Buying a personal surname domain... bargaining with owner?

[qayum]

I'm looking to buy a short 5-letter domain that represents my first name(4-letters)+ last name initial (1-letter).

I.E. bartZ.com or daveQ.com is being sold.
(Also, in my case, bartZach.com and daveQuinn.com is not available.)

The owner of the domain is a small domain seller who is asking for $1200 for it.

I checked the detailed WHOIS on godaddy and it seems to be registered since '98 and was updated Nov. 2010... expires December 11, 2011.

I guess I shouldn't have emailed the owner my extreme interest in the domain. Now he has a reason to renew it. I'm not sure if I can pay $1200 for this domain since it isn't exactly rare in terms of domain value but it is extremely valueble to me. But I am a student and I want to use the domain as my blog and I can't afford $1200!

What should I do? Any suggestions?

 

[johname]

He/she will renew it before December 11, 2011 so you will have to negotiate a price with the owner if you want the name. How you know there a "small domain seller" See if its for sale on some platform like sedo where you might be able to dangle a $250 carrot in front of their face.

 

[qayum]

He/she will renew it before December 11, 2011 so you will have to negotiate a price with the owner if you want the name. How you know there a "small domain seller" See if its for sale on some platform like sedo where you might be able to dangle a $250 carrot in front of their face.

I mentioned that the person who sells the domain is a small domain seller because his website looks unprofessional and he has only 10 domains for sale.

He listed it on godaddy auctions for $1200. I gave him a small carrot of $200 and he's not replying to my emails now.

 

[DU]

offer the most you are willing to spend and give a time frame (1 week)... then come up with a different name... You can then setup domaintools to monitor the name. If it's a 5 Letter like DaveQ etc.. it's probably not ever going to be a free drop.. it will ALWAYS cost something.

Don't you have a nickname you can use? A variation?

I can't ever hope to afford Firstname.com or LastName.com but I can afford Nickname.com and LastName.TV

What's wrong with FirstnameMiddleInitialSurname.com? or even MrFirstNameLastName? or JustFirstname?

Did you look in .me? This would make sense.

 

[Name Trader]

The domain owner has you over a barrel if you are fixated with this domain. Blogs work great on .org domains, which you can probably pick up for regfee.

 

[qayum]

offer the most you are willing to spend and give a time frame (1 week)... then come up with a different name... You can then setup domaintools to monitor the name. If it's a 5 Letter like DaveQ etc.. it's probably not ever going to be a free drop.. it will ALWAYS cost something.

Don't you have a nickname you can use? A variation?

I can't ever hope to afford Firstname.com or LastName.com but I can afford Nickname.com and LastName.TV

What's wrong with FirstnameMiddleInitialSurname.com? or even MrFirstNameLastName? or JustFirstname?

Did you look in .me? This would make sense.

I would just like to use the domain since it is 5-letters and .COM which is much memorable and nicer on a business card.

The domain owner has you over a barrel if you are fixated with this domain. Blogs work great on .org domains, which you can probably pick up for regfee.

Yeah, it sucks since I really can't afford $1200 as a student and I tried to negotiate with the domain owner by designing websites for him (his website looks very unprofessional and unwelcoming) and I also gave him an offer of $200. I doubt anyone else will give him an offer more than that since his asking price is already $1200... it would be very coincidental for someone with my surname and last name initial wanting to pay that sum for the domain.

I really don't know what to do.

 

[johname]

Did you make him/her an auction offer or an email offer? If you did an auction offer let it sit the full length of time that its valid (dont email them). If you offer $200 in an email and they dont counter you at all then its not looking good. Offering $200 could easly be the time and money they have in the name and your doing them no favors. Did you tell them you will do website work for them because their site "sucks" (I know you used kinder words lol) They might think your a punk college kid that needs a lesson or wants the name bad enough to eventally pay full price. Doing favors for domain name discounts is a last disparate try and it might be the thing that finished off the talks for the owner. (it makes them really believe $200 your max bid and they have zero interest selling that.)


Buy the name after college and you work for a year, or save money or move on to another name.

 

[DU]

There are domainers in the 5L market.

If it's registered since 1998 and a nice 5L, it may be that $1200 is not too far out of reality.

As an example:
http://domainshane.com/5l-dot-coms-further-secure-their-1500-3000-range/

 

[qayum]

Did you make him/her an auction offer or an email offer? If you did an auction offer let it sit the full length of time that its valid (dont email them). If you offer $200 in an email and they dont counter you at all then its not looking good. Offering $200 could easly be the time and money they have in the name and your doing them no favors. Did you tell them you will do website work for them because their site "sucks" (I know you used kinder words lol) They might think your a punk college kid that needs a lesson or wants the name bad enough to eventally pay full price. Doing favors for domain name discounts is a last disparate try and it might be the thing that finished off the talks for the owner. (it makes them really believe $200 your max bid and they have zero interest selling that.)


