Domain Name Negotiation Tactics (How To Make A Sale Or How To Mess It Up)

[Magicpig2]

I've recently been complaining there's not enough support and advice on how to close a deal when negotiating the price of a domain name so I thought I'd get the ball rolling. But firstly, these are (supposedly) the top 4 relevant rules when negotiating, (most of which I broke as seen below!)

1.Don't Negotiate (unless you need to).

2. Never Negotiate With Yourself (ie don't round down your offer to make it more acceptable to the other party).

3. Never Accept The First Offer (when someone puts an offer on the table, there's always a better offer behind it).

4. Never Make The First Offer (if you can avoid it).


I found this in my domain folder from last year. I contacted a website selling 3d printed articles and asked if they'd be interested in purchasing my domain. This is the reply I got:

Hello Luke, good afternoon.

Thank you for reaching out to sell us your domain as you can tell were working hard to grow ######.com and are working to trademark and IP the site.
Do you own #######.com (singular) too?
If you have ######.com and ######.com (the singular and plural) I will give you $50 for each, or otherwise if your planning on domain squatting or revenue business scheme that could crash our company you have initiated an email conversation this is your first warning and I have copied the correct parties.
Let me know how you stand.

I was like WTF!! So I replied:

Hi #######, I would like to say thanks for getting back to me, but I'm afraid your aggressive stance doesn't warrant it. I don't own #######.com (singular) which is for sale at alot more than I am asking for #######.com. Feel free to take out UDRP's on both names, it'll cost you more in the long run to do so. All the same, good luck with your business venture...

He repled:

Thank you Luke I will take your word for it that you will not pursue ruining the lives that work at ######.com.
If you want to sell your domain name ######.com I will buy for $333.

So suddenly I get a genuine offer...

Hi #######, I appreciate the offer but due to the exchange rate, $333 doesn't translate into any real profit for me and my business partner. I have the domain name listed on Afternic.com for $9500 with the intention to sell it onto a large firm, who I think in time will fully embrace 3d printing to design and distribute this product etc, (hence I think you potentially have a great business model here). I've also listed it on Sedo at a much lower price of $1200 with your startup in mind. I sold Printedfood.com for $2500 recently, but I think '######' are going to capture the public imagination long before printed pizzas hit the marketplace! Anyway, would be nice to close a deal with you if possible.

He replied:

We cannot pay $1000 my offering of $333 was to offer something reasonable before we have to take matters further. You wrote us we did not come to you and selling personal or business names back to people is getting a lot more press these days.

(Another threat!)

Hi #######. As I said, $333 for ######.com is less than I'm willing to part with it for, and as I said earlier, feel free to "take matters further"....

The response:

What is your bottom line on price?

My response:

$1200 is what I'm willing to hold out for, if you genuinely are intent on buying it I'll knock off $150 but that's it. Not interested in $700, $800, $900 etc.

There was no response for 4 days and as I was impatient to sell I got back with:

Hi ########. If it's of any interest to you, I've reconsidered my bottom line price and re-posted ######.com on Sedo.com for $800.

This soon after:

Luke thank you for writing, I offered $500. Seeing you approached us I want to make it clear, if you do not want to accept my $500 please make it a point to advise the next person your selling this domain to you have spoken to me, written to me and are trying to sell this name knowing full well our intention. I have been advised that you will be subject to 3 conditions of arbitration, you do not have to disclose if you own other similar domains around our business plan unless you have registered more since you approached us. Where you reside is irrelevant if your caught working to infringing on a copy write trademark name under the International agreement of ICANN. Again if you are working to shut us down and to see this domain to a competitor please be aware you are affecting more than just me.

This is all too much....

Hi ######, thanks for getting back. Look, I'd like you to be the next owner of ######.com and because of that I dropped the price by $400. My last and final price is $750. I appreciate it if you still don't want to pay that amount but I've done the best I can for you.

Sincerely, Luke.

His reply:

Luke everyone is on pins and needles waiting for what could happen in the future. I think we're done.


My reply:

No worries ######. Was nice (nearly) doing business with you.

So basically, I think I did pretty miserably in securing the price that I wanted for the domain, and gave in too quickly, too often.

Anyone else have a negotiation transcript they'd care to post?

 

[stocks]

You have more patience then me, this guy sounded like a real douche. Depending on the domain and how bad you wanted to sell it versus hanging on to it I think I would have just told him the price and that's that.

A couple weeks ago someone emailed me about a domain. The domain had actually expire a couple weeks before and I wasn't going to renew it but I renewed it after I got the email. Heres how it all went.

He emailed me and asked me if I was interested in selling this domain. I said ya I'd possibly be interested so feel free to leave an offer (getting him to make the first offer).

He said he didn't know so he looked it up on Valuate and it said $180 so he said he would step up and offer me $250.

I did some research on the email account he contacted me with and it was connected to a twitter account that led to me to another twitter account that led me to a website and the reason he wanted the domain. He had a small website on the same words as my domain but with hyphens.

After knowing this I said I appreciate the offer but it's worth more to me and I had plans to develop it. I said I'd probably let it go for $750 hoping for him to counter with $500 or something like that.

He came back with $700 and I accepted. Not bad for a domain I had let expire.

 

[freedom30]

...maybe someone here had info on this. I think it costs a complainant 1200 dollars to initiate a UDRP, right or wrong? Is that for 1 panel board or 3 member?

Thanks, any info on this is appreciated...

 

[discobull]

Thank you Luke I will take your word for it that you will not pursue ruining the lives that work at ######.com.
If you want to sell your domain name ######.com I will buy for $333.

Funny stuff. In other words, "Our business and our lives hang in the balance, but we're only willing to spend 300 bucks to save both." :D

 

[Magicpig2]

Funny stuff. In other words, "Our business and our lives hang in the balance, but we're only willing to spend 300 bucks to save both." :D

In one sense, I think it's worth ignoring anything written during negotiations. That it's best to take note of the amounts offered and the time it takes the buyer to counteroffer. Phrases like 'this is my final offer' or 'I'll sue your ass if you don't hand it over' tend to be empty threats (most of the time) and one shouldn't be swayed or intimidated by such comments.

 

[Name Trader]

...maybe someone here had info on this. I think it costs a complainant 1200 dollars to initiate a UDRP, right or wrong? Is that for 1 panel board or 3 member?

Thanks, any info on this is appreciated...

Thats the one panelist do-it-yourself price without any lawyers.

 

[carob]

these are (supposedly) the top 4 relevant rules when negotiating, (most of which I broke as seen below!)

The most basic one is know what is the lowest price you will accept, or the highest price you will pay if buying.