Buying a domain - How to negotiate the lowest price?

[and5rey]

I want to buy one domain name and I already sent an email to the domain owner and he replied me.

Here's my email:

Hello XXX,

I'm interested in buying your domain name xxx.com

How much is your asking price?

Andrej

And his reply:

How much you can offer maximum?

I'm afraid he will be asking $X,XXX for the domain, but I'm willing to pay max. low $XXX for it. So my question is how should my reply to his email now look like?

How can I make him sell me the domain for low $XXX (or even less if possible)? Should I ask for traffic stats and revenue details first (it's a simle developed website)?

 

[snicksnack]

if it is a developed site and has already traffic and revenue, the chances the the owner will sell for low xxx is extremely low. Just put yourself in the "sellers" shoes.

 

[and5rey]

if it is a developed site and has already traffic and revenue, the chances the the owner will sell for low xxx is extremely low. Just put yourself in the "sellers" shoes.

If it has some traffic and revenue, it is very little, as the position of this site on Google for the site's main keywords is not good. So I suppose there is very little traffic and little or no revenue.

 

[Sparhawke]

You have to be fairly realistic, if it is a good keyword with lots of potential coupled with a good extension then he is not going to let it go for next to nothing, regardless of him having done nothing with it.

You asked him for a price and he threw the ball right back in your court which says one of two things, he either does not need to sell or is simply figuring you out in order to assess what kind of sucker you are.

Every single person has 2 things working against thm at all times, pressure and time. Everyone has bills to pay, everyone is racing against time to fulfill their obligations, all you need to subtly is remind him of this without actually coming out with it...tell him you were hoping to make a deal of $xxx before Christmas [pressure of buying his kids presents] or Easter or whatever as you are on a schedule [time is ticking] (just like him) and then leave it.

Once someone lobs you back a tennis ball then whack it once back, don't keep running after it and swinging as it sails towards your opponent because that pulls you out of position and makes you look desperate.

Remember, you do not need this domain, you did well enough without it before and will do again, it is him who needs to recoup his money and yours might be the only offer on the table

 

[SiberForum]

If there is someone who is willing to pay you higher price you will never be able to negotiate with owner I suppose.

 

[likemike]

Everybody or should I say just about everybody wants to get a good a deal on names as possible, but with developed sites that's less and less likely. Give it your best shot. Offer close to what you can afford at the most and save a few bucks just in case he/she counters your offer. Good luck!

 

[and5rey]

Thanks for your tips. The owner of the domain decided not to sell it.

 

[dragtastic]

you cant make someone sell you a domain - you both have to agree on a price. you need to do research and figure out what his domain is worth and how much you are willing to pay. Also you need to figure out how much the site makes and how long it will take you to get you investment back before you start making money

 

[NLP]

While his "make offer" response is frustrating, it's not as bad as pricing a name at a certain level ($170) and then instantly bumping it up to $1500 once there's an offer. I just started a thread about a frustrating experience this afternoon.

It's difficult thinking like a buyer & a seller at the same time, which is what domaining requires. The same tactics that seem commonplace as sellers can be extremely frustrating as a buyer. Personally, except for really premium names where I'd really be holding out for an offer for several years, I'd try to price names accurately to begin with and take an offer that matches that level. Instead, people seem to price things low and then say it's a premium $x,xxx name when a lot of times it isn't.

You wouldn't walk into a car dealership, ask to buy a Honda, and have the guy give you a price that's $5,000 OVER the sticker price. If that happened, the buyer would turn around in a heartbeat.

 

[cache]

it is tough for someone to let go a developed site for low xxx.

 

[Name Trader]

You wouldn't walk into a car dealership, ask to buy a Honda, and have the guy give you a price that's $5,000 OVER the sticker price. If that happened, the buyer would turn around in a heartbeat.

You might pay the increased price if the model was in short supply and long delivery time, if you wanted to own one immediately.