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discuss Counter or no-counter on an opening offer?

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Soofi

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After over almost 2 decades in this industry, at times, I still fail to understand the endusers/buyers during negotiations and lose quite a few sales to the counter-strategy.

My question at hand is; Should we really counter to an opening offer or accept as it? What do most of you do?

So to build this discussion up and see what others have to say or suggest about this, recap on why I am interested to know what most of you do is because of this below mentioned situation/story:

Sold: FullertonLawFirm,com
Sale Price: $520
Venue: DAN
Listing type: Make Offer with Buy Now Price.
Sale type: Inbound

Registered for $5.49 at Epik from the daily drops list I prepare. Domain was held for 14 days.

Accepted an opening offer of $520 which came in this midnight/early morning (IST) via Dan where it was listed as make offer (minimum $500 which is my extreme lowest and minimum acceptable price) with buy now price of $1488.

I woke up a few moments ago, looked at the offer and sat thinking should I counter or accept this opening offer on a 2 week old domain name? You must be wondering why in the world was I thinking and should have countered for-sure since its an opening offer and my quick research also suggested the same, that it seems like a serious and genuine buyer who is operating on a+mydomain.com so he/she would be happy to have my asset for negotiated high $xxx to low $1xxx price point.

But let me share with you why I didn't counter, and I will literally think dozens of times before countering in the near future as well, at least to my daily drops hand-registered domain names, especially on DAN platform. This is because I have lost over 8 potential sales of similar names to a counter-strategy last month where buyer lost interest or disappeared. And guess what, my countered price was only mere $xxx price higher than their initial offer in most cases.

Oh and I think this is quite a fair price for 3 keyword domain name. Though I suck at negotiations, thoughts and suggestions here or through pm are genuinely welcome.
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
Your logic here is fair. We all (me) worry about leaving money on the table and accepting too low.

I have been guilty of not taking an offer when there were no other offers to be had. My reasoning was simply the domain was more valuable to that end user or the conclusion that the bidder was playing games regardless of worth.

There are names I which in retrospect I would have taken the $500 or $1000 or $3500 but I didn’t take it and that was that. Some went on to sell for same or a little more.

It’s tough to say. It’s so much easier as a broker to handle the negotiations IMO simply because you have a directive from the seller for asking and floor and you do your best and at the end of the day you know you did your job. When you’re the owner the valuation becomes a little bit cloudy.

If we all placed a starting high enough to be what we would settle for there would be no issues if the conversion is good enough for your business model/pockets however if the offers do not come because of the starting bid then that’s our risk.
 
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I always accept the first offer, I have similar experience of losing deal because of counter offer.
 
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Your logic here is fair. We all (me) worry about leaving money on the table and accepting too low.

I have been guilty of not taking an offer when there were no other offers to be had. My reasoning was simply the domain was more valuable to that end user or the conclusion that the bidder was playing games regardless of worth.

There are names I which in retrospect I would have taken the $500 or $1000 or $3500 but I didn’t take it and that was that. Some went on to sell for same or a little more.

It’s tough to say. It’s so much easier as a broker to handle the negotiations IMO simply because you have a directive from the seller for asking and floor and you do your best and at the end of the day you know you did your job. When you’re the owner the valuation becomes a little bit cloudy.

If we all placed a starting high enough to be what we would settle for there would be no issues if the conversion is good enough for your business model/pockets however if the offers do not come because of the starting bid then that’s our risk.

You have summed it quite well here.

There are times when we counter and there is no response or interest shown by enduser. But when we accept an offer, and buyer goes through with it, we start thinking on the lines of whether we left money on the table, etc..

I think at the end of the day, it all boils down to your gut feel and whether you are satisfied with the price point you have gotten or not.

Human nature, I guess.. will we ever be satisfied? lol
 
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I always accept the first offer, I have similar experience of losing deal because of counter offer.

What has been your soft spot, pricing your domain names and how much price-wise do you counter?
 
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What has been your soft spot, pricing your domain names and how much price-wise do you counter?

Most of my sales are low XXX, my sweet spot is $150- $199.
 
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I think it is always best to counter offer with atleast 100 to 200$ more (without being greedy) when you are prepared to sell it for your first offer, as a chance that client always quote their minimum and keep some room to go upwards.. so little more price increase probably may close your deal and client may consider your offer..