Buy the name after college and you work for a year, or save money or move on to another name.

He also replied saying my request was desperate and that $1200 for his "super domain" was a good price. I told him that I can offer him $200. Although, I spoke with him on the phone and I didn't sound too interested... but the email I composed to him after made me sound kind of desperate.

But FYI, I'm not in college yet. That's the reason why I can't really afford $1200 but I know it wouldn't be that price once I get that money in/after college.

There are domainers in the 5L market.

If it's registered since 1998 and a nice 5L, it may be that $1200 is not too far out of reality.

As an example:
http://domainshane.com/5l-dot-coms-further-secure-their-1500-3000-range/

Well... IMO, the domain isn't something that's pronounceable or "looking like a word" like some of the domains in the link above. It's like a word [4-letters] + a initial [1-letter].

It isn't related to someone with the first name and last initial who is a famous or historically known.

I'm just so frustrated! It may look like I would need to do further negotiation on the phone with the owner and borrow money from my parents to take on this "investment"?

 

[qayum]

Did you make him/her an auction offer or an email offer? If you did an auction offer let it sit the full length of time that its valid (dont email them). If you offer $200 in an email and they dont counter you at all then its not looking good. Offering $200 could easly be the time and money they have in the name and your doing them no favors. Did you tell them you will do website work for them because their site "sucks" (I know you used kinder words lol) They might think your a punk college kid that needs a lesson or wants the name bad enough to eventally pay full price. Doing favors for domain name discounts is a last disparate try and it might be the thing that finished off the talks for the owner. (it makes them really believe $200 your max bid and they have zero interest selling that.)


Buy the name after college and you work for a year, or save money or move on to another name.

He listed it on GoDaddy auctions for $1200 and his webpage has a reply box which indicates offers over $1000 accepted. He first called me with the phone number I provided and I told him that I wasn't interested in paying full $1200 and he was negligent on reducing the price. I emailed him later saying that I could offer him web design services in exchange... a desperate approach. But I did it in a nice way that made it sound like a fair proposal as I usually charge a few hundred dollars for full online web design services.

Here was his reply:

I can tell your are much more educated and sofisticated than to seek pitty and claim poverty to acquire this name.
XXXXZ.com is a super domain name.
Short, sweet, easy to remeber.  SEO would take about 2 minutes and its a dot com!
This name is well worth the 1200.00 asking price. 
Google keyword tools:
"XXXXZ"  14,800 monthly global searches, 9,900 local monthly searches
Its a awesome name and it will never be any cheaper. 
I have listed the name at Godaddy .com auctions.  Here is the link:
https://auctions.godaddy.com/trpItemListing.aspx?&miid=########

FYI, I am in my last year of high school and I'm going into business/marketing so I figure that it could be a good investment in a domain/email that'll be memorable.

I don't know should I put down the money and talk serious business?

There are domainers in the 5L market.

If it's registered since 1998 and a nice 5L, it may be that $1200 is not too far out of reality.

As an example:
http://domainshane.com/5l-dot-coms-further-secure-their-1500-3000-range/

It's not exactly a "nice" 5L domain. Not a single pronounceable word like all the domains in the above link.

More like 4 letter semi/un-common first name + 1 letter uncommon last initial.

 

[Name Trader]

Go with the .org. It will improve your bargaining position as well, coz now you don't need the domain, and it's only a blog and $8 reg fee. Since when do students have business cards? Orgs look great on business cards too.

 

[DU]

Go with the .org. It will improve your bargaining position as well, coz now you don't need the domain, and it's only a blog and $8 reg fee. Since when do students have business cards? Orgs look great on business cards too.

Gave similar advice via a series of PMs. The .COM isn't always necessary and in this instance I don't believe it is.

Everyone should have a business card. if nothing else you can could win free lunch at local pizza places.

I have two with me at all times - one with my photo and one for business. Never leave home without it.

 

[Name Trader]

Gave similar advice via a series of PMs. The .COM isn't always necessary and in this instance I don't believe it is.

Everyone should have a business card. if nothing else you can could win free lunch at local pizza places.

I have two with me at all times - one with my photo and one for business. Never leave home without it.

Are you saying it's a commercially viable proposition to print business cards in order to win pizzas?

 

[DU]

Are you saying it's a commercially viable proposition to print business cards in order to win pizzas?

Every restaurant has a jar for a free lunch (in exchange for contact details).

I won a lunch for 10 once before.

