Domain Market

Mike Mann removes BIN prices from 150,000 domains

Mike Mann announced on Facebook that he has removed Buy-It-Now (BIN) prices from 150,000 .com domains on his marketplace.

“I removed the prices from 150,000 premium .Com domains which is lowering sales significantly, but generating huge numbers of price requests; ie, a big pipeline. The price quotes and sales prices are going way up on average and we are adding about 200 new domains per day; so the sales slope should rise precipitously soon.”

“start high, discounting if any is based on details”

“BIN creates faster conversion, so more short term cashflow, which everyone needs”

150k domains is quite a high percentage of all domains owned by Mike Mann. Mike is the owner of DomainMarket.com that offers more than 270,000 premium domain names for sale. This seems like a very big shift away from BIN prices. Just a few days ago I spoke to some other domainer that was a BIN only guy. He has also shifted most of his domains from BIN to make offer.

Niko Younts asked if some companies get a sticker shock from BIN prices and the seller never gets to know someone was interested. Mike replied:

“if its BIN they think its real and they are not being cheated, if its a “custom” price they think its a scam”

“also with BIN it dilutes their brand more, they need to get rid of it, and makes them paranoid they are about to be scooped”
Adam Strong commented:
“Mike how many people a day hit your folio ? I’d be curious how many of those convert to buying and then without BIN pricing how many of those convert to inquiries. I’d think with an inquiry vs BIN you could convert a higher percentage of sales overall. As an example, if you have a name with a BIN of $10k and I have 1k budget, I walk away and never use your service or give you my 1k but if I see that I can ask or offer 1k and you say “no this is 10k” but here are some 1k options, you’ll make some more sales. What you think ?”
Mike replied:
“well overall that may raise the sales price average a bit but with more sell through faster via BIN its better overall. Also we dont have a staff to do all the follow up and negotiations.”
Mike finally said that:
“Lots of people are getting upset that the legacy premium domains they need had their old prices removed, and are much more expensive now. All I can suggest is they hurry up and catch the rocketship before they are even more hosed.”
This is an important shift for an inventory as big as Mike Mann’s and I am really interested to see what the results are going to be.
Sold.Domains

About Konstantinos Zournas

I studied Computer Engineering and Computer Science in London, UK and I am now living in Athens, Greece. I went online in 1995, started coding in 1996 and began buying domain names and creating websites in 2000. I started the OnlineDomain.com blog in 2012.

21 comments

  1. When you have 10s or 100s of thousands of domains, BIN-pricing is by far the best and most hassle-free option (for both buyer and seller) for “average” brands. Conversion rates skyrocket when compared to “make offer”.

    The people who see the value of a BIN-priced domain — and have the funds — will pay the price outright or reach out and try to negotiate – easier/fictionless sales option for the average end user.

    Premium to ultra-premium: “make offer” is the best option for obvious reasons.

  2. i dont understand. if BIN is good why did he changed it? did i miss something?

    • Instead of drastically removing the BIN prices, he should have simply lowered most of his asking prices, the vast majority of which are way “too high” for the average end user buyer.
      His sales numbers would shoot up immediately.

  3. Premium’s/Ultra premiums are 5-7 figure names.

    The VAST MAJORITY of END USER domain sales take place in the $2K-$5K sales bracket, as Afternic/GD/Sedo/BuyDomains/HugeDomains/Uniregistry Market have shown for years.

  4. The old BIN vs. “make an offer” argument can take a lot of time to analyze.

    Huge Domains has BIN prices in all of its 2.2+ million inventory, but their average price is much lower than what Mike Mann seeks via his Domain Market portfolio. As Luc here said, lowering his BIN prices should result in more sales.

  5. He needs at least $250K per month just to break even? Is he working for everyone else, adding 200 names a day is no easy feat also, and could be why the aftermarket is getting a bit to pricey.

  6. I’d guess the 150k domains are the weakest ones. The aggressive BIN pricing on his domains scares away potential inquiries. If there was no BIN on the page then people would be more likely to reach out. I doubt he can take an average (or poor) domain that he had a $25k BIN price on, remove the BIN price, get an inquiry, and talk them into buying it for more then what his BIN price previously was. A sucker is born every minute, but most suckers aren’t sitting on tens of thousands of dollars.

  7. I hate to be a “buzz kill” for domainers, but Crypto Currency is kicking the domaining industry ass! I got in 3 years ago mostly Bitcoin and still in domaining but after 16 years in domaining, I see it going downhill very fast. Just being honest!

  8. I wish you were right Luc and Konstantinos, but I see lot’s of money pulling out of domaining and other investments going into Crypto. 2 years ago I made 450K in domaining, (Thanks to the Chinese) last year dropped to 225K, this year been a disaster might not even hit 100K, and I got a solid .com portfolio. I cashed out over 2 Million in Bitcoin Alone this year on a 19K investment from 3 years ago, so ROI has been much better in Bitcoin.

    I am hearing the same stories as well in Domain Boardroom with many other top domain investors. Maybe it’s different with you guys through.

  9. I enjoy your posts. they are always the best!

  10. People have to play to their strengths. Given same portfolio, some people would perform better with a BIN strategy and others would perform better with a Make Offer strategy.

    Not everyone equally adept at pricing, negotiation, and other factors.

    There are extremely successful investors that employ a BIN strategy and others with Make Offer.

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