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“Α domain name is only worth what a buyer is willing to pay”

Another clueless “buyer” has arrived. What else is new?

He asked if I was selling one of my domain names and what the price was.

I replied with a $9,500 quote. All good this far…

He replied:

“What? $9,500 uSD?
haha…..

good luck selling it!”

I said:

“Are you a serious buyer or just a waste of time?
Never mind. Don’t reply.”

Then, on his 3rd email, he pretended to be serious buyer and added a fancy signature all while using the same gmail account for all 3 emails:

“Very serious. However try being a serious seller. The domain is not “worth” no where near what you are asking. It’s value is only worth what a seller is willing to pay. Not sure you would even get $1000. Anyhow if you want to sell the domain lower your price to a realistic number and we can take it from there. If not then, make sure to remove me from your emailing list.

Id*** Stupi*****.
****** ******* Capital Inc
Providenciales, Turks and Caicos.”

(“It’s value is only worth what a seller is willing to pay”. Yes, he meant to say buyer, not seller.)

My final reply was:

“Dear Daniel Mastantuono,
serious people don’t reply like 12 year olds “haha” and I am insulting most 12 year olds here.
Posting your signature on your 3rd email doesn’t make you serious. It makes you look more like a fool!

You have no idea what domains are sold for and I certainly don’t want a lesson from you.

“It’s value is only worth what a seller is willing to pay.”
This is the most idiotic thing “buyers” can say and only because they are cheapskates.
It doesn’t matter what a buyer is willing to pay if a seller refuses to sell for that. Both parties must agree. What you are willing to pay states little about what someone else is willing to pay.

http://www.arpeggioadvisors.com/value-is-what-someone-is-willing-to-pay-the-most-toxic-phrase-in-business/

You have been unsubscribed!
Konstantinos”

The link above has a very interesting article on what value and price is and when the 2 meet.
  • “Here’s the deal – value is not “what someone is willing to pay.”  It’s an absurd statement that reflects a fundamental lack of understanding of value – at a minimum, of anything approaching what we might consider “fair” value.”
  • “Where does this phrase, “Value is what someone is willing to pay” come from?  We hear the phrase all the time, but with just a little thought, the entire concept is easily refuted  The buyer is either a) ignorant as to the nature of value, or b) trying to manipulate you into selling (to him/her) at their price.  What the phrase implies is, this buyer is right here, and you’re probably not going to do better than the offer this buyer (investor) is proposing, so you might as well take it, because the buyer’s offer, ipso facto, constitutes value.  More poignantly, the implication is this particular buyer, and this buyer alone, is going to actually part with his or her money – it’s like a financially-themed version of The Bachelorette.”
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.

25 comments

  1. My favorite sentence: “It doesn’t matter what a buyer is willing to pay if a seller refuses to sell for that” . I have been saying that to myself for years – whenever it’s one of those times your keep the investment or take the quick cash (for a bill or vacation haha) head scratchers come up.
    Thanks for sharing details, it really helps.

  2. Too many potential buyers think the value of a domain is determined by their specific use and budget. I think it is combination of lack of information and an overwhelming sense of entitlement.

    There is a difference between some random buyer and the right buyer. The right buyer has a use and budget that match the quality of the domain.

    Brad

    • Hello Brad,

      Well Said !
      JAS
      Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger) (Former Rockefeller IBEC Marketing Intelligence Analyst/Strategist) (Licensed CBOE Commodity Hedge Strategist) (Domain Master )http://www.UseBiz.com

  3. I just received a $50 offer for a five figure domain. Upon quoting $20k I received a list of “reasons” on why that domain isn’t worth my asking price. Pointed him to this Aesop fable. https://www.umass.edu/aesop/content.php?n=10&i=1

  4. It is amazing what end users will spend on Google or Facebook or TV or radio or print or billboard advertising but when it comes to a domain to brand their business for the next decade they can only afford $50.

  5. I sold a domain to an end-user (it was a com and he had a biz on a cctld). I gave him a really good deal because it was not a big business and the domain never received an offer. He came back a few months later and started to complain, I mean really complain, because he didn’t know he had to renew the domain. I offered him a full refund if he returns the domain and then never heard back from him again. So many still don’t understand the value of domains, especially small biz owners. I have to admit that my blood boiled a bit but I think the sooner you show the door to such buyers, the better. In your case I would simply tell him that it would be better for him to register another domain at reg fee and don’t reply until he comes back with an offer that is reasonably closer to your asking price.

