Some unscrupulous characters search the web for domain names for sale by individuals. They'll send an email inquiry. You respond with asking price. They'll agree to your asking price, regardless of high it is, but they say they require an appraisal from a reputable online domain appraisal sevice. They'll mention a URL which is a (real or contrived?) online discussion that recommends ALLFORDOMAINS.com as being a reputable domain appraisal service (maybe they are).
After you get your domain name (s) appraised ($69 for one, or discounts for quantity) - the original person who emailed you will suddenly seem to lose interest. It appears as though the person who feigns interest in buying your domain name is in collusion with the appraisal service. I could be wrong, but here's what I did in response to a recent request:
I emailed the guy and told him that, "Ok, I'm willing to pay to get my domain name appraised, but To show your sincerity (as an interested buyer) I request that you deposit $20 in my PayPal account. It is non-refundable, but it will become deductible form any purchase you make from me."
Not surprisingly, he emailed me back and said my suggested "smelled like a scam" Maybe the interested buyer was for real, but his initial emails to me were identical in wording to an earlier series of emails from someone else who was offering on a different set of domain names I had available at the time.
In each of those separate scenarios, the inquirer agreed right away to my high asking prices ($28,000, and $15,000 respectively for two different domains) yet later, after appraisals and such when I brought the price down way below the appraiser's quoted values, the inquirers faded away.
Perhaps they got their kickback from the appraisal company, and were done with me - and therefore ready to go on to other unwitting domain name sellers.
Ken
Chiang Rai
Thailand
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