Business ProfileforU S Mineral Exchange

I sought the services of USME to obtain the best possible price for a gas lease in Harford, PA. I was told to start the bidding at an offer I had in hand. I had an offer of 187,000 that was 4 years old from ******** Resources but was informed that it was too old. I sought a current offer from them and from a new company. I received a written offer of the new company of 70k but did not hear from ********* I began the bidding which lasted a week and received offers slightly above and below 70,000 after commission, with one somewhat higher ($113,000, after commission). When I expressed hesitance about accepting an offer so fast I was pressured into doing so, being told that the buyers had done much work in researching the offer and so on. I feel USME was representing the buyers more than me and aiming for a quick sale rather than the best price for me. Various strong-arm sales tactics included the argument that's there's no way to know the future royalties. (I've learned since about ***** **** a website that tracks natural gas sales volume and prices, showing fluxuations in the market. I felt I needed more research and felt a strong intuition not to sell. Had I not been pressured at this point I would not have sold. Another sales tactic is to say that one cannot know the price of a gas lease until there are offers. And so the auction is a way to learn its worth. After receiving the offer of 113,000 I finally heard from ******** Resources with an offer of $140,000, plus USME fees. I was told it was too late to take this much higher offer and was strong-armed into a sale by the buyers and USME. I had indeed signed a sales agreement and perhaps legally it was too late. I was forced to hire a lawyer who felt the case would be very costly to take to a jury trial. I seek redress from USME for their commission and the cost of my lawyer. I can never regain the lost profits, but that is the very high price I will pay for trusting USME.