OnlineDomain.com Domain Name News & Opinions
This is the “buyer’s” response to a quote I send him for one of my domains:
Thank you for your email. Yes we’re interested in the domain name. However, we’re a small IT company with just 75 employees. Additionally, we’re situated in the Caribbean where the economic situation is somewhat less flourishing than in other parts of the world. Therefore we’re simply not able to match your initial offer of 35 000 USD.
Since your bid starts so high, we’re reconsidering our interest. We can offer you 500USD if we can handle the transaction with Escrow. We’ll pay the additonal Escrow fees ourselves. What do you say?
I say:
HELL NO!!! Are you fucking kidding me?
Domains are not sold for $500.
If I sold to this joker for $500 I would be loosing a lot of money.
The cost for me handling the transaction is more than that. Renewals are more than that.
I am not some charity. The acquisition and renewal cost if more than that.This is a 1999 premium domain.
Is this some joke? “small IT company with just 75 employees”
Just 75 employees. You must be doing terrible!!! I feel like I must donate you this domain.
I must not forget this is not even a “75 employee” company. Their one single division is that: This is a consulting firm that has operations in 17 countries and around 3,500 employees!
I have donated domains in the past but not to such “small” companies.
Some other dude wanted today to do him a “solid”. Like we went to school together or something.
He wrote back again saying my price was too expensive for his poor company. Maybe “5 or 10” times more than they can afford. So their budget went from $500 to $3,500 or $7,000 in just minutes. Please no more poor 3,500 employee companies.
Price went up to $70k. Good bye.
OnlineDomain.com - © Copyright 2012-2024 - All Rights Reserved
Good luck! I fully support you. Keep us posted, please.
Hell yeah 🙂
lol
Friday revelation: corporations lie about their finances 😀
that’s a long and cyclical story, nothing new under the sun 😉
Think you meant to say
Areyoufuckingkiddingme.com
Exactly.
or something like AreYouFuckingKidding.me 🙂
Some of those offers are priceless ! We should make some hall of fame with the best ones 🙂
I see them too, like;
“got a college budget”
“with all the new TLDs domains are not worth thousands anymore”
For premium domains that is.
Fair price of $20 per employee. It is the company online presence, brand. Twenty bucks is less than their hourly rate, so that should not be a problem at all.
Hi Zournas,
What’s the domain name?
Can’t say yet.
Name the company! Shame them!
Given my background as an Accounting/Finance professional I am familiar with the sort of expenses companies pay and what they spend on discretionary items such as travel, conferences, parties, marketing, consulting, etc. However, it is one thing to recognize that companies will regularly spend a few thousand on a business trip for an executive but balk at the idea of spending that amount on a domain name to promote their business.
Leonard I am familiar with a company that arranged a meeting flying all employees all over the country just to lay off 5 people.
The cost of that meeting alone would have paid the 5 people for 1 year more.
Good domain names are not expenses, but assets that will increase in value over time.
true!
Take on another 10k as a “insult fine”……….
Not a bad suggestion.
I will add I was trying to sell an IT-related .COM domain and received a few “How much?” inquiries but even my $1500 quote was “too high” for all of them. I recall at a company I worked for where the IT consultant could bill for that much in a couple of days…
“Thanks for your interest in whatever.com. You are right, it’s a very expensive domain and belongs in the hands of the most prestigious company in its space. With such a meager budget perhaps a .biz or .buzz would be more suitable for you.”
hehehehehehe… 🙂
I think the bottom line here is, this is a company that doesn’t see the need for a domain name that’s going to cost them 35 grand, no matter what they spend on travel expenses or booze at the Christmas party. Now for $500, they would consider it.
If this was a company that generated most of there income from internet sales, then they would see that your domain name would give them a stronger internet presence and they would see the value of the domain.
We all live and breathe these domainzz and think that the world revolves around them, We think that every company we contact is going to be so happy to get there hands on a great domain, that they will pay our price.[i’m in the same boat].
Every week we see the sales numbers and 95% of domainzz that are sold, are to other domain investors, so that leaves us all looking for that one company in that 5% bracket that see’s the value in our domain and is willing to pay our price…THIS IS ONLY MY OPINION….
Now you can all tell me i suck and don’t know what i’m talking about and i have crappy domains.
Very true – the reality is the vast majority of people outside the domain industry do NOT view domains as branding decisions worthy of a five or six-figure expenditure.
Brand all the high value sales are to end users. Even in new gtlds that you would expect end users not being the first to jump on board, these are the ones that spend the most. $12,5k for a new gtld in a heartbeat. And multiple $12,5k’s.
But I think that some people don’t have a problem paying go daddy but don’t want to pay a domainer.
I have an interview from an end-user/branding expert/new domainer that clearly shows the value that domains have in branding. More next week.
I agree, all high end sales are to end users, but as i said, that’s 5% of the market. And it has to be a end user that see’s the value of a domain name.
I couldn’t agree with you more about people paying go daddy for domains and leaving the domainer out.
We see that everyday.
I think another issue that domain investors face is that the contact is with a person that views paying another individual perhaps several months salary as unreasonable compensation. Paying a company such as a registrar for a service is viewed as business.
Very true.
Great point Leonard, that’s why we see all the huge sale being made by what i call, corporate domainers.
They have a legitimate business where they sell there domains and can justify why the buyer should do business with them.
While i have you here Leonard, i see most of all your post on these blogs and i think you call a spade a spade, you say what you think and feel.
I think you and Domenclature make people think about what this is all about.
Keep up the good work.
! agree 100%.
