OnlineDomain.com Domain Name News & Opinions
I have had my fair share of Go Daddy “Domain Buy Service” offers that cost $69.99 per domain, plus commission. And I also had a few Certified Offers through Network Solutions that cost $19 per offer plus a percentage of the final agreed upon sales price.
Today I got an anonymous offer from Domain Agents. Their service costs $49.95 plus a 10% fee.
The offer was from a woman in the US and her offer was $199. My domain is nothing great but I don’t sell domains at $199. Not even $500 that was her next offer. At that price it costs me more to sell than to let it expire. Escrow fees, bank fees, other misc fees and my accountant fees, not to mention my time that is the most important quickly add up. And of course I think that the domain is worth at least $2,500.
Somehow I got her email address (it was pretty easy actually) and emailed her direct. I told her my price and she replied:
Thank you; however I am not interested at that price.
Contact me again if the price gets in my range.
I do not choose to make an offer today.
My reply just came naturally:
Yes, it would be better if you didn’t.
Seriously, who are these people that spend $50 to make a $199 offer? Do they think that it costs $50 to make an offer on a domain name while the domain name doesn’t cost anything? I don’t get it. Maybe some other day…
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Spending $50 to make $199 offer is just nonsense. Such people don’t actually understands the actual value of domain names.
Try doing some outbound marketing, see the reg-fee quality domains these companies use, offer a lease option of $25-$100 monthly depending on the domain which is peanuts for any real business and yet having worked in corporate finance/accounting you know the sort of expenses a real company incurs to operate and it is amazing how little value is placed on domain names by the typical individual outside this industry.
I recall an end user offering me $50 for a two-word nine-character .COM several weeks ago (unsolicited offer by the way).
Talking about offers; Got today an offer for a very good domain of XX usd from some one in Africa. I’m not sure if he was just trying his luck or serious, but i countered with 1,000,000 usd to make a point 🙂
As for brokers in general; In my opinion most are just waiting for users to show interest and then they work the deal. I wish there were more brokers who specialize in reaching out to potential clients, do outbound calls, do research etc. There are a couple as far as i can see, but those are still busy offloading their .com portfolios 🙂
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Yesterday, I got an offer via Go Daddy’s Domain Buy: a whopping $150.00.
Wow.
The domain in question is worth at least mid 4 figures.
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Do people know whois? Do they make any research? When I want to buy anything I do research on the prices.
Probably the only research they do is going at Go Daddy and entering an arbitrary domain and getting that price…
These people are plain stupid. Period.
And no they are not trying to be anonymous.
All of this turmoil is easily remedied by using Buy-It-Now prices.
With BIN pricing, all these cheapo people immediately disengage when they see the seemingly high price and never even bother you with an offer.
In contrast, the people who see the value — and have the capital — will pay the BIN price outright or reach out and try to negotiate for 50% to 70% of the BIN price.
It’s always easier for a buyer — especially an end user not familiar with domain names — when they can see the price up front. Knowing the price, they can do some thinking about it, re-sort their budget priorities, find additional budget dollars, borrow money, etc. They start thinking about what it is that they can do to afford that price right now. That’s a much better position for a seller to be in when dealing with a buyer.
Absent a BIN price, there’s too much friction involved in the buying process for the buyer — find out the mysterious seller, try to make contact with him, make some kind of offer that seems pretty good (10x or 30x reg fee feels pretty generous to a neophyte buyer), take the verbal incredulity from the seller after making the offer, feel like the seller is retaliating by throwing out a random price of $XX,000, etc. It’s too much friction. It’s a protagonist vs. antagonist situation. It’s not good for the seller who’s looking to generate cash flow from his or her domain portfolio, like a real business would.
It’s easier to: 1) know your costs; 2) figure out your minimum ROI% you’d be happy with on any domain name you’re trying to sell; 3) compute your BIN price accordingly, given your own purchase price plus 20% trading costs; 4) promote your domain name at the BIN price in all the right places, including on the home page of the domain name; 5) wait for and/or actively engage prospective buyers (yes do some marketing); and 6) make it easy and friendly for the prospect to buy your domain name.
Don’t waste time psyching yourself out about selling “too low” to someone else who’s going to flip your domain name for millions of dollars to someone else. Determine what your minimum ROI% is for any domain name sale and price accordingly. When it sells at the price, be excited that you got your minimum ROI%. Moreover, be excited that you turned that virtual rental asset into cold, hard cash — which, after all, is the name of the game when it comes to domain name trading. Merely maintaining a domain name portfolio like a postage stamp or butterfly collection is a hobby, not a business. Buy great domain names at great prices and then go to market!
Simply include a link to the weekly dnjournal sales report to demonstrate the true value of domains, cheers
I think you idiots never learn
You must qualify any inquirers by getting rid of the timewasters ASAP – without getting into a protracted to & fro dead end
Waste of time & energy dealing with those who will never see the value
As simple F U works best…LOL
Thanks for the idiots part Anus.
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A little quick on the trigger, eh?
A “time waster” could be your next big sale, but you wouldn’t know, because you’re too busy saying “F U.”
Well, I’d rather sell domains than yelling at potential customers, even if they are being a$$ hats.
I get my aggression out by yelling at the computer and stomping around, but even when someone is nasty or tiresome, I just let it go, and, sometimes, they come back, hat in hand.
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