Thanks,
Sumeeth
 
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I got an offer of $301 for pickabud last week. Countered $750 at dan. Then i started thinking thats 400$ cad
I countered again at $301 and it was accepted. Looks nice that xxx in my paypal
Part reason financial but i have so many names 250 and never previous offer, glad it sold. Sometimes i accept to make buyer happy. We always want more
 
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Should we really counter to an opening offer or accept as it? What do most of you do?

When I acquire a name...before anything...I determine what the name value is. If it is at least 3x the cost of the name, I purchase it and list it a bin with an opening offer at that level as a minimum.

An offer, regardless of when or where it comes from, must exceed that number before I spend one second considering a sale. At that that time (when I determine the offer is at least 3x) I will check recent sales and comparables using multiple public sources. If the offer is significantly less than what I determine the current value is,I will counter along with the supporting data. If not, I take the opening offer, thank them for their business and buy more names once the payment clears
 
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It all depends.I look at keywords and companies that names would benefit.The higher the number of companies or enduser needing a upgrade determines some of my prices.Some if its brandable,i do my deep research and counter.I dont mind waiting if name surely is worth more and my need for cash for next purchase.

Received an offer of $1k on dan and countered.Buyer asked all these questions and I answered and then be went silent.Contacted dan for the contact info to revive the deal.Next offer was $5k and Thanks.I countered again that it was too low as name is worth 5 figures as there are many companies needing the upgrade and .co was already built into a good company.On further research,I learnt it was a company operating the niche using blockchain and they secured a series funding.I then knew i did the right thing countering.Deal goes on and name has been renewed for extra years.Yesterday i got a a starting offer from bodis $500.Countered $1100 as it was a .net and buyer simply told me to wait till next week where he would need to discuss purchase as he is interested.He never said no it was too high.I made a not too crazy counter.Fingers crossed,sale would be reported when deal is closed and money hits my account.

I always counter except its a bin and no make offer options.I know some sales take time and deals surely gets lost but experience is learnt from any lost sales.

2 words dictionary is the first domain..Net is a one word ending in "ing".
 
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I think it is always best to counter offer with atleast 100 to 200$ more (without being greedy) when you are prepared to sell it for your first offer, as a chance that client always quote their minimum and keep some room to go upwards.. so little more price increase probably may close your deal and client may consider your offer..

Thanks,
Sumeeth

Thanks Sumeeth, though haven't had fair success in that approach and the reason why I am tempted to bite the first offer.

Have you had a different experience in this situation?
 
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I got an offer of $301 for pickabud last week. Countered $750 at dan. Then i started thinking thats 400$ cad
I countered again at $301 and it was accepted. Looks nice that xxx in my paypal
Part reason financial but i have so many names 250 and never previous offer, glad it sold. Sometimes i accept to make buyer happy. We always want more

You have nailed my thoughts with this post.

We are alway looking for more, and the reason why we tend to lose whats there in our hand (read: offers).

Isnt it better to have $500 offered for a $5 hand registration rather than trying to be greedy and seek more? Of course, if name demands more, you should justify it with your ask or else buyer will simply run away thinking "he's nuts!".
 
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Thanks Sumeeth, though haven't had fair success in that approach and the reason why I am tempted to bite the first offer.

Have you had a different experience in this situation?
No, I am too greedy and hence lost few sales. Once I received 2500€ for kart.ai domain as first offer but I countered with 5500€ considering the sales in .ai happening but buyer never replied me and i lost the sale .. I might have countered with 2750€ or so , in that case the case might be different.. lesson learnt..
 
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If it is at least 3x the cost of the name, I purchase it

I like your approach, though, would you mind sharing sharing on how do you get to 3x value of acquisition cost?

Just to put numbers in place, if the domain costed you $10, you would list it at $30 minimum and higher bin price?
 
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I like your approach, though, would you mind sharing sharing on how do you get to 3x value of acquisition cost?

Just to put numbers in place, if the domain costed you $10, you would list it at $30 minimum and higher bin price?

I am old school...I look at cpc, visits, extensions taken, instinct etc. Yes, if not 3x or more at a minimum, to me, it is not worth tying up the money.
 
