discuss Counter or no-counter on an opening offer?

[Soofi]

After over almost 2 decades in this industry, at times, I still fail to understand the endusers/buyers during negotiations and lose quite a few sales to the counter-strategy.

My question at hand is; Should we really counter to an opening offer or accept as it? What do most of you do?

So to build this discussion up and see what others have to say or suggest about this, recap on why I am interested to know what most of you do is because of this below mentioned situation/story:

Sold: FullertonLawFirm,com
Sale Price: $520
Venue: DAN
Listing type: Make Offer with Buy Now Price.
Sale type: Inbound

Registered for $5.49 at Epik from the daily drops list I prepare. Domain was held for 14 days.

Accepted an opening offer of $520 which came in this midnight/early morning (IST) via Dan where it was listed as make offer (minimum $500 which is my extreme lowest and minimum acceptable price) with buy now price of $1488.

I woke up a few moments ago, looked at the offer and sat thinking should I counter or accept this opening offer on a 2 week old domain name? You must be wondering why in the world was I thinking and should have countered for-sure since its an opening offer and my quick research also suggested the same, that it seems like a serious and genuine buyer who is operating on a+mydomain.com so he/she would be happy to have my asset for negotiated high $xxx to low $1xxx price point.

But let me share with you why I didn't counter, and I will literally think dozens of times before countering in the near future as well, at least to my daily drops hand-registered domain names, especially on DAN platform. This is because I have lost over 8 potential sales of similar names to a counter-strategy last month where buyer lost interest or disappeared. And guess what, my countered price was only mere $xxx price higher than their initial offer in most cases.

Oh and I think this is quite a fair price for 3 keyword domain name. Though I suck at negotiations, thoughts and suggestions here or through pm are genuinely welcome.

 

[AbdulBasit.com]

I always counter no matter what the domain, buyer, situation is.

 

[dninspire]

Your logic here is fair. We all (me) worry about leaving money on the table and accepting too low.

I have been guilty of not taking an offer when there were no other offers to be had. My reasoning was simply the domain was more valuable to that end user or the conclusion that the bidder was playing games regardless of worth.

There are names I which in retrospect I would have taken the $500 or $1000 or $3500 but I didn’t take it and that was that. Some went on to sell for same or a little more.

It’s tough to say. It’s so much easier as a broker to handle the negotiations IMO simply because you have a directive from the seller for asking and floor and you do your best and at the end of the day you know you did your job. When you’re the owner the valuation becomes a little bit cloudy.

If we all placed a starting high enough to be what we would settle for there would be no issues if the conversion is good enough for your business model/pockets however if the offers do not come because of the starting bid then that’s our risk.

 

[Avijit Roy]

I always accept the first offer, I have similar experience of losing deal because of counter offer.

 

[MasterOfMyDomains]

I got an offer of $301 for pickabud last week. Countered $750 at dan. Then i started thinking thats 400$ cad
I countered again at $301 and it was accepted. Looks nice that xxx in my paypal
Part reason financial but i have so many names 250 and never previous offer, glad it sold. Sometimes i accept to make buyer happy. We always want more

 

[Rob Monster]

Two thoughts:

1. Bulls make money. Bears make money. Pigs get slaughtered. If the opening offer is great, and your research indicates that the domain is useful but not mission-critical, then don't be a pig. Take your win.

2. If your research indicates that the domain owner has plenty of resource and the domain you own, e.g. .COM is absolutely strategic, then I would offer a lease and let the buyer reply.

Process-wise:

1. If you list your domains on Epik, we will show you all the contact details of your prospect as well as their IP address. This is helpful for researching who the buyer is.

2. If you want help closing deals that come through Epik, just ask me and will be happy to engage. As some folks here know, I have a decent close-rate.

Good luck!

 

[Sumeeth]

I think it is always best to counter offer with atleast 100 to 200$ more (without being greedy) when you are prepared to sell it for your first offer, as a chance that client always quote their minimum and keep some room to go upwards.. so little more price increase probably may close your deal and client may consider your offer..

Thanks,
Sumeeth

 

[Skyvisum]

It all depends.I look at keywords and companies that names would benefit.The higher the number of companies or enduser needing a upgrade determines some of my prices.Some if its brandable,i do my deep research and counter.I dont mind waiting if name surely is worth more and my need for cash for next purchase.

