What the heck? Look at this crazy response I received to a domain inquiry!

Discussion in 'Domain Names' started by willpower101, Jun 17, 2010.

  1. chandan123

    chandan123 Prominent Member

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    #21
    thats a normal kind of reply. why do you want to mention you are a college student ? its not needed in business.
     
    chandan123, Jun 21, 2010 IP
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  2. willpower101

    willpower101 Peon

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    #22
    It's interesting that you agree with this kind of behavior because you are making the exact same type of assumptions this woman did. You are assuming that because I am a college student I am any combination of naive, young, or unfamiliar with real business. Let me ask you something: At what age do you omit the qualifier "early introduction"? 22? 26? 30? How do you know I'm not a graduate student, or a law or mba student? I'm not going to draw out my experience and credentials for you, I'm just going to point out that assumptions are what caused this in the first place.

    I do not know what kind of business you work in, but this is not a normal kind of reply in any negotiation I have ever experienced. Asking a simple question about the price of a domain is also an extremely informal example of a negotiation. However that does not give leave to respond in such a manner.

    If you want to know why I said that, you can read the thread closer. I already answered why I said I'm a college student in posts above this one and reflected on what I probably should have done differently.
     
    Last edited: Jun 21, 2010
    willpower101, Jun 21, 2010 IP
  3. Kass

    Kass Peon

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    #23
    The owner of the domain acctually gave you some good headlines to follow. I think the guy did not mean to be rude, just tried to help you with your future ventures.
     
    Kass, Jun 21, 2010 IP
  4. willpower101

    willpower101 Peon

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    #24
    Off topic from the above reply's but relevant to the conversation.

    A story.

    I flew out to a convention for photography professionals in Las Vegas this march. When walking around to the booths and talking to the vendor reps we're fascinated by some of the capabilities of one of the new sony HD DV shoulder mounted video cameras. The rep starts talking to my friend who gets really interested, then offers him a 10% discount off the $7,000 camera if he purchases right now. He declines and the rep says, he'll make him a package deal and take off another 10%. His response is,

    "Heh, No man, I'm in college right now."

    The rep says, "HaHaHa, I understand! Living off Ramen huh?"

    "Yep, 2 more years left."

    The rep says, "Well, let me show you one of our other cameras with some similar features but no addon slots..." and proceeds to show him a $300 dollar camera.

    ____

    Now I ask you. Was this wrong of him to say?
    Did it warrant any sort of response from the rep about "the real world" or "sense of entitlement"?
    No.
    The rep laughed and moved on. He "got" it.

    So now the question is, why in the world did my friend say he was in college when presented with that question?
    • Well, not everyone wants to simply state "I'm poor" becuase of either negative connotations associated with it, an inability to joke about finances, or a variety of other reasons.
    • He could have just as easily said, "I'm broke", but that implies that it may be a temporary state, we are all "broke" at one point or another. Some of you are broke 2 days after you get paid due to bills. (also the sales rep might wonder wtf you're doing there if you're broke)

    Saying he's in college implies several things mainly intrinsic to someone in college:
    • He isn't necessarily 'poor', he is just on a fixed budget.
    • If he has any disposable income it is low.
    • His state is not 'temporary' nor will it change any time soon.
    • He is likely at the convention for reasons pertaining to his education, not just some broke guy ogling camera equipment.

    Now of course, he could have just said, 'I don't have any disposable income and I won't be getting any soon', but the state of being a college student has just become a de facto response that explains SOOO many things about that particular lifestyle and just rolls of the tongue very easily. It's something that people get, and can often relate to even if through second hand experience with a family member who has been in college. It's a lifestyle of intentional poverty in order to focus on education.

    (and yes it comes with several negative connotations too such as naivety, youth, drunken weekends, partying, irresponsibility, etc)

    My adult friends often wonder why I can't do as many things with them until they realize that I am limited by my choice to be in school.

    I realize of course, that this woman didn't see it this way at all. But I'm giving this as an example to those who seem to not understand.






    [now technically this would all me moot if one's parents paid for everything wouldn't it?]
     
    willpower101, Jun 21, 2010 IP
  5. willpower101

    willpower101 Peon

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    #25
    I do semi-agree with this, Kass.
     
    willpower101, Jun 21, 2010 IP
  6. Kass

    Kass Peon

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    #26
    I've had similar attempts to get a domain name cheap and I got some smarta$$ answers and replies. The answer here is acctually valuable. You can learn from it. ;)
     
    Kass, Jun 21, 2010 IP
  7. chandan123

    chandan123 Prominent Member

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    #27
    dont take such mail personally. the domain owners normally get such enquiries with college project , college student, personal blogs etc reasons and ask price.

    if you not find domains in market places like sedo , afternic etc they probably will hold for long time with selling and they expect offer to be made. because you need to get the domain you need to make offer. Some big domain portfolio owners make some contact form and they simply trash the low offers or offers without price using filters.
     
    chandan123, Jun 22, 2010 IP
  8. dave_85

    dave_85 Peon

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    #28
    both owner and enquiry were silly
     
    dave_85, Jun 22, 2010 IP
  9. Pyrogenic

    Pyrogenic Member

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    #29
    I don't understand why you would even mention you were in college. When you sell something, there is not a "rich" price and "poor" price. I couldn't care less about the buyers circumstance when I am a seller. If you don't want to pay the full price then why bother?
     
