offers Google just offered me $300K! ?

[EbookLover]

Hi,

Now, before you start thinking "GREAT!!!!", not so fast.

Here is my dilemma.

I regged an AdSense-related .COM domain about 6 months ago. I am not willing to divulge the domain right now, but it's a pretty damn good one.

I bought it and parked it at Fabulous in my account.

About 2 months ago, I got an offer through Fabulous for $100 by some random person named Mike (no last name given) who had a Gmail email account. I refused the offer as it is worth more than that to me, even though it's undeveloped. I'd rather just keep it an never get an offer for it to be honest with you rather than let it go for that little.

So anyway, tonight I got home and checked my email. Fabulous sent me notice that I go another offer for the domain. This is the info they gave me...

Offer Details
Domain: XXXXXXXX.com
Name: Rose Hagan
Email: [email protected]
Offering Price: $300000.00
Additional Comments: Google Inc.

Now at first, I thought, hey, it's obviously a bogus offer. I mean, not only is the price way too high but it seems odd that Google would want to buy a domain for so much money and contact me through Fabulous instead of by a more legit means like US mail.

But I thought that maybe Google did make me an offer for it but added too many zeros by accident. Maybe they meant to input 3000 or 300.

I checked out the email address ([email protected]) and it is the email address that Google uses in their whois for some domains they own. So it is in fact a Google email address.

My newest thought, though, is that some wise-a$$ decided to cause some trouble hoping that I would contact Google at the email address and then possibly get into legal trouble with them for attempting to accept an offer for an AdSense domain. Who knows? Could be. I did a search for Rose Hagan and found that she is the senior trademark counsel at Google.

As you may or may not know, Google owns the SM for AdSense but I don't think that they own full SM or TM for it since Adsense.com (an advertising agency) has been around way before Google AdSense was even publicly released. Whether I am right or wrong, I have no clue, just my speculation. If I am right, then they cannot easily bully the domain away from me as I could have registered it in relation to AdSense.com advertising agency, not Google's AdSense. I could be sorely mistaken, though.

So, if this were you, what would you do? Would you ignore it? Why?

Would you follow through and send the email to Rose Hagan at [email protected] even though it i smost likely not her direct email address? Why?

I just don't know what to do. While I know the price is unbelievable, something is telling me that I'd be a fool to follow through. However, the other part of me is saying I'd be a fool to NOT follow through. Hoping that some here might be able to help me figure out what I should do. The more I think about it, the more confused I get as what to do.

The more I think about it now, the more I think FOGEDDABOUDIT! but I would still like to hear from others on this for some good conversation if for nothing else.

Thanks.

 

[jmweb]

Let us know how it goes.

 

[EbookLover]

Well, I'd say just give it a try and reply to the offer. Nothing to lose!

Well. I could lose my domain and I could also lose my financial health if I was sued by google. Sounds like a lot to lose if you ask me. Can you say "garnished wages"?

 

[rome2ng]

Yea, i agree.

just try it. and make it as if you are the domain owner.

and , if you have refrain from gettting tm issue domain, or else you gotta show us the domain, then we can tell you , u got nth to fear.

beer ? haha sure.

 

[EbookLover]

What?

 

[AHA7]

Well. I could lose my domain (not too worried about that) and I could also lose my financial health if I was sued by google. Sounds like a lot to lose if you ask me. Can you say "garnished wages"?

1- You will not lose the domain because you will have to do the transaction throw some Escrow service.

2- Just reply to the offer and if you agree on the sale, then contact Google and ask them if they have any problem with that before finishing the sale process.

 

[rome2ng]

nono, i don't know why you post was posted before mind. haha when i actually, don't see any post below jmweb.

i mean to say, you won't lose anything mr ebooklover. You don't have to give them any particulars, unless you already do with your domain Whois Report. So they can't really prosecute you. Or maybe, you should try and contact them and ask them with simple question. "Are you gonna sued me ?"

haha, i mean, ya, who knows right ? maybe it's fortune waiting for it.

 

[EbookLover]

Well, if I do decide to find out more on this I will most likely contact Fabulous first and see if they will be a mediator for me.

As far as giving particlulars in my whois, well, I do. I mean, afterall, it is against ICANN rules to use bogus whois info and since I bought it at fabulous I do not have whois protection for it.

