Need Sedo selling advice!!! Asap

[brandnow]

It's been several years (2003 actually) since the last time I sold a domain on Sedo.

I recently listed a few domains on Sedo again recently. One of the domains, I have owned since 2010, and I actually own rights to the word used in the domain (later I'll get to that). My main concern / question has to do with offer and counter-offer on Sedo. After chatting with Sedo CS tonight, they confirmed for me that if I make a counter-offer on the domain then the original offer is superceded by my counter-offer. Of course, the potential buyer will then have the right to either accept or reject my counter-offer.

The original offer was for $10,000. I feel the domain should be worth around $12,000. Though I would likely also be willing to accept $10,000. The buy it now price is at $14,000.

Anyways, what would you do? Would you risk making a counter-offer even though the potential buyer may reject it? I'm still pretty okay with taking $10,000 for it, though of course, would prefer about $12,000. I know this is a simple risk and reward question. I'm just curious about what other people think.

I learned on Sedo, there's also the option of sending it to auction, where basically the original offer of $10,000 will still be binding. But at least there's the possibility that another interested party could find the auction, want the domain, and bid more. This seems like a good possible route too! Though I wonder if on Sedo whether potential buyers ever get annoyed or impatient by having to wait 5 days for an auction to end? Maybe the potential buyer will lose interest and then just disappear? That's part of the reason why I stopped using Sedo years ago is that I agreed to sell a domain for a good price, but the potential buyer disappeared, and Sedo was then unable to contact the buyer. If I'm paying 15% commission to Sedo. I would EXPECT Sedo to make more of an effort to get the payment from the buyer. Long short short, but I was very disappointed, and stopped using Sedo, until recently.

Then the last thing is with the name in the domain it. I own rights to the actual name of the domain. Call it a brandable, but it is also a generic for a specific very good niche. Because this domain was one of my "personal" domains, but I threw it up on Sedo anyways. My question is, even if I sell the .com, do I still maintain rights to use the name that I have rights to? I mean, what I'm thinking is because the domain is un-developed. I can always get a different domain. At this point, I'd rather get the $10,000 - $12,000.

Sorry for the long post. Thanks in advance for any insights! I guess I need to make a decision about the next step within the next 24 hours or so.

 

[iowadawg]

Buy it now is 14K, be dumb to counter at 15K........

I would take the 10K and move on.
It could be that 10K offer is the most he will pay as he saw the buy it now price.

 

[Bannen]

If someone made you an opening bid of 10k, they know the game. They're not a newbie, they're either a domainer or a business that is serious about owning your domain. They made a strong opening bid and even so, they'll fully expect for there to be further negotiation. Even if they came in at their top price, they'll still know to expect more negotiation.

With strong opening bids, in my personal experience to use that bid to open an auction really sends a sour taste to the buyer. I don't mind sending weak/lowball bids to auction if it's a price I can live with as a reserve, but when someone brings me a respectable strong offer, it's respectful to deal only with them directly. To toss a strong offer to auction is like saying 'Hey thanks for the great offer, but I won't bother to deal with you any more because maybe now I can get a lot more from someone else once they see you're interested in it'.

You've got a healthy offer, and it's through Sedo so it's obviously someone who knows the game, not someone approaching you through your domain's website or parked page or whatever. They will not be surprised if you counter offer, but in my experience they may well be pissed if you now ignore them and send it to auction. Others here, and I, have lost sales at Sedo because we chose to send strong offers to auction instead of dealing directly with the initial offer.

Since they know the game, you have nothing to lose by making a counter offer. As I said, they probably expect it. Then one of two things may happen: if they did indeed come in with their best and final price first, they'll counter you back with their initial offer. Or if they were prepared to go a little higher, they'll up their offer after you counter. I can only speak from personal experience, but I've never lost a sale due to sending them a higher counter offer if their price was anywhere in my range. If they want the domain but are at their ceiling, they just counter back at their same price, last and final. Of course, if they're offering 200 bucks and you're countering 20k, that will generally cancel the deal. But we're talking about offers that are strong, and you generally don't lose strong offers just because you counter a little higher.

Of course, things can get messy... you can counter back and forth and nitpick and try squeeze every last ten bucks into the price; or you can cancel the negotiation if they don't come up in price, and maybe they'll think about it and come in with another higher offer a week or a month later. There are many ways this can get messy and the sale can be dragged out or lost;

But keep it simple. If this was a case of a weak offer and trying to get the buyer up into your price range, I'd be saying different things here. But the offer is ALREADY in your price range, so why start getting messy? Keeping it simple means: counter offer (expected, and respected), see what their response is, and then make your decision.

The messier it gets - including trying to start an auction with it, or a long counter-counter-counter-offer series of steps - the quicker the buyer walks away and decides they can just as well do with buying some other domain they like.

Good luck; let us know how it plays out

 

[johnn]

There is no other domain.

When you want a name - you want a name.
There is not much difference between the offering pricing and asking price.

Accept the offer before he got cold feet. Cash is King. Use $10,000 to buy something else to make $50,000

 

[MasterOfMyDomains]

If i made an offer and someone pushed it to auction i would be very upset.
Why risk 10k for 2k
Greed?

