Ask HN: Zillow is trying to acquire my app + domain for "a couple hundred bucks", advice?

It's obvious that since they now have their own iphone app they want yours down, or merged into theirs. You're basically a competitor. And they're trying to buy you out. And their tactic seems fairly obvious: "let's see if we can get the guy to hand ot over for a couple of hundred bucks, if it works fine if it doesn't we'll have to get into real negotiations"

Now you've got to play the negotiation game...

Note: This is just my opinion, and it could of course easily be wrong.

How many hours have you put in?

If that is the case you don't have any legal recourse regarding the API. I would certainly not give up the domain for chump change, and would look at a different source for your data.

I would also look into any copyright issues, but selling for a small amount is absolutely not worth it to you. I would hold onto it just out of principle at this point.

Though looking at it from another perspective and the site's current rankings on the web and you using their name in your app might not be much you can do. You might want to consult with a IP lawyer!

Also, www.izillow.net goes to a different site than izillow.net.

It would be a PR nightmare for them to just pull the plug on you.

Most sites with an API have in their API agreement that they can cut you off at anytime with or without reason. Zillow states:

Zillow.com may change, suspend or discontinue the Zillow API and suspend or terminate your use of the Zillow API, Zillow Data, and/or Zillow Brand & Links at any time for any reason, without notice.

They've decided that you were great when you were adding value to them, but now you're a competitor and they're going to shut you down. This is the unfortunate circumstance of relying on services that can change their terms at any time.

I don't agree with the extent that RMS takes the free software argument all the time, but when he talks about cloud computing, this is what he's talking about. Providers are saying, "Don't worry. Leave everything to us. It will be nice and you don't have to maintain anything." It also means that you have no recourse when they decide to change their terms. You become beholden to them and their good graces - sounds like a feudal relationship in a way. Cross your lord and you'll live to regret it.

Really, the worst you can do to them is get them a lot of bad press. Maybe that will swing the power to your side - "attention developers: zillow will just cut you off from their API if they see you as competition." Might make Zillow more amenable to paying you a little more. Lots of sites would jump on publishing such a thing. The FSF or other FOSS advocates might write up stuff as a "warning: don't let this happen to you" about cloud computing. Zillow, I'm sure, would like to avoid their name in that mess - probably to the tune of more money than they're offering now.

Just remember. Enemies threaten; friends warn. Be very nice with Zillow and kinda casually mention that you think you might pitch TechCrunch on the idea of a story about the situation - cutting off API access and all. Remember, you're happy to sell and not mad at them, but that they might not come off looking so nice in the press at $250.

I would suggest you talk to an actual lawyer and see if you can get them on strong-arm tactics or anti-competitive practices.

IANAL but I seem to remember in my business law class that even if my last name was "macdonald" in US courts I would have trouble keeping "macdonalds.com" because of trademark issues. I imagine the same would be true for izillow.com. On top of which, as other posters have mentioned, their Terms of Service likely gives them the right to cut you off at any time. Your leverage is low.

For them it is a business decision where they would rather avoid legal expense and bad PR.

Keeping in mind that the lower of legal fees + PR damage or the dollar value in harm your app does to their brand and sales sets the upper bound for what they would likely pay.

If the site is getting about 2500 visitors a month, I would probably respond mentioning how much work and time you put into it, and emphasizing that you want to work with them on this, then ask for $4,000.

I can't help but think there's something you aren't telling us, otherwise they've made a colossal error.

Let's look at your absolute worst case scenario. They cut off your API, put you completely out business, and end your app. Let's look at what they are offering you: $250. The worst case scenario + $250. What, exactly, do you have to lose, by rejecting their offer? $250. Put another way: nothing. Absolutely, nothing.

What is their worst case scenario? That you, oh I don't know, post around to bunch of places like Hacker News that they basically strong-armed you mafia style to shut down. Word spreads through dev circles that they are basically screwing their devs and abusing the trust of the dev community. They have to do all kinds of PR damage control.

The entire point of an open API is to attract devs to help spread your brand. If they want to turn around and start screwing the very people who help them, they'll find that dev pool dry very, very quickly.

In other words, the position they've put you in, you have virtually nothing to lose, and they have quite a bit. I'd respond accordingly. Save all their emails. Start working on the "zillow.com screws devs" website. Name your price, and tell them for both your sake, they should accept.

1) Determine a fair price 2) If they insist on being AS ridiculous like cutting off YOUR API access... - Prepare a Twitter / Blog campaign (#zillowfail) - Get the NYtimes reporter aware of this. They will listen to you if your email subject is "Unethical, unfair behavior from Zillow" 3) Negotiate further.

The HN hacker/Twitter community will help out. This is ridiculous

1. Use the publicity that this controversy generates to drive traffic to your new site. Since you already have the software: you could set it up on a different domain. Then as this story spreads use it to get page views to the new domain. Publicity like this is the best thing that could happen to a small site.

2. Offer to sell Zillow your software. You can sell them the domain for $250 and then change them 10k or 100k for your software. Or could you customize your software to suit some particular need that they had? As someone else mentioned you could offer to work for them -- if they hire you they won't have to wait till you ramped up on the API.

Ignoring the artificial pressure that they've added, what real incentive is there to accept this deal straight off? $250 isn't a game-changer -- Zillow knows that too. Fight for what you think it's worth.

Let V be the fair value of your application. Come back with V^2/250. Now the geometric mean of your numbers is the fair value of the app. You're starting from a number that's no more ridiculous from where they started.

They're actually valuing your app at zero (because they consider theirs to be infinitely better and arrogantly expect to crush you) and the domain at $250, both of which valuations are so low as to be insults.

I concur with the other posters that, if they cut you off from their API, you should spread the word far and wide of what happened.