I never put fake info in my whois lsitings. From what I understand, you can have your domains taken from you if you are caught doing this. Why risk it? I jsut put my real info on my whois info and not worry about it. It seems silly to me to do otherwise given the penalty if caught.

 

[rome2ng]

true.

you do have your point

maybe it's good to wait and see.

hope it's not some scams or tm issue in disguised.

so good luck, mr ebooklover.

 

[EbookLover]

I'm going to bed. LOL!

 

[www.AmCy.org]

Even if the offer were real, G would offer you no more than $100 for the domain name.

AmCy

 

[kslup_k]

IMHO, beyond all, it is not legit.

BUT, again.....
Reply to the email, and hope for that miracle.

You have got nothing to lose. Go for it!
You will never know if you never try.

Try it and face it! really... you have got nothing to lose.!

 

[Monolith]

Even if the offer were real, G would offer you no more than $100 for the domain name.

AmCy

what he said

 

[EbookLover]

you have got nothing to lose.!

I don't think you read most of this thread, with all due respect. I DO in fact have a lot I could possibly lose if in fact this is a hoax (or even if it isn't) and I contact Google about it.

Thanks for your post, though.

 

[rome2ng]

man, i am surprise you all are still talking.

haha, ok mr ebooklover, you need a break. time for you to go to sleep and dream about what's the next move you are gonna take.

 

[budgetname]

Maybe a frustrated executive at google, who was tired of filing trademark challenges, did it for a joke.

If your going to play with trademark issue domains you should seek some legal advice. I use to do this, but found it more legitimate to deal in generic domains. Anyway, what I did was contact my local law association, and found there was a guy who specialised in computer trademarks. I did this a couple of times and found it cheaper to deal in domains without trademark issues. It may be money well invested, at least you'll have a better idea.

 

[EbookLover]

what he said

My thoughts exactly. I already alluded to this. Why would their first offer be 300K. The first offer is ALWAYS the lowest offer. no?

Now it's time for zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

 

[www.AmCy.org]

Well. I could lose my domain (not too worried about that) and I could also lose my financial health if I was sued by google. Sounds like a lot to lose if you ask me. Can you say "garnished wages"?

That's not how it works.

If G has picked up on your name and the develped site, they will ask you to "cease and desist" from using their trademarked name. They will also ask you to transfer the name to them and they will offer you $0 for the name.

If you refuse to comply with their request, then they will take legal action (eventually.) If you do the right thing and shut down the site as well as cancel the domain name (or just let it expire) then you will be just fine.

I have had to Tango with G (and others) over some names in the past, so I am writing from experience.

Sorry to be negative, but the offer is too good to be true.

If the offer turns out to be legit, I will eat my words and donate at least NP$400 to the NP charity of your choice.

AmCy

 

[kslup_k]

I don't think you read most of this thread, with all due respect. I DO in fact have a lot I could possibly lose if in fact this is a hoax (or even if it isn't) and I contact Google about it.

Thanks for your post, though.

With all due respect sir,
I read all the posts.....
Well.. everyone has their own opinion

to me, that 300K is worth taking the risk... That is how i think.

peace.

 

[medc]

AmCy seems to know what he's talking about.... from post #1 my take on this is you should call Fabulous. What are you planning to do with this domain name though?? if you spend money and time to develop it youre at risk from getting a call from Rose Hagan sooner or later, so i assume your plan is to sell it. In that case, good news... youve sparked so much interest that the value has gone up to 500K and a NP$400 donation! congrats!!

 

[JMJ]

I dunno if it's what I'm thinking I think you would have a good chance in a dispute. It could very well be a legitimate offer. lets use xxxtalk.com as an example. You have windowstalk.com, xboxtalk.com, googletalk.com isn;t owned by them either. Why doesn't MS and Goo go after these names?? Because forums are very popular. Hundreds if not thousands of trademarktalk.com's are out there..

I don't want to get your hopes up but as you said before you declined a previous offer so mabey they are making an offer which couldn't be refused. Then again it could be a kid playing childish games. Either way the only way to find out is email them back. Just explain to them you were planning on developing it into a forum and iin fact have turned down previous offers due to this. But you would have to be an idiot to turn down 300k so you had to know if it was legit. Whatever you do don't try and negotiate for more money. If it is for real take the money and walk away smiling. If it isn't then you aren't labeling yourself as a squatter.

