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question How to handle an inquiry that is going cold

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I got an inquiry on one of my domains almost 2 weeks ago. The potential buyer came though an independent lander and offered more than the BIN I had set at Sedo and Afternic. So I upped my BIN to match their offer told them I would accept that and suggested either to complete though either Escrow.com or Sedo. After a couple of days of no response to that I sent another email to which the potential buyer said oh sorry had something come up but I'm still interested and will be in touch. Then over a week with nothing more. When should I try to email back? What should I say?

I was listening to an older episode of Domain Sherpa last night and they were talking about how they have sent an email to a potential buyer that's was on the fence "accidentally" and was meant to be sent to another potential buyer (wasn't clear if this other potential buyer was real or not). Do you think something like this might help create some urgency for this guy to close to deal of he's serious?

How would you handle this situation. It's a good price for the domain that will not only cover all my acquisitions to date but give me more left over for new purchases too so I'm really hoping to close this.
 
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Well you didn't specify the date your last mail was sent but nonetheless you should thread carefully so you won't look too desparate to the potential buyer.
You can send him another mail say like 5 days interval to your first mail.
#mythought.....
 
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So the initial inquiry was on 9/19 (almost 2 weeks ago). I got the email right away but took a couple of hours before responding. That first email got no response. So I sent one again in 9/21 in essence saying not sure id my last v email ending up in your spam folder blah blah blah. He responded 9/22 saying still Interested but something came up I will be in touch. Silence since then...10 days ago.
 
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Forget about him. He doesn’t need the domain at this time. Whatever you do to push him may work against you.

Maybe he is busy. Maybe he is looking for an alternative (now that he knows he can always buy it from you at agreed price). Maybe he just doesn’t need it anymore.

Best case scenario — he will come back at some time in the future and buy it from you.

IMO..
 
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Either the name acquisition is not that urgent for them, they have changed their mind and/or found another name or they are waiting on you to drop the price.

More than likely the deal has gone cold (you will have to get used to that, it happens a lot) so don't stress over it too much (I know that is easy to say!).

Just put a 'buy it now' price on the name you would be happy in case they come back.
 
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I think you should wait, good domain name is not for sale. If he really likes this domain name, he will definitely contact you.
 
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Maybe it will complete - maybe it wont. I certainly wouldn't worry too much about the time-line, my experience is the bigger the company the longer they take to complete. I've had a few (over the years) that have taken 4 weeks + to follow-up. I do give a push after say 4 weeks and say I'll consider they no longer have any interest in the domain, that usually brings it to the top of their 'to-Do-List'

A lot of companies are dealing with something like 3 to 6 months from agreement to acquisition of their regular business purchases,(lead time) so a month is nothing to them.

I don't like that excuse "That something came-up" though, sounds like they are exploring alternatives to me, possibly still in the negotiation stage for an alternative preferred domain
 
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Sounds like they are exploring alternatives to me, possibly still in the negotiation stage for an alternative preferred domain

Which seems weird to me because I didn't even try to negotiate up the price because I was happy with their offer rather than try to maximize my profit...I'm not sure how big the company is but according to the website hes the owner so that seems like it should be pretty straight forward to me.
 
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Which seems weird to me because I didn't even try to negotiate up the price because I was happy with their offer rather than try to maximize my profit.

Why do you find it weird?

Imagine you found two domains that you like. You make offers to both sellers and then decide which one to pick. The decision process can be delayed if the “second” seller wasn’t as straightforward as you (negotiations still in progress). It can also happen that your buyer brought this issue to his board/family/friends to help with decision. Hence the delay.

On another note, I wouldn’t ignore the fact that you accepted initial offer without negotiating (or pretending you want to negotiate). Roger Dawson explained it perfectly in his book “The Secrets of Power Negotiating”, but I just googled “never accept the first offer” and found similar description here https://negotiationsworkshops.com/n...hy-You-Should-Never-Take-the-First-Offer.html
 
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Roger Dawson explained it perfectly in his book “The Secrets of Power Negotiating”, but I just googled “never accept the first offer”

Stuff like that is why nobody can stand salesmen...most people IMO dont want to play those kind of games they just want a straight forward deal.
 
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Stuff like that is why nobody can stand salesmen...most people IMO dont want to play those kind of games they just want a straight forward deal.

Unfortunately the business world doesn't operate like that. Sure, if it was a domainer or a developer after your domain then the deal usually closes fairly quickly, Most businesses prefer to keep options open and on the table until closing a deal. There's nothing untoward in their motive, they're not trying to play games with you personally. I understand that you feel that this is a one-off purchase so your expectation is for them to pay and be done. But lets suppose they identified three possible domains for their project. They have to establish the buying proposition for all their alternatives. Sure, they are happy with your Price-point, that they have established very quickly.

Of course this is just one possible explanation for the delay. If it proves to be correct keep your fingers crossed that any other domain seller is playing hardball on price and they return to close the deal
 
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I decided to just email him back and told him that since I haven't heard back I am considering the inquiry closed.
 
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Unfortunately the business world doesn't operate like that. Sure, if it was a domainer or a developer after your domain then the deal usually closes fairly quickly, Most businesses prefer to keep options open and on the table until closing a deal. There's nothing untoward in their motive, they're not trying to play games with you personally. I understand that you feel that this is a one-off purchase so your expectation is for them to pay and be done. But lets suppose they identified three possible domains for their project. They have to establish the buying proposition for all their alternatives. Sure, they are happy with your Price-point, that they have established very quickly.

