Some people call it whoising -- sending out hundreds (or thousands) of lowball offers via email, often using special software to speed up the process.
Others prefer to go down pages of domains on Sedo/TDNAM (mostly occurs at these 2 venues from what I've seen) and put lowball offers on all of them hoping someone takes their offer -- this is commonly done on 3 letter .coms and pronounceable 4 letter .coms and many generics see their share of lowball offers on Sedo as well.
My question - How do you feel about this? Do you get angry when someone sends you an offer for 1/100th your domain's value?
I've been getting more and more lowball offers via email monthly since the start of this year and was wondering who else is getting tired of this spam.
If it's directly related to your business it isn't spam. I don't see anything wrong with it. Some people might say emailing an end user on a name you own is spam. Also people might say that since you buy and sell domains you're a cyber squatter.
Inundated by lowballs via email which really pisses me off, but I generally reply with " the highest offer to date that I did not accept is $-----." - just in case.
More often than not a do not get a second reply but has certainly resulted in a few sales.
If it's via Sedo and I have allowed a too low opening bid then I tend to think that it is down to me and do the usual high return bid just in case it was genuine low sparring bid. I am adding higher opening bids to my best names, way below my perceived value but enough to determine genuine interest- hopefully
.
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Reece, bottom line is in all reality, is that if lowlife ignoramaces are going to do such, it's not going to stop because of a poll or because it's irritating and rude! They didn't/don't care what people thought in the first place, and they are too much of scumbags to stop because someone is upset about it. Lowlife cheapskates know that it only takes 1 or 2 outta a couple hundred lowballs to say yes, and they get what they were going for. And as we've all seen the transgression, it's going to get worse and worse, as more and more scumbags, and cheap newbies come into the game. No different then that next wave of 'I'll buy your LLL.com off you for a couple thousand dollars', emails that keep a coming. One can only delete and smile at them, or answer with a 'sure cheapster, as soon as you die' reply.
I can see why this would bother you if you have lots of good 4 letter .coms or 3 letter .coms. It's a nice positions to be in though - forgive me for not feeling too sorry for you.
Something which bothered me - I put a bid in for a 3 letter .com listed at sedo for $2000, which is of course insanely cheap. They came back with a counterbid of $20000. Which was somewhat annoying - why offer a price guide of $2000 if you are actually asking 10 times that - waste of my time, waste of their time.
Yes, that's equally annoying. I don't know why people bother using a price at all if they're not going to sell for what their asking price is listed at -- the one exception I can understand is if they listed the domain there months/years ago and the values have changed since then.
Thanks hawkeye, that made my day
Definitely agree with you that this poll will do nothing -- was just curious how many others are fed up with it like me. I had an email offer a few days ago for $1000 on BQB -- tried to maintain professionalism and not tell the guy to go @#$% himself which is exactly what I felt like saying
Of the last 3 LLL.coms I've put on Sedo, they've all been spammed with major lowballs (on the order of $500-$2000) within a week -- clearly someone is trying to prey on domainers who aren't aware of the value of what they own.
If someone doesn't like an offer, don't sell. Getting angry about offers is a waste of energy. You might not like it but it is smart business to try & see what one could get at rock bottom prices & there is nothing wrong with that. I don't see the point to sitting on a soap box & complaining as it takes little to no time at all to decline & move on.
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I can understand it getting annoying but at Sedo you can raise your min offer, I would get $60 bids all the time for a couple domains and just put the min at $600. ( These were not LLL.com so I was not wasting someones time) If I got an initial $600 I could counter at $5000 and maybe do a deal at $1500.
I agree Hawkeye a lot of people are cheap and some are clueless they do not think they are lowballing. You cannot let it upset you because like you say it is not stopping it will only increase and become common as people look at it as I may get lucky and its not a domainer on the WHOIS, Sedo you figure its a domainer, but email whois you may get someone who had a couple domains years ago and has no clue.
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I agree with Equity , I think one sure way of avoiding this is putting a sensible min offer amount.
Secondly looking from the view point of a person who is sending you the mail - I guess all of us are looking to get cheap domains and sell for a huge profit.
It is difficult sometimes to know the true value of a domain , appraisals are a waste so that is the reason i feel many people start with a low ball offer.But I think its only in the best interest of the seller to reply to the email with the amount he is expecting
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I don't really mind the lowball offers but I find it a bit strange when they ask for stats on brandable domains (parked at sedo where you can see the stats if its over 50)
One thing that does bug me is when they have'nt got the decency to take 2 mins to cancel the deal if they don't like your asking price.
IMO, Luc should remove the mass emailing option from DRT! That tool surely adds a black eye to domainers.
The low-ball offer part is just part of the domaining business. People are always looking for the best deals. 90% of the people sending the low-ball offers are uneducated buyers who have a dream to make a quick buck. Each situation is different depending on where the offer comes from. If you are getting offers via Sedo it's one thing, since you can set your min offer and setting a min offer price would curb this.
Low-ball offers coming via whois or from parking pages is a bit harder to avoid but you can use privacy if you do not want the offers or remove the offer link on the parking pages. Fabulous parking pages allow that you can set a price or a min offer price which I think works and lowers the low-balling.
$2000 for a LLL.com. Not sure if I consider this an offensive offer. Some people will like the offer.
$60 offers for domains are annoying.
People should always be willing to back what they offer. (e.g. 1000 offers for $60 is a $60,000 commitment and should never be made without $60,000 funds at disposal) Offers should be made with a fixed time period. I try to limit my offers below $1000 as I prefer to have good communication with sellers.
I have to agree with Reece on this one. Getting lowball offers on valuable names is not just annoying, it's BS, and unprofessional.
My primary occupation is in real estate, and one of the things that is totally looked down upon are people submitting lowball offers on properties that are clearly worth more. It is a big "no no" and shows a lack of.regard for the person you're looking to do business with.
#1 - Value is in the eye of the owner on this one, I have domains I would not take $10,000 for that most would not pay $100 for.
#2 - It's equally as annoying when you send someone a starting offer and they counter with something totally outrageous because in their skewed logic they think all their domains are virtually priceless, I am a big buyer, and that will turn me off a domain quicker than anything.
to them !
