Found an End User for a Domain. What to do now?

[namekart]

Hi,


I have a domain name Zipbags.com. The Estibot Valuation for this domain is $7000.

For selling this, I had sent out a lot of mails to users who had registered similar domains, specifying an asking price of $495.

Now, one of the guys has replied back from an email id of the type <[email protected]>. I noticed that this company manufactures Zip Bags, and hence, they could pay me much more than my asking price.

I do not want to lose this buyer. At the sale time, I want to get the true worth of this domain.

1. How much do you think I should sell it for?
2. How do I ask more than my initial asking price?
3. How do I negotiate with them? Are there any established email templates for negotiation with corporate End Users?
4. Should I continue to deal with them on email or should I call them up?


Thanks.

 

[sharjeep]

For selling this, I had sent out a lot of mails to users who had registered similar domains, specifying an asking price of $495.

Now, one of the guys has replied back from an email id of the type <[email protected]>. I noticed that this company manufactures Zip Bags, and hence, they could pay me much more than my asking price.

Just need to clarify this in my head...

You wrote and offered him the name for $495 and when he responds, you want to up the price?

 

[Erdy]

You can not backtrack on the price you gave. This is just unprofessional.

The next time you can start at a higher price like 895, then wait two months and email again and offer for 695, and two more months later for 495 and then stop emailing. However this time you should stick with the price you gave.

 

[Ja$on]

Agree with these guys, you can only negotiate down from your asking, not more.

 

[Chris]

2. How do I ask more than my initial asking price?
3. How do I negotiate with them? Are there any established email templates for negotiation with corporate End Users?
4. Should I continue to deal with them on email or should I call them up?

As everyone else has already mentioned in the thread, once you contact an end user with a price...then you can't up it once they contact back. That would be very unprofessional and make you look bad which would most likely make you lose out on the sale. Before contacting an end user do some research on that company and price the name according to what you feel they would pay for it (or leave the price out and make them throw an offer out to you and go from there). Trying to ask more than what you initially said is a huge no-no which will destroy your reputation. You can only negotiate down....not up.

There is a great informative thread "How to Find Potential End Users?" which is still ongoing regarding finding and contacting end users that contains a few templates that you can try, you can find it here:

http://www.namepros.com/domain-name-discussion/68798-how-to-find-potential-end-users.html

I personally would call them up on the phone rather than continuing through email as I feel it's more professional and could potentially close the deal quicker as they are able to see you're a real person...not someone hiding behind a keyboard and email address.

Good luck on your sale!

 

[Dorkside]

I agree with what's been posted: you can't increase your initial asking price once it's been established. I have a hard time imagining anyone continuing to do business with you if you tried that.

I will add that I recently had dealings with a Fortune 100 company who inquired about a generic domain of a popular product they produce, I was asking $500 and they passed even though this company has a market cap of over $40 billion.

Don't assume that just because you've found an ideal end user that they will pay an inflated price. Many companies don't recognize the value of a good domain and, even if you think they're wrong, you might cost yourself a sell by being to greedy.

 

[Erdy]

Take the money and invest in similar domains (two word quality names). I don't understand the CCC.com category you are working with (it looks like a low profit category) but you have good taste in two word domains. With lots of research you could buy up to 10 similar domains with the money coming from this sale.

 

[sharjeep]

I will add that I recently had dealings with a Fortune 100 company who inquired about a generic domain of a popular product they produce, I was asking $500 and they passed even though this company has a market cap of over $40 billion.

Likely you were dealing a person in the IT or Marketing Dept that could easily spend $250-$300 and get a pat on the back from his supervisors for grabbing the name. But anything over that would need to be justified and approved and probably not worth it to the person.

As you said, just because you are dealing with a big company, doesn't mean that person is authorized to spend big bucks.

 

[Bannen]

1. How much do you think I should sell it for?
2. How do I ask more than my initial asking price?
3. How do I negotiate with them? Are there any established email templates for negotiation with corporate End Users?
4. Should I continue to deal with them on email or should I call them up?

You own, and are in control of, this name. Even if you offer it for sale at a certain price and someone accepts, you still have the right to refuse to sell it. That isn't the case if you had a domain listed on a website such as Sedo, and someone presses the 'buy' button at your BIN price - in that case you are legally obligated to honor the deal.

But think of it this way: if you inherited a valuable domain from someone you know, but you yourself didn't know the value of that domain and stuck a $500 price tag on a landing page for, like, incense.com... then you get 1000 people emailing saying 'Sure we'll buy it for 500 bucks!' - then you find out you could get $50K for it... you can say to those initial offers to buy, 'Sorry, I didn't realize the value of this name, and it would be very unfair to me to sell at that price, now that I've been educated on it'. That's honest, and fair.

With your name, you can be equally honest, say something like 'Sorry, I was in the dark about this name and didn't know its true value when I put that price on it. I think I'll take it off the market for now, and wait until I have a better idea of what to do with it.'
This way, you're being honest and not trying to talk the price up on them while seeming like you had a nefarious plan in the beginning to lowball your asking price with the intent of trying to raise it up after someone shows interest.

Personally, I wouldn't let this name go for less than $2K on a bad day, and would hold out for 3 - 5K if I wasn't in a hurry for cash. Zip bags are huge business, and this name is 10 years old. How did you come by this name, without knowing the real value of it? There are many, many manufacturers of zip bags, this is a category killer keyword name, the shortest version of the full Zip Lock Bags, and any manufacturer of these would love to have this one.

If you need the cash, sell it for the original price you asked, instead of looking sleazy and unprofessional by trying to hike them up. If you don't need the cash, apologize to the buyer and say you've decided to take it off the market for now.

If they really want it, you can leave it entirely in their hands to recontact you and up their offer if they choose. Be willing to leave them alone to make their own move... which means they may start coming up in price of their own volition, or they may simply not contact you again.

 

[namekart]

Thanks everybody for your opinions. I am a new domainer and insights such as these are really helpful. I am closing the deal at $495.

@Erdy: The CCC thing was a mistake. Bought 10 in a package, and now trying to get rid of them. LOL.

 

[johname]

you where very happy to sell it for 495. How many of the others you contacted write you back? Zero i guess. Can you sit on this name for 3-5 years? Does the 495 look good to you compared to not selling it for a while? Ask yourself questions like this. Either roll it to them for 495 or take if off the market to them.

Oh and just because they write you back doesnt mean they will ultimatily buy it from you anyways

 

[SiberForum]

I suppose that if you've dealt and already discussed that price for this domain with him, there is no need to raise the price.

 

[namekart]

@Erdy, Chris, Bannen: Repped.

@Ja$on, Dorkside, sharjeep, johname, Siberforum: Thanks, Your replies were useful.

 

[alien51]

I don't know if i'm going to be clobbered for saying this, but this is also a lesson to never use company email when inquiring about domains for purchase or using any communication that might give a hint that you will charge the cost to company expense, rather than your own pocket.

This is why i price my domains if i believe they are 'merchandise-able', something that entrpreneurs can use to sell goods, and which the domain buyer can easily recover the cost of the domain anyway. Doesn't matter if you use Gmail or Yahoomail rather than ibm.com.

For example, 'rubbershoes dot com'. Hard to believe an enduser will buy it just to put 'info-material' in there. But then, you can also argue that perhaps the enduser companies out there can live without your domain anyway, so don't demand for the price of an aircraft carrier.