blog Staying Cool When Your Prospects Are Dicks

johnn said:

How do you know it's a dick? it could be a vagina.

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interesting take // thanks long john

alop said:

interesting take // thanks long john

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in day modern some time a wife has dick and some time vagina

I say the true true

Thanks for keeping it real, Sully.

Just like in any area of life-- there are rude cheap entitled idiots who come for our domains.

If someone is rude the price should be raised and/or ignore them.

BIN works best for lower priced domains generally.

If you are confident and the price is firm consider a BIN.

There are names where the value can increase dramatically or drop down and BIN may not be the best strategy.

From my experience, one thing to add here. Some Domain Name brokers ( including Godaddy brokers) can be worse than "Dick prospects"...that they want to close the deal as fast as they can regardless of the Domain value..... I learned this the hard way...you should treat them exactly as you would deal with a "Dick Prospect"..even more carefuly as some brokers are skilled in playing in sellers mind....and initially a seller might think a broker is working for him...

AMRO1001 said:

From my experience, one thing to add here. Some Domain Name brokers ( including Godaddy brokers) can be worse than "Dick prospects"...that they want to close the deal as fast as they can regardless of the Domain value..... I learned this the hard way...you should treat them exactly as you would deal with a "Dick Prospect"..even more carefuly as some brokers are skilled in playing in sellers mind....

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Nobody plays our mind worst, than we ourselves do. All you need to do is ask yourself "what price do I need to get so I will be happy that I sold the name and not regret tomorrow?" Whatever that price is, that is the price you list your domain at. You can ask yourself this about your names every six months, the good names you have, and readjust the price if you need. If you do not have a set price in mind, you will get played by anyone when that offer suddenly comes in. You will quickly fall if they don't reply after you give a price. You will fold when they tell the most obvious lies.

You need to always place a BIN on the page or a min offer in your account for each name. You must start the negotiations so if the broker sees the lander or a gd broker sees the floor, he knows to prepare the client and himself.

A close example to domains in the real world are those small shops that sell antiques and statues. The prices there are mostly made up. The smart shops always put a tag on each item with the price. When someone approaches the sales persons, they already know the price and usually they give you 25% off because they baked it into the price. Huge Domains sold more names of their own than any other domainer. They understand the market, they study everything. They have a BIN and finance listed for each name. They do give a small discount if you ask but usually their names are very fairly priced to begin with.

The other benefit of a bin lander on afternic is it gets rid of the bots or lowballers that fill out the price request forms.

I think we would see a lot more sales if everyone just had a bin with a price they would be happy to get + offer a lease to own for names over 1500-2000.

johnn said:

How do you know it's a dick? it could be a vagina.

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Your comment is really very Interesting.

I think in general it is wise to try to keep your cool because you don't know where each person can lead you.
However, sometimes, like my experience below, you just can't sit by and say nothing.

I haven’t had much in the way of idiots seeking to buy one of my names for a song or well below its value.

The worst experience I've ever had was earlier this year, when someone working as a readily recognisable professional, offered me $30 for one of my domains. I ignored the offer but they kept sending me messages, so I had to respond in order to get them to stop.

Because I determined that this person wasn’t ever going to understand the value of some names (and therefore, it was not necessary to try to keep them onside), my response was, “Why do you think you can acquire a valuable asset for lunch money?”. I also asked him whether he offered his professional services for lunch money or so and also, whether everything it has taken him to become such a professional was free or cheap?

In his follow up response, he did not answer my questions, but just said “I didn’t know that it was a thing to simply occupy other people’s dream domain and make money from it”. I replied back with a much more lengthy response, destroying his silly and baseless accusation, but I won’t detail it here.

This person simply did not understand that domains, like physical land, are free for anyone to acquire on a first come, first served basis. I am sure this reality came as quite a shock to him.

VadimK said:

As for your question - well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. There's no universal rule for this. It's probably the oldest question on this forum: “How much is my domain worth?” (cause it makes sense to say ''Make an offer'' on domains you see selling the xx xxx - xxx xxx range, BIN for the rest). Some people will do ''Make offer'' simply because they don't know what to put and prefer react rather than offer by setting BIN (but that's tricky, I wouldn't do it).

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I have found that for average to good names, "make offer" doesn't produce good offers, without a min amount being set. This is because an open "make offer" runs into maybe the oldest trading phenomenon that exists, where a buyer wants to pay the least amount possible for something, whereas the seller wants to get the most amount possible.

So "make offer" is unlikely to produce offers such as $25K, $75K, $350K or more, unless they are prime single word dictionary names. Most likely, offers will be less than $2k, starting with $100 or so. You can set a minimum amount to prevent offers being made for less than you will accept, if the marketplace or your landing page provides for it.

