How would you respond?

[Achaias]

I recently got an offer on a domain I own that is *word*Music.com. It seems like the interested party is an employee/representative of a music distribution company in the US and Korea. The thing is they seriously low balled me, as in reg fees low ball. I am willing to reply back with a curt no or not at all, that would be too easy though. I think at the very least I would accept mid xxx for enduser but thats me. How have you guys replied back to big end users in the past after a being low balled?

 

[tricolorro]

I recently got an offer on a domain I own that is *word*Music.com. It seems like the interested party is an employee/representative of a music distribution company in the US and Korea. The thing is they seriously low balled me, as in reg fees low ball. I am willing to reply back with a curt no or not at all, that would be too easy though. I think at the very least I would accept mid xxx for enduser but thats me. How have you guys replied back to big end users in the past after a being low balled?

"How would you respond?"

Dear Lowballer,

Thank you for your interest in our domain name, *word*Music.com.

We agree it is quite a good name.

My partner and I have plans to develop *word*Music.com
but other activities are currently taking precedent.

Although it is possible we would part with *word*Music.com, we would
only do so if the right offer was presented.

Unfortunately your offer would not justify releasing the domain
and cancelling the plans we have made for *word*Music.com.

Although we own the .COM version, please check as the domain may be
available in some of the other extensions.

Best regards,
DomainKeeper
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: I like to have a "partner" so I can play Good Cop, Bad Cop.

Patrick

 

[yilduz]

"How would you respond?"

Dear Lowballer,

Thank you for your interest in our domain name, *word*Music.com.

We agree it is quite a good name.

My partner and I have plans to develop *word*Music.com
but other activities are currently taking precedent.

Although it is possible we would part with *word*Music.com, we would
only do so if the right offer was presented.

Unfortunately your offer would not justify releasing the domain
and cancelling the plans we have made for *word*Music.com.

Although we own the .COM version, please check as the domain may be
available in some of the other extensions.

Best regards,
DomainKeeper
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: I like to have a "partner" so I can play Good Cop, Bad Cop.

Patrick

I like the good cop, bad cop thing, too.

Someone I recently contacted did the same thing, telling that the domain was intended to be for a project (in this case, it was an mmorpg), and said they'd be willing to sell it, but it would take work to unwork things from the domain or some nonsense. To me, it just seemed like they were implying that they wanted a lot for it. I responded with something along the lines of "well, if it's for a project you're already working on, I wouldn't want to uproot the whole thing."
I'm curious to see what they respond with.

 

[Achaias]

"How would you respond?"

Dear Lowballer,

Thank you for your interest in our domain name, *word*Music.com.

We agree it is quite a good name.

My partner and I have plans to develop *word*Music.com
but other activities are currently taking precedent.

Although it is possible we would part with *word*Music.com, we would
only do so if the right offer was presented.

Unfortunately your offer would not justify releasing the domain
and cancelling the plans we have made for *word*Music.com.

Although we own the .COM version, please check as the domain may be
available in some of the other extensions.

Best regards,
DomainKeeper
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: I like to have a "partner" so I can play Good Cop, Bad Cop.

Patrick

Wow I like the road you took, you politely said no but left the door open for "the right price." I may use a tactic similar to that, rep coming .

Cheers

 

[Spade]

Honestly. I would simply respond politely.. Tell them you appreciate the offer, but it is much lower then what you would consider. Let them know you are open to more offers, but you would be looking in the (fill in the blank) region. You never know, I have had a few of those turn out to be decent sales.

 

[weblord]

if you don't like the price then don't reply at all, they'll get the message you'll be doing more favor if you haven't replied at all.

 

[joexbl]

I disagree. I think you need to let them know their lowball offer was insulting, or else they just wont learn. if you dont reply at all then they won't get the hint - they'll just think you either didn't get the email or haven't had time to reply. I doubt they would get the hint and up their offer. :imho

 

[estibot.com]

Agree with Spade

 

[htmlindex]

if you don't like the price then don't reply at all, they'll get the message you'll be doing more favor if you haven't replied at all.

I respond to all offers, even if they are low. You never know, they might just be trying to get it really cheap hoping that you don't know how much your name is worth while being to pay a lot more if they really need to.

 

[Hopper]

if you don't like the price then don't reply at all, they'll get the message you'll be doing more favor if you haven't replied at all.

How do they then know you have received their offer? They could just assume you never got it.

If it were me, I would respond and thank them for their offer but inform them that their valuation of the domain is significantly below any figure I would be happy to consider selling at.

I would then invite them to make an improved offer for my consideration.

If and when they then respond, you would then have a 'ballpark' figure from where to start negotiations and you have not mentioned any numbers yourself.

At least that is the way I would tackle it.

 

[Achaias]

As a consumer there's really no excuse in this information age about not being informed. I do understand your points about not responding, although if I was in their shoes I would always wonder if the other party recieved the email. Eventhough I don't entertain these lowball offers, I'd like to consider it an opportunity at the very least. Sometimes you can even find gold in a pile of crap. Thanks for all of the info .

 

[tricolorro]

Wow I like the road you took, you politely said no but left the door open for "the right price." I may use a tactic similar to that, rep coming .

Cheers

Hi Achaias,


This is my reasoning for why I wrote the letter that way.

You never really know who is making the offer.

It could be a major company using a shill and low balling just to
feel you out.

I know it's tempting to respond nastily to lowball offers or to not
respond but that could be a mistake.

I like to take the high road.

That's why I compliment them on their taste in domains by saying
"we agree it is quite a good name".

I do not want to give the advantage to the "buyer" so I
do not want to ever seem anxious to sell which is why I say we
have plans to develop the domains.

However I don't want them to think "my plans" would preclude my
selling the domain which is why I say the plans are on the back-burner
as we are working on other projects first.

"Working on other projects" makes you sound like an active
businessman- not someone sitting in front of a computer in your
underwear eating pizza or Chinese take out.

As the Seller, you normally never want to mention a selling price first
unless you really have a price in mind that would satisfy you.

Always try to get the Buyer to make an offer.

That's why I say it is possible we would part with the domain
if an offer came along that would justify our giving up our plans.

I am never "I" but always "we" as I want to have one or more partners
I have to bounce any offers on and "get their approval".

Offer rejection.

I let them know their offer sucked but in a nice way:
"Unfortunately your offer would not justify releasing the domain
and cancelling the plans we have made for *word*Music.com."

Finally, I want to remind them that I (We) own the .COM of the domain
name that they are interested in.

If they won't break open the piggy bank, they could register one of the
other extensions that may be available.

I know that they could have and would have regged the other extension(s) without my prompting...but I want to reinforce that they are inquiring about the primo extension.

It doesn't always work to get the the $ you'd like but sometimes it does.

Patrick