End user want to buy my LLLL.com need advice!

[Stargazer]

I got contacted by a Chinese company that will change it's company name soon and they want my LLLL.com. The name is not considered premium in English language. It contains only consonants. The company have a annual revenue of about $5 - 10 Million USD. The person that mailed me is the CEO secretary.

I need some helpful advice from anyone that have been in this situation and can give me insight on how to best move forward.

How high should my initial offer be?

Cheers!

 

[ibidu]

How could anyone give you any proper advice without seeing the domain?!


Anyhow, I would ask them to make an offer first.

 

[Stargazer]

How could anyone give you any proper advice without seeing the domain?!


Anyhow, I would ask them to make an offer first.

I don't need an appraisal for this particular LLLL.com. The letter quality, Premium vs non premium is not the issue here since the domain has a special meaning and value to the company that want it as they will change their name to this exact domain name!

I'm asking more how you go about negotiating a price with a large corporation. The dos and dont's

What is your personal experience?

 

[ibidu]

Well, I haven't actually been in this situation before but if I were you I would not commit myself first, specially so that you're dealing with a rich potential buyer - this could be the opportunity that you've been waiting for - so you should be bold & stand your ground - you have nothing to lose because in normal circumstances this domain is not really worth that much so that if the deal fell through you wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

Again, if I were in this situation and a couple of grand didn't mean that much to me, I would try to go for the kill.

 

[lennco]

I don't need an appraisal for this particular LLLL.com. The letter quality, Premium vs non premium is not the issue here since the domain has a special meaning and value to the company that want it as they will change their name to this exact domain name!

I'm asking more how you go about negotiating a price with a large corporation. The dos and dont's

What is your personal experience?

Well without telling us the name and wanting an appraisal its hard for us to tell you what's a good starting point for you negotiations.

So, either ask them to make an offer (say, I will consider all serious offers) or you tell them a price and when sending your asking price add 20% to 30% more so you have room to come down to your actual price.

 

[Stargazer]

Well without telling us the name and wanting an appraisal its hard for us to tell you what's a good starting point for you negotiations.

So, either ask them to make an offer (say, I will consider all serious offers) or you tell them a price and when sending your asking price add 20% to 30% more so you have room to come down to your actual price.

Thanks for all your thoughts!

I'm leaning towards asking them to make an offer.

The name is not pronounceable. So it's hard to know how large initial offer i can make without insulting them. 100k, 50k or 10k?

Any more advice or anyone else have personal experiences they want to share? I'm all ears

 

[ibidu]

The fact that anyone else has been in this situation should be irrelevant.

Every case is unique in domain trading.

Facts are:

1- Your domain in a normal case is not worth that much.

2- Your buyer is very rich

3- Your buyer contacted you first

So you have all the winning cards in your hand and ask them to make you an offer and if it was below 1k, I would counter them a much much higher price or keep telling them you cannot sell the domain for that price and study their next move very carefully and take it further from there...until you're happy you've got the maximum amount from them.

This is your big chance to make some decent money. (most people would have been happy to sell iReport.com for 50k but Rick Schawrtz sold it for 750k!!)

 

[Name Trader]

$5-$10 Million isn't a huge company by any means. Most companies won't pay you 10% of their revenue for a domain name. There maybe exception if they see huge growth after acquisition. But I think the chances of that are very slim to none. They contacted you, so it really means they should go first with an offer. It sounds like they legitimately want the domain. Depending on their offer I would counter between $10K-$25K. You should only sell the domain thru Escrow.com. Have they already changed their name or will they only do that after acquisition. If the latter, you are in a much weaker position. Keep us informed.

 

[Stargazer]

$5-$10 Million isn't a huge company by any means. Most companies won't pay you 10% of their revenue for a domain name. There maybe exception if they see huge growth after acquisition. But I think the chances of that are very slim to none. They contacted you, so it really means they should go first with an offer. It sounds like they legitimately want the domain. Depending on their offer I would counter between $10K-$25K. You should only sell the domain thru Escrow.com. Have they already changed their name or will they only do that after acquisition. If the latter, you are in a much weaker position. Keep us informed.

Great advice thanks!