Of course this is just one possible explanation for the delay. If it proves to be correct keep your fingers crossed that any other domain seller is playing hardball on price and they return to close the deal
Thats not the content for what I was saying, as you can see I quoted what someone else said about accepting the first offer.
 
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OK, sorry for any misinterpretation of your posting but I consider my posting still relevant to how businesses conclude a purchase like a domain when options are available.

As I mentioned in a earlier post, indeed this is how I would also respond (as you have done) But, only after a 4 week time-lag
 
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As I mentioned in a earlier post, indeed this is how I would also respond (as you have done) But, only after a 4 week time-lag

Two weeks was plenty generous IMO. it would get hard to sell a domain when you keep taking it off the market for 4 weeks everytime you get an inquiry that goes nowhere.
 
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NO, I wouldn't take it off the market and I doubt you would have rejected an alternative buyer either. We have all been there. It's in our nature to see a confirmed offer as a closed-sale. Maybe the potential buyer could have informed you that they were exploring alternatives, But, then again most domainers see that as a negotiating technique. This wouldn't apply in your case as it was a straight forward offer that you were happy with.

I hope your domain sale goes ahead
 
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Stuff like that is why nobody can stand salesmen...most people IMO dont want to play those kind of games they just want a straight forward deal.

Like it or not, but your buyer committed to play the game by submitting an offer. :xf.wink:

And with all honesty, I don't think this particular negotiation tactic to be a salesman game only.

Not only this tactic may help to increase the initial offer, but it also helps not to lose the existing one - you don't want the buyer to start thinking he is overpaying. You don't even need to ask for more money; the goal is to show that you're not happy with the price. But you can say something along the lines: "I was going to get more, but I would be willing to accept your offer if... (buyer pays Escrow fees; we put a deal in place this week, etc).

IMO
 
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Like it or not, but your buyer committed to play the game by submitting an offer.

You don't know that. If I submit an offer that does not mean I'm committing to anything other than to complete the Transaction at that specific price. You want to play salesman games I'll walk, you accept my offer I'll follow though on my commitment. I doubt understand why following though in a commitment is so hard for people. From now on my new policy is going to be after accepting a price I'll send a reminder email in 4 days and then after 7 close the transaction.
 
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Like some have already stated it may or may not go through. I know such situation can disorganize a person.

But you may have to prepare yourself to take whatever comes out of it. If they finally push through good, but otherwise move on.

I have experience where a person made an offer to buy a domain from me which I accepted only for the person to go cold. I recently came across his website with the alternative name he settled for.
 
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You don't know that. If I submit an offer that does not mean I'm committing to anything other than to complete the Transaction at that specific price. You want to play salesman games I'll walk, you accept my offer I'll follow though on my commitment.

Really? Say, you want to buy the perfect domain for your business, and you will walk away because you don't like how the seller responded? Come on, be realistic.

I don't want to argue. I wanted to show you a different perspective, but it's your choice (and your sales).

I doubt understand why following though in a commitment is so hard for people.

How will you understand if you seem to don't want to hear? Just re-read the above posts, I think there are some good examples of why it can be hard for people.
 
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Really? Say, you want to buy the perfect domain for your business, and you will walk away because you don't like how the seller responded? Come on, be realistic.

I don't want to argue. I wanted to show you a different perspective, but it's your choice (and your sales).



How will you understand if you seem to don't want to hear? Just re-read the above posts, I think there are some good examples of why it can be hard for people.

Well according to you everyone is looking at 10 different domains and putting in offers they don't intend to follow though on for all of them. So then there is no perfect domain, there are 10.

When I bought my car for example I told the sales guy what my top dollar was, hed go in the back come back with a higher offer and I walked out. He chased me down to give me what I originally offered.

My point is he made an offer, thats is a commitment to buy. Not an excuse to ask for pricing on 10 other domains.

When I buy something I expect the seller to not play games, and as a seller I don;t play games. But I expect in return for my buyer to follow though on his commitments. This guy clearly can't.
 
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Well according to you everyone is looking at 10 different domains and putting in offers they don't intend to follow though on for all of them. So then there is no perfect domain, there are 10.

When I bought my car for example I told the sales guy what my top dollar was, hed go in the back come back with a higher offer and I walked out. He chased me down to give me what I originally offered.

My point is he made an offer, thats is a commitment to buy. Not an excuse to ask for pricing on 10 other domains.

When I buy something I expect the seller to not play games, and as a seller I don;t play games. But I expect in return for my buyer to follow though on his commitments. This guy clearly can't.
Really makes me laugh when people stress out over these kind of things, just forget about it and move on.

People put in offers and do not follow through, it happens quite a lot unfortunately. Learn to deal with it....

If you care that much do not deal him or make it clear to them what your position is instead of whinging on a forum
 
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Really makes me laugh when people stress out over these kind of things, just forget about it and move on.
You may have developed a strong "shock absorber" some will time to build it.
 
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You may have developed a strong "shock absorber" some will time to build it.
Been involved in different sales roles for a long time so have a nice healthy thick skin:xf.smile:
 
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People put in offers and do not follow through, it happens quite a lot unfortunately. Learn to deal with it....

Well sorry I actually believe in following though on my obligations.
 
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