Marksmen released a case study about a domain name acquisition they handled for a client. If you can get past all the boastful fluff like “our team knows their way around an acquisition like a top chef knows the temperature of a perfect mid-rare steak.”
It seems they felt particularly proud of the fact that their “backup plan” worked. They had been negotiating with a registrant who was having a family emergency. The backup plan was noticing the expiry date and placing a backorder where they acquired the domain name for much less than their client was willing to pay.
Now of course it’s a registrant’s responsibility to keep their domain registrations up to date. While Marksmen did nothing wrong, I am just not sure how great it looks for an industry that’s already despised by so many to have a post celebrating getting over on someone dealing with a family emergency. It’s probably one acquisition you don’t publicize. But to each his own.
Frank says
Agree 100%. Classless… Registrant could have been dealing with something much more important. Domaining has always been dirty those who don’t understand that are fools.
Mark Thorpe says
Yeah that’s just wrong on all levels!
steve says
well, marksmen has acquired 5 of my domains over the years for mainly large clients as in over 50 billion market cap and one really small client had only 25 million usd in funding.
they are super negotiators but very professional. when marksmen comes knocking on my door, i let out a thank you, as i know i’m going to have a big-time sale, usually 6 or 7 figures,
Raymond Hackney says
I agree Steve, I don’t know if that humble brag post was necessary.
steve says
Well, raymond, I concur…obviously it’s intended for its big corp clients, but i’ve never cared for the whole “one person’s misery is another’s gain”….unfortunately, so many operate this way, as in “we got inside info, as the buyer is highly motivated as, take your pick: a)he’s got to sell home to pay off his daughter’s out of network cancer treatment” or “she’s been paralyzed so she’s going to be fired from the ice skating team, so house is all she has to get instant cash”
unsavory
MapleDots says
They came to my door for a two word .com. They were hired by a new bank and negotiations went dead after 2 emails. The bank ended up adding a third word Bank to the domain and that was that.
We had just begun negotiations and marksmen was nothing special in negotiations, there was no back and forth in any detail other than how much.
Raymond Hackney says
Interesting, thanks for posting your experience with them.
MapleDots says
Yup, the domain was MapleMark.com and the Bank ended up using MapleMarkBank.com. Highest offer from marksmen was 10k
steve says
you were wise not to sell for 10 K.
maplemark.com is a super domain
steve says
i really had only 2 domains that lasted over 3 weeks – and the one that lasted for 3 months with the VP of the largest telecom company in world signing and approving the sale as well as telecom’s outside counsel, perkins coe…i can say this was a very large amount
others went pretty fast and all closed with transactions and fast payments