That's a good question. I'm not sure what is the answer to your question. I'll do some Googling and get back to you if I discover an useful answer. You should email the people at Godaddy as they probably know..

$12 is a pretty ridiculous offer. Even somebody not in the HostGator business should be aware that it's barely above registration fee..

You should have asked him if the paperclips were made of gold...

It sounds like a bored kid/daydreamer to me. Unfortunately there are way too many of them in this industry, who relish the opportunity to waste your time, as their own time is not valuable. Breathe a deep breath and forget about it...

Greggish... don't get me wrong. I wasn't say YOU were guilty of it. But so much of it is going aroud that I think the overall impression of this industry is that we are ALL out of our minds, regardless of the asking price. I agree, I think you are inline but the person that sent you that rediculous offer certainly falls into one of those 3 catagories..

I too have had offers on high end domains that were a waste of the electrons it consumed to send me the offer. The thing is, for every 100 of these rediculous offers they send, they actually GET a few bites. If it pays off just once, what's the harm in asking, yeah?.

Anyway, no ill will there greggish. I was speaking in general..

Best!.

GoPC..

I personally like the guy's response. Yeah, he's a tight wad, but at least he has a sense of humor. I similarly inquire quite often if people are interested in selling their domains. I often get back prices that are 10-100 times what I (as a reseller) would pay for the domain. I know some people probably have similar reactions to my inquiries (e.g. why did you contact me unless you want to drop x,xxx on the domain?)...

I once wanted a domain, the page was some korean landing page, so I couldn't understand it, but it appeared to be parked much like GoDaddy... And the HostGator wasn't anything special, just something I was interested in. So I sent an email much like the one the OP received and the guy responded, "I'm hoping to get 100,000 USD.".

My response was, "hahhahahahaahhahaahahaha good luck with that.".

So yeah, a lot of prices are inflated, but this may be due to the fact that it's hard to put a value on domains. Sure we do appraisals, but for some reason appraisals only seem even somewhat accurate when it comes to clear cut good HostGator names. When you get an obviously good name, then it's easy to say what price range it falls into and compare it to other obviously good names. The problem comes when you have names that aren't so clear cut, because those names may sell for $20 on here, then turn around and be sold for $4,000 on SEDO. There have been a lot of domains that sold for good money, which just make you scratch your head in amazement, because they don't seem to be that spectacular..

I think it's like winning the lottery, you can't win if you don't play. You can't make big money if you try to sell all your domains for $20.....

It works both ways. I made a generous $250 offer on a .info via GoDaddy that has 89 OVT without extension - no traffic or revenue. The guy countered with $260,000 (nearly 10x the highest reported .info sale btw). If that's his way of saying I lowballed, he blew it because I would have paid $1000 but instead I walked. So he is either a dolt, a dreamer or doesn't really want to sell it - in which case he shouldn't have listed it on GoDaddy in the first place...

There are so very many domains that are overpriced and will just sit there unused and unbid on. Really, though, if you think about it, any legitimate business that needs a specific HostGator ought to be able to pay at least $500 - or a whole lot more - for the domain. The only ones not willing to pay that are, IMO, other domainers looking to park the HostGator themselves, or domainers looking to resell to an enduser they already know of...

You could have accepted the $12 and asked him to donate the paperclips to a charity of his choice...

Frankly if you are collecting email address from Whois and contacting people with the intention of offering less than $XXX, then in most peoples eyes you would be a nuissance spammer...

I read about how this guy who sell things online. He sold things from big size paper clips to unwated goods. And now he collected enough to buy himself a house. I think that where the kid get that idea. Lolx...

Yes, some people think that; however, others are quite happy that someone contacted them and actually will pay them money for a HostGator that they otherwise were going to let expire...

Phronesis... your BF2 forum software isn't working "quite" right..

Too bad 2.

GoPC..

If I were making an offer on a HostGator on a forum like this, then ok, it's not out of line to offer $ xx. But it would never even cross my mind to contact somebody out of the blue on a HostGator and offer less than $100. Even NSI and Register.com have a minimum of $200 to make an unsolicited offer for a domain... sheesh!..

Say for instance, I am looking to acquire LLLL.com domains (which I'm not at this time, it's just an example). I don't care about what the letters are too much, I just want the domains for under $10. Personally, I don't think it is out of line to offer this way because the value of random LLLL.com's is not that high. Yes, you have a point if you have a LLL.com and someone offers you xx, but in my case, I'm offering fair market value (for resellers) for the domains I am going after...

Hey at least he showed an interest in the DN. I suppose that is good..

Whow know maybe he was just being funny and really wanted to see if you would take $12. You should have countered like $750 to see if his offer would go up. I would not have dropped to his (joking) level with my counter offer..

No matter what people offer or e-mail you, if you are selling your DNs you need to appear professional and your counter offers should not be jokes, even if in response to a joke. Just my opinion..

Maybe it was whoever owns the other linuxlink ext's. the .biz is the only one un-reg'd...

I agree, also if you recieve a high "unrealistic" counter offer you should not dismiss it at once but seriously try to negotiate..

Say if someone for example would reply for a HostGator that is at most $1000 in your opinion and he/she should counter offer with $100,000 then give them a serious response back with some arguments (in a polight manor) that would be the reason you think their offer is to high and what you are willing to pay for it..

Maybe the person is sticking with the price maybe it's going way down?.

You never know till you try right?.

Never dismiss a counter offer right away if it sounds to high valued and overpriced..

Just my 2 cents..

Http://oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com/.

I think he was probably hoping you would take up the offer due to the recent press the GoDaddy site above has received...

It was especially annoying because the HostGator is actually one of my better ones, and gets steady type-ins, probably from.

Www.thelinuxlink.net.

So when I got the email I thought it was going to be a serious offer...

That's the crusher, isn't it? High hopes come with e-mail offers...it's a real gut-buster to be offered a pittance...joke or not..

I liked your response. Showed calm professionalism coupled with a dash of humor...

That is indeed kind of a strange response. next time you get morons like that send them this back.

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Look at ebay. Look at Afternic. Look at Sedo..

SO MANY people ask astronomical prices, WAY out of touch with reality... I think alot of intersted parties have got the impression that EVERY HostGator for sale is inflated many thousands of times. So a 10 - 30 percent offer isn't THAT uncommon..

Others, just trying to get a steal..

While still others are trying to make a point, that your GoDaddy site isn't worth anywhere near what you are asking for it..

I see "interesting" domains that should fetch $x,xxx dollars listed for $40 Million Dollars, I might send an offer like "$12 bucks and 4 paper clips". LOL!.

GoPC..

Thanks for the suggestion Damion.

GoPC, I don't think this is at all similar with the crazy prices asked for domains on ebay and such. This was an unsollicited inquiry and $1000 is not a crazy first price to give (do I think I'll get it? probably not). But the way it's supposed to work in the real world is you get a reply like... " That's way over my budget, I was thinking more along the lines of $100." But to say "$12 and 4 paperclips" just makes no sense when the guy contacted me. Ahhh... just stuff like this gets me annoyed...

It's probably just a kid who is trying to buy a HostGator with his lunch money.....