Received an offer of $1k on dan and countered.Buyer asked all these questions and I answered and then be went silent.Contacted dan for the contact info to revive the deal.Next offer was $5k and Thanks.I countered again that it was too low as name is worth 5 figures as there are many companies needing the upgrade and .co was already built into a good company.On further research,I learnt it was a company operating the niche using blockchain and they secured a series funding.I then knew i did the right thing countering.Deal goes on and name has been renewed for extra years.Yesterday i got a a starting offer from bodis $500.Countered $1100 as it was a .net and buyer simply told me to wait till next week where he would need to discuss purchase as he is interested.He never said no it was too high.I made a not too crazy counter.Fingers crossed,sale would be reported when deal is closed and money hits my account.

I always counter except its a bin and no make offer options.I know some sales take time and deals surely gets lost but experience is learnt from any lost sales.

2 words dictionary is the first domain..Net is a one word ending in "ing".

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

Overall, I don't care what they offer...
I always keep in mind my own appraisal... and if the buyer's Best Offer is suitable for me - I sell...
In other case: Bye... Next buyer please...

 

[lock]

After receiving offer you don't have to do anything as an option or you can put a buy it now on the site and and ask for an offer closer to asking price. You don't have to counter to get more money.
I wonder why people half their price in 5 minutes.

 

[winst]

A lot of negotiation is trial and error and read-about what others have done. I'm in the middle of a negotiation right now and this thread actually helped me put my thoughts in writing and cleared my head, helped me realize what was important to me: getting as much as I can from the limited inventory I have.

Today I can afford to wait longer for the best offer vs years ago I had to sell some domain names cheap to pay bills.

I value a domain names with 3 criteria:

• recently sold domain names of similar length/extension/keywords
• brand recognition if it were being used in a commercial
• prices of similar domain names by others

In addition, I'd also adjust my negotiation strategy based on who is making an offer. for example, if the buyer is an investor, then it is likely he or she is looking to buy at below market. A start-up with funding may be more flexible and offers more. A corporation may have a fixed budget but a quality name may help save marketing spend.

Sometimes a corporate buyer might be hiding behind a gmail account. But often the buyers' IP addresses gives clues who they are. Sometimes you can even google the email address or names to find the buyer's Linkedin profile. However, I'd caution that just because a buyer is from a big corporation, it does not mean big budget for domain names.

 

[Mister Funsky]

Should we really counter to an opening offer or accept as it? What do most of you do?

When I acquire a name...before anything...I determine what the name value is. If it is at least 3x the cost of the name, I purchase it and list it a bin with an opening offer at that level as a minimum.

An offer, regardless of when or where it comes from, must exceed that number before I spend one second considering a sale. At that that time (when I determine the offer is at least 3x) I will check recent sales and comparables using multiple public sources. If the offer is significantly less than what I determine the current value is,I will counter along with the supporting data. If not, I take the opening offer, thank them for their business and buy more names once the payment clears

 

[Mister Funsky]

I like your approach, though, would you mind sharing sharing on how do you get to 3x value of acquisition cost?

Just to put numbers in place, if the domain costed you $10, you would list it at $30 minimum and higher bin price?

I am old school...I look at cpc, visits, extensions taken, instinct etc. Yes, if not 3x or more at a minimum, to me, it is not worth tying up the money.

 

[Soofi]

No, I am too greedy and hence lost few sales. Once I received 2500€ for kart.ai domain as first offer but I countered with 5500€ considering the sales in .ai happening but buyer never replied me and i lost the sale .. I might have countered with 2750€ or so , in that case the case might be different.. lesson learnt..

Yeah have had the exact same experience on highly priced domain names, and thats what makes me think a lot of times on whether what is the right price to accept for a domain name.

I have a popular app domain name in .com where I received a $1000, $5000, $10,000, $20,000 & $25,000 after negotiations but I was hell bent on $75,000 reduced to $51,000 and sale didnt happen. When I went back to accept $25,000, buyer simply declined and lost interest!

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

For me it happens regularly...
Negotiations - the most important part of any sale, not landers or something else.

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

Even when I did my 1st enduser sale (.com.ua) in 2009 - opening offer of $200 was denied by me.
~2 days of negotiations - and the buyer agreed on my $600 BIN.

 

[frank-germany]

After over almost 2 decades in this industry, at times, I still fail to understand the endusers/buyers during negotiations and lose quite a few sales to the counter-strategy.

My question at hand is; Should we really counter to an opening offer or accept as it? What do most of you do?

So to build this discussion up and see what others have to say or suggest about this, recap on why I am interested to know what most of you do is because of this below mentioned situation/story:

in that scenario
accept

but often times
negotiation is the way to go


"God grant me the serenity to accept the inbound offers I cannot change, courage to change the inbound offers I can, and wisdom to know the difference."

