Domain broker Darryl Lopes shared a YouTube video that was uploaded in July that reveals the Mastermind.com domain name was purchased for $275,000. Because the Escrow.com invoice looked a bit funky to me (the domain name was covered up), I did a bit of investigating to confirm the veracity of the report.
In doing a Whois search via DomainTools, I saw a screenshot that showed the Mastermind.com domain name forwarded to a eNaming landing page. eNaming is the domain brokerage founded by Tracy Fogarty. I reached out to Tracy, and she confirmed the sale to me. “Generally I do not disclose any sales or sale prices however since the buyer has I can confirm I was the broker at the price he mentions,” Tracy told me via email.
Assuming that Ron Jackson is able to chart this sale in DNJournal, it will become the 21st largest publicly reported sale of 2018.
Here’s the video Darryl sent me. In it, the buyer explains why his company bought Mastermind.com for $275,000:
Love to see companies and people that get that value of a good domain.
Funny how this person said he would pay $300K, but ended up closing at $275K, I would blame the brokers for messing that one up. The buyer even admits the domain to be worth $600K-$800K which shows they would have paid more, more weakness towards the broker just looking to close a commission.
Easy to say that after the deal closes.
I bought Midnight.com a month ago. I totally would have paid $250,000 to get it because I think it is worth at least $750,000.
Would I really have paid $250k to buy it? Who knows, but it’s easy to say regardless of whether it is true or not.
Well you still didn’t get around the fact the buyer offered more, and paid less.
I know you might know the broker personally, but the brokers job is always to get the most for the client, walking back pricing is never good for the owners.
We all know your a value investor, and you would have never paid $250K
I know Tracy from various industry events and have exchanged emails and done some business. Beyond that, I wouldn’t say I know her “personally” nor would I say we exchange emails regularly. To that end, I have not discussed this domain name with her beyond asking her to confirm that it sold for $275,000.
That being said, I would not form an opinion about a negotiation based on what one party says. You nor I have any idea about the details of the negotiation.
>”Easy to say that after the deal closes.”
No, easy to say based on what the guy says. She should have called his bluff or whatever was applicable in whatever led him to be shrewd about $25k less. Win for the buyer.
>”I totally would have paid $250,000 to get it ”
I’d be surprised if that is so. You may not want to answer any of this, but makes me a bit curious: what’s the most you’ve ever paid for a domain, anywhere even near that? And, what was it? But I certainly understand if you don’t want to say.
That doesn’t mean they would have paid more.
Also once someone has bought a domain “what they think it is worth” goes up by a large magnitude once it transfers.
“That being said, I would not form an opinion about a negotiation based on what one party says. You nor I have any idea about the details of the negotiation.”
Bingo.
He’s probably or almost certainly just “protecting” Tracy Fogarty with that, bless his heart. ๐ We all have our flaws and this is something I would expect since long before this thread or topic. The video guy is clearly credible and said enough to form an opinion. In my judgment based on so many years of experience combined what is almost a “burden” of usually being right ๐ the additional details of how the guy “slicked out” that extra little discount probably make no material difference.
I don’t know Tracy well enough to try and “protect” her. I am sure she can protect herself if she felt it was necessary.
That being said, even if the buyer would have paid more, we have no idea what the seller was thinking. Maybe the seller didn’t want to play poker and took what could have been the best offer instead of taking a chance and losing that offer. I think the seller tends to dictate how a negotiation goes more than a broker.
I don’t think it is fair to blame the broker based on what one side said. I don’t think we have details about the negotiation (seller’s asking price, opening offer, timing, length of negotiation…etc) that would allow us to form an educated opinion about what happened.
I’m open to new information since I’m only usually right, not always right. For instance, seller could admit somewhere that she told him about the buyer’s move to take off $25k or more and seller said to give in if that’s the case. I know it’s at least possible it wasn’t her own move. However, you don’t need to know her that well at all to do some of the “protection” thing.
I would say the same thing in response to comments about any broker or seller.
People seem quick to disparage others without full information, and I don’t think it is fair. When it is my blog, I can do something about it and rebut comments.
P.S. And for the record I’m a huge detail guy and usually among the first to talk about how important that often is, too. This guy Robert who just ranted in a big way about the industry in another thread on one of the other blogs may have mostly terrible domains on a terrible site domain, but he still touched upon a number of valid points about the industry regardless.
Just found the comments.
“no good deed goes unpunished.”
Yes, I get it.