From time to time we get offers on domain names from people who claim they are ‘not in use’, and that we should just give them the domain.
When these people say not in use it is clear that these people assume that because a website is not resolving from the domain name that it is ‘not in use’. Like many domain name owners we use a number of domains for email, file sharing or IT admin (ie nameserver names), so they are never likely to have a website resolving, but are in fact in heavy use.
We received the following email over the past month which highlights the problem domain owners face:
Hi
I hope you?re having a good day so far. I was looking for a domain name [domain name].com.au that is registered with [name of company] but it doesn?t seem to be in use. I was wondering if you?re using it. If not I?d be happy to have it.
Thanks
This proposition is just like saying ‘you are not using your holiday house so you should just give it to me‘, stupid.
What would make a person think that they could just ‘have’ someone else’s asset rather than ‘buy’ it ? Is it a matter of people not knowing that they have to buy valuable domain name assets, or is it more a try on. Either way, people in the industry need to do more to educate the market place about the value of premium generic domain names.
In the meantime, we are sure most domain name owners will continue to receive stupid enquiries.
I get them all the time, really stupid. Part of owning domain names
Haha.. And the Estibot valuations what a joke.
Draft reply:
“Hi
I hope you are well. I am on the board of a biotech company developing a cure for Alzheimer’s. We require a degenerate human brain for our latest study. Our chief scientist said that the healthy mice we are currently using are too sharp. I noticed you have a brain there, but it doesn’t appear to be in use. If you’re not using it, can we have it?”
… You do get a few knee-slappers, I just ignore them. But you do get great offers from time to time also.
My advice to all domain holders is don’t give dumb emails (inc. emails that do not have sufficient contact information) any time or thought. Archive them but do not respond to them. They are often a test to see whether you a desperate for a sale and will talk to any loser with a free email account.