advice Best way to negotiate down a significant counter offer?

[QBert]

Hi,

I made an offer at Sedo on a word+word.com domain in April. The minimum bid was listed as $1,000, so I put in a bid of $1,000.
The seller came back yesterday, about 6 weeks later, with a counteroffer of $16,000 and no comment.

Estibot puts it at less then $100. My personal opinion is it's worth about $2,000 - It's plural .com is registered, but not resolving to a host, it's not a commonly searched term, and almost all ccTLDs are available. However, I've become somewhat attached and would be willing to spend up to $4,000.

What's the appropriate way to negotiate? $16,000 is a huge jump. Between that and the time taken to respond I also wonder if they're legitimately interested in selling. I don't want to pay more than is necessary or want to waste anyone's time.

Should I just find something else at this point?
Is it rude to counter with something substantially less, like $2,000?
Is it worth getting / or too late to get someone to negotiate on my behalf? (Unfortunately we haven't established comms though the notes attached on the offers - So it's really just $$ at this point)

Thanks - I've been out of the game for a while so be gentle :o)

 

[Name Trader]

Personally, I'd move on. You are going to waste a lot of time trying to negotiate with somebody who doesn't want to sell cheap. And according to you is only worth $1k-$2k.

Of course I think you can make an offer of $2k. See what they come back with. But I wouldn't hold my breath.

NT

 

[karmaco]

I agree. Too much difference in what you are willing to pay and what he wants. He would be wiser to raise the opening offer to not waste anyone’s time including his.

Estibot etc is useless about pricing. Just find something else in your budget.

 

[timestamp]

By countering $16k, he is trying to get as much money as he can.
If $4000 is your max budget, I would counter with $2500, then with $4000. That's it. You did your best. You don't need another party to do this for you.

 

[KTC]

By countering $16k, he is trying to get as much money as he can.
If $4000 is your max budget, I would counter with $2500, then with $4000. That's it. You did your best. You don't need another party to do this for you.

I agree with this. I set my BINs to the max I believe I can get for it on purpose because you never know who will make an offer, but I personally tend to have a pretty wide price range and know where I would ultimately sell a domain for at the minimum.

See what happens if you give the seller for $2500, then $4000 and maybe the seller will relent. Or maybe the seller will just up their price further or stand firm. Otherwise, I'd move on to the next name.

 

[QBert]

Seems like the best approach is to quit my job...

> See what happens if you give the seller for $2500, then $4000 and maybe the seller will relent.

I'll give this a try, with the understanding It's time to look elsewhere. The difference is just too substantial. I was hoping this may have just been a common tactic. i.e. counter with 4x the value, with the understanding the buyer will likely double twice or something along those lings. I guess it's not such a refined / standard process though.

 

[KTC]

Seems like the best approach is to quit my job...

I'll give this a try, with the understanding It's time to look elsewhere. The difference is just too substantial. I was hoping this may have just been a common tactic. i.e. counter with 4x the value, with the understanding the buyer will likely double twice or something along those lings. I guess it's not such a refined / standard process though.

If that's the best way to quit a job, I've been living my life the wrong way. Maybe I need to give my boss a call.

All jokes aside, all you can do is try at this stage. All sellers have different approaches, so you never know what to expect. Definitely keep us updated though with the final result. I'll cross my fingers that you get the domain you want.

 

[TribeMagnet]

How much does it really matter to you if you get it? To stir the pot a bit, I would probably restate my original offer, link/screenshot to estibot (and even another if it is close) and call it a day. If they come back under $2k go for it. As you say, the value is personal and this is business.

 

[KTC]

How much does it really matter to you if you get it? To stir the pot a bit, I would probably restate my original offer, link/screenshot to estibot (and even another if it is close) and call it a day. If they come back under $2k go for it. As you say, the value is personal and this is business.

Good point. I can only come from my particular point of view on what I would think of that.

