just as it is impossible to prevent junk mail.

So my questions are:

Are there consequences for sending "junk mail" via old-fashioned mail thru post office?

How about if the receipents are narrow and targetted based upon some valid screening indicating that they might/would have a bonafide interest in the product? (e.g., offering autoinsurance.info (.biz/.us) to State Farm, Geico, or other famous auto-insurance company)?

 

[DryHeat]

SPAM Definition:
Inappropriate commercial message of extremely low value.
The definition of spam is purposely vague because everybody has his or her own definition. As it currently stands, spam is in the eye of the beholder.

Excerpt from a News Article:

“One place where spam is a very big deal is Washington. In late March, the House passed a bill that requires spam be labeled as commercial and show a legitimate return address, and a bill that prohibits wireless phone systems from transmitting spam is being considered now. As e-mail marketing grows – Cambridge, Mass.-based Forrester Research says marketers will send 200 billion e-mails by 2004 – lawmakers will likely be lobbied to invoke further controls. We are going to have to come up with a legitimate and acceptable definition of spam before we can combat it”.

Another excerpt:

“The attorney general alleges that PW Marketing violated California consumer protection statutes that make sending unsolicited commercial e-mail illegal in the state of California, unless the sender includes a toll-free telephone number, a valid e-mail address through which the recipient can request to be removed from the list, or includes the words "ADV" or "ADV:ADLT" in the subject line, which designates the e-mail as either commercial or containing adult material”.

 

[NewSeller]

Where did you find thins info? Drop me a link

 

[DryHeat]

"Spam-Definition" on Google.....you'd find all the links on first couple of pages!!

 

[lhague]

...I have used "Direct Marketing" (even though I never sold any names I got some nice responses, which basically told me the content of my message was acceptable, as I didnt get any "Flame" replies, but it also told me my names were crap to put it bluntly!!! so I dont waste my time on that any more, I stick to what I know, but one has to try!)

I have to say, I didnt just dive into it, I planned and chose the wording very carefully and made sure I had a disclaimer at the end, letting them know it is a one-time email etc etc etc. And most importantly, I sent it individually not to a bunch of businesses in one go!

If you are interested in seeing my ad pm me, It isn't a load of long blabber and hype either, it's straight to the point and very business driven....

 

[lhague]

...forgot to mention, you say you have some good generic names....have you submitted them to the Domain appraisal thread?, there are good experts here that will give you honest opinion, before trying what I did.......plus Im not sure where you would stand submitting anything other than .com, mine were .coms....

 

[Drewbert]

And offering a name for sale (even a generic one) via email, can be all the proof they need to take that name away from you via UDRP.

It's happened before, it'll happen again.

 

[DryHeat]

"And offering a name for sale (even a generic one) via email, can be all the proof they need to take that name away from you via UDRP".

Does this apply to geographical names too? Any UDRP precedent (except of course Barcelona.com) in this area?

Secondly, how you think the UDRP scenario applies given the said example of generic domain like AutoInsurance.info/.biz for companies like Geico, All State, etc?

 

[Drewbert]

Go over ti SWIPO and looks at some of the Generic .biz names listed in the STOP UDRP cases.

Sickening.

 

[lhague]

...I guess I took a risk then.........well you live and you learn, thanks for the info, I will scrap the ad, as I said before, I will stick to what I know, obviously didnt do my homework enough, I just read in some Marketing Tips guru book that the direct approach is ok as long as you follow certain business rules, so I took their word for it... ....

 

[SedoCoUk]

Originally posted by Drewbert
And offering a name for sale (even a generic one) via email, can be all the proof they need to take that name away from you via UDRP.

It's happened before, it'll happen again.

Of course, it all depends on how you offer it to them.

You'll have to do something really blatant to provoke someone into getting on your tail over a generic name. Do a little work developing the name, even if it's in a low-quality way, to show your good intentions.

Then, you're on safe ground saying something like:
...I intended to develop the name but lack the resources to do it properly... yada yada yada... however, since your site is well-respected as a leading resource on BLANK, I thought that you might be able to do something with it.... yada yada

Don't name a price. The trickiest part is getting your message to the right person, someone who actually knows about and cares about domain names.

