The Dan platform offered a simple responsive way for buyers and sellers to negotiate from an initial offer. While the seller did not have full buyer information, or communication outside the marketplace, nonetheless the system worked well for many. In just a few hours the two parties would often come to an agreement on price.
Afternic recently introduced a first iteration of a self-brokerage system that incorporates some features from Dan (and Uniregistry before that). This article will briefly cover how to use self-brokerage at Afternic, and also mention some of the many alternatives for those who like to negotiate themselves.
I also look at the general question of how to negotiate effectively, and whether it is better to handle negotiations yourself, or let an agent or broker do it.
Afternic Self-Brokerage Primer
Many were disappointed to learn that Self-Brokerage at Afternic is only available to sellers who have the Premium Tier of GoDaddy Discount Domain Club (DDC). That costs about $240 USD per year currently. The argument was made that the Domain Academy resources and tools that come with DDC Club place sellers in a more solid position to negotiate. There has been a lot of discussion, both here and elsewhere, among investors on that requirement.
Apparently about 100,000 are already members of the DDC. If one buys regularly at GoDaddy expired auctions or closeouts, which require a renewal, the annual fee is easily justified. For example, the cost of a .com renewal is roughly $11 less with Premium DDC, so with only 22 closeout or auction purchases per year, the annual cost of the club would be covered, even if you did not keep any domains at GoDaddy long term.
Assuming that you have an active DDC membership, here are the steps to start negotiating leads yourself at Afternic:
For each lead you can accept, reject or counter, and include a message if desired. You will have location information, but not the complete identity of the person making the offer.
The potential purchaser needs to sign up for a GoDaddy account in order to make an offer. That will discourage some from making an offer, but offers will more likely be genuine.
@James Iles published a fuller description Introducing Self-Brokerage: Negotiate Your Sales at Afternic.
This is an initial version of Afternic Self-Brokerage, and it is expected to be refined and extended based on user experience. There is a Domain Name Wire interview with Alan Shiflett, GoDaddy Sr. Director of Domain Investor Product, Self-Brokering at Afternic. That indicates that some aspects of AI will likely be incorporated in the future to automate and assist responding to leads.
There is no change in the commission structure for self-brokerage at Afternic, and the transfer process is not changed, handled by Afternic Transfer Assurance.
Since self-brokerage or not is a setting in your Afternic panel, you can later turn it off if you want to try self-brokerage, but later decide that it is not for you.
Nikul Sanghvi Early Sale and Comment
Just the day after Afternic self-brokerage was released, @Nikul Sanghvi reported a successful negotiation and 4-figure sale of an .io domain name using the service. As he commented,
Many Other Self-Brokerage Options
There are many other places that you can negotiate domain name offers. These range from registrar marketplaces like Dynadot or NameSilo, general marketplaces like Sedo or DomainEasy, Plus or Standard listings at Atom, subscription services like Efty or Sudos, and many other possibilities.
See the comprehensive list of lander and marketplace possibilities curated by @NameGroove Mega List of Landers.
NamePros Landers Allow Direct Negotiation
NamePros free landers allow direct communication and information on the buyer. You will know the name and email, and a company name and phone number if entered. Also, the location along with demographics, such as average salary, for that location.
Your Own Landers
Another option providing full control of leads and negotiations is to use your own landers.
Pros and Cons of Self Negotiation
Is it better to negotiate yourself, or to let an agent or broker do it? There definitely are potential advantages to having an agent or broker handle leads:
Have It Both Ways
If you do opt for self-negotiation in Afternic, you can at any point in the negotiation hand it over to Afternic agents.
There are other platforms such as Saw and DomainEasy that also allow you to move from self-negotiation to their brokers, with the corresponding change in commission.
Accept the First Offer?
Whether you use a marketplace based negotiation system, or negotiate following direct inquiries on a domain name, there are several questions that come up. If you get an offer that would be acceptable, should you counter offer anyway? I reached out to @bmugford, an experienced domain investor who has handled countless sales and effective negotiations, to get his view. This is what Brad said:
Wait or Respond Immediately?
When I get an offer, I usually try to send a response as soon as possible. But is that a smart strategy? Does it make me look too eager to sell the domain name?
I asked Brad about this, and he responded:
What About Low Offers?
I asked @bmugford about responding to a very low initial offer.
Learning from Real Estate Offers
It is common to do offers and counter offers in real estate, and I wondered if there might be applicable lessons that would transfer to domain name negotiations.
