Warning: Spammer

[Rikimu]

I've never written but feel I should do so to warn domain owners about something I've been noticing.

I'm not sure if anyone has posted about this yet, but a certain company is spamming domain owners with buy offers in an effort to get people to use their appraisal service. I've received it a dozen times now to different email addresses. It looks something like this:

From: <[email protected]>

Hello,

My name is Marc Shavell and I'm very interested in your domain. Investing in domains is a profitable business. Of course, this is not our main business. Please let me know your price for the domain in the subject line. If you have other good names just send me the list with prices. Looking forward to do business with you.

Regards,
Marc Shavell
Vice President
VOB Services LLC
Real Estate Brokerage Services

OR this one:

<[email protected]>

Hello,

My name is Tom Myers and I'm interested in the domain mentioned in the
subject line. I'm a cybersquatter but never use domains in bad faith etc.
Working according the law is my policy.

Some of my clients are interested in your domain. Please let me know your
price. If you have other good names just send me the list with prices.

Looking forward to do business with you.

Regards,
Tom Myers
Independent Cybersquatter

Eventually, if you write back, you'll get something like:

Without manual valuation nobody will buy. You'll sit on your domain for years in this case, paying renewal fees to your registrar. Just think about it. So sooner or later, you'll have to obtain an appraisal. Why waste time now?
I researched several companies and here are the results:
I wanted to engage AccurateDomains.com as appraiser but looks like this company has very bad reputation
Just read this blog
http://accuratedomains.blogspot.com/
So I'm not going to accept this fraudulent service.

I also considered www.Afternic.com, but now it's clear their service is not reliable enough.
Just read this:
http://www.igoldrush.com/links3.htm
"Capsule Review: After lots of complaints, Afternic is no longer a recommended service. We will re-review the service in the near future."

Another complaint
http://www.out-law.com/page-1630


I was told about manual research service from http://www.DomainMart.com. It costs - $200/hour.

Many experienced sellers suggested me www.DomainExplorer.org as a trustworth manual service. They charge per name not per hour. I've read only positive comments about them.

I've gotten similar emails to other addresses, and when you write back, the responses are pretty much automated. They are sending this from numerous email address as well. This is presumably an effort by http://www.domainexplorer.org/ to get people to use their appraisal service. It's a Godawful and annoying way to do business, if this is truly what they're doing.

 

[copper]

BCC, welcome.
You waited long enough.

BTW, appraisal scams are widely known.
Still appreciate the post, though

 

[BLazeD]

Appreciated too

 

[denny007]

This scam is older than many of DNF members...

 

[draggar]

It's really funny when they send you the email using the same domain as the appraisal service (www.spammyappraisals.com - [email protected]).

 

[uclaboyz]

Funny you should say, but I just got an email like this (from Marc Shavell) offering to buy 4 of my domains for $30,000, then he said I must get my domains appraised - nice try!

 

[Theo]

What a dumbass When he "offers" $30k what does he need the appraisal for? I can't believe some people would actually fall for this kind of oxymoron.

 

[blogcrash]

What a dumbass When he "offers" $30k what does he need the appraisal for? I can't believe some people would actually fall for this kind of oxymoron.

eheh

right said!

 

[Rikimu]

I've had a running "dialogue" with the spammer for a couple weeks, with me just copy/pasting answers back to him that say something to the effect of "You have made an offer and have stated that you require an appraisal. If this is the case, go get one and come back to me and we'll commence negotiations". He comes back with the same thing every time. You figure that they're sophisticated enough to have an auto response mailer? If so, why muck about with an appraisal service for a few hundred bucks a pop? Why not something more lucrative?