poll Better Success with BIN or "Make Offer"? $10 award for best feedback.

[Federer]

Have you had more success slapping BIN prices on your domains, or do you generate a better ROI overall by leaving "make offer"?

We have heard many times Sedo & Afternic listing the various benefits of BIN-priced names in the sweet-spot ($1K-$5K range). In practice, do you find you do better with fixed prices or "make offer"?

$10 PayPal payment will go to the most complete answer based on past experiences over time.

 

[hookbox]

For the past 12 months, I did an experiment and added a BIN price to 4500 domains.
Over the year, 27 domains sold, an average of 0.6%. The average sales price was around $1450.
Ratio was: initial investment (cost of domains) x 4.36 = profit (after taking off commissions and registration costs) - which was excellent, despite the low sales %.

Over 3 months, I did the same experiment with another set of 1050 domains (BIN priced them all).
3 domains sold over the 3 month period, an average of around 1.35%. The average sales price was around €1350.
Ratio: initial investment (cost of domains) x 3.92 = profit (after taking off commissions and registration costs).

Starting April 2018, I switched strategies and adding "make offer" with a min £200/$200/€200 to all pages.
Results after one (group of 9500 domains that cost just £9500, promo price):
11 sales in April ( = yearly average: 1.4%). Average sale around $921.
Formula: initial investment (cost of domains) x 7 = profit

Also applied the "make offer" strategy to another group of 3135 domains (€9400 cost). Results:
4 sales in April ( = yearly average: 1.53%). Average sale around €1175.
Formula: initial investment (cost of domains) x 4.08 = profit

Results, offers can vary depending on season, quality of domains etc. However it seems that "make offer" can actually result in selling slightly more names/year. I believe that more buyers can be turned away by higher-than-budget BINs, than buyers that would be turned away (see a listing and not make an offer at all) be seeing "make offer" rather than a BIN price.
With a reasonable min offer, you can attract offers from buyers that do not have the typical sweet spot budget ($x,xxx to mid $x,xxx); several mid to high $xxx sales add up fast.
"Make offer" also gives you the opportunity to extract max. value for a majority of sales, as upon receiving interest/an offer, you can research the buyer, the popularity/potential brand value of the domain you are selling (checking out tech/hot terms; a domain could overnight gain more in-demand/value-enhancing characteristics).

BIN-pricing the entire portfolio is great for mass-selling in the sweet-spot with ease. That is why NameFind, HugeDomains.com are set up that way; it streamlines the process with as little friction as possible; no negotiations, almost everything is automated - and so it should be when we are talking millions of domains under MGMT.

However, with regards to portfolios comprising of 5000-100,000 domains, I think the ideal strategy, in most cases would be to combine both models, but placing emphases on the "make offer" set up. This would be done by BIN pricing around 25-30% of the portfolio (obviously not including any ultra-premiums in that mix) and leaving the majority with "make offer". This could ensure that you would extract max. value from the majority of the portfolio, whilst leaving a portion on auto-sell.

This feedback is simply based on my past experience (past 3-12 months) and the models, to a great extent, have produced successful results across the board.

The make offer listings work because it gives the seller the ability to start the sales pitch and helps the buyer understand why a certain name would have a certain value. They may initially be turned off by a Buy Now listing because they truly don't understand the value of a name without someone explaining it to them. They also may think a Buy Now listing price is set in stone and that the seller will not negotiate any off that price which makes them leave and not even attempt to contact you about the name.

I have always been a Buy Now listing type of seller but this post is making me question that strategy. Buy Now listings still work for value names if the selling price is low to mid XXX but once it gets above that I think most buyers will start to question whether they should buy it or not which could stall the sale and make them possibly look for another name.

It seems like the best listing would be a Make Offer with a minimum realistic starting bid but with a fairly high Buy Now listing price so you can still get the impulse buyers with higher budgets that will pull the trigger because they don't want to waste their time negotiating. Ithis type of strategy would pretty much encompass every type of buyer that would come along and result in the most sales. If they really want the name there would be no excuse because they have every option available to them to acquire the name.

I think having the ability to have at least one shot at a small sales pitch to the potential buyer will help to close more sales. With Buy Now listings we don't get that one shot.

Thanks for writing such a detailed post about your sales. It was very insightful.

 

[frank-germany]

It seems like the best listing would be a Make Offer with a minimum realistic starting bid but with a fairly high Buy Now listing price so you can still get the impulse buyers with higher budgets that will pull the trigger because they don't want to waste their time negotiating. This type of strategy would pretty much encompass every type of buyer that would come along and result in the most sales. If they really want the name there would be no excuse because they have every option available to them to acquire the name.

make offer with a high BIN
has the same effect as a high BIN

if they really want the name
it's an easy game anyway

 

[hookbox]

make offer with a high BIN
has the same effect as a high BIN

if they really want the name
it's an easy game anyway

It's not the same. High bin only eliminates everyone else that won't pay the high bin.

