Gazumping

Gazumping is a term generally used by many in the property market when someone wishes to buy an house but is gazumped by a late interested party with more money, it’s a practice sneered upon but you have to see both sides to understand why it happens, I mention this because I’m guilty of a similar action.

I recently acquired a domain name, BirthdayNewspapers.co.uk in the immediate aftermath I was offered £100 by a domainer. I decided to contact end users and see what I could get from them before moving it on. I sent emails to businesses for this highly sought after keyword rich generic and received one response, a sticking to his guns director who wouldn’t budge past £150. I wanted £300 and deservedly so.

I sell the domain for £150 on the proviso it is immediate payment as I need to pay my rent and various other stuff, as usual. A week goes by, I try to ensure payment is on way and is confirmed, I’m told that it is by Historic-newspapers.co.uk but it never arrives, in the meantime another Director gets back from A4U Expo a week later and on the Monday I am offered £300, I was already considering pulling out of the other sale as I hadn’t received monies yet. A week is a long time in domaining not least because money moves between banks in hours and a day, anything longer than three and I have a non payer on my hands.

However, I’m still waiting for payment from the company who said they sent payment last Tuesday, if any money was arriving it would be in the account now, so I now have to wait another day before telling them – InThePaper.co.uk, the sale is off and going back to the domainer who has now offered me £150 but I still want more so I may simply keep it.

I am now wondering why two companies have asked about the domain, failed to pay at all yet the domainer has increased their bid. Another similar situation, an enquiry on ImIn.co.uk they ask how much, I point them to my resale site stating £5000, they reply that’s too much sorry… and that was it. Why do people waste my time? What no offer? I go back and try and get them to make an offer, they talk rubbish and nothing more is said, I wrote to them last week confirming their enquiry was at an end closed, it’s my way of saying, thanks very much, go away.

It’s not all bad though, at the time I had an enquiry from the same website source on pc-doctor.co.uk, I received no reply by email so text the mobile number on the lead, we sew up a deal in ten minutes for £180, they tried getting me to do moneybookers or escrow, I don’t do third party transactions which is why the £250 deal with the com fell through in the Summer, I can’t do Escrow from Romania and there’s no need as I’m trusted and well known in the industry, so they pay £180 in a few days and I send them the online transfer, which they haven’t accepted yet… the mind boggles.

Last week I was offered £100 for DesignHub.co.uk, I held it for the weekend, went back and said ok but the reply came “spent the money already” I told my broker he was a timewaster and that was confimed when he replied to one other thread a few days later with £5. It also annoys me when I state in sales threads “make offer OVER £100″ some seem to find it funny to offer £70 or bang on £100, I think they have a bit of their brain missing, probably the kind of person who fails to understand when a relationship is OVER and keeps going back like a psychotic nutter. Over, over, over and you’re out.

If you’re sensing I’m a little pissed off then you’re not far wrong, I am. Two companies haven’t paid yet, a few timewasters and one of my clients just sold a batch of domains for several thousand but buyer just pulled out, the reason I am trying to find out as maybe I can intervene and get it back on. My clients failure to complete has a knock on effect as I catch domains at low cost for them and I was in the process of selling a domain from the proceeds of their sale. Hopefully I can help somehow.

There’s plenty of enquiries still, loads of money still floating around but I really can’t understand what’s happened in the last week, thankfully money is just paper to me, the girlfriend spends it, as do I, I get more, that gets spent and it goes on rent and bills. If I don’t get paid in a perfectly acceptable time period, three days bank to bank, a week if I’m patient then I have no qualms about pulling out, I’m running a business not a Littlewoods catalogue.

In contrast, I sold one last week for £150, CheapestProvider.co.uk or so I had thought. A misunderstanding between me and my broker meant the £150 request was never relayed hence it was sold for £100 and I didn’t know until the money hit my bank, with buyer using the word gazumping in his email, scared of a retraction - spooky because of what was already going on with BirthdayNewspapers.co.uk, I kept his money and transferred the domain, he says he’s interested in FamilyOutings.co.uk but I think that ended up at the deaf ears department once I uttered the previously priced amount.

*Sold to the domainer Monday afternoon, three weeks after the catch and sales talks began – that’s me being patient, sold for £150. Apparantly me making sure inthepaper.co.uk paid when they say they did with follow up emails all week, when I know they didn’t and hadn’t paid like the previous bloody enquirier, was rude. It wasn’t and I had every right and gae them every chance to check if payment had been paid, meanwhile now to find another £500, rent needs paying. Cough splutter.

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