If someone already submitted an offer of $1k, but they send me a link to practically tell me that it's really worthless by an automated appraiser, then it would make me question how serious the buyer is? While I know this is a negotiation tactic and I do get a bit emotional(and admittedly, not the best salesperson because I will let my emotions get the best of me sometimes), but to tell me a domain is worthless, then why are you here trying to buy it? I'm willing to work with any buyer to get them the name they want, but with trying to devalue the name, I'd be highly annoyed and would absolutely do everything in my power to make sure they do not get it.

If I got solid data to back up to justify my pricing, I'd send that back and tell them to present me their best offer or show themselves out the door. Hell, I got a couple of names in my portfolio right now that I've had buyers do the same thing when I was fielding my own inquiries and I've told them the BIN or nothing.

 

[TribeMagnet]

Pot effectively stirred!

 

[KTC]

Pot effectively stirred!

Yep, you got me.

I would say that a good portion of sellers don't have the same temperament as me, but that's a guess on gut feelings and not based on facts.

 

[HotKey]

Why have you become attached to the name? Sometimes that out of our reach becomes more so desirable, even if it becomes almost foolhardy to continue forward.

Seems to me the seller has no clue as to what they are doing in terms of valuation, or they don't take it seriously, and you do. I would grab the reins on this and make a final offer you feel comfortable with. Move on.

BTW, definitely not rude to counter with something substantially less (or more) if its a genuine approach from both parties. Sometimes it takes a negotiation gone south to educate one or the other for the next round. He might discover that he just turned down a 2k offer he may never see again.

I find it interesting the plural is registered.

 

[Name Trader]

How much does it really matter to you if you get it? To stir the pot a bit, I would probably restate my original offer, link/screenshot to estibot (and even another if it is close) and call it a day. If they come back under $2k go for it. As you say, the value is personal and this is business.

Estibot valuations are practically useless. Like all other valuations. Their weakness is they are based on on actual sales. So it may or may not be a meaningful valuation.

 

[CraigD]

.....What did I just read?

Probably a bot or someone who doesn't understand that they are on a domain forum, i.e someone who should not be posting here.

 

[PurpleMan]

Since you said you would be willing to stretch your budget to 4k, why don't you counter with the 4k offer and tell him he need not reply if he is not selling at that price.

This helps the both of you make up your mind on the next line of action. For the buyer, he replies which means he will sell for that price. And if he doesn't reply, you look for alternatives.

 

[Name Trader]

Since you said you would be willing to stretch your budget to 4k, why don't you counter with the 4k offer and tell him he need not reply if he is not selling at that price.

This helps the both of you make up your mind on the next line of action. For the buyer, he replies which means he will sell for that price. And if he doesn't reply, you look for alternatives.

Simple advice for sure. Although I'm pretty sure I wouldn't follow it

 

[PurpleMan]

Simple advice for sure. Although I'm pretty sure I wouldn't follow it

Lol
Why not?

 

[karmaco]

How much does it really matter to you if you get it? To stir the pot a bit, I would probably restate my original offer, link/screenshot to estibot (and even another if it is close) and call it a day. If they come back under $2k go for it. As you say, the value is personal and this is business.

Good way to get permanently ignored. Terrible advice.

 

[karmaco]

Why have you become attached to the name? Sometimes that out of our reach becomes more so desirable, even if it becomes almost foolhardy to continue forward.

Seems to me the seller has no clue as to what they are doing in terms of valuation, or they don't take it seriously, and you do. I would grab the reins on this and make a final offer you feel comfortable with. Move on.

BTW, definitely not rude to counter with something substantially less (or more) if its a genuine approach from both parties. Sometimes it takes a negotiation gone south to educate one or the other for the next round. He might discover that he just turned down a 2k offer he may never see again.

I find it interesting the plural is registered.

I think its a bit of a stretch to say the seller doesn’t know about valuations without knowing the name. Maybe the buyer needs to know many domains are justifiably priced high. Maybe he is seriously under offering. We don’t know. Not everyone wants to give their good domains away.