 

[Soofi]

Your logic here is fair. We all (me) worry about leaving money on the table and accepting too low.

I have been guilty of not taking an offer when there were no other offers to be had. My reasoning was simply the domain was more valuable to that end user or the conclusion that the bidder was playing games regardless of worth.

There are names I which in retrospect I would have taken the $500 or $1000 or $3500 but I didn’t take it and that was that. Some went on to sell for same or a little more.

It’s tough to say. It’s so much easier as a broker to handle the negotiations IMO simply because you have a directive from the seller for asking and floor and you do your best and at the end of the day you know you did your job. When you’re the owner the valuation becomes a little bit cloudy.

If we all placed a starting high enough to be what we would settle for there would be no issues if the conversion is good enough for your business model/pockets however if the offers do not come because of the starting bid then that’s our risk.

You have summed it quite well here.

There are times when we counter and there is no response or interest shown by enduser. But when we accept an offer, and buyer goes through with it, we start thinking on the lines of whether we left money on the table, etc..

I think at the end of the day, it all boils down to your gut feel and whether you are satisfied with the price point you have gotten or not.

Human nature, I guess.. will we ever be satisfied? lol

 

[Avijit Roy]

What has been your soft spot, pricing your domain names and how much price-wise do you counter?

Most of my sales are low XXX, my sweet spot is $150- $199.

 

[Soofi]

I got an offer of $301 for pickabud last week. Countered $750 at dan. Then i started thinking thats 400$ cad
I countered again at $301 and it was accepted. Looks nice that xxx in my paypal
Part reason financial but i have so many names 250 and never previous offer, glad it sold. Sometimes i accept to make buyer happy. We always want more

You have nailed my thoughts with this post.

We are alway looking for more, and the reason why we tend to lose whats there in our hand (read: offers).

Isnt it better to have $500 offered for a $5 hand registration rather than trying to be greedy and seek more? Of course, if name demands more, you should justify it with your ask or else buyer will simply run away thinking "he's nuts!".

 

[Sumeeth]

Thanks Sumeeth, though haven't had fair success in that approach and the reason why I am tempted to bite the first offer.

Have you had a different experience in this situation?

No, I am too greedy and hence lost few sales. Once I received 2500€ for kart.ai domain as first offer but I countered with 5500€ considering the sales in .ai happening but buyer never replied me and i lost the sale .. I might have countered with 2750€ or so , in that case the case might be different.. lesson learnt..

 

[Skyvisum]

Your experience sharing is invaluable and with detailed examples make it all the more valid.

Though, we can counter all we want, there are times when you need to crack some sales to be financially even as you stated above "my need for cash fr next purchase" or renewals.

Also it is important to note that if the domain does not benefit plenty of endusers and limited in number, we might be better off taking the initial first offer which is reasonably set at our minimum ask. Thoughts?

If the domain will not benefit plenty of endusers.I set a bin and leave it there,so no need to counter..When I hand reg heiritage dot com during a play on word by switching "r" and "i" and then an extra to make sure it sounded like heritage ,i knew i just need to add a bin and let it go as i didnt want to waste time countering or waiting for first offer to counter.Just set a reasonable bin and let it fly.

 

[DnFolk]

I always counter which has mostly worked for me, though yes i have lost few sales doing that but overall it has benefitted me, at dan like platform though i am finding extremely tough doing that after putting my all domains in make offer. As after countering losing my 90% of sales with potential buyers disappearing or losing interest probably and not responding thats why i want @Reza to give us an option of accepting first offer immediately if counter offer is rejected. I have heard @Epik.com shares the contact details right from the go, i feel dan should also at least when buyer doesn’t respond in certain time. I will try @Epik.com in upcoming days.

 

[Skyvisum]

I always counter no matter what the domain, buyer, situation is.

I go back to reread your negotiation tactics from time to time .You have got guts.I suggest others go check on your past sales and how you closed. I actually got more interested in my early domaining journey by reading from your blogs and i still go back .5 to 6 figures takes a lot and constant 5 figures helps boost a lot .

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

I always accept the first offer, I have similar experience of losing deal because of counter offer.

Never for me.

Just one example...
I can recall some NL buyer on Sedo with opening bid of 100 EUR for 4L.in (handreg, nothing special) - I countered...
Then were few other bids - and few other counter offers from me...
Few days of bidding overall...
Finally I closed this sale at 2,400 EUR.