Excellent point Leonard – maybe some form of simple company incorporation would make end-users more willing to conclude a purchase from, rather than from an individual shown in the domain whois.
I notice that’s what Brand was also referring to in their post above.
I searched at linkedin and found this guy and he is a junior IT guy.
I told him not to contact me again unless he talks with decision maker.
The usual negotiation tactics … and sometimes decision makers are not better than junior IT guys with these lowball jokes …
Just an example: recently I’ve got an inquiry on a 5 figures mortgage name, the CEO of a Canadian company asked me to call him, and he offered me the same amount, 500$.
I was like … LOL! … no, thanks and bye! 😀
Andrea, maybe to that CEO $500.00 is 5 figures lol.
why are you taking it so personal? low ball offers are a hallmark of the domain industry. just say no if its too low and reduce your stress.
I have heard numerous times the “I am a student” or “I a freelancer” excuse but I had never heard the “we are just a 75-employee company, part of a 17-country 3,500 employee company, we don’t have any money, help us out” excuse.
Definitely sounds like they’re full of shit. What can ya say, there’s nocureforstupidity.com Tell him talktothefinger.com #pimped
They have the money, they are trying to scam you !
One of reasons why this is happening is that non-end-user sales are reported and end-users use them as a measurement for their domain purchase budget. And because just about 5% of end-user sales are reported, keeping those high-end sales private, the information on DNJournal or other sales stats sites are very misleading and in most cases such information hurts domain investors. Ron Jackson and other people who collect these stats should start to categorize these sales…
Sold a legal domain the other day. 2001 domain. The guy was from a law firm that does millions every year. Managed to get a good price but he was crying poverty like the dickens from the beginning because he thought I didn’t know who he was.
. Really sad actually. Business should be done for the benefit of all. When people lie like your situation, it just demonstrates greed.
I’d probably pump up the price even more. The scoundrels!
I think I got the same guy making me low offers…… told him where to go.
Love the idea of an insult tax. We should all incorporate that concept effective immediately. That will teach em.
I am the undisputed King of dealing with idiots. You know the ULTIMATE proof someone is an idiot? When they request a price for a two word domain such as OrlandoGutters.com and you send back 799 dollars. They reply with “that’s too expensive” and you reply make me an offer and they don’t.>>>>These people walk the streets with us???? You are telling me too expensive yet you make no offer? ? ? That is A_S_I_N_I_N_E! ! ! OR when someone won’t give you a thousand dollars for a domain name but they would not sell it for 1200 if they owned it…yes these people exist. Just type in Don Edmands and you will see I am real versed at dealing with these kinds. It’s funny when you are right people still find fault regardless…..
I have asked someone to make an offer 3 times, yet he refuses saying that we are too far apart.
I am sure we are not as this is not a domain I call premium.
Let me ask him a fourth time now…
Don. i think that was a reasonable price, i just appraised your domain.
But again, there are a lot of companies that don’t see the value of a great domain name and what it can bring in future income to there business.
Elliot silver had a post awhile back on Realtor’s and what they would pay for a domain name.
I read all the post on that blog and out of 20 or 25 post on that blog, only 2 saw the value of a good domain name and what it could do for there company.
As has been said before, it’s a sad reflection of the “Internet maturity” of business’ owners in the leading country – USA.
Some 20 years after it all started, most of them have no clue as to the value of “Internet assets”.
Just wait until one of that company’s competitors contact you and offers you a reasonable price for the domain. 🙂
I registered submit.co on Jul 20 2010 almost 4 years I renewal the domain and its ridiculous just couple of days back got offer of 100$ from one buyer on sedo. I was mentally prepared not to sell less than 7000$ I told same to buyer he started increasing offer now his latest offer stuck at 750$. Honestly speaking guys i am in need of funds almost broke & confused what to do ? desperately waiting for a buyer who can offer reasonable price then I dont mind to sell it.
what you suggest guys ?
“Submit” the domain to a brokerage newsletter.
I would sell it for that price as you’re still making a profit – the domain world is not what it used to be so it pays not to be greedy –
The key in selling a domain to a company is KNOWING WHO THEIR COMPETITORS ARE, AND THAT BUYING A KEYWORD DOTCOM DOMAIN WILL MAKE ALL THEIR COMPETITORS’ ADVERTISING TEXT MATCH YOUR “BUYER’S” NEW DOTCOM DOMAIN/S. The point is, your competitors will use keywords, such as “solar clothing” to define their products, if they sell “solar clothing”. If your buyer OWNS the keyword domain “SolarClothing.com”, then every time their competitor uses the term “solar clothing”, all they are doing is PROMOTING YOUR KEYWORD DOMAIN NAME, “SOLARCLOTHING.COM”. So you rob your competitors of promoting the very keyword that describes their own products/services. It’s that simple. That’s the main part of your pitch, if you can reach anyone important enough and with an IQ above 100 within their internet marketing department. Every company should see 75% of their advertising budget be dedicated to buying keyword dotcom domains. Period.
Successclick.com
We know what we’re doing.
yeap hold the bastards for ransom. I mean, how dare they offer you $500 for a domain that you paid only $10+ for to register initially.
$500 is not a serious offer for a good domain name. There is no “ransom” because the domain belongs to the registrant, not some schmuck who wakes up one day and decides he needs it.
Who are you and what do you know about me and my domains?
The domain is SmartGovernment.com.
How am I holding them for ransom?
What I paid for is irrelevant. The point is how much it is worth today.
And most of my domains were acquired in auctions for up to thousands of dollars.
No, I will not ever sell this domain for $500.