Don’t Be Annoying

The other day, I received an email that started with, “I have reached out several times.” I had not responded to this person’s email because I had no interest in what he was offering, but I will share some advice with you.

It’s fine to email me once about some domain names that you think I might like to buy. You can see the types of names I own, and if you have something that would fit in on that list, you are welcome to share them with me with your price. If I don’t reply, perhaps it is because I am not interested. There’s a chance I missed your email, so a follow-up wouldn’t be too annoying. However, if you send two emails that don’t generate a response, it is likely that the domain names you sent are not of interest.

I do my best to reply to all emails that people send, especially when the domain names are very good. I am sure I’ve missed some, especially when things are busy or I am away. However, if you need to remind me that you’ve already reached out several times to no avail, it is most likely that I am ignoring your emails and you should stop.

In my opinion, either a domain name is good or it isn’t. If a domain name is not good, I am not going to buy it. Whether you email me once or ten times, it is not going to make any difference. I could be 6 beers into my evening, and I am still not going to purchase a domain name I wouldn’t hand register when I am on point.

If you send me multiple follow ups or keep sending me terrible domain names, I will most likely put you on “ignore” and never see your emails again. I presume others feel the same way. If you reach out several times to someone without any response, you should rethink your messaging.

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
  1. This is the industry that we are in, and thats how sales happen. Its a numbers game for some. This is a clear sign that Domaining is on the rise. I remember a few years ago I was not getting very many emails. Now my mailbox is full, every day! It sure beats those phone calls during Dinner asking me if I want to sell my house! -Mike Maillet

  2. If he has attempted to contact you (and others) many times, his email address is probably on the spam list.

    Or, he is trying to get your attention using guilt.

    Elliot, like you, I use a gmail address to communicate with people. I find gmail/google is very good in spotting form letters (emails). Some end up in spam and I suspect some do not even get through the mail server.

    Some of the Chinese buyers use multiple email addresses but do not change the body of the email. I believe gmail catches that.

  3. What rips me up is when a-holes try to sell me their newly registered gtld phrases. How .stupid do they think I am? Most of their .crap would have absolutely no resale value with a .com ending, let alone a .sh*t one.

  4. I’ll respond if the email is not spam, and if the sender has researched me and my domain holdings.

    I’ve sent emails to potential end users, and I’m impressed if the parties respond back, but I also try to do my homework prior to sending out these emails. Contacting the director of marketing, etc

    I used to get about 40-50 inquiries per week for my domains. But with the market deluged with the GTLDs, I get only about 10-15 per week. I should add: I own no short LLL or NNN domains.

  5. Hey Elliot.

    I understand where your coming from but I can’t agree with purposely ignoring emails (unless they are threats or something). It takes 10 seconds to just tell someone, “no thanks not interested.”

    You never know, they may have something else that interest you further down the line (but not contact you because you never initially responded to them).

    Basically, I don’t like when people ignore me, especially people whose blogs I read or that I follow.

    Thanks!

    -Omar

  6. I’m with Omar, I try to respond to all emails, I use to ignore some like you but found at times it got back around to me. Blatantly ignoring someone breeds resentment and these are complex people with their own needs, wants and friends they can talk to. For every one unhappy customer three are told and besides you may want to sell them something different at a future date. Obviously this person is a very motivated domainer.

    I have my flaws but I’m working on them, in my view this was one of them.

  7. As much as I respect you Elliot, taking a few seconds to say something like “Thanks for submitting names, but I have no interest. No further emails are needed”. is jut respectful.

    We all don’t like sending emails to anyone to sell anything. However, it i just someone in our industry trying to do what we do, make q buck. Please rethink helping the new domainers in this regard. At least reply with a better way to communicate with you or tell them what types of names you look for…

    I have been doing this since 1997. NOt once, have I ignored an email like that. If the names are horrible, I respond and softly tell them the names are low quality and they should look for better names and then send them to recent sales reports.

    II have also told them, I have better names they should consider buying and have turned an email like that into a sale for myself. As I say, I have a lot of respect for you but don’t become one of the folk in domaining that believes any one of us is not worthy of a response.

    • Do you respond to the emails that sound like this (hypothetical example) where the domain name mentioned is pending delete? I get them all the time and completely ignore since there is a 99% chance they are automated:

      ——-
      Subject: InvestingsDomain.net

      I see you have DomainInvesting.com. I have InvestingsDomain.net for sale for $1,000. Would you like to buy it?
      ——

      On the flip side, do you respond to all inquiries, too? Even when you receive several form inquiries that are clearly sent to a certain type of domain name (such as LLL.com names) offering a lowball figure for each, well below wholesale prices?

    • Im sorry but I fail to see how Elliott is doing anything wrong here, and im no Elliott fan boy either.
      You are probably just too nice a person, and thats good too.

    • Yes.

      I do answer those types of emails, personally. I receive emails with names that are similar to mine even though their names are worse.

      Hey, they are trying. I had this recently happen and said “No thank you, I believe I have the superior domain in this case”. They said thank you and sent me a link to a portfolio website with some more names.

      No harm, no foul. Maybe made a cool contact in the future. And the wonderful part was…it took all of 7 seconds to reply.

      -Omar

  8. Im all for ignoring annoying emails, so Im with you here. If they don’t understand youre a one man operation, it is not your fault.

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