is this a scam?

I recently had someone contact me regarding a domain I am selling... He asked me how much I wanted, Itold him. He said he would pay it if I got an appraisal from a 3rd party appraiser and pointed me in the direction of one that 'he uses'. It would have cost $59 for the appraisal which i didnt want to pay coz i was only gonna sell the domain for $250.

I thought it was a bit fishy that someone who claimed to know quite a bit about domains and buying and selling them needed a $59 appraisal so i condluded that he was probably affiliated with the appraiser and trying to scam me.

I could of course be wrong, so i emailed him back saying he could go ahead and appraise the domain himself id he was that bothered, but I had no problem holding onto the domain to sell later. I made clear that I wsn't gonna pay the $59 for an appraisal that would probably over price the domain anyway (he said if the appraisal was for more than $250 he would pay the amount appraised).

Scam?

 

I've heard of a lot of stories about those kinds of email in a popular domain name forum, and sounds like this one is the same as those. They would recommend you to get an appraisal or verification at a certain company and offer to divide the cost between the two of you, but the truth is, the company is theirs. And in your case, it's worse since he's asking you to pay the full price!

Yeah, I think what you did is right. If he truly wanted an appraisal for it, then he should shoulder the costs himself.

 

Domain appraisal services are mostly inaccurate anyway. They often over price domains to keep the perception alive that domains are "hot". When in reality, those days are pretty much in the past.

Now a days, you sell a site based on its revenues. Domain name value itself is a part of that, but not a big part. Revenue, traffic, links, active users and site design/programming are all more important than the name in my opinion.

I agree this guy seems to be trying to scrape up some business .

 

It's a scam.

You pay for the overpriced domain appraisal and the 'buyer' backs out.

 

yeah dude, you did the right thing. if he was a legitimate domain buyer/seller, he wouldn't be A) asking for an appraisal, and B) making you pay for it. Sounds really shady.....

would you mind revealing the "appraisal site" he was recommending?? might help others avoid this guy...

 

This has been going on for several years. I've been contacted by "buyers" wanting me to use ABC or XYZ appraisal service. I reply that I know what my domains are worth, but if it would make him feel more comfortable, he is welcome to get the appraisal himself (at his expense) and forward me a copy after which we can start negotiations. I've never heard back from any of the scammers after doing this.

 

yeah sure, the appraisal service being offered was http://www.allfordomains.com/ so STAY AWAY!!