fabulous This got me ...issed: Is it Fabulous.com or just common business practice?

loroactive · Aug 7, 2008

Recently I stumbled over a domain which would have been useful for my business and being it a premium domain on fabulous.com i contacted them for traffic stats for the last 10 days. The agent replied me back the amount of clicks which was completely useless for me since i'm an affiliate marketer and not interested in clicks but impressions when buying a direct-traffic domain. They didn't give me the information needed on my side to do the purchase in the end, BUT raised the price of the domain by few hundred USD. This was getting me really upset. Being an affiliate marketer and not a domainer i'm asking myself and you guys:

Is the above mentioned story like common business practice?
Is it common business practice to not disclose traffic stats like i.e. SEDO does?
Is it like common business practice to raise the price after a customer indicates interest but did not do the purchase yet because of not disclosed traffic stats? (Remember's me of backyard market practices with tourists in poorer countries)

I'm really disappointed. Not only because I really wanted to get this domain even without the stats but now they raised the price what makes me feel cheated and not wanting to make business with them ever.
Concerning the other point: If you buy a new car you also would want to know how many miles it made before, is it? The seller would actually not disclose one of the most important facts to the buyer. The fact which decides if the car runs additional 1 or 10 years. In case of type-in domains, it aren't the miles but it all depends on the direct type-in traffic it got. Of course brand ability flows in and all the points they give you as valued factors, but they even advertise them as direct-traffic domains "domains with the benefit of buying direct-traffic domains (type-ins) and therefore sale-leads", but can't communicate the visitor amount to the potential buyer (i thought customer is king) even they got the information? So they actually want their customer to buy a pig in a poke?

loro

David G · Aug 7, 2008

Not sure about Fabulous policy re stats but BuyDomains.com is extremely reluctant to reveal traffic stats in my experience with them. I am sure other big players will not say.

Probably a big reason some players do not reveal it is because they firgure you have high standards and will think the traffic is too low to buy it. That is actually true with many domainers who fail to realize the great value of any traffic, even low traffic which is targeted is valuable. But I do agree that information should be disclosed.

P.S. Another reason they may be secretive is if you later say the traffic was lower than stated you may ask for a refund.

Mike Robertson · Aug 7, 2008

Hi Loro,

The valuation of our domains is based on various factors including comparable sales of similar domains, length of the domain and search value.

Typically we sell domains to end-users, who are primarily interested in the name from a business/brand perspective, rather than type-in traffic. These type of buyers are more inclined to pay a higher price in comparison to a domainer.

It is for this reason that unfortunately we do not list traffic statistics for domains. All domains are sold "as is" without guarantees on either traffic or revenue.

Also, we often review and alter our pricing dependent on various market factors.

Just out of interest, can you PM me the domain you were interested in purchasing, and I'll see if there is anything I can do.

Let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

Cheers,

Mike
Fabulous.com