One article I consulted was A Complete Guid to Real Estate Counteroffers by Emily Southey. One point that I think carries over is for the seller to have a clear understanding of their ideal price, but also the acceptable range, prior to getting offers. You might even want to privately record the minimum acceptable, target and ideal case price for each name in your portfolio.
That idea of acceptable price ranges is nicely covered by @abstractdomainer as the Zone of Possible Agreement (ZOPA) in the article Why Negotiations Fail. He references an article Best Alternatives to a Negotiated Agreement that provides additional background.
Negotiation from the Buyer Perspective
Long-time NamePros member @QBert started a discussion a few years ago on negotiation from the perspective of someone seeking to buy a domain name: Best way to negotiate down a significant counter offer?
What Type of Negotiator Are You?
In the latter part of the @Keith DeBoer interview with former FBI negotiator Chris Voss, Never Split The Difference: An Interview with FBI Negotiator Chris Voss, there is discussion of the different types of negotiator.
Share Your Thoughts
I invite readers to share their views on any aspects of domain name sales negotiation, such as:
Special thanks to @bmugford and @Nikul Sanghvi for their contributions to this article. Thanks also to all who have started NamePros discussions related to the topic of domain sales negotiation.
Afternic recently introduced a first iteration of a self-brokerage system that incorporates some features from Dan (and Uniregistry before that). This article will briefly cover how to use self-brokerage at Afternic, and also mention some of the many alternatives for those who like to negotiate themselves.
I also look at the general question of how to negotiate effectively, and whether it is better to handle negotiations yourself, or let an agent or broker do it.
Afternic Self-Brokerage Primer
Many were disappointed to learn that Self-Brokerage at Afternic is only available to sellers who have the Premium Tier of GoDaddy Discount Domain Club (DDC). That costs about $240 USD per year currently. The argument was made that the Domain Academy resources and tools that come with DDC Club place sellers in a more solid position to negotiate. There has been a lot of discussion, both here and elsewhere, among investors on that requirement.
Apparently about 100,000 are already members of the DDC. If one buys regularly at GoDaddy expired auctions or closeouts, which require a renewal, the annual fee is easily justified. For example, the cost of a .com renewal is roughly $11 less with Premium DDC, so with only 22 closeout or auction purchases per year, the annual cost of the club would be covered, even if you did not keep any domains at GoDaddy long term.
Assuming that you have an active DDC membership, here are the steps to start negotiating leads yourself at Afternic:
- Go to Afternic, but instead of signing in with your Afternic credentials, click the Sign In with GoDaddy button and use your GoDaddy credentials.
- It will prompt you to connect your GoDaddy account to your Afternic account, click Continue.
- Then choose ‘Link My Existing Account’ and enter your Afternic username and password. Now your accounts are linked, but you still need to turn on self-brokerage.
- Sign in to your Afternic account, in the left sidebar select Settings and from that Account. The first item will be to turn on self-brokerage, as shown below.
- Self-Brokerage only works for Custom Lander type with a Make Offer option (i.e. you can use Make Offer, or Buy It Now + Make Offer, or Buy It Now + Lease to Own + Make Offer). If changing many names lander at once, remember that you can select multiple names, then Lander Type.
- From the Afternic control panel under Sales you will now have a section called Self-Brokered Leads. The offer will appear there, where you can respond. You also will receive email notification.
For each lead you can accept, reject or counter, and include a message if desired. You will have location information, but not the complete identity of the person making the offer.
The potential purchaser needs to sign up for a GoDaddy account in order to make an offer. That will discourage some from making an offer, but offers will more likely be genuine.
@James Iles published a fuller description Introducing Self-Brokerage: Negotiate Your Sales at Afternic.
This is an initial version of Afternic Self-Brokerage, and it is expected to be refined and extended based on user experience. There is a Domain Name Wire interview with Alan Shiflett, GoDaddy Sr. Director of Domain Investor Product, Self-Brokering at Afternic. That indicates that some aspects of AI will likely be incorporated in the future to automate and assist responding to leads.
There is no change in the commission structure for self-brokerage at Afternic, and the transfer process is not changed, handled by Afternic Transfer Assurance.
Since self-brokerage or not is a setting in your Afternic panel, you can later turn it off if you want to try self-brokerage, but later decide that it is not for you.
Nikul Sanghvi Early Sale and Comment
Just the day after Afternic self-brokerage was released, @Nikul Sanghvi reported a successful negotiation and 4-figure sale of an .io domain name using the service. As he commented,
He went on to add that the process was smooth, although he missed knowing the name of the potential buyer.