 

[jlwhite405]

"Bird in hand" situation. I would take the money and be on to the next one.

 

[The New Guy]

Wouldn't push to auction. You'd likely have the auction not get any other bidders and the buyer then thinks he might be overpaying for the domain at $10K.

The remaining question then - is it worth the risk losing a $10K sale in order to get $12K? Three possibilities:
- The buyer accepts, you get $12K
- The buyer counters at $11K, then you have to decide if that's enough
- The buyer walks away.

If there is no competition for the domain and you don't have others regularly contacting you about it, then take the $10k.

 

[The New Guy]

I don't really like the Sedo format though nor obviously their 15% commission (what a rip off 3 - 8% would be more reasonable).

Then don't use them for sales.

If the domain is worth as much as you think it is, reject the offer, delete the domain from sedo, then park it at voodoo. All you'll need to do is wait for a better offer.

Use voodoo's contact form to field inquiries and handle negotiations yourself. Then you get everything instead of 85%.

If the buyer requires escrow then use sedo for escrow and then figure out who is going to pay the 3% escrow fees.

 

[jideofor]

This whole stories is too long.Take the money and run, man.

 

[Bannen]

The domain name is based on a community, of 40,000 subscribers, which I developed from 2010 - 2012.

Ha ha; this is like telling us you got an offer for your 'old car' for $50k, and we scream "Take it! Take it!" for a week; and then after a week you kind of vaguely mention, "Oh, that old car is a vintage Ferrari, in excellent shape."
Kind of changes the entire course of our comments and valuations.

Now we don't know if the offer was due to simply your domain, or to capitalize on your subscriber base. I know 40k isn't an absolutely huge community, however it is a very healthy one. Buyers at Flippa, for example, seem to pay anywhere between 5k and 30k for a domain/website with a decent community base like that. It's a great start for people who want to try monetize it, or start a fee-based platform, etc.

So now we're wondering if your domain is actually a reg fee term and the offer is from a buyer who wants to capitalize on your community base... or if it's for the domain alone and the buyer doesn't want the subscribers... or if it's for both. If you have a category killer domain about some term/genre that seems to be increasing in popularity, as well as a strong beginning subscriber base, the offer of 10k might actually be a very very lowball and your asking price of 14k might be very lowball as well.

We're flying blind here. Without knowing what the domain is, it is impossible to advise you whether your price range is appropriate (in our opinions, of course), because we just don't know. Maybe if I knew the domain, and coupled that with knowing you have 40k subscribers, I'd say Good God, this is worth $40k!!

Our advice here is meaningless without knowing full details.

 

[Asfas1000]

If you need the money, you might as well just accept the offer. If you counter, you risk $10k to get another $2k (at most), so you should be very confident that the buyer will accept.

Of course there are more factors, like whether there are other buyers for the domain, whether the price is good or not, if the cash can help YOU NOW with other ventures etc.

I would say that yes, buyers usually get annoyed when they have to wait or when their offer is converted to an auction and when a buyer disappears, Sedo can reallistically do very little.

 

[wcpthree]

Think like a salesman and not like a hobbyist. Common sense would tell you that's not the final offer. Also they know the same goes for you. Move down slowly in tiny increments, remember they came after you. I'm new to THIS, but not sales, marketing, or PEOPLE! Something that has stayed consistent and will always be is that sales is 100% psychology. If you just have a domain (or product) that everyone wants, you are no better than a pot dealer, McDonalds, or Wal-Mart. Congratulations though. Use your mind, you will get more. Full price is a fair price. Stay confident!!!!

 

[Mahogany]

IMHO, I'd take it. I'd hate to think I'd lost a xx,xxx deal for $1500.

 

[wwwulff]

The last two names I have received bids on through Sedo I have sent to auction and both times there was no one else who bid and both times the original bidders disappeared in the meantime, so I am not sure auction is a good strategy and personally I would either accept or make a counter offer.

 

[900Worldwide]

My first thought was take the 10k and run, but then my second thought was if some offered you 10k for the domain that is not the interested party max budget for the domain so I would counter with 15k.. Maybe you guys can meet somewhere in the middle...

Best of Luck

 

[biggie]

it all comes down to whether you're willing to give the buyer the option to walk, or not.

once you counter offer, then they are off the hook

however, if you feel the name is worthy of the extra duckies and.... there are other potentials who could utilize the domain, then stick it to em'

still, the need for dough, if any, should help with making a decision.

Good Luck!

imo....

 

[The New Guy]

I have asked once from sedos CS, they told me if you made a counter offer, but the buyer rejects it, you can still sell it for the offer they made.

You can still sell it for that, but I don't think the buyer is obligated to buy at their original offer price once you reject it with a counter offer.

 

[wcpthree]

update I had not responded to the potential buyer yet. and today got another offer from the same buyer for 10,500. he says he is deciding between this domain and another. i mean sure it's good money. ideally I want 14,000 for it or would prefer to settle around 12,000. so either I can accept the 10,500 offer.. or write back and explain why the domain is worth 12,000. but then of course I run the risk of losing the sale if he really is considering the 'other domain'. thr tricky thing is the new and booming industry this domain is about will only likely continue to grow tremendously over the next couple years especislly with legalization in more states.

