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discuss Lowball offers: Counteroffer or reject?

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I guess many are regularly getting lowball offers for their names, including highly valuable ones. Sales platforms often allow either to reject or counteroffer - I wonder which option do you usually choose when you get $250 offer at Dan, say, for a middle $xx,xxx name? Counteroffer with the out of scale number or just reject?
 
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Reject, then leave them a note to come back with an offer that works for both of us. Somtimes I state a range, sometimes a number. Depends on the lead/domain.

I think it's most important to keep the line of communication open. If it's a lead with money to pend, they'll negotiate. If not, no loss as I wasn't gonna sell it for $xxx anyway.
 
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I will answer your question but also want to throw an idea out.

Low ball offers are not unique to domain. Try listing a brand new $100,000 Mercedes on ebay and allow the make offer option without adding any restrictions. You might get 1000 dollar offers.

Ebay has setup the system great. It makes people up their offer while they are hot.

This is how it works.

When you list an item you could select to sell it at $1000 or make offer. You can then set an auto accept offer of anything above $700 and an auto reject offer of anything under $500. Anything between 500 and 700 you will get a notice to review with the option to counter.

If the buyer is hot for your item and he offered 300, he sees a noticed instantly that it has been rejected. Ebay might suggest a offer amount to the buyer that the seller will more likely accept.

The buyer is hot, he could up his offer right away and possibly automatically win.

Ebay limits how many offers you could make so you can't slowly figure out the lowest price.

How big companies do things is a gift for us to learn from. Ebay spent a lot studying how it is best to set things up. We should copy formats that work.

Currently the BIN make offer is not a good setup especially for impulse buys like domains.

To answer you question. When you get a low ball that is not close to your price you have to take a step back and remember this is a domain and unlike a car or watch there is no known price especially if the person knows nothing about premium names.

I used to get very mad at low ball domain offers. I do not get a lot of emails with offers and when I finally do its almost always a low ball. I wish the platforms would send you in the email subject a notice that "You received a low ball offer" because now the suspense builds and depending on the platform you might have to log in to view the offer.

Counter and educate is a good idea on dan. Counter and send a list of premium domain sales prices that sold and if you can show names like your that sold for 5x more include it.

Low ballers are not all people that do not have the money. Some are people that will buy but they want to know they robbed you, they want bragging rights, they want to tell their friends that they took charge, you wanted 50k and they warned you... and they told you... at first you didn't agree.... they want to tell friends that names like it go for 520k and they chewed you down to 30k. You were desperate, you are going through a divorce, a midlife crisis, you lost all your money in bitcoin or in stocks.
 
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i receive lowball offers 2-3 times a week, most of them via GoDaddy. i simply ignore. Got used to it.
 
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I will answer your question but also want to throw an idea out.

Low ball offers are not unique to domain. Try listing a brand new $100,000 Mercedes on ebay and allow the make offer option without adding any restrictions. You might get 1000 dollar offers.

Ebay has setup the system great. It makes people up their offer while they are hot.

This is how it works.

When you list an item you could select to sell it at $1000 or make offer. You can then set an auto accept offer of anything above $700 and an auto reject offer of anything under $500. Anything between 500 and 700 you will get a notice to review with the option to counter.

If the buyer is hot for your item and he offered 300, he sees a noticed instantly that it has been rejected. Ebay might suggest a offer amount to the buyer that the seller will more likely accept.

The buyer is hot, he could up his offer right away and possibly automatically win.

Ebay limits how many offers you could make so you can't slowly figure out the lowest price.

How big companies do things is a gift for us to learn from. Ebay spent a lot studying how it is best to set things up. We should copy formats that work.

Currently the BIN make offer is not a good setup especially for impulse buys like domains.

To answer you question. When you get a low ball that is not close to your price you have to take a step back and remember this is a domain and unlike a car or watch there is no known price especially if the person knows nothing about premium names.

I used to get very mad at low ball domain offers. I do not get a lot of emails with offers and when I finally do its almost always a low ball. I wish the platforms would send you in the email subject a notice that "You received a low ball offer" because now the suspense builds and depending on the platform you might have to log in to view the offer.

Counter and educate is a good idea on dan. Counter and send a list of premium domain sales prices that sold and if you can show names like your that sold for 5x more include it.

Low ballers are not all people that do not have the money. Some are people that will buy but they want to know they robbed you, they want bragging rights, they want to tell their friends that they took charge, you wanted 50k and they warned you... and they told you... at first you didn't agree.... they want to tell friends that names like it go for 520k and they chewed you down to 30k. You were desperate, you are going through a divorce, a midlife crisis, you lost all your money in bitcoin or in stocks.

Wow you are really putting alot of motives and emotions onto your buyers that may or may not exist. They either have the amount to spend you want or not. Very simple really.

I know my expected price before an offer is received in most cases. I temper expectations by not entertaining offers that are too far from my intended ask.
 
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Reject, then leave them a note to come back with an offer that works for both of us. Somtimes I state a range, sometimes a number. Depends on the lead/domain.

I think it's most important to keep the line of communication open. If it's a lead with money to pend, they'll negotiate. If not, no loss as I wasn't gonna sell it for $xxx anyway.

Thanks, that sounds for me like the best approach so far. Have just tried this, will see how it goes: "Thank you for your offer, I appreciate it but the domains of this kind are usually selling in the higher price range.". Have tried to be short but polite.

I will answer your question but also want to throw an idea out.

Low ball offers are not unique to domain. Try listing a brand new $100,000 Mercedes on ebay and allow the make offer option without adding any restrictions. You might get 1000 dollar offers.

Ebay has setup the system great. It makes people up their offer while they are hot.

This is how it works.

