discuss Got greedy, egoistic and lost a deal

[Arpit131]

I hand registered a domain name recently which was one of the initial few .co domain registration just as an experiment to see if they work for me.
I saw that there were some companies on the same domain name in the country code extensions and I was pretty sure that I struck upon a decent name.
Why?

Because it was a popular term, easy and common to use and could have multiple end users. Having researched a little bit more about the possible end users, I registered the domain name and started with outbound marketing.

I carefully drafted the email for each of these companies and sent them a "Make an Offer" proposal.
Received a $199 offer from one of the leads.
I started with $1,199 and the buyer went upto $399.
With some back and forth negotiation, I stayed firm at $699 and the buyer stayed at $499.

I was willing to take the $499 offer as well and it was only a day after registration, so that was like easy $500.
I didn't give in and let my ego into this. Lost the deal.

Take away: While every deal may be different, if you are willing to accept an offer, take it! It is better to accept an offer and move on to better names than waiting for a small difference which doesn't even matter much.

Any questions are welcome!

 

[Arpit131]

Also, I don't practice outbound sales/marketing. I think it' time I try it.

I am curious if that will mean all low priced sales? few hundreds the most?

I usually deal in geo names. It works well for them. The price range is strictly $299 to $799 for me.

In sales its good to give a reason for your price / revised price / wanting them to increase their offer. They do want to be shmoozed, just a little.

An example (pretty similar to a real one I've used) -

'Thanks for that offer - its not quite what I was looking for but to be fair, its close. Equally I appreciate you've increased your offer - so thank you.

I've got another customer who I've worked with before who've indicated they could go to xxxx, but they haven't yet firmed up as they're discussing it at Board Level. Could we split the difference between your last offer and their indicative?

They'll understand if it's gone and I'll have to try to find them a good alternative, but I could do the deal now with yourselves at yyyy?'

This way you still have the option and a reason to accept their lower offer if they come back saying they can't / won't increase; but equally, they have a reason to make that final jump....

That's quite an example. I'll try it to see if that works.

 

[Joe70]

In sales its good to give a reason for your price / revised price / wanting them to increase their offer. They do want to be shmoozed, just a little.

An example (pretty similar to a real one I've used) -

'Thanks for that offer - its not quite what I was looking for but to be fair, its close. Equally I appreciate you've increased your offer - so thank you.

I've got another customer who I've worked with before who've indicated they could go to xxxx, but they haven't yet firmed up as they're discussing it at Board Level. Could we split the difference between your last offer and their indicative?

They'll understand if it's gone and I'll have to try to find them a good alternative, but I could do the deal now with yourselves at yyyy?'

This way you still have the option and a reason to accept their lower offer if they come back saying they can't / won't increase; but equally, they have a reason to make that final jump....

No offense, but who would believe this for a three- or four-digit sale? We're talking about a $500 or $1,000 spread here. Most company boards don't even talk about trivial things like this, let alone take weeks to make a decision.

 

[NickB]

No offense, but who would believe this for a three- or four-digit sale? We're talking about a $500 or $1,000 spread here. Most company boards don't even talk about trivial things like this, let alone take weeks to make a decision.

IMO I would say most deals in this range would not be dealing with major companies who have a board decision making process in place - possibly an individual owner or owner/director followed by a sales or marketing director/manager

also smaller companies or start ups with small budgets will take their time making decisions on pricing as budgeting is very important due to the high failure rate of start ups

 

[Max1000]

No offense, but who would believe this for a three- or four-digit sale? We're talking about a $500 or $1,000 spread here. Most company boards don't even talk about trivial things like this, let alone take weeks to make a decision.

Its the general 'give them a feasible sounding reason' approach I was more talking about. Its a 'pretty similar example'. You could delete 'at Board level' / substitute 'at a Manager's meeting' but even small companies have board meetings or even simple weekly reviews and on a domain they would discuss not just the price but other domains of course.

It needn't be weeks; in fact was more trying to imply days rather than weeks.

The customer you are going back to in this vein isn't going to say 'hang on a minute, another company couldn't possibly discuss this at Board Level'; they'll usually see it in their mind's eye as something similar but slightly elevated to their own processes. Or maybe they'll envisage the other company sitting round the table in the kitchen or at the pub - doesn't matter!

IMO I would say most deals in this range would not be dealing with major companies who have a board decision making process in place - possibly an individual owner or owner/director followed by a sales or marketing director/manager

also smaller companies or start ups with small budgets will take their time making decisions on pricing as budgeting is very important due to the high failure rate of start ups

Mr. A is right about smaller companies often taking their time on pricing decisions, and same applies sometimes to very large companies. I've more than once done a deal for hundreds of thousands or even millions (not domains - I wish!) and then had real wrangles about an add-on for a thousand or two.

 

[johname]

I stayed firm at $699 and the buyer stayed at $499

here an ordered list for handling this stalled situation when you know you would take the buyers offer but want to try for more

1st) "How about meeting me in the middle?"

2nd) "I can sell it for $499 if you add ### to cover 'sales fees, esrow, past regs, whatever'

3rd) "Ok I accept your offer"

 

[frank-germany]

here an ordered list for handling this stalled situation when you know you would take the buyers offer but want to try for more

1st) "How about meeting me in the middle?"

2nd) "I can sell it for $499 if you add ### to cover 'sales fees, esrow, past regs, whatever'

3rd) "Ok I accept your offer"

1st) "How do you feel about splitting the difference"

 

[Acroplex]

You took a risk. The end result doesn't devalue the domain, it simply means that wasn't the right buyer. Stick to your guns and use your gut instinct. Remember: you can go lower but you can't go higher.

