Is every domain worth over $5,000 or what?

[Rob J]

Domainers and the get-rich-quick attitude which seems to be prevalent among them is really starting to tick me off.

I've been looking for 3 domains for some new projects, so I shot off emails to about a dozen parked domain holders, and I received 8 replies ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 . Now I think I have a decent grasp of domain valuation, on a good day these domains would be appraised in the high $xx to low $xxx , and i'm willing to negotiate and even overpay for a domain that I like, but all these ridiculous responses just translate to "THIS DOMAIN IS NOT FOR SALE" for me.

I ended up with 3 fresh regs that i'm happy with for a total of $21, which leaves a lot in the budget for development. Three nice domain sales were thwarted by greed. I know not everyone does business like this, there are a few honest domainers out there, but maybe the rest of you can learn a lesson from this, don't treat your potential customers like suckers and you may make a sale now and then.

 

[nmr86]

Agree on some points, wonder what the domains were you bidded on though!

Lot of people are thinking, YES, finally, end user,, 5k

 

[hey.co.uk]

So if the name is priced higher than you value it the domainer is dishonest? You have to remember some domainers only sell to end users and have zero interest in trading in the reseller market.

As for:

don't treat your potential customers like suckers and you may make a sale now and then.

If they were concerned about volume of sales, surely the price would either be lower of at least very flexible :hehe:

The reply would read "The domain is not for sale to a domainer" to me rather than anything else.

Cheers,
Rob.

 

[shockie]

lol. these people learn over time whether or not their greed has positively or negatively affected their domain sales. after all, there are only so many suckers in the world you can trick into severely overpaying.

 

[Rob J]

So if the name is priced higher than you value it the domainer is dishonest? You have to remember some domainers only sell to end users and have zero interest in trading in the reseller market.

Well in this case I was the end user, and was willing to pay more than I would as a reseller.

As for:

If they were concerned about volume of sales, surely the price would either be lower of at least very flexible :hehe:

The reply would read "The domain is not for sale to a domainer" to me rather than anything else.

Cheers,
Rob.

Well, I think some people over-estimate the number of end users who are willing or able to spend $thousands on a domain name, sure occasionally there is someone with a huge budget who just has to have a domain at all costs, but they are few and far between.

It's certainly anyone's right to charge or overcharge whatever they want, i'm just venting.

I'll also note that I have had responses from parked domain holders in the past that were more reasonable and we made deals, this was just an unlucky week for me I guess.

 

[onlinedomains00]

Well if you look on sedo, some domains have recv'd over 300 offers, there are alot of sharks out there who send out thousands of emails to whois trying to steal good domains for $100.... I have a domain which gets about 3-4 offers per month just from whois lookup emails... and I want $xx,xxx for it. I have had offers of $xxxx, it is a Credit* .com domain which I reg'd many years ago... it gets 2xxx unique type ins per month.....But I just let people know I am not interested in selling it, but if you want to make an offer, it will have to be a very significant offer to get me to sell. There is nothing wrong with saying NO, it is not always about greed... there are some domains I agree that people want massive dollars for TM, or typos etc... but once its gone, its gone, simple as that, and last time I checked ICANN isn't making anymore .com's or are they? lol

 

[labrocca]

Agreed Rob and it's not how I personally conduct business. I think I do a lot more deals than most though because of it.

Price reasonably and you sell.

 

[Len]

Rob, it would be interesting to hear if you actually made a $ offer or did you just ask what the price would be? Also, did you respond to any with an actual offer after they responded?

I believe most of us reply to "What are you wanting for this domain" with a high figure just to see if the enquirer is genuine or not. If the person responds back with a figure I personally try to accomodate them with a price that is fair and reasonable.

If they don't respond I just think "There goes another shister"!

 

[nrmillions]

There is no way to measure the value of a domain. I have plenty of domains that people on a forum would say are regfee that I wouldnt sell for less than 5 figures. A domain is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it. There is no 100% accurate way to valuate a domain. A domain can be worth much more than just its domain value to people. Last year if you tried to offer Rick Schwartz $25k for iReport.com and he said he wanted $500k you would have said he is crazy and look how he just sold it for over $700k. If an enduser wants a domain and they have the budget then sky is the limit if they just have to have it. You are an enduser but one with a low budget not all endusers will have that low a budget. Also some people might already be worth $10 million and regged a domain a couple years ago and are only interested in big money, they could maybe care less about small change 4 figure offers which would be a waste of their time. The person might also have huge development plans for the domain but would possibly be willing to part with it if they got a huge offer. You cant always think like a domainer.

 

[npcomplete]

Domainers and the get-rich-quick attitude which seems to be prevalent among them is really starting to tick me off.

I've been looking for 3 domains for some new projects, so I shot off emails to about a dozen parked domain holders, and I received 8 replies ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 . Now I think I have a decent grasp of domain valuation, on a good day these domains would be appraised in the high $xx to low $xxx , and i'm willing to negotiate and even overpay for a domain that I like, but all these ridiculous responses just translate to "THIS DOMAIN IS NOT FOR SALE" for me.

I ended up with 3 fresh regs that i'm happy with for a total of $21, which leaves a lot in the budget for development. Three nice domain sales were thwarted by greed. I know not everyone does business like this, there are a few honest domainers out there, but maybe the rest of you can learn a lesson from this, don't treat your potential customers like suckers and you may make a sale now and then.

