offers Dealing with very low offers: Flat out reject or offer/counter ?

[NYJimbo]

When dealing with a domain that you have up for BIN on a sales platform and that is priced below $1,000 and you get a pitiful offer like $50 or $100, do you find it better to just flat out reject and wait for a counter offer or to respond with a lower price than BIN ? I mean what do you find to be best response to the buyer on average.

I'm not talking about a hot or liquid domain, but something you think has value but does not look like big money.
This is also for a platform where you do not have the ability to talk to the buyer, but just do the offer/counter offer thing.

Any comments, ideas, etc appreciated.

 

[Brands.International]

The best way to deal with low-ball offers is not allow them to happen in first place...they will only annoy you.

Put minimum 500 or 1k at your settings (for example, I use undeveloped for many of my domains, and I simply setup 500 minimum for all my names there, period). This eliminates fellow domain investors giving you $50 offers on your best names, you can live without that easily

 

[okmachan]

If it was on sedo, I’d check the buyers information to to see the account creation date. If he is new he is a probably an end user. Otherwise a reseller like us.

 

[BrandPlease]

Here is an actual response I sent yesterday to a low-ball, but I felt "real", offer. Because this person took the time to write a few sentences about why I should consider their price - I believe they deserve a thoughtful response. If it is clearly non-sense fishing offer I wouldn't take the time, but I would never waste an opportunity to be be professional and offer as much as I can to anyone who reached out, sincerely.

(identifying info removed & price shouldn't matter, but it was xxx offer for a xxxx name, typical.)

"Thank you for your response & all the best in your search - we are a bit too far off on price to come to an agreement, it seems.

As a start up, your domain will make a huge initial and ongoing impact on your business. The cost to promote, advertise, & market your new business, your brand, and give yourself a good shot at success - changes (greatly) based on your domain name. Just a big big point that many overlook, & I am not trying to pitch you on this name - you have made you cost constraints clear - just passing on something to work into your launch/marketing budget and make sure you are not, possibly, overlooking your brand name as a true top level marketing line item.

Good luck and keep my site around, there are tons of free resources, geared towards start ups, even free SEO tools that you are welcome to check out and use. & Feel free to touch base anytime in the future if I can assist in any Domain, Branding, or Design efforts.

Thanks,
Brian"

 

[J Sokol]

That's a nice note @DnameAgame - informative and respectful. I also like the fact that you offered other resources to the buyer.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Fantastic letter @DnameAgame - thanks for sharing! Things I liked in particular:

1. In first sentence it points out far apart in price, but note that it does not assign who is wrong on price. I think the respect this shows is smart!
2. I like the generic nature of the paragraph on why the right domain name is important. Strikes just the right tone to me!
3. As @J Sokol says, your site offering general resources really works well with the third paragraph.
4. The final sentence nice positive non-pushy way to end letter. Leaves door open.

It is great! Thanks!

When the offer is closer to your expected price, would you add information on comparator sales that support the price asked, or do you not share that sort of detailed information via email?

Bob

 

[frank-germany]

I always respond educating about the value of domain names as such

some people simply have no clue

 

[Kate]

Put minimum 500 or 1k at your settings (for example, I use undeveloped for many of my domains, and I simply setup 500 minimum for all my names there, period). This eliminates fellow domain investors giving you $50 offers on your best names, you can live without that easily

I don't want to set a BIN on all names, I do that for decent but not uberpremium names (<= 2K or so). If you set a minimum offer amount, the other party expects that your desired price is more or less in the same range. I don't want to cap the offers we receive. On the occasion we received generous offers, well above expectations. Had we set a BIN or minimum offer amount - the other party would have been less generous.
I want to be able to assess each offer in its own context.

I always respond educating about the value of domain names as such

some people simply have no clue

Does it work ? I think end users either get it or they don't. We can't spend too much time trying to 'educate' them. They often have a budget in mind and are not ready to increase it drastically.

 

[BrandPlease]

Hi @Bob Hawkes, Yes, based on the (how to say) domain savvy the person displays in their initial message ,it will change how I respond. I try to respond in a way that is helpful to what I can guess is important to them and not try to sell them, rather offer to help, and let them tell me what they need (to close the deal). I am not a pushy sales person - really I'm not a sales person, but have been pretending to be one for a while now. hahahaha.

In this case, if the offer were within , say 65+% of my BIN, it would be a far more detailed response. Including comps, market info (if applicable), initial TM, & analytics stats (if appropriate - maybe not in a pure brandable, for example.)

I think I have a template that I had posted (on NP) sometime back. I will look for it and update (its been a while) if needed, and post back to this message. Ill try to dig it up later tonight.

Thanks for the feedback, it is very much appreciated.

Brian

 

[Brands.International]

I don't want to set a BIN on all names, I do that for decent but not uberpremium names (<= 2K or so). If you set a minimum offer amount, the other party expects that your desired price is more or less in the same range. I don't want to cap the offers we receive. On the occasion we received generous offers, well above expectations. Had we set a BIN or minimum offer amount - the other party would have been less generous.
I want to be able to assess each offer in its own context.


Does it work ? I think end users either get it or they don't. We can't spend too much time trying to 'educate' them. They often have a budget in mind and are not ready to increase it drastically.

There is something to this approach as well, it sounds reasonable. I might try this as well.
But then you need to deal with lot of low ball offers I assume...