When you list an item you could select to sell it at $1000 or make offer. You can then set an auto accept offer of anything above $700 and an auto reject offer of anything under $500. Anything between 500 and 700 you will get a notice to review with the option to counter.

If the buyer is hot for your item and he offered 300, he sees a noticed instantly that it has been rejected. Ebay might suggest a offer amount to the buyer that the seller will more likely accept.

The buyer is hot, he could up his offer right away and possibly automatically win.

Ebay limits how many offers you could make so you can't slowly figure out the lowest price.

How big companies do things is a gift for us to learn from. Ebay spent a lot studying how it is best to set things up. We should copy formats that work.

Currently the BIN make offer is not a good setup especially for impulse buys like domains.

To answer you question. When you get a low ball that is not close to your price you have to take a step back and remember this is a domain and unlike a car or watch there is no known price especially if the person knows nothing about premium names.

I used to get very mad at low ball domain offers. I do not get a lot of emails with offers and when I finally do its almost always a low ball. I wish the platforms would send you in the email subject a notice that "You received a low ball offer" because now the suspense builds and depending on the platform you might have to log in to view the offer.

Counter and educate is a good idea on dan. Counter and send a list of premium domain sales prices that sold and if you can show names like your that sold for 5x more include it.

Low ballers are not all people that do not have the money. Some are people that will buy but they want to know they robbed you, they want bragging rights, they want to tell their friends that they took charge, you wanted 50k and they warned you... and they told you... at first you didn't agree.... they want to tell friends that names like it go for 520k and they chewed you down to 30k. You were desperate, you are going through a divorce, a midlife crisis, you lost all your money in bitcoin or in stocks.
That was interesting to read, I see you are taking this moment really seriously. As to replying with the list of the comparative sales right away, I've noticed that extra stuff I write regarding the value of my domain being negotiated on typically works against me. Maybe it's just related to my ability to negotiate, but my most successful sales have taken place after the most laconic negotiations. It seems to me that serious buyers are able to do their homework on their own and come prepared, while the verbose persuading about the value of the domain can be considered as the weakness and reveal the motivation to sell. So I tend not to reply to the first lowball offer with the dithyrambs about the domain value - that's me though, that could work for others.

i receive lowball offers 2-3 times a week, most of them via GoDaddy. i simply ignore. Got used to it.
I've missed this option, just ignore, yep. They say you can miss some legit buyer ready to pay much more after getting educated, but I'm yet to meet one. Did anyone have the experience with going from the lowball offer to the solid sale? As to me, all my decent sales have been starting from the offers above the minimum allowable ones.
 
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Neither. Time out until it is declined automatically.
 
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Why not just set the minimum offer you are ready to consider?
Most marketplaces allow this.
What's the point allowing/inviting "lowball" offers and then complaining.
In any case, offers should be taken seriously. That's the essence of sales.
No rejection, in your reply just state clearly your expectation in $.
Good luck.
 
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Why not just set the minimum offer you are ready to consider?
Most marketplaces allow this.
What's the point allowing/inviting "lowball" offers and then complaining.
In any case, offers should be taken seriously. That's the essence of sales.
No rejection, in your reply just state clearly your expectation in $.
Good luck.
I'm not complaining at all, what has made you think so? I usually do not limit offers in order to be able tracking the interest in the names. The question in this thread is not "how to live with this", but what's the most effecient approach for handling these offers.
 
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I've missed this option, just ignore, yep. They say you can miss some legit buyer ready to pay much more after getting educated, but I'm yet to meet one. Did anyone have the experience with going from the lowball offer to the solid sale? As to me, all my decent sales have been starting from the offers above the minimum allowable ones.
Regarding Dan, I would always reject a lowball offer. This will send a signal that I am not willing to negotiate at this price at all, if the buyer is serious he will make a much better offer.

I used to negotiate with lowballers, learnt the hard way that it is not worth it. You have to spend money to make money, that's why some people will stay in the same situation for years before they realize this fact about money.

My 2c
Amr
 
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This is based on people not having money in their pockets due to corona depression.
If you need money, accept it.
 
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Thanks, that sounds for me like the best approach so far. Have just tried this, will see how it goes: "Thank you for your offer, I appreciate it but the domains of this kind are usually selling in the higher price range.". Have tried to be short but polite.
Have got a nice reply back that they are a small start up with the zero revenue at this point. We've got to $1,000 offer so far - not taking it, but seeing that this approach does work in some extent :). Will see how far we can get with the installment payment plan option offered.
 
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LOL, have reached the agreement at $5,000, the transaction is in progress. Cheers, @DirkS :xf.grin:.
 
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LOL, have reached the agreement at $5,000, the transaction is in progress. Cheers, @DirkS :xf.grin:.

Congrats on the sale! A fine example of why you shouldn't just ignore low offers. At Dan specifically, when you have the default minimum offer in place, some people make an initial low offer just to establish communication.
 
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The very first domain I sold, almost 20 years ago, the initial offer was $500, and I worked the buyer up to $2,500. I did not set out to pull money out of the guy, I just kept rejecting his offer, and saying that I was developing the site, and it meant a lot to me. Being authentic with a buyer goes a long way to establishing trust, multiple higher offers, and then a reasonable price. Not responding is irritating from a buyer's perspective, and the seller loses out on the opportunity to convince the buyer of the domain's worth.
 
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Congrats on the sale! A fine example of why you shouldn't just ignore low offers. At Dan specifically, when you have the default minimum offer in place, some people make an initial low offer just to establish communication.
Thank you! Didn't expect at all to get a sort of educative case here, in real time. "initial low offer just to establish communication" - sounds simple and obvious now.
 
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Got an offer for 10k. I politely rejected and gave them a counter-offer of 30k. Explaining exactly why the domain has that value: - com - search volume - CPC - brand value - comparable sales. Sold at 27k within a day after I rejected the original offer.
 
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