Prospect Under No Obligation to Reply

Yesterday, I received an email from someone looking to sell a domain name that I don’t believe has value. Put another way, I wouldn’t hand register the domain name with your credit card, let alone pay someone a premium to buy it. I’ve been pretty busy lately, so I did not reply to the email. This morning, I received a sassy message from the same person telling me they expected to receive an answer from me and was upset that I did not reply.

A prospective buyer is under no obligation to respond to an unsolicited domain name sales email. Just like I am not obligated to reply to a spam phone call or a marketing letter in the mail, I do not need to reply to an unsolicited domain name sales email. Even when a prospective buyer requests a price, they are under no obligation to follow up if they do not wish to do so. It seems silly to have to write this, but sometimes something that seems like common sense to me may not be common sense to everyone.

I try to reply to domain name submissions. The vast majority of them miss the mark for what I am looking to buy, but I do try to reply with a “no thank you” or something gracious along those lines. On occasion, people may ask why or what I am looking to buy, and I will give a bit of insight about what I buy privately (one word .com domain names mostly).

Sometimes I don’t have the time to reply or see that the domain name has missed the mark by so much it’s not really worth engaging. There have been too many times I told someone I was not interested in buying their domain name only to receive an aggressive reply about why their domain name has value, and I have no interest in having an argument with someone about a domain name I have no interest in buying.

A prospective buyer is under no obligation to reply to an unsolicited email. If someone follows up with a rude or derogatory comment, that is a very good way to be added to the blocked / spam sender list. I appreciate when a prospective buyer replies to me when I am trying to sell a domain name, but there is no obligation. In addition, I almost never send a follow up email when I do not hear back from a prospective buyer I emailed.

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

11 COMMENTS

  1. Good point. This applies to more than just domain investing!

    What are your thoughts about using email open tracker in an email message to see if someone has opened the email?

      • It’s best to ignore inquiries from those countries unless they are saying or offering something substantial. Think about the time value of answering a bunch of almost entirely dud inquiries. Have never had an offer over $50 from those locations.

  2. I am sorry Elliot. I thought we were friends, and was hurt when I didn’t get a reply from you. I just thought that CanIUseYourCreditCardToBuyThisDomain.com was valuable…..LOL!!!!!!!!!

  3. ” To be truly rich is to have sovereignty over one’s own time ”

    Engage what you feel will add substance to your life and ignore the rest. Time is the most valuable and if you give it to everybody that asks then you pay the dearest price of all.

  4. Plenty of people around who can’t figure out why nobody is buying their precious freshly registered domains. This person won’t last long in the industry.

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