sales From $3000 offer to a $26000 domain sale

[AbdulBasit.com]

Hello everyone,

As I recently published a post with several of my recent domain sales, today I wanted to share another domain sale with complete detail of how it started and the deal was wrapped up successfully.

The domain I sold is Quaestor.com which was the oldest domain by creation date I owned until it sold. It was initially registered in 1994 but I acquired in 2018 for around $1100 via GoDaddy Auctions.

The inquiry came in via Uniregistry lander and I quoted price of $26,888. The buyer countered with $3000. After exchanging several emails and asking to come close to quoted price, the buyer revised his offer to $6,000.

Again after more communication, I said to present an offer of over $20,000 to get into negotiation.

With no response, I gave my final price of $25,000 with 7 days to accept. The buyer came in August and offered $10,000 but only after the 7 days period was over.

Sticking firm to the final price, the buyer came again in October and presented $15,000 offer to which I declined by informing the price is reverted back to $26,888 which was initially quoted because the offer of $25,000 was valid for 7 days only.

There was once again silence until the buyer came again in November by asking if I’m willing to negotiate as they’ve to decide and move on within a week period.

During this silence period of more than a month, I already upped the price at all marketplaces to $29,888 so I informed the buyer new price at all marketplaces but if he is still willing to buy, I can offer $26,000 to you only which is valid until the end of November.

Buyer immediately accepted and we used Sedo escrow and buyer paid the Sedo commission.

At one stage the domain was offered for $25,000 but ultimately sold for $26,000 to the same buyer. Every time you need to grab the offer at the right time, but you’re not always sure what’s that perfect time. We keep learning from our and others experiences. What best we can do is to keep learning all the time and improving ourselves.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Thank you very much for sharing this experience, @AbdulBasit.com and congratulations on another great sale! I think for many of us relatively new to domain investing, and inexperienced with trying to negotiate a premium sales price, this is one of the hardest skills to learn. Hearing specific examples from experts like yourself helps a lot.

Your example shows the importance of being firm, silence at the right times, taking reasonable but not emotional actions (like the slight increase in asking price on marketplaces rather than suddenly asking 10x as much).

Slightly on-topic, or not maybe , but when you acquire a domain do you already have in mind not only what your asking price will be but also the minimum amount you would accept for it in a negotiation? Or does that evolve later?

Bob

 

[jideofor]

Congrats bro.

 

[The Durfer]

 

[Mister Funsky]

Wow...great sale! Thank you for the awesome details...this inspires me (and others I hope) to stay firm with pricing for their digital assets.

 

[tvanrijt]

Great story. Thanks again for sharing.

Other than the registration age, what made you invest over $1000 for the name? I myself would not have linked the meaning of the word to companies with bigger budgets. Obviously you proved me wrong, just curious how you saw the potential of a 5 figure name during the auction.

 

[xynames]

There are a many domainers trying to make something scuttling bottom picking up garbage that wasn’t worth ten dollars thinking that it might be profitable if bought for one.

In my opinion you’re generally better off paying real money for decent domains.

 

[AbdulBasit.com]

Congrats with the sale!
Did you put this name on Sedo marketplace too and how much of Sedo fees, is it 3% or 15%?
Thanks

All my domains for sale are listed with Sedo and Afternic but I use Uniregistry sales lander.
Once the deal was finalized via Uni platform, I asked buyer to create account with Sedo and removed the domain from my Sedo account in order to save 15% commission and Uni's service fee so I can NET $26,000.

 

[AbdulBasit.com]

I took a look at your blog, don't you think buyers will not like it when you report buying domain for $59 and then selling it for $1988? We usually do our best to hide that info from end users

My main purpose for sharing is so fellow domainers can gain some knowledge and implement in their own business if they want to. I know many have benefited from it which is my ultimate goal for the blog to keep running.

As far as endusers are concerned, I agree with what you're saying and rarely a new buyer have said me that I make huge amount of profit and even after that I've sold the domain to the same buyer. I think any serious buyer pays if the domain fits their budget and need, no matter what I've paid for it. I take it the same way too so this issue doesn't bother me.

Nonetheless, a good question raised by you.

 

[barman]

Always great to read about your experiences Abdul - you really know what you're doing.

 

[AbdulBasit.com]

Thank you very much for sharing this experience, @AbdulBasit.com and congratulations on another great sale! I think for many of us relatively new to domain investing, and inexperienced with trying to negotiate a premium sales price, this is one of the hardest skills to learn. Hearing specific examples from experts like yourself helps a lot.

Your example shows the importance of being firm, silence at the right times, taking reasonable but not emotional actions (like the slight increase in asking price on marketplaces rather than suddenly asking 10x as much).

