We’ve received an influx of domain offers from Russian brokers recently, and that’s great news.
Or is it?
The Russian domain space is open to .RU domains, but also modernized to acknowledge the value of .com domains and other extensions.
Russian companies often acquire .net and .org domains as well as other secondary TLDs, if the .com is too expensive.
Offers that arrive from Russian domain brokers are usually tied to one agency: Reg.RU.
In other words, these are inquiries placed on behalf of Reg.RU customers, that communicate their desire to buy a domain that’s already registered. The friendly domain brokers from Russia then reach out to the domain owner.
Are these inquiries from Russian domain brokers legitimate?
Russian domain brokers – Photo by Valerie Elash on Unsplash
It all depends on your definition of legit. Yes, they do arrive from employees of Reg.RU or other companies that offer domain registration services. These inquiries are then passed back to the person who wants the domain, along with a price.
If your price is not accepted, the Russian domain brokers do contact you, and let you know that the other party has declined the offer, or has decided to go with a different domain name.
In some cases, the offer is accepted, and then several obvious obstacles appear. Most commonly, Russian brokers relay some important information: payment can be made in Russian rubles only, and only to Russian bank accounts. Duh!
So what should you do if you receive an offer from a Russian domain broker?
By all means respond to gauge the other party’s interest, but lower your expectations on the price and the method of payment. Quite often, serious buyers from Russia utilize domain platforms such as Uniregistry and Sedo to acquire domain names at BIN.
In a nutshell: get a taste of what Russian domain brokers have in place, but don’t get overly excited if Natalya or Galina contact you with a domain offer. 😀
