First off. It can make a big difference if the billion dollar company is a product company with lots of brands under it, or if it's a technology based company that is going to use the domain for their main brand. But what seems to matter most is whether that
person leading the company is a believer in branding and how domains play a large part in that branding,
as opposed to a non-believer.
I had an inquiry from a company with over a billion dollars in revenue annually, who told me $14,500 was too much for a domain that exactly matched their product brand name after they contacted me to buy it. I've also seen a 2-3 guy startup with a JUUL (e-cigarette) accessory product use their own financing and pay $15k for the domain with little hesitation.
So if the company looks like they'd be using it as their main website, personally I would stick to the pricing you have in mind.
Negotiating is always a game of determining the buyer's Reservation Value (RV) vs your Reservation Value (RV). The Zone of Possible Agreement (ZOPA) is anywhere between your RV and your buyer's RV.
One thing to keep in mind is your domain doesn't sound like it had a price set from the start, so the buyer was not aware of your asking price with their first offer. With no anchor price set at the beginning, the anchor is going to be their first low offer. Because of this, the negotiations are going to inherently start slow. This is one reason why your landing page should only offer a "Price Upon Request" option rather than "Make An Offer". So it may take a couple iterations of refusal to anchor your price in the mid-high 5 figures.
From(
http://www.successfulnegotiators.co...tion-terminology-batna-reservation-value-zopa) & Negotiation Genius (
http://www.negotiationgenius.com/)
You seem to be on the right path. As Rick has stated in the past, don't give a counter offer or actual price until they are close to your internally decided price. That way you still have some flexibility if things come to a halt. You've told them mid to high 5 figure, so there's no need to say more. With their next offer you can talk about the big plans you had for the domain, or what the domain could do for a company when used in it's best possible use case.
If the domain is realistically in the realm of the domains below, that's another good indicator that you are in good shape. If they are a smaller company, you can also say you'd consider equity or a small percentage if the company gets acquired, rather than upfront financing for the right startup. Rick took a smaller initial amount for teem(dot)com (I believe around $30k or so), and that was a huge payoff for him in the end with it paying out over $1 million based on the agreement. Doing it this way, you are leaving the deal open no matter who it is if they are really serious. A startup with limited cash can still make it happen if they are serious about it.
Most serious buyers are going to make a push to convince you with several back and forths, especially if you are sticking to only giving a "mid to high 5 figure" range rather than setting a price. A couple months ago I sold SimpleLogin(dot)com for a little over $16k. My listed asking price was $25,000 on the domain, which I'm starting to believe static prices are a bad idea for potentially higher value domains.
The buyer of SimpleLogin(dot)com was adamant about not agreeing to offering a percentage if/when the company is acquired, which I thought was strange. But they assured me it was because they were getting government grants, and it could affect their eligibility for future grants, which was a creative and somewhat convincing argument. Ultimately, I should have went with my gut on this because in the end I found out that they were already in talks to be acquired by ProtonMail and are planning on creating "dozens" of jobs in the coming years.
https://techcrunch.com/2022/04/08/proton-buys-simplelogin/
By offering the option of a percentage if/when the company is acquired, you are really taking a gamble on the company and only getting a payoff in the event the company is a huge success. To the buyer, as a startup, this is easy for them to give away because there is little upfront cost, and if they are acquired in the future, the 2%-3% given to you will not be significant, since they'll have a windfall. Additionally, the domain may help them be acquired faster while not hindering their startup expenses with huge upfront costs.
lolz)
