A little over a week ago, I detected a domain name sale with the help of DomainTools and its domain monitor tool. I had been tracking that domain name since it last sold in private, so I contacted the seller to ask if he could share the sale price. He shared the price and some details with me, and I reached out to the platform to confirm and ask a follow up question.
It wasn’t so much the need to confirm the sale price because I trust the seller, but I like to ensure everything is accurate. A representative from the platform told me the company could not confirm the price or share details unless it has permission from the buyer as well as the seller. The company had reached to the buyer, and the buyer did not respond to their query.
I just posted a poll on Twitter asking people if I should share the price in a tweet or my blog, and I would like to know what you think:
If a (trusted) seller shared the sale price of a domain name with me but the platform won’t confirm the price and said it can’t share the price unless the buyer agrees to share it, should I publish the sale price on my blog or Twitter?
— Elliot Silver (@DInvesting) December 6, 2021
I expect privacy when I do deals and I ask the platform to keep the deal private. As a buyer and a seller, I would be upset if the other party discussed the deal terms publicly without my permission.
As a seller, I don’t need backpats from friends when I sell a domain name for a lot of money nor do I want to be inundated with people sending me “similar” domain names they own.
As a buyer, I don’t want judgment from friends and colleagues about what I spent to acquire a particular domain name. I also think it could be harmful to a business with employees if, for instance, the company had a round of layoffs but spent $300,000 to buy a domain name the same week.
As a publisher and investor, I like it when I can share domain name sales data that is public. I also don’t want to cause someone problems or make people distrust the domain industry by revealing something that one party expects to remain private.
What are your thoughts?
