When it comes to selling a domain name, establishing price expectations is an important step. Whether it’s securing an outbound sale or negotiating an inbound inquiry, the price is a vital factor. In this edition of Expert Exchange, we are asking seven top industry brokers about how they handle price requests.
With our panel’s help, we will decide whether it’s best to quote a price, a price range or whether you should you wait for the other party to make the first offer.
@Joe Uddeme, Founder of NameExperts LLC
@Jen Sale, COO of Evergreen.com
George Hong, CEO of @GUTA
@Giuseppe Graziano, CEO of GGRG
Kevin Fink (@iHaveThisIdea), COO of Starfire Web Holdings
@Dave Evanson, Senior Broker at @Sedo
@Hobi Michalec, Co-founder of Lumis Group
These responses have been edited for clarity.
With our panel’s help, we will decide whether it’s best to quote a price, a price range or whether you should you wait for the other party to make the first offer.
Do you find it's best to quote a price, range, or nothing at all when a potential buyer first expresses interest? Is the strategy different for inbound vs. outbound interest?
@Joe Uddeme, Founder of NameExperts LLC
The inbound vs. outbound strategy is certainly different. Inbound leads are those where a buyer is expressing interest: they are already set to make an offer or proactively come to you. Those buyers typically are more aggressive and can close faster. The targeted outbound approach seeks to gauge interest, and then educate if necessary as to why this is a good fit for their brand/company.
@Jen Sale, COO of Evergreen.com
It varies depending on the domain name, price, buyer, and/or seller. However, providing a range or firm price (when selling) is always a quick way to identify serious buyers.
George Hong, CEO of @GUTA
For inbound interest, typically you don't want to quote a price because that will set a ceiling on the sale price of your domain name. For outbound interest, when a buyer asks for a price quote, you have to be prepared to answer the question directly.
@Giuseppe Graziano, CEO of GGRG
Some domain owners and brokers like to quote a range or shop a domain name around for offers without an asking price, but we prefer to be completely transparent and always quote the exact price.
Kevin Fink (@iHaveThisIdea), COO of Starfire Web Holdings
We quote a “Buy It Now” (BIN) price that is set by the client. We seek dialogue and negotiations from there. The conversation, of course, changes case-by-case based on the prospect’s initial reaction or response to us.
@Dave Evanson, Senior Broker at @Sedo
I find it is generally best not to quote pricing specifics or parameters in the beginning. For outbound, I will usually quote a price range or asking price when potential buyers first express interest unless they prefer to make an opening offer. For inbound, I typically try to get an offer from the buyer and will work at it a bit more, compared to outbound, before I will provide pricing specifics.
@Hobi Michalec, Co-founder of Lumis Group
When it's inbound, you usually have a leg up as someone's coming directly to you attempting to purchase. I almost always quote a range initially to gauge interest. However, upon further inquiry by a buyer after quoting a range, I'd recommend providing a number. Again, I would recommend this be done over the phone if possible to gauge tonality.
These responses have been edited for clarity.