I have a domain name (domain1.com) that has been in negotiations with a company for a number of months.
When I first started my negotiations I did a direct outbound and the company must have forwarded it to a brokerage because I soon got a letter. I ended up not responding to the brokerage because they were far too vague and almost made it sound like my domain had no value.
Later I did more research on my target company and managed to get a hold of some high level email addresses. I started a dialogue with a person able to make decisions and we conversed a number of times over the next few months. Eventually the company decided the domain name was for them and the price negotiations began. As the months passed the offers started to get reasonable and we were only about 30% apart in price. More time passed and eventually the company came up to 95% of the price I was asking. Then came the issue of the company wanting to pay in CAD and I insisted on USD because it was for a .com.
Long story short.... negotiations stalled
Here is where it get interesting
I get an email from a brokerage out of the blue saying they really like a few of my domains but especially my domain1.com. Quite a long winded email blah blah blah of how they would like to represent me and that the domain fits in perfectly with there area of expertise. They gave me numerous example of similar domains they have sold and what their commission structure was. Thing is their average sale was lower than what I was negotiating for this domain so I figured the company was not someone I needed to negotiate the deal.
I soon forgot about the brokerage but ended up getting another email from them and something about the writing style gave me cause for concern. Sure enough it was the brokerage mentioned in the opening of this post. They were representing themselves almost like they wanted to be my friend and as if we had no previous interactions.
So I found it quite interesting that the brokerage was pretending they wanted to represent my interests and my portfolio when I knew darned well they were representing the company trying to get my domain1.com.
Almost seems like double dipping don't you think?
If I did not put it together, and the sale went through, would the broker have charged his fee to me and and a separate one to the company purchasing the domain?
Interesting food for thought don't you think?
