1. If possible, let the other party make the first offer. If the offer is lower than you expected, make your high counter. If higher than expected counter reasonably above that as if you only have one chance, because you probably do.
2. "Yes, it's available. Please make an offer if you are a serious buyer." (serious buyer insinuates you won't accept low-ball "non-serioius" offers.
1. Consider what they likely pay in that industry for other types of promotion and give them the comparison. Examples: A boat show may cost a dealer $20,000 for a single week, however a domain can last the life of a business. A plumber may pay $2000 a year for a yellow page ad that runs only 12 months, when a domain can reach more people and again last the life of a business as well as not have to fit a quarter page and remain static for a year. A 30 second superbowl ad costs 2.6 million for a fleeting moment. It would be a shame to not promote a good domain after that type of marketing expense.
2. Counter with a not unreasonable counter offer. Not 30 times what they offered, but maybe 30% higher. Get an add-on. I've occassionally taken an offer a little lower than I wanted, but added the plural, another TLD, or similar domain at an extra 50-100% added to their original offer for the one domain, but as a package deal that's good for both parties. In one case, I got a low offer on a generic .info medical term name from a doctor, Before replying, I found another related unregistered domain he would surely be intersted in and countered with a package deal on both of them. He accepted, and could have gotten the second name at reg fee at the time of his original offer if he knew more about searching for available domains. We both ended up getting good deals.
It pays to find out info about the buyer if you can. Sedo and afternic ususally hide this information. However, with direct offers you can search their name, email address, ip number, the whois of similar domains, or just google their name to get some indication of their need. This week I received an unsolicited offer for a domain I've had for several years. Before just accepting, I did a little search to find the other TLD's of the name were all just registered recently by a company of the name in my domain. Knowing that, I countered with 3 times their offer. It was quickly accepted and I probably could have gotten more, but didn't want to chance it. However, I got more than I had it listed for sale on my own site which they apparently didn't see, but could have if they'd just googled the name.