He's probably not deciding between your domain and another. He bumped himself! That's perfect! You got him by the short n curleys. Didn't you just receive an offer for $14,500?!?!

 

[ChubbyDfat]

Thanks for the advice. My conundrum is that I'm a lot more of a developer than a domain investor. Over the past few months I have researched domain investments and ngtlds. Of course, I have sold domains in the past, but I don't do it as a job or even a real business. My true love is developing brands. This domain is the .com variant of a popular brand that I created a few years ago. I think it has value because the brand has a subscriber base still. Well, anyways. It's a long story. In one sense, it is a bit painful to sell the domain. Some things are worth more than money. But because I need the money, so I decided to take the buyer's offer. I will simply register the .us variant instead. I think it should be okay.

Someone once gave me a piece of advice which I hold dear today. In my case it pertained to real estate but it still holds true here. I hope this will make your decision to sell easier.

"Be in love with the deal and not the property"

In other words, when you say " it is a bit painful to sell the domain", that is telling me that you are in love with the property and not the deal.
You will not be happy with the end result in that case.

With this deal, you have an offer. The question being... how long till the next offer rolls around?
Hell, if its a couple of years from now till you get the next offer then you kind of have to factor in inflation.
A nominal inflation rate of 2% over (lets say) 5 years till you get your next offer on the domain means that you would have lost 10% purchasing power. This tells me (quick math in my head) that a $12,000 bid in 5 years is akin to a $10,900 bid now. (my math may be wrong but the fundamentals still hold true).

Point being, put aside your feelings for the domain and/or any work that went into the domain and just focus on the deal. I know its hard to do, but try to remember that your feelings are not transferable and the buyer does not share those same feelings.

Once you get the sale over, you will feel better.
Anyway, good choice on making the move to let it go.

Ciao

 

[Rob84]

I have asked once from sedos CS, they told me if you made a counter offer, but the buyer rejects it, you can still sell it for the offer they made.
The question is:
Offer: $10k
Counter: $12k
Answer: NO
You accept the $10k. but will they pay it after your counter offer?

 

[iAchilles]

Personally speaking I wouldn't counter for +20% of the original offer without knowing more information about the buyer. If you can ascertain if they have deep pockets, then I'd be more comfortable doing it. I assume you tried looking on facebook and Linkedin? You might get some more information. If you can't find anything, take the money and run.

 

[robert_jones]

In terms of where or not you’ll have the rights to the name if you sell the domain it’s probably best to speak with a lawyer regarding that situation (taking legal advice from people on the web isn’t a really good idea).

Now, with your domain and whether to push it to auction I would say it’s best to not do this as it would probably piss the buyer off. You have to think of it from THEIR perspective. Say you were interested in the domain and the owner told you 10K for it and then he pushes the domain to auction – even if your very interested in the domain it WILL piss you off as you now have to wait 5 days and also compete with anyone that could potentially bid on the domain.

As for whether or not you should counter with a 12K offer I would say this is entirely dependent on how badly you feel the buyer wants it.

What I’ve realized in sales is if a person wants something you can often increase the price of the product and still get a sale. However, the buyer MUST really want the product – if they don’t want it chances are you’re going to blow the sale.

So how do you tell if the buyer badly wants your domain?

This can be very hard to gauge but there are a few things I look for. Firstly, if they contacted you first chances are they are mildly interested in the domain – no one would message someone on sedo about a domain unless they are at least somewhat interested. Secondly, how quickly are they responding back to your messages? If they are responding back fast then chances are they are very interested but if they are taking their sweet time getting back to you chances are they aren’t too interested and it would probably be better to take the 10K offer instead of pushing for 12K. And the last thing I would do is if you’re not too sure if they really want the domain badly try and get them to jump through a hoop by asking them to call you. I’ve don’t this before and if they do call you then it means they are VERY interested and that’ll let you know if you can push for 12K or take the 10K offer.

Hope that helps.

 

[brandnow]

update I had not responded to the potential buyer yet. and today got another offer from the same buyer for 10,500. he says he is deciding between this domain and another. i mean sure it's good money. ideally I want 14,000 for it or would prefer to settle around 12,000. so either I can accept the 10,500 offer.. or write back and explain why the domain is worth 12,000. but then of course I run the risk of losing the sale if he really is considering the 'other domain'. thr tricky thing is the new and booming industry this domain is about will only likely continue to grow tremendously over the next couple years especislly with legalization in more states.

 

[wcpthree]

Please update us when you close the deal. Even though I don't know you, I am excited for you.

 

[cocaseco]

Guess I'll be the minority and it has nothing to do with the amount of money. But I ALWAYS counter. I think it's just good business. The buyer expects you to and if he really wants the domain, chances are he will still be there even if he won't move to the higher price. If nothing else, try the old "I'll split the difference with you" route so that it looks like you are give a little too.