Has anyone sold domain to someone who "hid" the true Identity of buyer ?.

[domaingenius]

As per the subject title, would be interested to hear from anyone who has sold a domain to someone only to find that the actual buyer was not who they thought and was a large corporation who had hidden their true ID ?.

DG

 

[Cartoonz]

sure, happens all the time...
bottom line? You sell a domain for a price you are comfortable with.
It really does not matter who the buyer is, you make "your" deal that is for an amount "you" are happy with.

I was selling a high end modified car once. A guy came to test drive it with me and it turned out to be Jim Carey.
I knew what price I wanted for the car, that didn't change just because of who the buyer was.
We had fun racing around the back hills of Montecito, but I ended up selling the car to a cop from San Jose... for the price I wanted.

Sure, you can try to do your homework and figure out who the buyer is... but sometimes you don't see it. So What?
I don't understand it when someone starts whining about "I sold a name for $xxxx and then it turns out the buyer was "Gigantic Global Corporation" and I'm pissed because they ripped me off by hiding their identity."
That's just lame... what they really did was keep you from ripping THEM off - "oh, this is a giant company so I am going to make millions... blah blah blah..."

Seriously... you make your deal, you move on.

 

[cbk]

I don't understand it when someone starts whining about "I sold a name for $xxxx and then it turns out the buyer was "Gigantic Global Corporation" and I'm pissed because they ripped me off by hiding their identity."
That's just lame... what they really did was keep you from ripping THEM off - "oh, this is a giant company so I am going to make millions... blah blah blah..."QUOTE]


I agree happens all the time, in fact I do it myself when I purchase domains. I use different emails and phone numbers not associated with any of my domaining and usually minimize what I want the domain for and act a little more naive to get a lower price.

 

[domaingenius]

The reason I ask this question is the claim that is presently lodged in the California Courts by Proview against Apple re the way that Apple went about acquiring some trade marks from Proview by disguise ,deceit and allegedly "Fraud" (my words not theirs necessarily) the latter being the basis for the claim.
The claim alleges, amongst other things, "fraud by intentional misrepresentation, fraud by concealment, fraudulent inducement" . Now this could equally apply to someone that has sold a domain name in circumstances that may give rise to such a claim. Of course the California Court has not ruled on this case yet so one doesnt know which may it will go ,or whether it will settle before decision. Either way there appears to be a valid case and it may well be this will effect the way that domains and trade marks are bought and sold . Any comments ?.

DG

---------- Post added at 07:44 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:42 AM ----------

sorry about obvious typos.

 

[Cartoonz]

completely different kettle of fish...
in that case, they were asked point blank about any connection to Apple and they lied about it.

 

[domaingenius]

completely different kettle of fish...
in that case, they were asked point blank about any connection to Apple and they lied about it.

You say quote "they were asked point blank about any connection to Apple and they lied about it" .end quote. Please can you tell me exactly where you know this from as a fact ?.

DG

 

[Dave Zan]

You say quote "they were asked point blank about any connection to Apple and they lied about it" .end quote. Please can you tell me exactly where you know this from as a fact ?.

DG

That's at least the allegation:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/02/28/proview_apple_ipad_deceit/

Time will tell.

 

[Cartoonz]

You say quote "they were asked point blank about any connection to Apple and they lied about it" .end quote. Please can you tell me exactly where you know this from as a fact ?.

DG

That's their whole basis for the case...
...and only if they prove THAT to be true, do they have a chance of winning.

 

[domaingenius]

That's their whole basis for the case...
...and only if they prove THAT to be true, do they have a chance of winning.

With respect Cartoonz I wanted to know please where the exact sentence you said was stated by Proview, or did you make that piece up ?. From my knowledge of it and my lawyers reading of the entire claim it makes no mention of ""they were asked point blank about any connection to Apple and they lied about it" . From everything I have seen it says nothing of the sort. Yes Apple(tm) allegedly deceived Proview but nowhere is it alleged, that we have seen, does it say what you allege. There is a big difference in legal terms between the claim as made and what you say.

DG

---------- Post added at 04:07 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:56 AM ----------

That's at least the allegation:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/02/28/proview_apple_ipad_deceit/

Time will tell.

Thanks yes read that article, but still does not say what Cartoonz has said ,i,e, that Proview explicitly asked if the buyer was Apple (tm) .Cant find that anywhere. Yes time will tell.

DG

 

[samhutton]

I think it would be idiot for them NOT to hide their identity.

An instructive story

We are speaking of a domain like firstname.xxx (where firstname is a rather common first name , and xx is a major european country )

I knew a guy, he was the IT manager for a company, they had the domain since years, selling stuff on it. (One of their major products was called "Firstname Service"). They are NOT domainers, they were selling their stuff but had bought the domain years back when it was available.

Then, a HUGE company from the same country launches a service called ... Firstname

We are speaking of one of the country's 10 largest companies with 11-digits revenues in Euro, rebranding one of their major products under that name, just to give the scale of the deal.

A few weeks AFTER this launch the guy gets called by the company's CEO that wants to negotiate the purchase of the domain.

The guy consults with his partners, and cosidering the size of the company they decide the price will be 100.000 Euros

He goes to the CEO, and after some chitchat he gets asked the price. At the very last moment (he described me the situation as "my head was spinning and I was hearing a humming sound in my ears) he decides to add a zero to the price and asks 1.000.000 Euros

The CEO accepts on the spot. Deal made

I heard this story directly form the seller, apart from the price all the rest is easily verifiable, the only unverifiable part is the price, which was otherwise undisclosed and would have made it the highest sale in that TLD.

The crazy excitement that this guy had telling me the story, weeks after it happened, make me think it's true.

Anyway, the large company dealt with the matter in a VERY idiot way. Had they been smarter, they could have bought the domain BEFORE the launch, with an intermediary, and saved almost a million Euros.

Mind you, if I had an 11-digits revenue I probably would have a different vision of the matter, and of the whole world...