Just got what seems to be a "legit" offer

[Sanwal]

Didn't know where to post and no one was online in the live chat area. Got an offer for a domain, he was like, "can i ask the valuation of the domain." (just a part of the email)

I replied with, "Please make your offer on '"x".com' if it's good enough we could talk further on this."

He gave me an offer, without any need for an appraisal (have got that many times and know it's a scam).

As this is basically or possibly my first big deal, would like some thoughts on what i should do next, a pm or reply would be greatly appreciated from an experienced helpful fellow domainer.
Cheers!

 

[Fonzie]

One thing I've learned: People who are seriously interested in your name will pursue you and buy it.

The rest- the vast majority- are tire kickers or people who think it should be $100.

My last inquiry came from a finance guy in NYC who made no effort to mask his identity. His inquiry was simple: "How much are you asking for (name)?"

My reply was equally succinct.
"A lot."

I just don't have time to play footsies with idiots who are 'curious' about a domain name. If they want it, they know how to make a deal happen. The only 'rookie' mistake are people who get their hopes up with every inquiry. I treat every inquiry with about as much excitement as I feel when opening junk mail, until escrow is processed.

 

[FPForum]

The guy could also be another domainer with a similar domain, trying to fish you out how much you are marking yours. I do that sometimes to get the "Make An Offer" guys show their cards.

I was also thinking this could be a possibility..Either way, sorry to hear it didn't work out for you.

 

[ibidu]

One way to find out for sure if he was a genuine buyer who was later on put off by the price, would be if you let people here know the name and the price he offered you - by doing this you will also get a good valuation for your domain from experienced domainers.

If your name is short and brandable as you say it is, you could try "BrandBucket" to see if it gets accepted - this is also a good way of finding out if the market agrees with you on the quality of your domain.

 

[Sanwal]

Domain sold, funny thing is i told the buyer, "you wouldn't be able to afford it" I told him my price, he then told his price, we settled in between, just a few 100 dollars below the previous offer i received which did not turn out well!!

He just sent me the money, transferring his domain to him, and thank you so much for all your help, the reply actually worked!!

Thank you so much again all of you!

Edit: Jbtw this was a different guy!! :D

 

[Sanwal]

One thing I've learned: People who are seriously interested in your name will pursue you and buy it.

The rest- the vast majority- are tire kickers or people who think it should be $100.

My last inquiry came from a finance guy in NYC who made no effort to mask his identity. His inquiry was simple: "How much are you asking for (name)?"

My reply was equally succinct.
"A lot."

I just don't have time to play footsies with idiots who are 'curious' about a domain name. If they want it, they know how to make a deal happen. The only 'rookie' mistake are people who get their hopes up with every inquiry. I treat every inquiry with about as much excitement as I feel when opening junk mail, until escrow is processed.

I gave the exact same reply!
Cheers for that

 

[GiftedDomains]

One thing I've learned: People who are seriously interested in your name will pursue you and buy it.

The rest- the vast majority- are tire kickers or people who think it should be $100.

My last inquiry came from a finance guy in NYC who made no effort to mask his identity. His inquiry was simple: "How much are you asking for (name)?"

My reply was equally succinct.
"A lot."

I just don't have time to play footsies with idiots who are 'curious' about a domain name. If they want it, they know how to make a deal happen. The only 'rookie' mistake are people who get their hopes up with every inquiry. I treat every inquiry with about as much excitement as I feel when opening junk mail, until escrow is processed.

I couldn't disagree with this more.
If i would reply with "a lot" to those type of inquiries, i would probably lose the most part of the mid - high xxx deals (for domains which i paid x - xx myself) which started with that question. Thats a totally legit question. I mean what do we expect? That each and every enduser out there writes "I offer you $5.000 for your domain" in their first email and that they are not even allowed to ask how much the price of a domain is which we are offering to sell??

I think we need to come out of our little "incest" domainer world (and market) and the sometimes weird and unprofessional habbits to which we got used and instead compare our business with any other type of business out there where its not only totally normal, but expected to at least tell a buyer the price of something you want to sell if he asks for it (lol).

Sure, you will also have those time wasters, but once in a while you will have the guy who will buy a domain after few exchanged emails (which all started with "how much?").

I am not saying that your tactic doesn't work. Maybe it (still) works for you. But i think for the majority of enduser sales, this tactic is very very risky and the consequence will be simply less sales.

Just my 2 cents