 

[BrandableDomain]

Here are four actual quotes from Sedo:

“Sedo recommends listing domains as Buy Now. Our research shows that using a fixed sales option such as Buy Now could increase your sales volume by 30%!”

“Buy Now domains are three times more likely to sell than standard ‘make offer’ domains, according to market research from Sedo and our partners.”

(That’s the important stat I remembered and referred to in my earlier comment. I know, I know, these quotes don’t seem to exactly agree with each other!)

“We recommend that domains falling into the price range 250 EUR/GBP to 5000 EUR/GBP should be listed with a Buy Now (fixed) price. Our internal statistics show that domains in this price range sell much more quickly when the buyer does not have to negotiate.”

“For domains valued above 5000 EUR/GBP we recommend listing as ‘Make Offer’ so that you are able to negotiate with the other party.”

(This last quote agrees in principle with what Godaddy recommends in 2018, though Godaddy sets a much much higher threshold. I agree with a higher threshold.

On the other hand, these Sedo quotes are likely a few years old and may need updating.)

I can’t provide links, but you can search for any of these quotes in their entirety if you want to read more.

 

[frank-germany]

Here are four actual quotes from Sedo:

“Sedo recommends listing domains as Buy Now. Our research shows that using a fixed sales option such as Buy Now could increase your sales volume by 30%!”

“Buy Now domains are three times more likely to sell than standard ‘make offer’ domains, according to market research from Sedo and our partners.”

(That’s the important stat I remembered and referred to in my earlier comment. I know, I know, these quotes don’t seem to exactly agree with each other!)

“We recommend that domains falling into the price range 250 EUR/GBP to 5000 EUR/GBP should be listed with a Buy Now (fixed) price. Our internal statistics show that domains in this price range sell much more quickly when the buyer does not have to negotiate.”

“For domains valued above 5000 EUR/GBP we recommend listing as ‘Make Offer’ so that you are able to negotiate with the other party.”

(This last quote agrees in principle with what Godaddy recommends in 2018, though Godaddy sets a much much higher threshold. I agree with a higher threshold.

On the other hand, these Sedo quotes are likely a few years old and may need updating.)

I can’t provide links, but you can search for any of these quotes in their entirety if you want to read more.

as a sedo broker you earn a commission

if there is negotiation involved
they need a compensation to actively sell it
below 5k the commission doesn't justify the effort for them

so their advice
is biased

 

[hookbox]

You have to take info from large companies with a grain of salt. It absolutely benefits any of these companies to have names listed at buy now. They barely do anything for the commission with a buy now sale. Think about how much work and time it takes for them to go back and forth with a make offer listing. When it comes to this subject I only tend to believe what other domainers say since it makes no difference to them. It is true unbiased info from most domainers.

 

[BrandableDomain]

You have to take info from large companies with a grain of salt. It absolutely benefits any of these companies to have names listed at buy now. They barely do anything for the commission with a buy now sale.

Godaddy are domainers.

They own the NameFind portfolio of 734,000 domains, possibly the world’s most valuable.

As explained in the NamesCon video, their own big data analytics has led them to price 99 per cent of these with BIN pricing.

They pay no commission on sales whether BIN or make offer.

 

[golan]

When the buyer willing to purchase your domain, they'll visit your domain as well

Well, that's damn smart. Thank you!

 

[frank-germany]

Godaddy are domainers.

They own the NameFind portfolio of 734,000 domains, possibly the world’s most valuable.

As explained in the NamesCon video, their own big data analytics has led them to price 99 per cent of these with BIN pricing.

They pay no commission on sales whether BIN or make offer.

godaddy is a registrar
you can't judge because of them owning domains

they may have very different reasons to do so
like men power or strategic approaches
that are different to yours


or t ricking you into adding BIN prices
to make their day to day business easier

 

[frank-germany]

Well, that's damn smart. Thank you!

but you can't rely on that

 

[golan]

but you can't rely on that

Of course, no fully rely, but now i understand the logic behind this, and for sure in some cases this may win.

 

[frank-germany]

---> and the winner is .......

 

[spikedo]

My current business model is to price everything. I sell 1-3% of my portfolio per year (~40 out of ~1300 domains) and turn $30k-$50k gross sales into $15k-$20k net profit annually on a part-time basis. I park domains at Uniregistry and also list at Afternic/Godaddy and Sedo. Domains priced $1,288 to $3,500 work best for me at BuyDomains/GoDaddy/Afternic. These are usually geo types (e.g., rockvillechiropractor.com - not mine) or industry specific (e.g., goplumbers.com - not mine). Lately, I'm seeing success with domains priced at $9,888, mostly in financial and real estate industry. I used to put these at below $5k but you won't get it unless you ask for it. I'm raising prices on short domains, catchy phrase domains, and industrial types. It's getting harder to sell via e-mail so all domains have Uniregistry landers with submit inquiries to seller boxes. I can't see another way for me now considering whois is completely hosed. Asking for offers brings too many tire kickers. I've never had a low-ball turn into a sale even with me educating them on why the domain was priced the way it was. I think I saw an article that Rick said all the good domains were gone. That's pigeon $hit. You can make money but you have to adapt on occasion. I sold a few domains recently that I've had for nearly a decade so patience is also needed.

 

[domains21]

I know the poll has finished and that the last post in this thread was near 2 months ago, but this discussion was a really good insight into this popular question and it would be great to hear from even more people if possible.

 

[Kenny]

I know the poll has finished and that the last post in this thread was near 2 months ago, but this discussion was a really good insight into this popular question and it would be great to hear from even more people if possible.

Up we go.

Peace,
Kenny

 

[mani0307]

Buy it now with make offer is good because if buyer interested in your name and looks name is out of his/her budget than seller must give a option to buyer for make offer (negotiation).

 

[Ostrados]

Buy it now with make offer is good because if buyer interested in your name and looks name is out of his/her budget than seller must give a option to buyer for make offer (negotiation).

exactly! i was going to ask why not use both of them?

in Undeveloped, Sedo and Uniregistry you can set BIN+Make Offer. In Sedo you can even enable Make Offer only for domains with BIN > $value you specify.

why limit the buyer? give him both BIN and Make Offer.

The only case where you need to put Make Offer only without BIN, is when you have high quality domain but you dont know its exact value, in this case you can use make offer only as an appraisal tool to discover the domain value.

 

[golan]

why limit the buyer? give him both BIN and Make Offer.

This was discussed here numerous times. Many friends say that in this case a buyer who could be ready to pay BIN would rather negotiate to much lower price level.

 

[frank-germany]

This was discussed here numerous times. Many friends say that in this case a buyer who could be ready to pay BIN would rather negotiate to much lower price level.

you are shooting yourself into the foot
when you implant the idea of "I can negotiate"

set a price or don't
BIN and negotiate
is stupid

make up your mind
and appear strong at least

and be patient
be prepared for never sell the damnd domain

 

[DOMAIN ILLUMINATI]

With BIN there is also this called “drunk dial” effect. Some guy has too much beer one night and buys your domain. Next day if he wakes up he might not want it anymore. But transfer has already happened.

No beer is the best beer, it can avoid such (and many other) incidents.

 

[Ostrados]

you are shooting yourself into the foot
when you implant the idea of "I can negotiate"

set a price or don't
BIN and negotiate
is stupid

make up your mind
and appear strong at least

and be patient
be prepared for never sell the damnd domain

What I do is:
1) Set BIN only when price is below $2000.
2) Set BIN + Make offer when the price is above $2000.
3) Set Make Offer only if the domain is high value and I don't know the exact value of it.

#2 is similar to when you set domain to Make Offer and put Asking Price in Sedo .. the only difference is that asking price is set as BIN option now!

 

[Jv1999]

Starting April 2018, I switched strategies and adding "make offer" with a min £200/$200/€200 to all pages.
Results after one (group of 9500 domains that cost just £9500, promo price):
11 sales in April ( = yearly average: 1.4%). Average sale around $921.
Formula: initial investment (cost of domains) x 7 = profit

Hi Federer, I was curious whether the 9500 domains sample, if their 365-day sale rate remained at 1.4% (meaning that after 365 days, 133 domains sold out of 9500. Is this correct? would be great to know!

 

[Federer]

We have now gone ahead streamlining a new "3 month test"; after several months of "make offer" listings, we are now pricing +90% of our inventory (high-premium names will be left on "make offer"). Today I have priced (at Sedo & Afternic/GD) over 30,000 domains at 5 different price-points, across 5 different extensions. Will post results in 90 days.
How are your sales experiences going? Do you prefer BIN on the vast majority of your portfolio or make offer?

The key question is which model is producing more profits for you long-term?

 

[AbdulBasit.com]

We have now gone ahead streamlining a new "3 month test"; after several months of "make offer" listings, we are now pricing +90% of our inventory (high-premium names will be left on "make offer"). Today I have priced (at Sedo & Afternic/GD) over 30,000 domains at 5 different price-points, across 5 different extensions. Will post results in 90 days.
How are your sales experiences going? Do you prefer BIN on the vast majority of your portfolio or make offer?

The key question is which model is producing more profits for you long-term?

Thanks for sharing. It would be nice to know the results as well in near future.
For me, BIN has been doing pretty well, especially at Afternic.
I wonder how you priced +30K domains today itself!

 

[Silentptnr]

We have now gone ahead streamlining a new "3 month test"; after several months of "make offer" listings, we are now pricing +90% of our inventory (high-premium names will be left on "make offer"). Today I have priced (at Sedo & Afternic/GD) over 30,000 domains at 5 different price-points, across 5 different extensions. Will post results in 90 days.
How are your sales experiences going? Do you prefer BIN on the vast majority of your portfolio or make offer?

The key question is which model is producing more profits for you long-term?

I have moved from Make Offer to Price On Request at afternic. It's only been a month. Had 1 sale using PUR and one sale with BIN.

I think @AbdulBasit.com is right for Afternic. BIN might work best. I am going to give PUR another month. I am getting more inquiries.