Could the interest have a link to this http://namepros.com/showthread.php?t=136412

300k is a small investment in branding for a nice share of "pay-per-call advertising—search advertising that generates phone calls rather than clicks—could generate as much as $4 billion in revenue by 2009"

Goodluck either way.

 

[www.AmCy.org]

Why doesn't MS and Goo go after these names?? Because forums are very popular. Hundreds if not thousands of trademarktalk.com's are out there...

Your point is valid but the salient question remains: why would they offer 300K without first making smaller offers? I mean, we'd all probably find this offer a LOT more believable if they started @ $200 and increased their bid incrementally over the period of a few weeks or months. You think that G is so desperate for this name that they'd just offer 300K? I don't think so.

Of course, I could be wrong, and if the offer is legit then "EbookLover" deserves every penny of that 300K.

As always, IMO.

AmCy

 

[JMJ]

Who knows could be that it needs to coincide with a release of a new product? Such as the example above? Adsense does happen to be their bread and butter. An additional source of income on top of that along the same lines doesn't seem out of the realm of possibilities. And I might add 300k is chump change to G..

 

[faisj]

I know for 99% sure this is not a email from Google.

In case we buy a name we always mail from a personal mail address
(like f.siddiqui (at) evibe .nl ) and never from ( support (at) evibe .nl )
these offers are done by a person and he knows about it.
The complete staff who has that IMAP password for that email are not interested
(and well dont even have to know) what kind of offer Google Inc. made.

2nd point is that if you don't do anything... and they are really wanting to buy
that domain (for that price)
they will do a whois check and contact you at your whois information.


I am pretty sure this is someone who want to get you into trouble.
IMHO

 

[tsj5j]

I know for 99% sure this is not a email from Google.

In case we buy a name we always mail from a personal mail address
(like f.siddiqui (at) evibe .nl ) and never from ( support (at) evibe .nl )
these offers are done by a person and he knows about it.
The complete staff who has that IMAP password for that email are not interested
(and well dont even have to know) what kind of offer Google Inc. made.

2nd point is that if you don't do anything... and they are really wanting to buy
that domain (for that price)
they will do a whois check and contact you at your whois information.


I am pretty sure this is someone who want to get you into trouble.
IMHO

It may only be YOUR companies practise.

Maybe google doesn't want to reveal its staff's address?

 

[tipsfromthetop]

I dunno if it's what I'm thinking I think you would have a good chance in a dispute. It could very well be a legitimate offer. lets use xxxtalk.com as an example. You have windowstalk.com, xboxtalk.com, googletalk.com isn;t owned by them either. Why doesn't MS and Goo go after these names?? Because forums are very popular. Hundreds if not thousands of trademarktalk.com's are out there..

I don't want to get your hopes up but as you said before you declined a previous offer so mabey they are making an offer which couldn't be refused. Then again it could be a kid playing childish games. Either way the only way to find out is email them back. Just explain to them you were planning on developing it into a forum and iin fact have turned down previous offers due to this. But you would have to be an idiot to turn down 300k so you had to know if it was legit. Whatever you do don't try and negotiate for more money. If it is for real take the money and walk away smiling. If it isn't then you aren't labeling yourself as a squatter.

Could the interest have a link to this http://namepros.com/showthread.php?t=136412

300k is a small investment in branding for a nice share of "pay-per-call advertising—search advertising that generates phone calls rather than clicks—could generate as much as $4 billion in revenue by 2009"

Goodluck either way.

Well written, I have been in the game awhile and you have to contact Google in respects to this.

1. Get Mike at Fab to mediate.. he is a top bloke so accept the offer via fab.
2. Even if Google do get on your case if its not legit. Just transfer them the name.. no name is worth thousands in a TM court battle. So you just loose the name.
3. Yes there are thousands of potential TM sites out there but they have the reverse physcology around them.. More interest ---> means more traffic ----> means more traffic to the official company like google or microsoft. Big coroprate comanies love this stuff its is free publicity and priceless.
4. Google have big plans at the moment many new products are being launched. So your domain may slot in nicely to a extension of there adsense program.

I wish you well