How do you accept initial offers without looking too eager?

[bluebox]

Just yesterday someone offered $1000 for the name that I have for sale for $995 somewhere else.
I decided not to risk losing this deal by making a higher counter offer and accepted it outright (within 10 minutes or so).
I guess it seemed a little too eager because he answered that his budget is actually $150
At the end we agreed on $800 + escrow fees (that's what I would get if I sold it via afternic or godaddy) but I really need better strategy.

What is your answer to offers that you are happy to accept?

 

[ivey]

Maybe ask for a little more like 1,500. Then the buyer will counter in the middle.
If they started at 1K then they will respond.

 

[MackieMesser]

I guess it seemed a little too eager because he answered that his budget is actually $150

Why would someone offer $ 1000 when his/her budget is only $ 150? Or am I misunderstanding something or is just a zero missing, so it's $ 1500?

 

[MackieMesser]

Why would someone offer $ 1000 when his/her budget is only $ 150? Or am I misunderstanding something or is just a zero missing, so it's $ 1500?

Okay I got it...the emoticon is the last zero

 

[bluebox]

Maybe ask for a little more like 1,500. Then the buyer will counter in the middle.
If they started at 1K then they will respond.

I already had situations when I countered with ~10-20% higher price and never heard from them again. That's why if the offer is near (or higher than) my BIN I rather just accept it.

Why would someone offer $ 1000 when his/her budget is only $ 150? Or am I misunderstanding something or is just a zero missing, so it's $ 1500?

No, he said "Actually my offer was going to be around $150."
Maybe he meant $100 and just pressed 0 too many times, no idea.
This name in his cctld is for $14,000

 

[matrigaldo]

Well, then you managed quite good, because if they were offering you $150 but ended at $800 + fees, i think you should teach us more than ask for a suggestion

 

[MackieMesser]

No, he said "Actually my offer was going to be around $150."
Maybe he meant $100 and just pressed 0 too many times, no idea.
This name in his cctld is for $14,000

Alright. Then I agree with @matrigaldo. Good job moving it that way.

Just thinking though that maybe $ 150 really wasn't his budget, but well...

 

[Manik]

A useful rule of thumb is always ask for more even if the first offer you received is more than you want. Basically the buyer should feel that he is getting the domain name for a bargain and not overpaying for it.

But anyways, $800+Escrow fees is still an awesome deal. Congratulations!

 

[imadoer]

For me it always depends on the roi I'll sell a name for a few hundred and be happy with that if it's a hand reg. I rather make a sale then worry about leaving money on the table

 

[bluebox]

A useful rule of thumb is always ask for more even if the first offer you received is more than you want.

I rather just accept it than risk losing the sale - I just need a better way to respond - less "OMG, YES! Woohooo!" and more "mhm... I will have to think about it...."

The whole "give me a few days to think about it" gives buyer the time to change their mind or find better/cheaper name.

 

[Manik]

I rather just accept it than risk losing the sale - I just need a better way to respond - less "OMG, YES! Woohooo!" and more "mhm... I will have to think about it...."

The whole "give me a few days to think about it" gives buyer the time to change their mind or find better/cheaper name.

I have lost more deals by agreeing to the first offer than countering.
I do agree with the fact about buyers change the mind. Many people opt for ultimatums stating, "This offer is valid till the next 48 hours" etc but I just counter and state that I will pay for the escrow fee as well.

They don't know how much an escrow fees is. They assume it must be like 200-300 bucks.

 

[biggie]

How do you accept initial offers without looking too eager?

say .... "i accept your offer"

why play games?

if they are serious, then they will pay,
if not, then they were faking anyway.


now if you want more, that's another question

imo...

 

[fuzzy]

Just thinking though that maybe $ 150 really wasn't his budget, but well...

Agreed.

How about:

 

[Addison]

If you want to accept the offer, do not counter it. I've lost too many deals that way. It doesn't matter if you only increase their offer by a small amount--you're still jeopardizing the deal.

Rather than countering, word your response to make them feel they got a good deal:

"Our asking price is a bit higher, but you've caught us at a good time."

"In the interest of a swift and smooth transaction, we will accept your offer if you're able to proceed immediately."

"After due consideration with my team, we've decided to accept your offer.

Congratulations, that is a superb price for this domain name!"

"There was a long debate internally, but the majority has voted to accept your offer. Congratulations!"

 

[matrigaldo]

@fuzzy we all know Escrow.com, it's legit, secure, great, and whatelse.
However the majority of the population doesn't know anything about Escrow.com or even about online transaction, and sometimes they're also our "end-users", people with a small company to whom maybe someone suggested to acquire a domain name for their website, or just want a generic / specific domain name for their company, but with little to no internet / online transactions knowledges.