  6. Domain Pedophiles. lower than whale Sh!t.

  7. Well it’s about time; however…

    Where is everyone to comment like this when people who are supposedly also domainers comment in the other most famous blogs and say “a domain is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it…” including pretty recently?

  8. “Α domain name is only worth what a buyer is willing to pay”

    That’s the problem, assuming that you are the only potential buyer, when you’re in the line-up.

  9. Its sad the Buyer has no clue on what the value of a Domain consists of! His lost your Gain!

  10. It’s always handy to send them a link to DnJournal’s weekly sales page to put things into perspective

  11. Isn’t “Value” itself subject to different interpretations (Hense so many different appraisals with far left and right field evaluations)? If selling/buying for a value that is interpreted differently by the masses, it’s hard to expect all buyers (Or sellers for that matter) to be on the same page without negotiation and research to support each sides interpreted worth of the domain asset on the table.

    I’m sure buyers have similar email stories of sellers they encountered. 🙂

  12. “Α domain name is only worth ”to the buyer ”what the buyer is willing to pay for it .
    Maybe this sounds better

    • I agree that this is a closer, more accurate statement. However, the market sets the value. If one buyer is willing to pay $100 for a name, yet another buyer is willing to pay $100,0000 for the name, the highest bid wins. As a domainer, it’s your job to understand the value in the market and find the right buyer.

  13. Hi,

    my job is to do domain appraisal.
    Often happens for a domain valued 100$ sellers ask for 10.000 $.
    This does not mean that the domain worth 10K but only the owner try to get up the price.
    Often these negotiations end with average prices 1000$/2000$.
    Very important that the buyer knows the true value!
    This is what happens in the market!

  14. In response to complaints about my high prices after a low ball offer I’ve used “If you believe that the business you have worked so hard to build over the past few years only deserves a $15 domain name to brand itself online over the next decade, then by all means go to GoDaddy.com and register a $15 domain name. This 20-year old .com domain name will instead go to a business worthy of its $50,000 asking price.”

  15. It’s really very simple and not rocket science. People complicate it too much or go off on spurious tangents.

    The real estate analogy is only that, an analogy, and only goes so far, although it is certainly a great analogy. That means alleged and purported “comparables” for instance are often completely meaningless or completely invalid. That also means data about what *has* occurred often has no bearing whatsoever on what should occur or what a particular piece of digital “real estate” is really worth. It is also important to remember that the “real estate” involved is “commercial real estate,” not residential real estate, except perhaps on occasion when you are comparing to the world’s great residential mansions.

    Ergo, this is the correct and **honest** way to “value” domains:

    1. What can be done with the domain, especially with “highest and best use”?

    2. How much revenue and profit can parties who hold such a domain earn with it, especially when the subject matter is clear?

    3. How much market share and “mind share” can such a domain lead to?

    4. What kind of true and practical cachet can such a domain lead to and confer?

    That pretty much covers it. And when you look at any particular domain honestly, with an honest mind and in view of such common sense requirements, you find that many domain names are worth far more than many domain investors themselves who are stuck in different and sometimes misguided ways of thinking even realize, let alone non-investors seeking to buy.

  16. The fact that he emailed you 3 times would have prompted me to raise the price !
    thanks for sharing Konstantinos.

  17. “Α domain name is only worth what a buyer is willing to pay” … I would add, a domain name is worth what you are able to sell it for. If you have a well-made presentation of the benefits that a certain domain name brings to a company whom you are targeting to sell it, then the worth is greater.

    • Well Branko, thank you for bringing the conversation all the way back to square one yesterday with what is nothing more than a restatement of square one in a different form. And you are of course *one* hundred percent incorrect: what a buyer is willing to pay, or stated differently as what you are able to sell it for, has nothing whatsoever to do with what a domain name is worth, based on sheer common sense alone among other things.

  18. Anything is worth what a buyer is willing to pay for it, including domains….actually, especially domains. The reality is you may have taken a domain called say “Kbutalx.com”, you got it for $12, but then you feel it is worth $2,500, but the reality is, not one soul in 8 years ever searched that name, someone comes along and offers $500. You just missed your only realistic profit you will ever see or your kids will ever see.

    If it is a word that is NOT made up, then sure, it is valid. Also by then, we will see .biz, .ws, .games, .home, etc….become standard. That will crash values, but not yet there…soon. Its just a seller who is trying to get as much as he can but doesn’t realize not selling will not divert the buyer from another route.

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