> Merryman hadn’t been serious about selling, he said, throwing out what he viewed as a high offer to get them to go away.
If he wasn't serious about selling, he should have said so and moved on. It seems smarmy to quote an offer price without a sincere intent to sell.
Merryman is 79, and receiving emails about selling the domain he's owned for decades. He has never asked for these emails, and just wants to be left alone. He throws a highball offer, hoping they'll go away. He then clarifies that he doesn't want to sell, which he is of course fully allowed to do. Then they sue him.
I would say there are smarmy actions in here, but not on the part of Merryman.
He increased the price to 100k, then 200k, then said no.
Jump's original bid is 2,500 dollars.
View it from the eyes of a guy that retired in 2001, or any reasonable person, and $50k for a domain is an absurd amount that should have been tantamount to "I'm not selling, take off."
There are many reasonable people who understand that $50k is nothing for a decent domain name.