sales Afternic sales lead

[falez]

I'm new to the domain world. Only very recently started up, so I have yet to make a sale. However, I woke up this morning to a handful of emails from Afternic. This is what the email looks like.

Email Subject
Price Requested on your AfterNIC DLS Domain

Part of Email Body
You have received a sales lead on [domain] through Afternic's network.

A lead indicates that someone is interested in the domain, but is not prepared to buy it yet.
In order to proceed with this buyer, please take the following steps now:

1. Set a Floor Price and Buy Now price in the next 48 hours.
To remain a robust marketplace of premium domain names for both buyers and sellers, we require
that every domain have a Floor Price and Buy Now Price within 48 hours of receiving a sales lead.
The Buy Now Price is the price you want for your domain and at which it is promoted.
Your domain sells immediately when a buyer meets the buy now price.
The Floor Price is the absolute minimum price at which you are willing to sell your domain.
It is a binding price.

Afternic is requesting that I set a floor and BIN price because I've allegedly received a sale lead, which doesn't make any sense to me because all of my domains are listed on Afternic as 'Make Offers'... Can anybody who has experienced this please shed some light?

Thanks

 

[korganian]

They get syndicated inquiries from outside sources and want to get a commission for selling your domain, so they want you to tell them how much they can sell it for.

 

[Mister Funsky]

Only very recently started up, so I have yet to make a sale.

Don't be in a rush. Ask for pricing help here (many old school peeps willing to give valuation advice) and then determine what you will be happy with the asset sale price. Set the price, hopefully sell it, and then reinvest the profits.

 

[falez]

They get syndicated inquiries from outside sources and want to get a commission for selling your domain, so they want you to tell them how much they can sell it for.

it just makes zero sense to me because if theres a potential buyer whos truly interested, why not submit an offer via any number of sites on which its already listed? its not only listed on many well known websites, but ive also created my own lander for the page. i just find it confusing. like, where in the world is the offer coming from? say it came from sedo, why not just submit an offer on sedo where its listed?

do you think i should provide a floor and BIN price or not and force the buyer to submit an offer if theyre truly interested?

 

[falez]

Don't be in a rush. Ask for pricing help here (many old school peeps willing to give valuation advice) and then determine what you will be happy with the asset sale price. Set the price, hopefully sell it, and then reinvest the profits.

i have a general idea of the floor and BIN price, but i talked to somebody at afternic, and they said its not required that i provide that info, despite what it says in the email notification. the issue that i have with this kind pipeline, however, is that i know absolutely nothing about the seller. i dont want to potentially let the domain go for much lower than the sellers ultimately willing to pay. why dont the brokers give me any info regarding the sellers profile?

do you think i should provide a floor and BIN price or not and force the buyer to submit an offer if theyre truly interested?

 

[Mister Funsky]

why dont the brokers give me any info regarding the sellers profile?

Well, firstly I would say that brokers provide a value and needed service in this or any other industry.

Only you (myself and others included) know the value of what we are selling. It is up to the seller to determine what the value of an asset is and price it accordingly.

I, you and we always will be under or over the actual retail value of any real or digital item. Just determine what number you want/need to make you happy. Ask that number, accept it, then be happy and find another diamond in the rough to make a few dollars on.

 

[falez]

Well, firstly I would say that brokers provide a value and needed service in this or any other industry.

Only you (myself and others included) know the value of what we are selling. It is up to the seller to determine what the value of an asset is and price it accordingly.

I, you and we always will be under or over the actual retail value of any real or digital item. Just determine what number you want/need to make you happy. Ask that number, accept it, then be happy and find another diamond in the rough to make a few dollars on.

has this happened to you before? did you provide a floor and BIN price? what was the outcome?

its a sneaky af way to hide the buyers identity. what if the domain is an exact match of the buyers company? that would obvs effect the price wouldnt it? but im left guessing :/

 

[Bob Hawkes]

With most of the major marketplaces and their agents you will now know who you are negotiating with. As you say, that places you in a weaker position. On the other hand, the buyer may have gone the Afternic route precisely because they do not want to negotiate directly with an owner, or for whatever reason pay a BIN price, and prefer to deal with an agent. The agents are professionals who do this all day, and there are some benefits to both sides probably.

So what I would do is imagine you were the day before you got this notice. What price would you have gotten that would have made you totally happy (but not being ridiculous considering comparator sales). Set the BIN near that. I think you should set the floor, since that will allow the agent to talk by phone with the contact and quite possibly negotiate a final sale. Once they go away, even for a day, there is a chance they will lose interest. I would try to set the floor at a price that while not quite what you hoped, is enough that you say, yes, that was a good sale. If I could get that price I would not want to risk losing the sale.

Afternic agents often (as I understand from what others have said) close at above floor, so by giving a floor is not guaranteeing it will end there.

The very best of luck with it closing.

Bob

 

[SirDrago]

With most of the major marketplaces and their agents you will now know who you are negotiating with. As you say, that places you in a weaker position. On the other hand, the buyer may have gone the Afternic route precisely because they do not want to negotiate directly with an owner, or for whatever reason pay a BIN price, and prefer to deal with an agent. The agents are professionals who do this all day, and there are some benefits to both sides probably.