Vertibox said:

This person simply did not understand that domains, like physical land, are free for anyone to acquire on a first come, first served basis. I am sure this reality came as quite a shock to him.

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Simply like that, thank you.
[ There is a lot of people, btw, who would benefit to read that very popular Esopo's tail, The fox and the grape...]

When the prospects are dicks, you let them be dicks — just not with your "for sale" domain and not on your time. Ignore them, or better still, raise your visible price and ignore them.

Sully, this is absolute gold. Every new investor needs to read this, and every veteran needs the reminder.
You hit the core truth perfectly:

We don’t sell shoes on Amazon. We own unique digital assets that can make or break companies.

That's the mindset shift right there.

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The Only Armor You Need: It’s Not Personal​

The biggest mental challenge is the "Stop Taking It Personally" rule. When someone calls you a "squatter" or throws a ridiculous $500 offer at you, their behavior is never about you. It's about their own internal pressure—their boss told them to get the name cheaply, and they failed.
Remember that corporate buyer who melted down? He still came back and closed. The tantrum was about his job, not your domain. Your only job is to stay professional and hold your valuation.

Set Your Rules and Stick to Them​

This is the key to surviving the "tire-kicker circus." Our time is too valuable to waste on people who aren't serious.

• Want stats? Great. Send a Letter of Intent (LOI) first.
• Need to "hold" the domain? That requires a deposit.
• What's your "best price"? It's the one listed.

The serious people respect boundaries. They see it as efficient business. The noise just disappears.

The Power of the Poker Face​

When they challenge your valuation, don't defend it—use silence to pressure them.
Your best move is the shortest: Ask, "Okay. What do you think it’s worth?" and then shut up. Let them fill the void. It’s incredible how often they start to argue themselves upward just to maintain the negotiation.

The Strategic Exit​

You have to be willing to Know When You’re Beat by a bad prospect. If they start demanding endless trademark opinions, seller financing, or guarantees, cut them loose. They are a time sink.
Sometimes, walking away from a terrible deal is the best possible move. The market always educates the clueless, and they eventually pay double for a worse name. That is not your problem.
And finally, always be professional for the Referral Factor. That impossible jerk might have a colleague who is your next great buyer.

Thanks again for the brutal, honest, and necessary reminder.

Now From today I have started following you. So many things to learn from you being a seasoned, experienced and a successful domainer.

The best part of your personality is - You share every thing so openly in simple and talkable form.

Acroplex said:

When the prospects are dicks, you let them be dicks — just not with your "for sale" domain and not on your time. Ignore them, or better still, raise your visible price and ignore them.

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Is that the proper time to raise price? Sometimes the paid brokers after examining the domain , request/command to decrease the price. But I do not listen it generally. Mostly I increase the the price of my listed domains when similar domains are sold at better price. Is it correct?

CashproofDomains.com said:

Is that the proper time to raise price? Sometimes the paid brokers after examining the domain , request/command to decrease the price. But I do not listen it generally. Mostly I increase the the price of my listed domains when similar domains are sold at better price. Is it correct?

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My approach is to price my domains with the prices I think are roughly correct and not what anyone else thinks.

So called "brokers" and fake experts in domain valuations shouldn't be listened to and instead, you can just thank them for their offer and move on. But the best response to brokers to a low/lower offer is simply not to respond.

Walking away from an offer is a surprisingly powerful tactic and one more people should employ.
It reflects strength and confidence in the seller and that they aren't to be messed around with.

Tunnus said:

But I would like to know how valuable does a domain have to be to be worth listing it with a price request instead of a bin?

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You'll never know because you only use BIN.

If the BIN is all you ask for, then that is all you will ever receive. And you'll miss out on the outliers who may offer you more right off the bat.

these "prospects" are just trolls, they aren't really interested in the domain name

I just ignore and move on

If they want it for real you'll know

I was really hoping this title would attract some hot domainer babes

but no...

and here I am again stuck having to make love to alcy again

Regarding stats I think I've had 1 end user in 23+ years ask for them so I don't seem to get traffic inquiries from end users. I've had a handful of angry end users over the years mainly due to not having the budget to acquire the domain at market value. I'll engage politely to a certain extent but once I see there is no winning it hits my ignore pile. I had one that went to a GoDaddy broker after I ignored it but it ended the same way I just told the GoDaddy broker to ignore it as well and I've never seen any of the legal threats that were made come my way direct or through GoDaddy.

Tons of trolls and low-ballers out there. Just ignore them. Over time you'll get used to them.