    Pyrogenic, Jun 22, 2010 IP
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  10. SiberForum

    SiberForum Banned

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    #30
    You need result, So I suppose you need concentrate on this only. Do not pay any attent6ion on the manner.
     
    SiberForum, Jun 22, 2010 IP
  11. wptheme

    wptheme Well-Known Member

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    #31
    wptheme, Jun 23, 2010 IP
  12. willpower101

    willpower101 Peon

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    #32
    willpower101, Jun 25, 2010 IP
  13. willpower101

    willpower101 Peon

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    #33
    How do I know what full price is? I was thinking low price would be maybe 50-150 bucks. Then she responds with this "you can't afford it" junk.

    You guys pretty much seem to agree with me on price: Via Thread: Opty.com How much?
     
    willpower101, Jun 25, 2010 IP
  14. willpower101

    willpower101 Peon

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    #34
    Another example, which of course doesn't justify anything, it just explains my mind set. In web design we draw up a client bid breaking down the hours for every single developmental component of creating a web site.

    For a consumer inquiry, price is usually set at about 40$ to 60$ an hour, and most sites can be broken down into a minimum of about 30-60 hours (including limited revisions and support), putting the price at $1000-$3000

    However if a large company contacts us the business price is automatically higher, running around 60$ to 80$ per hour, and the labor goes up too (because of the amount of revisions and support that is usually necessary, but that's unrelated), setting the price at $3000-$5000.

    Even bigger web development companies such as Paramour Red Nashville won't even TOUCH a project that's under 10K because of the staffing requirements.


    Other examples:
    I do freelance electronics work in Nashville. My business rate is nearly double that of my consumer rate & I give discounts to students.
    Adobe and Microsoft both price their packages at three rates: B2B, Retail, and Student.
     
    willpower101, Jun 25, 2010 IP
  15. mjewel

    mjewel Prominent Member

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    #35
    Services is different than a domain name. If you have a car that you could sell for $15K, are you going to offer to a person with limited funds for $7,500 because they cannot afford to pay what it is worth?
     
    mjewel, Jun 25, 2010 IP
  16. willpower101

    willpower101 Peon

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    #36
    Very good point. I was not thinking about it like that.
     
    willpower101, Jun 25, 2010 IP
  17. cerno

    cerno Well-Known Member

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    #37
    Sounds like the owner is frustrated receiving another low or non offer on one of her many domains that she thinks is worth a lot of money
    The domain letters don't seem to mean anything, if they did she might have told you, instead she is asking you for an idea of what to do with the domain
     
    cerno, Jun 25, 2010 IP
  18. wptheme

    wptheme Well-Known Member

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    #38
    You shoudn't have asked appraisal for a domain you didn't own. What if the owner came and found out. It may also made the owner's chance of selling the domain lower.
     
    wptheme, Jun 25, 2010 IP
  19. browntwn

    browntwn Illustrious Member

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    #39
    I don't sell my domains as a practice. I have had many people make offers. Usually, I am short - but not rude with my reply.

    I have ended up selling domains to major companies because they kept offering more and more money. Once I had a domain and the person who emailed me mentioned they were two moms starting a business. Well, my wife had just had our child and I was in the mood to give her a break because of that little detail she mentioned.

    There is no fixed rule. This person is just rude and you should let her keep her misery and her lame domain name. However, the same email from you could have brought a different result.

    All that being said, your putting the fact you were a college student with your request for the domain price made it very clear you were really saying "I don't have much to pay". Well, when you offer to buy something from someone and mention how little you can afford pay it is not unusual for them to treat you like someone who can't afford to pay. It seems like you were implying that you did not have a lot of money and that is exactly what she inferred from your email. Her rudeness is another matter - but rude people are everywhere. My policy is to avoid them in my personal and professional life.
     
    browntwn, Jun 25, 2010 IP
  20. DubDubDubDot

    DubDubDubDot Peon

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    #40
    I don't see anything wrong with mentioning that you are a college student. Most domainers have a price in mind, but many will first try to flip the buyer upside-down and empty their pockets just to be sure they are getting max money for the domain.

    There is indeed a rich price and a poor price in domaining. Obviously if the domain is hot, there is no poor price. However if the buyer is rich and the domainer knows it, the domain has the rich price no matter what its quality is. So putting it out there that you aren't paying big money isn't something that she should have been offended over since the domain isn't anything super special. It is a marginal quality pronounceable LLLL. It certainly has value, but even a poor college student should be able to save up for it if they seriously wanted it.

    You probably didn't get a price because she is holding out for a more wealthy buyer, knowing that she can sell it to someone in your position at any time (assuming you didn't want to pay more than a few hundred for it.... although she has no idea).

    Her extreme rudeness is just bad business.
     
    DubDubDubDot, Jun 28, 2010 IP