So what I would do is imagine you were the day before you got this notice. What price would you have gotten that would have made you totally happy (but not being ridiculous considering comparator sales). Set the BIN near that. I think you should set the floor, since that will allow the agent to talk by phone with the contact and quite possibly negotiate a final sale. Once they go away, even for a day, there is a chance they will lose interest. I would try to set the floor at a price that while not quite what you hoped, is enough that you say, yes, that was a good sale. If I could get that price I would not want to risk losing the sale.

Afternic agents often (as I understand from what others have said) close at above floor, so by giving a floor is not guaranteeing it will end there.

The very best of luck with it closing.

Bob

As usual Bob is correct,
Basically afternic is asking you to quote your "Buy it now" price. Then your minimum you'll take price.

Example: blahblah dot whatever you expect 70k but the least you'll take is 55k.
That's all, some buyers prefer to deal with platform brokers. Nothing new.
Remember tho, once you set your floor price afternic can close the sale at that figure.

 

[falez]

With most of the major marketplaces and their agents you will now know who you are negotiating with. As you say, that places you in a weaker position. On the other hand, the buyer may have gone the Afternic route precisely because they do not want to negotiate directly with an owner, or for whatever reason pay a BIN price, and prefer to deal with an agent. The agents are professionals who do this all day, and there are some benefits to both sides probably.

So what I would do is imagine you were the day before you got this notice. What price would you have gotten that would have made you totally happy (but not being ridiculous considering comparator sales). Set the BIN near that. I think you should set the floor, since that will allow the agent to talk by phone with the contact and quite possibly negotiate a final sale. Once they go away, even for a day, there is a chance they will lose interest. I would try to set the floor at a price that while not quite what you hoped, is enough that you say, yes, that was a good sale. If I could get that price I would not want to risk losing the sale.

Afternic agents often (as I understand from what others have said) close at above floor, so by giving a floor is not guaranteeing it will end there.

The very best of luck with it closing.

Bob

have you received an email like this before? and if so have u ever not provided the info and forced the buyer to submit an offer?

 

[falez]

As usual Bob is correct,
Basically afternic is asking you to quote your "Buy it now" price. Then your minimum you'll take price.

Example: blahblah dot whatever you expect 70k but the least you'll take is 55k.
That's all, some buyers prefer to deal with platform brokers. Nothing new.
Remember tho, once you set your floor price afternic can close the sale at that figure.

have you received an email like this before? and if so have u ever not provided the info and forced the buyer to submit an offer?

 

[Bob Hawkes]

I actually normally provide a floor price with all my Afternic listings at time of listing. Perhaps others can provide information on what happens if you do not respond.
Bob

 

[falez]

I actually normally provide a floor price with all my Afternic listings at time of listing. Perhaps others can provide information on what happens if you do not respond.
Bob

I figure, if the potential buyer is truly interested and had I not provided a floor and BIN price, they would've eventually submitted an offer somewhere.

 

[SirDrago]

have you received an email like this before? and if so have u ever not provided the info and forced the buyer to submit an offer?

Yes but to be honest 9 outta 10 domains i own have both BIN and Floor prices.

Don't lose the lead, they are far and few between.
If you would like to PM me with your domain name i would help you further, If not that's fine.
Check comps that are comparable to your domain at namebio.

 

[Abdullah Abdullah]

I received such emails many times but never made a sale from them. As others have stated, you set your BIN , and minimum which is the floor.

 

[falez]

I received such emails many times but never made a sale from them. As others have stated, you set your BIN , and minimum which is the floor.

i talked to somebody at afternic and he told me i could submit a bin and floor, and also note not to change the actual listing, sooo thats what i did

 

[Abdullah Abdullah]

Good luck then

 

[Bob Hawkes]

i talked to somebody at afternic and he told me i could submit a bin and floor, and also note not to change the actual listing, sooo thats what i did

It was smart to talk to them, and thanks for letting us know their response. Have my fingers crossed that the deal will close for you!

One of the features that I like of Afternic compared to some of the other options is that they do have a Floor Price. I think it makes sense, in most cases, for the agent to have this confidential information, as I suspect that the more delay there is in providing a specific counter, the more likely the sale is to fall through as buyer enthusiasm wanes or they notice another name. Empowering the agent with this information can help a speedy closing I think.

Bob

 

[alcy]

for me personally these almost never work out.
i heard its about same for many others

its a pain in the B on top of it too for me cause i got 1000+ names still, and therefore keep all on makeoffer.. so setting bin for price requests... for stuff that goes nowhere anyway.. just means I have to keep track of the bins later.. remove them etc...

so yeah.. price requests afternic = not cool.

remmeber if u do not list direct on gd auctions, then u also get those from gd auctions offers.

i advise all: ALWAYS list direct on gd auctions also. thne u get to nego on gd directly... not through a silly price r4quest.

 

[frank-germany]

thats great

supply a price
and wait

after you did that about 50 times
you may expect a sale

 

[NickB]

had a couple of sales this way with Afternic.......

I just set a BIN and minimum bid and forget about it......10 days later and nothing happens remove BIN and forget about it.....