If you tell them "thank you for your interest, if you decide to increase etc etc i'll setup a transaction on Escrow.com" they might see kind of "i'm the prince of Nigeria and i need someone to unblock my treasure of 20 millions of dollars in US, i will reward you with the 10%" . Well, not exactly this one, but if you pull in third parts like Escrow.com almost instantly, you could look legit and reliable only if the buyer knows Escrow.com, otherwise you could look you're trying to sell something else.

All the replies suggested by Addison are perfect, letting the buyer decide how to proceed with the payment and the transfer and eventually suggest Escrow.com at this point.

 

[Kate]

<irony>
Q: How do you accept initial offers without looking too eager?
A: You don't reply "within 10 minutes or so", because the other party might think that:

• you are a nolife because you are always frantically checking your E-mail
• you are probably not at work, or you are doing personal stuff during office hours
  
• you are indeed eager to sell because you replied almost immediately, as if the other party was going to change their mind in the meantime. Yes, it can happen if you take days to answer but not if you delay by a few hours.
• the fact that you are so quick to accept the offer could lead the buyer into thinking he offered too much, you caught a fish and won't let it go

</irony>
Also, you should take the time to research the other party if you can grab any clues from the E-mail. For example: a bid was made at Sedo on a .com name of ours.
I noticed that the buyer was from Denmark. So I checked if the .dk was registered, indeed it was registered the same day. At that point I knew who I was dealing with. It's useful sometimes.

 

[bluebox]

<irony>
Q: How do you accept initial offers without looking too eager?
A: You don't reply "within 10 minutes or so"

I know, I know, but it was already past midnight and I didn't want to wait until morning.
I'm not a patient person

Some nice ideas Addison - although I personally roll my eyes when I hear this kind of "car salesman" BS

 

[biggie]

- although I personally roll my eyes when I hear this kind of "car salesman" BS

me too

 

[ProvenPro]

There is nothing wrong with accepting a great first offer. Some people actually seem to get turned off by a counteroffer, even when there is not much of a difference from the initial offer. Just give it a little more time before firing off a response next time. That way, you appear to have put some thought into it while anticipation builds on the buyer's end. You should spend that time doing a little research anyway. What you find out in your research may change your opinion of the domain.

 

[tomcarl]

Give them a hypothetical.

"If I were to accept, when would you be able to make payment?"

It's not a direct yes or no and you can better feel out how interested they are by their response.

Also, I think you responded way too soon.

I noticed I get the best results when I respond in 48hrs (2 days later)

It can be hard to resist but I notice people are a lot quicker in their response time to me when I respond after offer or inquiry in 2 days rather than the same or next day.

 

[Maxwell]

This is a great question and I have the answer..

"I have it listed at a marketplace for $1200, but I think that is fair enough. Deal."

Also don't respond 10 minutes later, or even the day of. Wait one day or maybe two so they're on the edge if you're even going to respond or not.

 

[Kate]

Sometimes waiting a bit can be profitable.

Very recently I sold a short ccTLD for 2.5K to a Chinese. Here is what happened.
That morning I opened my mailbox and I had hundreds of mails as usual. So I saw an offer of 2K on a domain. Good. But I didn't respond immediately. I continued to sort and clean up my E-mail. Then I saw another E-mail from the same party, this time with a 'corrected' offer of 2.5K.

You get it: had I responded to the first mail immediately, I would have accepted an offer below his actual offering. I would have looked eager to sell.

 

[angela ketty]

i want to buy a new domain.
can you tell me how to buy and which website is best for domain.

 

[ben pedri]

This actually worked and it was true,I have used variations of it many times after that.
we were having a good two weeks sold about 9k in domains.{you know feast or famine } So when I got an offer my partner at the time was out of town in a 3rd world country where phones were basically on top of poles and hard to reach. Anyway I had a 1500 offer for the domain and it was a good name,but I though it was worth less ,anyway ,I told the buyer that this one was part of my partners original portfolio and the price was 1788 but I didnt know what he was in it for because it was 10 years old. I let him know that the price was stale and has not been updated for 2 years so it may be higher or lower than the current price listed. I told him that the best I could do is add 4 years renewal to the expiration,if he bought now, and that would save him 55 bucks ,or he can wait for my friends return we may be able to knock a couple bucks off,instead of the renewals for 4 years ,anyway the buyer probably felt that the price may go higher when he returned ,so he said ill just take it at 1788,so I added the reg which cost us only 34 bucks.we still netted over 1700 after split escrow.

 

[ben pedri]

There is nothing wrong with accepting a great first offer. Some people actually seem to get turned off by a counteroffer, even when there is not much of a difference from the initial offer. Just give it a little more time before firing off a response next time. That way, you appear to have put some thought into it while anticipation builds on the buyer's end. You should spend that time doing a little research anyway. What you find out in your research may change your opinion of the domain.

I really dont agree with this ,but I respect it ,I find that when I do accept decent offers too fast ,as much as I like to sell at that price,the buyer disappears and returns as someone else,or an afternic or sedo price request,it then obvious who it is. Thanks