Basically, it was a matter of standing strong in my boots right from the start. Here's how the process went...
It was a young lady who first emailed me with a very brief message:
"would you consider selling this domain name?" That's all there was. This strongly indicated to me that this was a VERY serious, interested party. Why? Basic human psychology. Most offers that come through ramble on and either made an offer or ask for a price right from the start. I felt this was someone who knew how to play the game -- they wanted ME to make the first move in the price war.
I decided to NOT respond to that first email to test my theory. If they WERE as interested in the name as I suspected, they would ask again soon. Sure enough, 3 days later I received another email with another very brief message asking the same question as before. I waited 2 days this time then replied with
"I wouldn't rule it out, but it would have to be a very substantial offer as I'm currently using this domain for my business. Have a nice day."
The next day, an even shorter email from her:
"What is 'substantial?'" I replied the next day with
"I would not consider any offers of less than $12,000."
Several days later she emailed me with:
"Is there any way you could take $4,000 for it?" (Now mind you, I knew I had a serious buyer on my hands at this point, and it was time to really play the game). I waited several days to let them sweat a bit and let them wonder if I dropped the issue because of their low offer. I finally replied to the lady with:
"I'm sorry, but as I mentioned last week, I can't consider any offers of less than $12,000 as I am using this for my business".
She replied within hours this time (I sensed she was growing impatient) and said:
"Can I have my boyfriend call you? He's better at negotiating".
Now THERE'S a dead giveaway! I gave her my phone number, and the next day I got the call from a very friendly down-to-earth gentleman:
"Hi Gene, me and my girlfriend are starting a business and we're interested in your domain name. I could pay you $5,000 right now... and use escrow.com for the transaction -- I'll even pay the fees".
At this point I acted like I was growing very impatient. I explained to him everything I told his 'girlfriend', and nicely said g'bye.
Because of many things he said in our conversation, I suspected that this 'couple' were actually working for a major corp somewhere, acting as a mom & pop business.
He called the next day and left a message on my answering machine (I was expecting this would happen, so I didn't pick up the phone).
"Hey Gene, we've been thinking about it and we decided we could go up to $10,000. Please let me know if we can make a deal -- call me as soon as you can".
I waited 2 days, called him back and after a bit of small-talk I said
"it's been nice talking with you and I really wish you well in your new venture, but $12,000 is my absolute lowest starting point". (notice the key words "starting point"... I intentionally used those words so as to give the impression that I may even try to negotiate a higher price if you gave me time to think about it!). I got off the phone quickly, and waited for him to make his last move. He called that evening and accepted the $12,000 price. He began the escrow, I transferred the domain and I had the bank-check in hand about 10 days later.
Patience is your best friend in this business!
Gene