Of course, the other alternative is just to have the pros do it for you. They generally have connections with good buyers. Plus, that means you can always fall back on:
"Well, I didn't really want to sell it that badly.... that's just those greedy domain brokers trying to get their commission..."


Good luck!

~Matthew

 

[ebess]

And offering a name for sale (even a generic one) via email, can be all the proof they need to take that name away from you via UDRP

There was just a fantastic post by Paul Cotton in I-Domain Digest with great links regarding some udrp and court decisions that seem to directly contradict the above statement. And these items reference generic names that someone else has actually trademarked even -- and still the original domain owner prevailed.

Hopefully they won't mind my reposting excerpts of it here -- I highly recommend joining the discussion list, it is a great resource. You can subscribe at http://www.adventive.com/subscribe.html

Here's some relevant portions of that post -- I updated some of the links to go directly to the pertinant info...hope they help!!

Cheers,
-ebess-

*financialreview.com http://arbiter.wipo.int/cgi-bin/domains/search/DomainSearch?lang=eng&domain=financialreview.com *

As stated in WIPO Case No. D2000-0638 ("manchesterairport.com"):

"Selling a domain name is not per se prohibited by the ICANN Policy (nor is it illegal or even, in a capitalist system, ethically reprehensible). Selling of domain names is prohibited by the ICANN Policy only if the other elements of the ICANN Policy are also violated, namely trademark infringement and lack of legitimate interest."

Since registering generic names, even with the intent to resell them, is a legitimate business activity, a majority of the Panel holds that the Respondents have a legitimate interest in the contested domain name.

ezstreet.net http://arbiter.wipo.int/cgi-bin/domains/search/DomainSearch?lang=eng&domain=ezstreet.net

6.10 *Moreover, neither mere registration, nor general offers to sell, domain names which consist of generic, common, or descriptive terms can be considered acts of bad faith*. Shirmax Retail Ltd./Detaillants Shirmax Ltee v. CES Marketing Group, Inc., ICANN Case No. AF-0104; Allocation Network GmbH v. Steve Gregory, ICANN Case No. D2000-0016.

*wasabi.com
http://arbiter.wipo.int/cgi-bin/domains/search/DomainSearch?lang=eng&domain=wasabi.com *

Though the Respondent may be expecting a "good price" for the domain name, there is nothing to suggest that the registration was intended to extract the "good price" from the Complainant, as paragraph 4.b.(i) contemplates. The domain name is for a generic word. One can easily imagine the Respondent getting its "good price" from any number of people seeking a simple and expressive domain name (a condiments manufacturer, spice seller, Japanese restaurant, etc).

 

[options]

Hm. I own OWSE.com which could be used for government world-wide program "Operational World Weather Watch Systems Evaluation (OWSE)" too.

I guess it is about time for the site to be finally developed.

 

[Togoodhlth]

The benefits of seeking out a buyer for your domain name far outweigh any potential risks at least in my opinion.
When I was selling some snowboarding related domain names I contacted retail stores directly by phone. I told them i was going to develop the site however time didn't allow it so I was selling the names to recoup the time and money invested in R&D etc. so essentially the buyer is paying me what I had into the name so to speak.

With regard to spam. Sending an email to someone who potentially could be interested in your domain name is not "spam" and shouldn't get you tossed.

 

[mole]

Originally posted by Togoodhlth
With regard to spam. Sending an email to someone who potentially could be interested in your domain name is not "spam" and shouldn't get you tossed.

That is true, but because people are so pissed off today by all the smut and rubbish they from spammers, tolerance is starting to run very thin.

Spam trackers are getting a whole lot more sophisticated today, so note that finding the originating IP address from which the email was sent is very quick and easy with a bit of understanding.

Spam reporters do take care not to report the wrong things (as they can be blacklisted themselves for malicious reporting), so if your email looks customised and generally sincere, you should not have problems, especially if you have your address and phone number clearly stated on the email.

However, should you be accused wrongly, you can always explain things to your ISP since they will often check with you before any action is taken, since they stand to lose money too from you.

Aside, anyone tried http://www.buzzcast.com yet? Any experiences to share? I've been paying $20 per month for the service but haven't gotten to actually using it.