Many Other Self-Brokerage Options
There are many other places that you can negotiate domain name offers. These range from registrar marketplaces like Dynadot or NameSilo, general marketplaces like Sedo or DomainEasy, Plus or Standard listings at Atom, subscription services like Efty or Sudos, and many other possibilities.
See the comprehensive list of lander and marketplace possibilities curated by @NameGroove Mega List of Landers.
NamePros Landers Allow Direct Negotiation
NamePros free landers allow direct communication and information on the buyer. You will know the name and email, and a company name and phone number if entered. Also, the location along with demographics, such as average salary, for that location.
Your Own Landers
Another option providing full control of leads and negotiations is to use your own landers.
Pros and Cons of Self Negotiation
Is it better to negotiate yourself, or to let an agent or broker do it? There definitely are potential advantages to having an agent or broker handle leads:
- The buyer may prefer to deal with an agent, rather than directly with the seller.
- Ideally in a large organization an agent can be available at any time of day or day of week.
- An agent is less likely to become emotionally upset by offers or comments.
- A large network of agents can cover many languages.
- The agent may have handled more sales, and may have more expertise.
- The seller knows the domain best, and has probably researched it extensively prior to acquisition. This detailed knowledge of competitive names can help inform the negotiation. Every domain name is unique, and this advantage should not be overlooked.
- Direct negotiation with the seller can be more efficient, since the agent may have to repeatedly get in touch with the seller to check on price flexibility.
- Some sellers enjoy the negotiation part of the trade.
- Some buyers may prefer to interact with the seller, and deal on a personal level.
Have It Both Ways
If you do opt for self-negotiation in Afternic, you can at any point in the negotiation hand it over to Afternic agents.
There are other platforms such as Saw and DomainEasy that also allow you to move from self-negotiation to their brokers, with the corresponding change in commission.
Accept the First Offer?
Whether you use a marketplace based negotiation system, or negotiate following direct inquiries on a domain name, there are several questions that come up. If you get an offer that would be acceptable, should you counter offer anyway? I reached out to @bmugford, an experienced domain investor who has handled countless sales and effective negotiations, to get his view. This is what Brad said:
A number of years ago @Soofi started a NamePros discussion on this topic: Counter or No Counter on an Opening Offer?. A variety of views are expressed in the resulting discussion.
Wait or Respond Immediately?
When I get an offer, I usually try to send a response as soon as possible. But is that a smart strategy? Does it make me look too eager to sell the domain name?
I asked Brad about this, and he responded:
What About Low Offers?
I asked @bmugford about responding to a very low initial offer.
Learning from Real Estate Offers
It is common to do offers and counter offers in real estate, and I wondered if there might be applicable lessons that would transfer to domain name negotiations.
One article I consulted was A Complete Guid to Real Estate Counteroffers by Emily Southey. One point that I think carries over is for the seller to have a clear understanding of their ideal price, but also the acceptable range, prior to getting offers. You might even want to privately record the minimum acceptable, target and ideal case price for each name in your portfolio.
That idea of acceptable price ranges is nicely covered by @abstractdomainer as the Zone of Possible Agreement (ZOPA) in the article Why Negotiations Fail. He references an article Best Alternatives to a Negotiated Agreement that provides additional background.
Negotiation from the Buyer Perspective
Long-time NamePros member @QBert started a discussion a few years ago on negotiation from the perspective of someone seeking to buy a domain name: Best way to negotiate down a significant counter offer?
What Type of Negotiator Are You?
In the latter part of the @Keith DeBoer interview with former FBI negotiator Chris Voss, Never Split The Difference: An Interview with FBI Negotiator Chris Voss, there is discussion of the different types of negotiator.
You can read more in his book Never Split The Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It.
Share Your Thoughts
I invite readers to share their views on any aspects of domain name sales negotiation, such as:
- Are you opting in to Afternic self-negotiation? Why or why not?
- Do you enjoy direct negotiation?
- Do you always counter an offer?
- How quickly do you typically respond?
- Do you prefer a platform where you can directly interact with the potential buyer?
- Do you have experience with negotiations that started on NamePros landers?
- Share your most successful negotiation from a low initial offer to a great sale.
- What one piece of advice would you offer about negotiation?
Special thanks to @bmugford and @Nikul Sanghvi for their contributions to this article. Thanks also to all who have started NamePros discussions related to the topic of domain sales negotiation.
Last edited:
