registrars Broker not presenting offers to owner

[Arfy]

Hi All!

I wanted to get your intelligent thoughts on this particular event that occurred as I personally found the broker's response irresponsible and detrimental for the buyer.

I found a nice domain name that I wanted to buy as an investment and to resell in the future. it was a LLL.com with a slang meaning but not a dictionary meaning and no specific end user. The BIN for this domain was $75k and was listed at a well known registrar. The domain previously sold more than once for not more than the bottom of the 5 figure range and I opened up with a $15K offer which was on par with the original purchase price (not very long ago).

The broker's response was that he is not willing to present the offer at all to the owner. Do you think this is the right way to approach a deal? This was my opening offer, surely the owner should be notified in case he wants to make a counter offer or if he is even willing to accept! Not telling the owner anything seems the wrong way to do business and as a buyer it put me off more than anything as the response was abrupt and made me feel that my next offer would not be sufficient either and I therefore stopped make further offers. I understand he is trying to stop time wasters but an opening offer of 20% of the asking price and on par to the original acquisition price doesn't sound like time wasting to me. If I had a domain on for $1k buy it now and someone offered me $200 I would want the chance to counter with $800 and maybe the buyer will counter with $500 and we meet at $675. Telling the buyer to get lost in the first instance is bad customer service.

I asked the broker to present the offer so I could at least judge what the owners response would be and he simply replied that "we have a different understanding of how the domain market works" and just cut off the conversation! I found that extremely arrogant and condescending. The owner will never know that I made an offer or that I would have gone higher than this most probably to a price that he would have accepted. I don't think I will ever sell my domains through this broker after this as I may never hear of offers that have been made to me!

What are your thoughts?

 

[bmugford]

It is not like low $XX,XXX is a great offer for a LLL.com in 2018. I assume he has some type of agreement with the owner to only present offers in a certain range. I don't blame the broker.

The ball is in your court to make a serious enough offer if you want the domain. Most people who buy and own high quality domains are not looking for some marginal sale at re-seller value.

Brad

 

[Nametree]

Absolutely correct Alcy! I did make it obvious, I made another offer ($20k) which was much higher, above aquisition price and he still gave me a condescending answer. The guy is a complete idiot. Feel sorry for the seller, may never sell his domain with this douchebag representing him. I was going to make another counter offer but now I'm going to stop because the broker has p*ssed me off with his attitude in his last response.

Have you considered that the buyer might have set a minimum price and you may not be meeting that? I’m not sure about Uniregistry but I know you can do that with Afternic so you don’t get bothered by offers that don’t meet your threshold.

 

[biggie]

Have you considered that the buyer might have set a minimum price and you may not be meeting that? I’m not sure about Uniregistry but I know you can do that with Afternic so you don’t get bothered by offers that don’t meet your threshold.

I concur with that

if buyer is asking $75k and you offer $15k or 20K, that is not even half asking price.

imo...

 

[bmugford]

You're right about that thread, I upped my budget to triple that, but anyway in that thread I am not making an offer to anybody do it is not the same.

In that thread you also have -

NNN.com - up to $30k depending on the numbers
NNNN.com - up to $2K depending on the numbers

NNN.com are six figure domains.
NNNN.com go for $10K+ all day long, often for much higher.

Maybe your expectations are the issue.

Brad

 

[DanSanchez]

I don't think the domain is worth $50K so would not offer it.

So the broker was correct, the domain isn't for you. Sometimes brokers have to cut through the BS of low-ball offers and eliminate the time waste. You are clearly a domain investor wanting to get a good deal, nothing wrong with that, but this domain is definitely not in the wholesale market.

However difficult it may be to understand for some investors, sometimes you can't talk your way into a wholesale deal. By opening the conversation with an offer that was "was on par with the original purchase price (not very long ago)" you gave yourself away. Broker did his due diligence and dismissed your offer. The original owner will not bother responding to your $35k, I guarantee it.

 

[Arfy]

let me guess..uniregistry broker?

either way as long as your making clear to broker u are able to go higher... he should preaent offr

but each broker does things their way.
and tberes plenty around..so either change broker or make direct offr on some market... gl

Absolutely correct Alcy! I did make it obvious, I made another offer ($20k) which was much higher, above aquisition price and he still gave me a condescending answer. The guy is a complete idiot. Feel sorry for the seller, may never sell his domain with this douchebag representing him. I was going to make another counter offer but now I'm going to stop because the broker has p*ssed me off with his attitude in his last response.

 

[biggie]

unfortunately his whois is privacy protected . I don't mind the broker declining offers, I expect an opening offer to be declined, that's the whole point of negotiating. It is his response back which is condescending and rude and I honestly believe will stop genuine buyers from wanting to buy or make higher offers. I would have gone a lot higher but he put me off after he told me the domain just isn't for me and I am wasting my time.

Hi

I saw your domains wanted thread, seeking LLL.com with a $10k budget

it's basically too low, for any knowledgeable seller to consider.

and, if you start out lowballing, then this is how you may be seen and/or characterized.

look at it from business perspective, sometimes it's not being rude, it's just being firm.

imo…..

 

[Recons.Com]

This might explain why Uniregistry brokers act like douchebags ))

 

[alcy]

let me guess..uniregistry broker?

either way as long as your making clear to broker u are able to go higher... he should preaent offr

but each broker does things their way.
and tberes plenty around..so either change broker or make direct offr on some market... gl

 

[anantj]

Have you tried reaching out to the owner directly?
It is also possible that the owner has put in a floor and a min offer (internally accessible to the broker) and hence does not even want a lower offer to be presented. While I agree with @alcy that Uni brokers are absolute thrash, it is possible that they have received very specific instructions from the owner

 

[gilescoley]

Sometimes brokers have agreements with the owners about not being sent offers under a certain price. I know it doesnt make sense to some people but thats how some people operate. So you can't blame the broker here as this may have been requested by the owner.

Your point about what the domain sold for previously is irrelevant here, the owner can ignore offers around the same price he paid, a lot of domain investors do, especially with higher quality names.

I personally would would want to know about any offers in the 15k range for any name I own.

Have you tried contacting the buyer another way?

Good luck though

Damn, just repeated some of comments above

 

[Arfy]

thanks for your thought btw guys, I like the input

 

[Arfy]

I personally would would want to know about any offers in the 15k range for any name I own.

Have you tried contacting the buyer another way?

Good luck though

unfortunately his whois is privacy protected . I don't mind the broker declining offers, I expect an opening offer to be declined, that's the whole point of negotiating. It is his response back which is condescending and rude and I honestly believe will stop genuine buyers from wanting to buy or make higher offers. I would have gone a lot higher but he put me off after he told me the domain just isn't for me and I am wasting my time. I would rather not pay $6-7k commission to a douche bag who did no work and was rude. You can work out how high I might have gone from that commission!

 

[bmugford]

Before I can even make a higher offer the broker is saying "This domain isn't for you". Is this great marketing for the domain? how about telling me why it is worth more than that! The broker has done nothing to promote the domain rather he has just said get lost to an opening offer. I wonder what he gets paid for.

If you make a much higher offer it will be presented regardless of anything else. If you are going to offer like $50K it would make no sense for the broker to not present it.

I don't think the broker really needs to make a sales pitch. Re-seller value for the worst ones is still around $15K - $20K. This is a range a seller could get any time they wanted, so I doubt they are in any rush to wholesale it for re-seller value.

Very average LLL.com sell for high 5 and low 6 figures quite often.

Brad

 

[biggie]

You're right about that thread, I upped my budget to triple that, but anyway in that thread I am not making an offer to anybody do it is not the same.

maybe try bidding in some namejet auctions for LLL.com

you'll get to see what price ranges are and.... get an idea of the competitive market for them.

Good Luck!

imo...

 

[karmaco]

People with privacy protection can be contacted through the privacy email easily found on Whois lookup. I doubt the guy will sell for much less than he is asking for but contact would not hurt.

 

[equity78]

Have you considered that the buyer might have set a minimum price and you may not be meeting that? I’m not sure about Uniregistry but I know you can do that with Afternic so you don’t get bothered by offers that don’t meet your threshold.

Good point, I have had clients who said my ask is $50,000 don't bring me $5,000 offers I won't counter. I don't think it's the best way to do business because you never know what could happen. But more than one domainer over the last 20 years has quoted the old Linda Evangelista line:

I don't get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day. Sometimes making the amount $100,000.

 

[Kate]

If only I could plant Uni brokers in my garden.
They would make perfect scarecrows

 

[Arfy]

It is not like low $XX,XXX is a great offer for a LLL.com in 2018. I assume he has some type of agreement with the owner to only present offers in a certain range. I don't blame the broker.

The ball is in your court to make a serious enough offer if you want the domain. Most people who buy and own high quality domains are not looking for some marginal sale at re-seller value.

Brad

Before I can even make a higher offer the broker is saying "This domain isn't for you". Is this great marketing for the domain? how about telling me why it is worth more than that! The broker has done nothing to promote the domain rather he has just said get lost to an opening offer. I wonder what he gets paid for.

 

[SuperBrander]

I don't deal with LLL.com but I do look at their prices and since you're dealing with a pronounceable domain that also has a slang meaning, your price expectation from a reseller isn't realistic as @bmugford has also pointed out regarding your NNNN and NNN requests. Random letters may rarely sell for 15K if the owner is desperate to liquidate but then he'll be the one initiating the sale via a no reserve auction. Pronounceable ones don't go for these prices.

I don't know when the person bought it for 15K but when someone invests 15K in a name, they don't want 20K or 25K for it and if they do decide to liquidate- it's very easy for them to liquidate it. LLL.com's get inquiries all the time due to their scarcity so your initial offer, though to you it may seem high, to the broker and the owner is just another low ball offer in a long string of low ball offers made by other people. The broker must have had a minimum price for an offer defined by the seller in order not to be bothered so you need to respect that and either offer something that can be considered or move on to another name. My 2c worth.

 

[lambo.com]

I don't think the domain is worth $50K so would not offer it. I was prepared to go to $35K which I think is a good offer for that domain. Either way they seller will never know haha

Why not offer $35k 'take or leave it'?

 

[tonyk2000]

Before I can even make a higher offer the broker is saying "This domain isn't for you"

This wording is not a part of common templates used by uniregistry brokers. It may well be that you are already communicating with the owner who is playing games, representing himself as his own broker - all inside uniregistry messaging system.

 

[frank-germany]

I really don't like the brokers behavior
who ever that is

low ball offers for a domain are common
and its part of the business
to find what the real sales price can be

 

[Grego85]

If you made an offer of 50k to a real estate agent for a home listed at 250k would you really expect them to take you seriously?

 

[UncleBrand]

I can confirm this because you can see the written messages they send clients. Often if you set a high minimum offer, you can see they don't actually tell the client that or the amount, they just say the owner has asked for serious offers to start discussion.

Maybe they think stating a high floor price would scare people away? They do seem to have stock phrases and approaches they use, but some do clearly say what the minimum offer is in their messages.

Can you make an offer for the domain via Uniregtistry make offer page, and does that flag up a minimum? Haven't tried that but have seen brokers send clients to that page to make a real offer.

for the domain that i really wanted at the time, i made a 2000$ offer,
but they told me that i need a much larger offer, and quoted a ridiculous price for a 2 word french keyword
they pretended that they received other offers,
but i doubt that, because they never stooped sending emails trying to restart the negotiation,
even when i told them that i moved with another domain for this project

and my offer was off the table as soon as i acquired another domain for this project