The company will be renamed soon they claim. They asked me for an offer so i feel inclined to give them one but still not decided if i'm gonna bounce back the ball to them asking for a reasonable offer?

 

[infmoney]

I would let them make the first offer since they contacted you first. Maybe they are willing to pay xx,xxx and you say x,xxx.

 

[decades80]

Great advice thanks!

The company will be renamed soon they claim. They asked me for an offer so i feel inclined to give them one but still not decided if i'm gonna bounce back the ball to them asking for a reasonable offer?

Yes as you were told here, they should give you the reasonable/best offer first. The info you gave us is sufficient to conclude that theyve already invested some money in "renaming" the company. So I guess they are quite into your name.

 

[Kate]

"Make us an offer we cannot refuse"

 

[NPer]

"Make us an offer we cannot refuse"

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeldwfOwuL8"]I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse - YouTube[/ame]

 

[SlimPickins]

there are a lot of factors here and things I would want to know before giving an actual "opinion"/advise such as:

1) you mentioned that they are worth a certain amount.... did you research and verify this yourself, and verify that the person contacting you is actually FROM this company, or was that info "included"/shared in the initial inquiry email? Are they using an official business email to contact you?

2) Is the company primarily/exclusively doing business in China/asia, or are they a global company, with their current website also catering to foreign viewers?

3) do you know what they are renaming their company to specifically, and ideally why?

4) Have you looked to see whether they already have the .cn etc of your LLLL?

I am sure I have other questions but that is for starters, at least things for you to consider while formulating a reply if you have not already done so. But, based on the answers to those questions, if it were my situation, I would be looking at their current website, getting an idea how important the "online presence" currently is for the company, and seeing what the other options are in their more "local" extension are currently like. Ideally another company is already using them! If they are primarily a domestic/local business, with no real foreign market, that might diminish the "gotta have the .com" aspect from their perspective and too high of a price might push them to use a cheaper/available extension that still works for the local consumer. IF they are more global, then that is one more point in your favor. I would be compiling a list of impressive LLLL .com sales, specifically to Chinese businesses if possible, to reference if negotiating does not go in the price direction you want. Show them how important other dominant Chinese businesses viewed securing the .com as and what price range they were willing to do it at. Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[pick.pk]

let them make an offer....

 

[Jasonn]

just keep in mind that even if they have a lot of money it doesn't mean they are willing to spend a lot on a domain. some are but more aren't.

 

[Kate]

^^ It's true, even the big corporations have limited budgets for everything.
Beyond a certain threshold your contact may need authorization from above or they could flat our refuse, unless they absolutely must own the domain. At some point it can be more cost-effective for them to sue or go for UDRP, not saying this is right but some bullies will may be tempted to do so.

 

[copper]

Tell them...

I have plan to develop "LLLL.com".
However, send me the offer I can't refuse
and I'll certainly consider it.

Regards,
Your Name.

I once sold LLLLL.com for $5K.
It's random letters and not pronounceable.
No one will pay more than $5 if I post that domain here for sale.
I paid $1 reg. fee at Godaddy with $1 coupon code.

Buyer's first offer was $150
I told them I won't sell it for that amount
since I've been gathering contents for it to develop for few months.

I told them $150 isn't good enough to change my plan for the domain.
I told them I may reconsider my plan if they send me the offer I can not refuse.

They replied back with $5K and deal was done within 24 hours.

 

[Domainace]

I would let them make an offer first, and tell them you weren't really eager to sell.

As Stub said, 10-20M revenue does not sound like a "very rich" buyer to me. Sounds like a successful small business.

Also, I wouldn't worry about the contact needing authorization. The contact is the CEO's secretary. That means the query came from the CEO - he just had his secretary send it.

But, read SlimPickin's post. Also remember that the CEO of this company may have other business interests, and could possibly be much wealthier than this company's revenue would suggest. Chinese often have several businesses going.

Also consider your own needs. Domainers who sell domains for the highest possible figure have to go through a lot of lost deals before they get a hit. If 3-5K will help a lot, just go for that. If you can afford to gamble, aim higher.

 

[stingrae]

It is very simple. In negotiating, he who makes the first the bid is at a disadvantage.

Get them to make an offer.