Something happened recently on NotRenewing that got me thinking about an issue that probably comes up more often in the domain business than we realize.
A seller had sold several domains through NotRenewing. The buyers had paid for the names and were expecting the transfers to take place. Before that happened, the seller received higher offers for the same domains somewhere else.
He contacted the buyers and told them he planned to accept the higher offers instead.
I reached out to him, and to his credit, he immediately agreed to honor the original sales. I am not going to name the seller or the domains involved because I think this was a learning moment. He reconsidered what he was doing and ultimately made the right decision.
But the situation raises a bigger question.
What is your word worth?
NotRenewing does not prohibit sellers from listing their domains on multiple marketplaces. I understand why sellers do it. The more places a domain is listed, the better the odds of putting it in front of a buyer.
But there is a risk that comes along with that strategy.
If your domain sells on NotRenewing for $99 and someone comes along an hour later offering you $500 somewhere else, that is unfortunate. You can be frustrated. You can wish the second buyer had shown up first.
But in my opinion, you already sold the domain.
That second offer does not erase the first transaction.
Some marketplaces go even further and restrict where certain domains can be listed. Atom's Premium listings, for example, come with exclusivity requirements and rules governing off-platform sales. BrandBucket also requires domains listed on its marketplace to be exclusive. Sellers need to understand the rules of every marketplace they use.
NotRenewing doesn't require that type of exclusivity. But if you choose to list the same domain in several places, keeping track of those listings becomes your responsibility.
There is actually a pretty famous domain story that shows how messy this can become.
Back in 2010, CamRoulette.com became one of the most talked-about domain sales of the year. The original registrant sold the domain for $1,400. It was then flipped shortly afterward for $151,000 at the Domain Madness 2 auction.
That alone would have been a painful case of seller's remorse.
But there was another problem.
Another buyer claimed that he had already reached an agreement with the original registrant to buy CamRoulette.com for $700. After the domain eventually sold for $151,000, that buyer sued the original registrant for $150,300, the difference between the alleged $700 deal and the eventual auction price. The lawsuit also sought specific performance of the original sales agreement.
I don't know that every domain agreement is legally enforceable simply because someone says "deal" in an email. I'm not a lawyer, and contract law depends on the facts, the agreement and the jurisdiction.
But that really isn't the point.
The point is that backing out of a deal can have consequences that go well beyond losing a little credibility on a domain forum.
And even when lawyers never get involved, reputation matters.
The domain industry is a relatively small world. Buyers become sellers. Sellers become buyers. People talk to brokers, marketplace owners and other investors. Your name can become associated with being someone who follows through on a deal, or someone who might disappear the moment another person offers another hundred dollars.
I know which reputation I would rather have.
There is also something bigger here than domains.
This probably happens in every kind of business. Someone agrees to sell a car and gets a better offer the next morning. A freelancer accepts a project and then gets offered more money for the same week. A company agrees to terms with one vendor and then receives a cheaper proposal from another.
There will always be temptation to rethink a deal when new information appears.
But sometimes doing business means accepting that you didn't maximize every last dollar.
If I agree to sell you something for $1,000 and five minutes later someone offers me $2,000, I am going to be disappointed. I might kick myself for pricing it too low.
But I also made a deal.
In the recent NotRenewing situation, the seller could have taken the higher offers. Instead, after we spoke, he honored the original sales. That's why I have no interest in publicly identifying him. People make mistakes. What matters is what they do after someone points it out.
I think he made the right call.
There will always be another domain, another buyer and another opportunity to make money.
Rebuilding your reputation can be a lot harder.