Doesn't support a business, but it supports a team for one day

But... business cards are an essential part of today's business settings. More so than ever before, I'd say.

I always have two, as I said.

One I design from top down as a conversation starter that is a real business logo / tagline.
One I actually have a b&w image of me on it (very small in the corner). At social events it helps contacts to tie card to face.

Don't use a standard "Vistaprint" default.. make a card represent you. It makes a HUGE difference. You can make great custom cards for < $20. A standard card says "I'm not innovative or Creative"

If you want one of mine I'll send you one - but in return I want a pizza

---------- Post added at 05:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:27 PM ----------

Added - a plug for NP:

It's really worth considering a custom logo considering that here at NP you can get some great logos done for < $50. There are plenty of graphic designers who can help online all over the place.

Think of it like a temporary business tattoo

 

[johname]

Anyone that spells it sofisticated in an business email asking for $1200 you haven't heard the last from this person. lol

The fact is if you think this is a name you would use all your life(its a form of your name) and you do get people paying $200 to work on their sites then the price is fair to you (still try to get it lower) and you just need a plan to save to buy it.

 

[qayum]

Every restaurant has a jar for a free lunch (in exchange for contact details).

I won a lunch for 10 once before.

Doesn't support a business, but it supports a team for one day

But... business cards are an essential part of today's business settings. More so than ever before, I'd say.

I always have two, as I said.

One I design from top down as a conversation starter that is a real business logo / tagline.
One I actually have a b&w image of me on it (very small in the corner). At social events it helps contacts to tie card to face.

Don't use a standard "Vistaprint" default.. make a card represent you. It makes a HUGE difference. You can make great custom cards for < $20. A standard card says "I'm not innovative or Creative"

If you want one of mine I'll send you one - but in return I want a pizza

Could you please post/PM a sample of your card? I have to get on this free pizza thing... but here's the pizza that you've requested:

(Wow, what? No IMG BBcode on NP?)

---------- Post added at 02:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:34 PM ----------

Anyone that spells it sofisticated in an business email asking for $1200 you haven't heard the last from this person. lol

The fact is if you think this is a name you would use all your life(its a form of your name) and you do get people paying $200 to work on their sites then the price is fair to you (still try to get it lower) and you just need a plan to save to buy it.

Yeah, that is why I tried to imply that he seems to be new to the trade. His "day-time" job is a painter/washer.

I PM'ed defaultuser with the specifics and he suggested to me that the domain owner's only client would be me because the name is not relevant to a product/company/service or anyone else.

I proceeded in buying the same 5-letter name but with a different TLD (.CA) and I will email him through that address. I'll mention that the .CA is good enough for me and I'll give him the facts saying that his domain is not as valuable as he thinks it is. I am his only client and there is no value of the domain to anyone else except him and myself. I'll give him a offer of $300 (valid for 1 week)... he'll negotiate and say $500 and I'll take it.

Otherwise, I'm planning on waiting it out until the domain expires this December and hopefully he forgets to renew. Again, I realized, with the reminder of forum members who PM'ed me, that it's not the domain that makes up 100% of the SEO. I will start developing my personal site and give it some content then hopefully when the domain expires next year he'll come back saying I could have it for $300.

 

[DnEbook]

Going by the length of registration the owner has been 'married to it' for quite a while and will stand firm on their price and now they know you are interested they are possibly penciling in a sale ?

May have to pay the price or consider a lessor extention , good luck

 

[qayum]

Going by the length of registration the owner has been 'married to it' for quite a while and will stand firm on their price and now they know you are interested they are possibly penciling in a sale ?

May have to pay the price or consider a lessor extention , good luck

Not quite. I did some research and it seems the owner had only bought if for less than 1 year and got it off an auction for less than $200.

I would appreciate any responses on negotiating with this hardcore owner. FYI, he hasn't contacted me yet.

 

[interestedenough]

What about a domain name hack?

BartZa (dawt) ch

Think out of the box. Or if you must, contact the seller and let him know you don't have much coin. Make a little higher offer and let them know this is the max you can offer. The fact that the domain has existed since 1998 might mean that others have likely seen value (for whatever reason) in the domain you want.

However unprofessional his/her website looks, DO NOT mention it to them. If you are posting the real spelling of the domain, and the owner is a "domainer" understand that he/she might have already read this post. And, you might have already pissed he/she enough that the $200 have less value than keeping the domain out of your hands. In this case, look for alternatives.

 

[DnEbook]

Not quite. I did some research and it seems the owner had only bought if for less than 1 year and got it off an auction for less than $200.

I would appreciate any responses on negotiating with this hardcore owner. FYI, he hasn't contacted me yet.

I would try $400 because that would double his money also offer to pay escrow cost