 

[HotKey]

I think its a bit of a stretch to say the seller doesn’t know about valuations without knowing the name. Maybe the buyer needs to know many domains are justifiably priced high. Maybe he is seriously under offering. We don’t know. Not everyone wants to give their good domains away.

Yes agreed, it's really speculation without knowing the name. But I think we've been given some sort of starting point with the information given by the OP, at least he did some research and provided details.

You're right though, a good domain is not only defined by 3rd party appraisals or other extensions taken, etc.. but the seller isn't the one posting on here, the buyer is and he's taken the time to give as much info as possible without revealing the domain and given what we know I would speculate this is not a high-value name.

Being said, once a seller finds the right buyer there is no reason not to attempt to maximize the worth if it's no difference to them.

There is a problem with some sellers though really not caring about properly valuing their domains and pricing them into la-la land. They don't take investing seriously and treat it like a lottery.

 

[Revisiting]

I agree with the comments about references to Auto- Appraisals. To me that's always a reason to end any meaningful negotiations . However if your pretty savvy why not drop a few lines to the seller about your personal valuation, When ever I receive a well- thought-out message , I always take the time to read them and often am more willing to put some work in to revisit my own valuation. just to make sure I'm giving the the whole prospect of a sale fair consideration . Your 2-4k expectation would certainly give me that reason

 

[bmugford]

There is no magic formula to get a lower price.

You basically have to work up to your best offer. If the owner is not willing to take it, move on.

Many times the price gap is just too wide to bridge.

Brad

 

[anunt]

If your max offer is going to be $4000
Then offer $1500 and wait.
Look for other names.
If you offer $2500, he will counter with $9000.
No way you will get it for $4000.
Keep coming up slow so he knows you are almost maxed out.
Offer $1500, then $1700…then offer $2000 and say final offer.
That’s when he will make his move by asking for little more than $2000 or he will move on.

You need to understand that domainers or sellers usually price their name 10 times higher and will settle for much much less.

This guy I recently bought a domain from priced his name at $24k.
I offered him $1000.
He came back with $20k.
I said $1000 is my final offer.
Time went on…
Then he said $5000.
I said $1000.
Then he said $2000.
I said deal.
I could have probably got it for $1000 if I waited.

From my understanding, Your domain does not have high value and is available in other extensions so he will be very happy to get $4k.

So if you have time, don’t go above $2k.
Offer $1500, then $1700, then say final offer $2000.

If he is a real seller, he will sell.
Some people are not sellers even if their domains are listed for sale…
They will hold their asking price and don’t need the money so will not negotiate.

Like me…I have listed domains for sale at extremely high prices and will not negotiate because I don’t need the money and will only sell if they over pay which most won’t and I do not mind because i’m not a real seller.

So if he is not a seller, just move on.
Look for another domain.

Good luck.

 

[scithe]

I am guessing there was no BIN just a 1000 minimum.

Most of the time, we see the seller's POV on these boards where the seller says "hey I got a 1k offer, what do I do?" and if they sent back 16k then there's two possibilities. He hit really high to see what he could get from your second offer OR he really does expect a lot more.

I feel like on most threads, if the 16k guy came back and said "they countered at 4k" then people would be saying "This buyer just quadrupled their offer, hold out at 16k and don't take less than 12k!"

So I would probably not go higher than 1500 on my second offer and see what happens. If another 6 weeks go buy and he's at 15.5k then I guess he's probably not going to go down very far. From 1500 I'd definitely do 1700 and 2k as my final offers unless he suddenly became flexibile/more realisitc in pricing. Could be countering at 1500 brings him way down from 16k to 3200 hoping to close a real sale at 2k.

Edit: Oh yeah, I'd also check Afternic/DAN/Epik/Dofo/GoDaddy and see if the domain is priced elsewhere. What are the min offers there and the BINs? If he's got a 4k BIN at Epik then either that was the previous owner or this guy is definitely willing to go lower than 16k.

 

[silentg]

If you really want the domain then why not ask Sedo reps for help. Better to tell Sedo rep what's the max you're willing to pay and let them take care of it.