...snip...
The reply would read "The domain is not for sale to a domainer" to me rather than anything else.
...snip...

Sometimes sellers just get tired of silly lowball offers for valuable domains... and then have fun with it. I have never been a motivated seller, and more often than not I just ignore the mail if I detect a lowball offer on the way. I got one two days ago for one of my 1997 domains. All the red flags were there like gmail address and using terms in the email that are a dead give away like "escrow.com". That has domainer written all over it. I am not against domainers (I am one), and willing to sell at reseller pricing *sometimes* for *some* domains, more often than not driven by my mood.

I googled and snooped the guy that was asking about the domain and did find some info that indicated that this buyer might be different (you never know). Wrote him back saying basically what I just said above: red flags like gmail and escrow.com tell me that this person understands domain value. I pointed to some of my recent sales and that the domain he was asking about was obviously worth *much* more than those sales. Guess what: another silly lowball offer on the way, far below the sales I had quoted, wasting time for both of us. Seeing an unbroken whois history for eleven years on a popular one word .com should be a hint that this might not be cheap.

So I guess your statement "don't treat your potential customers like suckers and you may make a sale now and then" goes both ways and could be rephrased as:

"don't treat your potential sellers like morons and you may make a purchase now and then."

OTOH, I understand the vent and agree, but would rephrase it in a more general context: Don't insult the buyer or seller with silly offers.

Nobody likes the feeling that the person they are dealing with is trying to take advantage of them - buyers or sellers. I suppose the flip side is dealing with buyers that think that all domains should be worth less than $5,000. That would be almost all offers coming from gmail accounts. Not giving you a hard time, just pointing out that the door swings both ways... like most things in life you need to look at things from multiple viewpoints to get at the truth.

 

[namenut]

Rob, it would be interesting to hear if you actually made a $ offer or did you just ask what the price would be? Also, did you respond to any with an actual offer after they responded?

I believe most of us reply to "What are you wanting for this domain" with a high figure just to see if the enquirer is genuine or not. If the person responds back with a figure I personally try to accomodate them with a price that is fair and reasonable.

If they don't respond I just think "There goes another shister"!

I agree ..... and take it a step farther if a budget is noted and examples of names the buyer feels meet the criteria and requirements it can saves time and frustration.

I think the "game" works both ways. The seller doesn't want to leave money on the table and the buyer doesn't want to pay too much. Knowing what the budget is seems to be a time saver for both parties. Just like in our "names wanted" forum.

namenut

 

[weblord]

sometimes if people are like that, it's still good to hand reg

 

[gawnd]

yes, all my domains are worth at least that. but sorry, all of yours are only reg fee.

 

[npcomplete]

yes, all my domains are worth at least that. but sorry, all of yours are only reg fee.

LMAO.

I think we have a winner for best post in the thread!

Making me laugh always deserves a rep!

 

[Spade]

Honestly. I think im fair. But if I believe I have a quality domain name, and someone is interested, obviously im right. If your not happy with the price - move on - just like you did. Your welcome to make fun of them all day.

Justin

 

[Rob J]

Rob, it would be interesting to hear if you actually made a $ offer or did you just ask what the price would be? Also, did you respond to any with an actual offer after they responded?

I believe most of us reply to "What are you wanting for this domain" with a high figure just to see if the enquirer is genuine or not. If the person responds back with a figure I personally try to accomodate them with a price that is fair and reasonable.

If they don't respond I just think "There goes another shister"!

No, and I admit I probably approached it all wrong. I sent out impersonal letters that basically said "I'm interested in this domain, is it for sale and what are you asking?".

Like I said I was venting a bit because it's demoralizing when the starting point is so far out of bounds that bargaining is pointless. How do you talk someone from $25k to $500? I think what I intended to address with this thread before my emotions took over, was that it seems people in general often seriously overvalue their domains. Feel free to read threads in the marketplace and appraisals forums for case studies.

All in all things worked out, I think I lucked out on finding some catchy new regs...

 

[DomainTalker]

Interesting - and eternally frustrating - point...


I had a LLLL.com that got 11 different $60 offers through Sedo...and, then sold for $9460 via Moniker Traffic Auction in the same year I got those lowball offers...


I've no doubt that the people that offered $60 thought I was overvaluing the name when I replied asking for high $xxxx - but, they were wrong...


So, its a judgement thing - and, sometimes luck, too - I reckon.


Btw...I use a gmail email addy (Too many shysters around to use my 'real' email)...But, that doesn't devalue my genuine & honest business dealing potential...

.

 

[npcomplete]

...snip...
Btw...I use a gmail email addy (Too many shysters around to use my 'real' email)...But, that doesn't devalue my genuine & honest business dealing potential...

And nobody says that it does devalue genuine and honest business dealings. I was just saying above that this (gmail) combined with a few other phrases in a typical email is a sign that the person sending the mail is *probably* a domainer. Since there is no probability involved, that would be more properly described as Bayesian inference, although Bayesians call them probabilities... i.e., it either is or is not a domainer on the other end, no probability involved, but we treat it as such.

 

[DomainTalker]

Understood, np...Apologies, I missed that 'gmail + other signs indicate domainer' (as opposed to non-domainer) bit the first time around...

.

 

[metronome]

there is always a delicate balance between seller and buyer:D.
seller would always think that the buyer doesnt pay high enough, while the buyer would always think that the seller doesn't sell low enough.

actually, I think it is up to what you domain names you wanna buy.