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It all depends.I look at keywords and companies that names would benefit.The higher the number of companies or enduser needing a upgrade determines some of my prices.Some if its brandable,i do my deep research and counter.I dont mind waiting if name surely is worth more and my need for cash for next purchase.

Received an offer of $1k on dan and countered.Buyer asked all these questions and I answered and then be went silent.Contacted dan for the contact info to revive the deal.Next offer was $5k and Thanks.I countered again that it was too low as name is worth 5 figures as there are many companies needing the upgrade and .co was already built into a good company.On further research,I learnt it was a company operating the niche using blockchain and they secured a series funding.I then knew i did the right thing countering.Deal goes on and name has been renewed for extra years.Yesterday i got a a starting offer from bodis $500.Countered $1100 as it was a .net and buyer simply told me to wait till next week where he would need to discuss purchase as he is interested.He never said no it was too high.I made a not too crazy counter.Fingers crossed,sale would be reported when deal is closed and money hits my account.

I always counter except its a bin and no make offer options.I know some sales take time and deals surely gets lost but experience is learnt from any lost sales.

2 words dictionary is the first domain..Net is a one word ending in "ing".

Your experience sharing is invaluable and with detailed examples make it all the more valid.

Though, we can counter all we want, there are times when you need to crack some sales to be financially even as you stated above "my need for cash fr next purchase" or renewals.

Also it is important to note that if the domain does not benefit plenty of endusers and limited in number, we might be better off taking the initial first offer which is reasonably set at our minimum ask. Thoughts?
 
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No, I am too greedy and hence lost few sales. Once I received 2500€ for kart.ai domain as first offer but I countered with 5500€ considering the sales in .ai happening but buyer never replied me and i lost the sale .. I might have countered with 2750€ or so , in that case the case might be different.. lesson learnt..

Yeah have had the exact same experience on highly priced domain names, and thats what makes me think a lot of times on whether what is the right price to accept for a domain name.

I have a popular app domain name in .com where I received a $1000, $5000, $10,000, $20,000 & $25,000 after negotiations but I was hell bent on $75,000 reduced to $51,000 and sale didnt happen. When I went back to accept $25,000, buyer simply declined and lost interest!
 
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Your experience sharing is invaluable and with detailed examples make it all the more valid.

Though, we can counter all we want, there are times when you need to crack some sales to be financially even as you stated above "my need for cash fr next purchase" or renewals.

Also it is important to note that if the domain does not benefit plenty of endusers and limited in number, we might be better off taking the initial first offer which is reasonably set at our minimum ask. Thoughts?
If the domain will not benefit plenty of endusers.I set a bin and leave it there,so no need to counter..When I hand reg heiritage dot com during a play on word by switching "r" and "i" and then an extra to make sure it sounded like heritage ,i knew i just need to add a bin and let it go as i didnt want to waste time countering or waiting for first offer to counter.Just set a reasonable bin and let it fly.
 
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I am old school...I look at cpc, visits, extensions taken, instinct etc. Yes, if not 3x or more at a minimum, to me, it is not worth tying up the money.

makes sense, as I look at quite a few of those figures while jumping on a domain name. Its been working!
 
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Yeah have had the exact same experience on highly priced domain names, and thats what makes me think a lot of times on whether what is the right price to accept for a domain name.

I have a popular app domain name in .com where I received a $1000, $5000, $10,000, $20,000 & $25,000 after negotiations but I was hell bent on $75,000 reduced to $51,000 and sale didnt happen. When I went back to accept $25,000, buyer simply declined and lost interest!
If name sounds good with the app just set your bin and leave it,so no room to negotiate as price is already set.
 
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..When I hand reg heiritage dot com during a play on word..

...Just set a reasonable bin and let it fly.

What was your BIN on that one, and how did you get to that figure? Shall help few of us on getting to an approx. right number :)
 
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Its on reported domain sales page,I think i got paid $1508 after 20%.Afternic.April 2018.
 
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If name sounds good with the app just set your bin and leave it,so no room to negotiate as price is already set.

That's what I did after the above mentioned experience. And switched to Sedo, for better conversion on high ticket names.
 
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