I have recently had the (dis)pleasure of dealing with something quite fantastic on the internet and I thought I would post it for all the world to see. Names have been changed to protect the identity of the weirdo.
It all started on Saturday, 17th June, 2017 at 1:38pm
Our company wide, general email addresses stuff@digiground.com.au and connect@digiground.com.au received this thoughtful email with an offer:
Hello
I am a domain names broker and currently have the following domain for sale:
DigiCare.com
If you’re interested in buying/leasing the domain name let me know. I can provide you the pricing and other details.
Hoping for a positive response.
Regards,
<name redacted>
Now, strangely, although I have heard about this kind of thing, I had never personally experienced it, so I thought I would reply (Since DigiGround does offer a charitable service known as “DigiCare” where we donate 1% of our time to charity).
So, I replied:
Hello <name redacted>,
Do you have a suggested price for this?
Thank you,
John
I eagerly awaited the price, expecting maybe a couple of hundred dollars. I mean, it’s a .com domain. Providers give these things away. And you can buy them retail for $10. DigiGround offers domain name sales, so we even have wholesale prices available to us.
His reply came:
Hi,
This domain is priced at $7500 USD.
Please, let me know what you think of the offer made by the owners.
I had to do a double take. $7,500?? I was surprised it wasn’t an offer from a Nigerian Prince. At this point I actually gave up and just didn’t bother. But, <redacted> was insistent. The following day he sent a follow up email:
Hi John,
Any update regarding the domain name DigiCare.com
To which I replied:
Hi <redacted>,
We’re not interested.
And he followed up with:
Hi John,
What is your best?
My reply:
Hi <redacted>,
We are not willing to pay anything above normal registration fees.
Thank you,
John
And this is where the fun actually begins. Because his next reply was this:
Hi John
Thank you for writing back to us. First of all DIGICARE in itself is a brand name which is very difficult to find…..
We are providing you with the .COM extension of the name. The .COM has always been a major dominant force in the world of domains. If you have an SEO guy or an IT guy then i’m sure he’d know the power of a .COM above any other extension.
Moving forward why would you pay $200,000 for a LAMBORGHINI and pay a very fraction of an amount for a car which does all the task?
I know the example is a little vague and off point but this is to deliver the message to you regarding the price of the domain name.
MULTI PREMIUM DOMAIN NAMES LIKE THESE AND A FEW LIKE INVESTING.COM etc were all sold to domain investors as investments and are now sold at a premium.
DIGICARE.COM in the hands of any investor like this would mean a price of atleast $25,000 or more.
We recently purchase DIGICARE.COM for an amount of $5500 and are looking to make only a portion as profit.
If you don’t believe me then please have a look at this link.
OH WOW! WHY WOULD I PAY $200,000 FOR A LAMBORGHINI INDEED??? I mean. Actually, given this is Australia, why WOULDN’T I PAY $200,000 FOR A LAMBORGHINI? Don’t those things go for like $700,000???
Now, this really made me laugh, and I thought to myself, perhaps this guy actually needs a little help. So I sent this:
Hello <redacted>,
Does this scam usually work on people?
You should probably check the DigiGround website to discover what it is we actually do as a business. I am interested to know, would you like a website and SEO Management from a qualified company who are experts in SEO, SEM and the Information Technology Field? We can also help you with your sales pitch to make it more believable and definitely your metaphor usage. I personally have 20 years experience in sales and marketing and 10 years experience in digital marketing.
The registration of a .com domain of this low value is $10/year. I know this, because DigiGround also offers Domain Names for sale and Hosting services. In fact, I have just put this domain name on backorder, so when your “$25,000” investment runs out, I’ll own it immediately.
Just to let you know, from an SEO and backlinking standpoint, .com is considered “medium to low” value because they are so easy to get. .com.au or other country based domains are high to medium. Like DigiGround.com.au for example.
In the below email, you mention you purchased this domain for $5,500. I have to ask, was it from a person who used the Lamborghini metaphor? Because seriously.. Come on…
Thank you for trying to sell me snake oil for the price of gold. But I will take this opportunity to pass
Regards,
John
General Manager – DigiGround
Qualified Google Analytics Expert
Qualified Google AdWord Fundamentals
Qualified SEN SEO Fundamentals
2x Diploma of Information Technology (Networking, Hardware)
Statements of Attainment in IT Networking, Hardware, Software, Web Design, Web Development
Now, I honestly thought it would end there. I thought that surely this guy won’t reply. I mean, I just made fun of him. But, soon after (actually 8 minutes) he did reply. With this gem:
Dear John,
You seriously think .com is low or medium as compared to a .com.au ?
That just made the joke of the month.
A country extension makes sense only if you want to stay confined in a certain geographical boundary.
.COM overpowers the country extensions for that purpose.
I am sure till the time we are alive anyone who has DIGICARE.COM would have the money to pay $8 as the renewal fee.
I respect your opinion and its completely fine if your usage for it not worldwide but I disagree with the point that a .COM.AU has power over a .COM
Good luck John
I especially loved this bit about “till the time we are alive”. I mean, I LOVED it. And so, I had to reply again.
Hi <redacted>,
It’s a bad investment, or what is known as “throwing good money after bad money” to continue to pay registration fees for a domain name at $8 per year forever. If you’ve already paid $5,500 for the domain and are looking to sell it for $7,500 then after just 312.5 years, you would have spent your entire profit. If that’s how you plan to run your business, I wish you well in the distant future. I hope you don’t have too many “investments” like this.
I have a question though. Originally you mentioned you had “investors” who had this name available.
In your initial email, you introduced yourself as a domain broker who had this domain for sale. You then later asked me what I thought of the “offer made by the owners”.
You then mentioned that “we recently purchase digigcare.com for $5,500” in your previous email.
You can imagine my confusion. I would seriously like to know who truly is the owner of this domain?
Oh, and finally, with regards to the .com vs .com.au, as I did mentioned previously, you should check our website. We’re an Australian company that normally deals in Australia. When I was talking about the value of the URL, I was speaking most specifically to backlinking. You see, if we were to launch a new website for our DigiCare function, we would obviously backlink to our main website. If we had digicare.com.au it would be more valuable than digicare.com.
Anyway, I hope you are successful in your future ventures. I am not really that interested in the URL, so my minimal $10 investment is just there for the sake of it and nothing more.
Regards,
John
I think it was at this point that <redacted> actually gave up, because his next email was kind of boring:
Dear John
I am the sole representative of the owners and I never had the chance of throwing big money at places. If I had one I would invest in an investment with safer and secure returns. I am working hard and I know it would be irrelevant for you to go for DIGICARE.COM without having DIGICARE.COM.AU
All the best for the future endeavours and I hope there is no hard feelings here. I also agree to the fact that some investments made by Domainers (investors) are wayward. This is the reason new extensions are doing good.
Good luck and have a great day
Well, I am not going to bother replying, because I was hoping for more Lamborghini stories actually.
Anyways, if you have a charity or represent a charity, feel free to contact us about our DigiCare program, you can find it on our website here.