Slightly on-topic, or not maybe , but when you acquire a domain do you already have in mind not only what your asking price will be but also the minimum amount you would accept for it in a negotiation? Or does that evolve later?

Bob

Thank you very much Bob for always taking time and commenting on my sales.

I totally agree with you on what you said and the purpose of sharing is to share my experience and learn from any feedback I receive so I can improve.

Yes, definitely. I always have at least approx price range in my mind before making a purchase. I think it's needed as it helps in deciding on how much to pay/bid for buying the domain.

But after acquiring any domain, sometimes it happens that I change the price but not with massive difference.

For accepting minimum amount, usually it's up to 20% off from original quoted price but that depends on several factors as well.

 

[IPBFlippers]

Saw this thread on Twitter and decided to check it out. Not disappointed. Great sale. Great negotiation skills. A good domain name too. Unique, aged and in the finance industry.

 

[sharfab]

Wonderful Job. Keep up the good work.... He had tremendous patience with a positive affirmation and secured the deal. During his 5 month on and off negotiating span the deal went from $3,000 to $6,000 to $10,000 to $15,000 before it was resolved at his final selling price. I wonder just how many people would have taken the $15,000 and not continued pressing for more....

 

[DanSanchez]

Thanks for sharing, it is something I have recently learned to curve. My eagerness to close the deal and get the customer onboarded.

 

[AbdulBasit.com]

@AbdulBasit.com Nice sharing your experience in domaining. But one thing I observed is that when one is cash constraint, one could hardly put such skill in practice.

I totally agree with you. No doubt about that. I've sacrificed lot of domains to get at this stage. But still I see many domain investors keep flipping domains for little profit where they could've fetched a lot more even though they've enough cash to keep things moving smoothly! So not everyone can be patient but yes, cash is obviously a plus point to have in order for you to play such tough game.

 

[Blitzpotz]

Another great success story to learn from. Thank you you very much.

 

[AbdulBasit.com]

Wow...great sale! Thank you for the awesome details...this inspires me (and others I hope) to stay firm with pricing for their digital assets.

Thank you dear
That's what keeps me motivated and sharing.

 

[Vinod R]

You are quite inspiring as always. Many of us can learn a lot from your posts. Keep writing. Congratulations for the wonderful sale.

 

[wwwweb]

Nice sale, curious to why you used Sedo escrow, instead of Uni market? Was the buyer in Europe, or was it their choice?

Interesting concept on https://quaestor.io/

 

[AbdulBasit.com]

A strong reason indeed. Hard to believe to register a Latin word in 1994 when top English one-word generics were untaken. If only the first registrant could speak to us!

Nevertheless I am curious about Abdul´s motivation to purchase.

I love to invest in 1-2 word brandable domains regardless of their age. I buy expiring domains as as well Pending Delete domains which has new creation date after they get dropped. I research and bid according to what I think they hold the value and don't even bother looking at the age. Many times I come to know the domain is pretty aged after the domain hits my account.

 

[AbdulBasit.com]

Wonderful Job. Keep up the good work.... He had tremendous patience with a positive affirmation and secured the deal. During his 5 month on and off negotiating span the deal went from $3,000 to $6,000 to $10,000 to $15,000 before it was resolved at his final selling price. I wonder just how many people would have taken the $15,000 and not continued pressing for more....

Thank you so much!
To be frank, there is another thing which comes into play while negotiating and that's the cash flow. If I've enough of that to survive easily without that sale to affect my life, I've the leverage to stay firm at my price. But still I've seen many people who're having good amount of funds but they still keep flipping good quality of domains for small profit which I personally don't like it.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Re a big difference between acquisition price and sales price and issue if that becomes known to end users, I like the example someone else used in a different thread (trying to find link): Someone is able to buy a classic painting for a few dollars at a yard sale. Does that make the painting worth less?

But agree it can be an issue and is why I think majority of sales don't get disclosed. Really appreciate that @AbdulBasit.com shares both sales info and how the negotiation happened.

Bob

 

[dande]

This name is really very sweet to pronounce

Yeah, very sweet to pronounce because it has sold for big dollars.

If this name was placed on Namepros auction, see how everyone will be dragging their feet, struggling to even make $50 bid.

 

[AbdulBasit.com]

not trying to be negative but i dont see any value in the name at all and it does not pass the radio test for pronunciation at all.being aged seems to be the only value factor.still, sometimes 1 mans garbage is another mans Gold.thats why domains have no value in mainstream banking.

You've full right to give your feedback. However, it shows you've long way to learn about domain investing.
Best wishes!

 

[dande]

Other than the registration age, what made you invest over $1000 for the name?

Me too, I'm curious to know the meaning of the name that makes you stood firm with your pricing?

Congratulations!