 

[OptimaDomains]

I'm sure a lot of the top domain investors have lost deals due to the price. But I don't think they look it as a loss - instead, they simply move on to the next deal and try to get the price they want. The domains that fetch the highest prices have owners who are patient and wait for the right buyer.

 

[xynames]

Some end user keeps pestering me to sell two domains that are worth close to $2K each for $350. each - am I being greedy by refusing?

And then on another domain I received $850. and $1000. offers from two different parties, separated by a month or so, and refused, my bottom line being $2K which I believe even $2K is a discount.

 

[Foskaay]

The market determines the value. Many domainers refuse to listen to the market that's why they are stuck holding onto domains for years hoping for a sale that will never come.

Yeah, for example crypto is in vogue now and a good pick can land 5-7figure sales but it will not continue to be forever other innovations will take it up sooner or later. Ability to know the trend matters a lot!

OP, I believe you have learnt your lessons just like myself too and kindly move on, life continues

 

[frank-germany]

You took a risk. The end result doesn't devalue the domain, it simply means that wasn't the right buyer. Stick to your guns and use your gut instinct. Remember: you can go lower but you can't go higher.

ask Mike Mann

you can go higher
( ask me too)

 

[domainer111]

This is the untold story of the domain business.

Thank you for sharing. A lot of us have experienced this. Mine was with Cheap****** .com, [where *****= a major city in Europe].

The person offered $2,000 .. then $5,000 ... then $7,500 on a legally binding offer site.

I kept on thinking "they will go really high so keep pushing!".

I never heard from them again.

 

[Yusupbabay]

congratulations on the sale of my friend.

I have a question
I am the owner of this domain CryptoLogo.com and CryptoCurrencyJournal.com how to sell this domain to :

http://www.cryptologo.net/
https://cryptocurrencyjournal.jp/

please clue

 

[Grayclouds]

Interesting thread to read and great input from everyone.

 

[ro5hit]

Thanks, @Arpit131 , Such a great read. Yes, I completely agree with you. You should not be greedy unless you have a really nice name.

 

[MapleDots]

Greed has nothing to do with it.

You need to know your inventory and set realistic values. I don't think the OP had an unrealistic value on the domain and the fact that someone bid on it shows the domain has value. It is also too early to say you lost the deal. I have often gone back and purchased a domain months or even years after I started my negotiation. Sometimes standing firm shows a value and the end user just needs to mull it over. It took me 3 years to negotiate a domain purchase once and the seller stood pretty firm. I wanted the domain, he knew I wanted the domain and he ended up getting his money.

On the opposite end of that coincidentally it was the exact same domain with a different extension the buyer would not budge and I ended up telling him I had no further need for the domain. He wanted a bit too much, we negotiated, he backed out raised again etc. In the end I said thanks but no thanks. Eventually he dropped the price and dropped again and because it was a .net I just said I have absolutely no use for it any more and am not interested. He eventually let the domain drop and I picked it up at a reg fee. He emailed me back and called me an asshole.

I simply emailed back and said that may be but I am a patient asshole

 

[pokainc]

I'm actually in the middle of prob 3 such type of deals..

• One came up to $400, but I dropped all the way down to $600 (exact match), so far been a few days of no answer
• The other went from $250 to $1000 (I went from $2500 down to $1250, said final drop), so far a few days of no answer
• The other one went from $150 to $600 (I went from around $2800 down to $750 to just close the deal), so far a few days and no answer..
• and a bunch of $250-350 offers (all this over the last 2 weeks)

At the end of the day, am I being greedy? I don't think so
Each of the domains in question are easily $2500+ domains to the right buyer and I'm offering a significant discount.. but on the other had if I took all the offers probably would've made $2500-3000k in less than 2 weeks..

Sometimes it's more of a question of volume of sales over time VS getting the real value for your each domain (even conservative values) more than a question of greed

 

[Arpit131]

ask Mike Mann

you can go higher
( ask me too)

Lol.. His sales are out of the world. It might be a numbers game. It probably is.

 

[Arpit131]

I'm actually in the middle of prob 3 such type of deals..

• One came up to $400, but I dropped all the way down to $600 (exact match), so far been a few days of no answer
• The other went from $250 to $1000 (I went from $2500 down to $1250, said final drop), so far a few days of no answer
• The other one went from $150 to $600 (I went from around $2800 down to $750 to just close the deal), so far a few days and no answer..
• and a bunch of $250-350 offers (all this over the last 2 weeks)

At the end of the day, am I being greedy? I don't think so
Each of the domains in question are easily $2500+ domains to the right buyer and I'm offering a significant discount.. but on the other had if I took all the offers probably would've made $2500-3000k in less than 2 weeks..

Sometimes it's more of a question of volume of sales over time VS getting the real value for your each domain (even conservative values) more than a question of greed

That's a good explanation. Thanks for the insight.

 

[Arpit131]

This is the untold story of the domain business.

Thank you for sharing. A lot of us have experienced this. Mine was with Cheap****** .com, [where *****= a major city in Europe].

The person offered $2,000 .. then $5,000 ... then $7,500 on a legally binding offer site.
I kept on thinking "they will go really high so keep pushing!".
I never heard from them again.

Happens. I have heard of people losing $100,000 deals in early 2000s never to hear from buyer again and sitting with those domains even now. So, you know, sometimes a bird in hand is better than two in the bush.