 

[frank-germany]

Does it work ? I think end users either get it or they don't. We can't spend too much time trying to 'educate' them. They often have a budget in mind and are not ready to increase it drastically.

better then rejecting them

 

[DomainRecap]

I really hate those "we have a lead" taunts that you get from Afternic, as they never pan out to anything other than a potential legal threat being emailed your way if they don't like your price.

 

[frank-germany]

I really hate those "we have a lead" taunts that you get from Afternic, as they never pan out to anything other than a potential legal threat being emailed your way if they don't like your price.

not my exerience

 

[BrandZen]

I respond to all offers politely with a counter. The really bad opening offers usually disappear.

 

[Jonathan MacDermid]

I have to admit I am one of the low ballers on Sedo.
My thoughts are that if you set the minimum offer at $100 for what is a liquid name, i will send a low ball offer of between $100 and $200.

I do not expect a response from 99.9% of the offers I send like this but there is always the possibility of reaching someone who does not know the value of the domain or quite simply is in need of quick cash. This does happen and I have made a few hundred dollars per time on transactions like this where I can flip the domains wholesale within 24 hours.

So apologies if I have sent this type of offer to any of you in the past but my advice would be to increase your minimum offer amount as this indicates to someone like myself that you indeed have an idea of the value of the domain and if they are serious in wanting to acquire the domain, they will still make an offer but one starting at a higher amount.

 

[DomainBarracksRob]

I had a rather strange offer last week on GD 2 Word .Network

MyWorld ( .Network) $70

I countered low xxxx

Haven't heard back... Same on (4kpov) .com $88 (2weeks ago)counter mid xxxx nothing

Most Low ball , actually all my low ball offers have never come back after I counter!

 

[frank-germany]

I have to admit I am one of the low ballers on Sedo.
My thoughts are that if you set the minimum offer at $100 for what is a liquid name, i will send a low ball offer of between $100 and $200.

I do not expect a response from 99.9% of the offers I send like this but there is always the possibility of reaching someone who does not know the value of the domain or quite simply is in need of quick cash. This does happen and I have made a few hundred dollars per time on transactions like this where I can flip the domains wholesale within 24 hours.

So apologies if I have sent this type of offer to any of you in the past but my advice would be to increase your minimum offer amount as this indicates to someone like myself that you indeed have an idea of the value of the domain and if they are serious in wanting to acquire the domain, they will still make an offer but one starting at a higher amount.

how do you react when somebody counters like $xxxx USD ?

 

[Jonathan MacDermid]

how do you react when somebody counters like $xxxx USD ?

Depends on whether I was actively seeking the name or just hitting it because it is a liquid name at that time ie 4L.com etc. If I am actively seeking it then I will negotiate, if it is a random liquid then I may either close the offer or send one final offer closer to wholesale value.

 

[Bannen]

My magic response is:

"I wouldn't sell this domain for anywhere near that price range, but thank you, I do appreciate every offer."

I type that in, like a broken record repeating itself, to every lowball offer. No long explanations, I don't want to waste my time or theirs. I call it my 'magic' response because it includes everything needed: One very short sentence, polite and gracious, lets them know they're not in the ballpark, leaves the door open for them to ask what the price range is or to come back with a higher offer.

If they're truly only interested in their lowball price, they don't email back. If they're a serious buyer, they'll email asking what price range I'd sell for. Usually that does not end up in a sale either... but occasionally it does.

*Note that the above only applies to when they're WAY off the mark, like making a $20 offer for a domain I've listed at x,xxx. But if they send a lowball offer for a domain that I have listed in the low or mid xxx range, then I'll tell them that price and try negotiate a little. Getting a $50 offer up to $400 isn't unrealistic, so it's worth a little effort;

But trying to get a $50 offer up to $5,000 is pretty much a waste of effort, so I don't even try, I just type in my magic sentence

 

[Jonathan MacDermid]

My magic response is:

"I wouldn't sell this domain for anywhere near that price range, but thank you, I do appreciate every offer."

I type that in, like a broken record repeating itself, to every lowball offer. No long explanations, I don't want to waste my time or theirs. I call it my 'magic' response because it includes everything needed: One very short sentence, polite and gracious, lets them know they're not in the ballpark, leaves the door open for them to ask what the price range is or to come back with a higher offer.

If they're truly only interested in their lowball price, they don't email back. If they're a serious buyer, they'll email asking what price range I'd sell for. Usually that does not end up in a sale either... but occasionally it does.

*Note that the above only applies to when they're WAY off the mark, like making a $20 offer for a domain I've listed at x,xxx. But if they send a lowball offer for a domain that I have listed in the low or mid xxx range, then I'll tell them that price and try negotiate a little. Getting a $50 offer up to $400 isn't unrealistic, so it's worth a little effort;

But trying to get a $50 offer up to $5,000 is pretty much a waste of effort, so I don't even try, I just type in my magic sentence

Nice message to send but may I ask why do you allow such low offers to begin with. If you will never accept them, why not set a higher minimum or state on your enquiry page that offers under a certain amount will not be responded to?

 

[frank-germany]

Nice message to send but may I ask why do you allow such low offers to begin with. If you will never accept them, why not set a higher minimum or state on your enquiry page that offers under a certain amount will not be responded to?

it's better to talk to people
so you negotiate
then scaring them away