.com TripleAdvantage.com sold for $12,000

domain.addict said:

-RJ-, Grrilla, and I have discussed this thread for quite some time now after I suggested it a few weeks ago. We've decided that once a week (haven't decided day yet), I will make a post with all of the sales mentioned and the major ones recognized (hopefully similar to DNJournal's). Try to post all of your sales that took place during the week and if you rather not have your username mentioned, you can PM me the sale and I will just mention the domain name without your username.

We hope this thread will help people get a better idea of what kinds of names sell and help the marketplace.

-Addy

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GREAT idea. This will be incredibly helpful. Thank you!

Gene

Lyte said:

Or, can questions regarding a particular sale be posted too.

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Sure, why not? As long as it doesn't distract from the thread too much.

Gene

Originally Posted by Lyte Or, can questions regarding a particular sale be posted too. "Sure, why not? As long as it doesn't distract from the thread too much. Gene"


Well, because my question would be... how do you arrive/negotiate to $12K!?

Lyte

Lyte said:

Well, because my question would be... how do you arrive/negotiate to $12K!? Lyte

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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

Wow, awesome post! Thanks so much Gene cuz I sure would have caved at $5K! :lol:

It's funny that you mention them playing "mom 'n' pop" because I imagine a company being smart enough to send that first email through hotmail, excite or yahoo. It's not like they'd email you from... [email protected] :lol:

What kind of comments gave them away as being from a big company??

See, Gene's post is perfect for a "Negotiations Forum!" : )

Thanks again!

Lyte

Lyte said:

It's funny that you mention them playing "mom 'n' pop" because I imagine a company being smart enough to send that first email through hotmail, excite or yahoo. It's not like they'd email you from... [email protected] :lol:

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You're absolutely right -- they used a freebie email address (I believe it was a hotmail address). They gave me absolutely no way to trace them. First names only.

Lyte said:

What kind of comments gave them away as being from a big company??

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It was more the way they played the game... they seemed to have their 'act' down pat. There were some giveaway key words that made them look out of character for a mom & pop. I don't remember the exact words, but they just seemed polished.

Gene

Gene, thanks for the lesson.
Question. When did the $12k sale happen? The only odd thing falling out of "major corporation" theory is that TripleAdvantage.com is still inactive. No "coming soon", no placeholder, no nothing.