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with Sedo CS tonight, they confirmed for me that if I make a counter-offer on the domain then the original offer is superceded by my counter-offer.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.

 

[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]

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!!!!

 

[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?!?!

 

[wcpthree]

Tell this guy that you have an offer for $14,500. Tell him the other buyer want to pay in 2 monthly payments so you are willing to do $13000-$13500 in one payment. He already bumped himself so he wants it. Shoot even say $14,000 because you already had it priced to move quickly. Then delete this thread

 

[Edward Smeu]

Nice thread and some nice answers and approaches.

Since the buyer increased the original offer without waiting for a response you can assume he really wants this domain but he tries to get it as cheap as possible while keeping it in your desired price range. He will eventually buy it maybe even for $14k. But you should counter with your 'ideal' price and make the deal without risking too much.

What I wanted to ask, do you have a trademark on that term? And if yes..will it be included in the sale, this seems very important.

 

[Mahogany]

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

 

[jideofor]

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

 

[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

 

[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.

 

[kawalsukhi]

Take 10k offer!!
Good luck

 

[vicho]

Nice deal ! Plz launch a new thread if you complete this deal....share your unique experience...speak it aloud....LOL

 

[kemjika11]

those posters who said there is no other domain the buyer is after-i agree!!

Man, many good posts recently. Take your huge cash- yes, to have that amount alltogether at once, its a tidy sum.
Since you and the buyer have wasted time, your final immediate option seems to be to take the cash and move on. Dont get emotionally tied to the domain!!

 

[morf13]

Like the Steve Miller song- "Go On Take the Money & Run"

 

[DomainGist]

Tell this guy that you have an offer for $14,500. Tell him the other buyer want to pay in 2 monthly payments so you are willing to do $13000-$13500 in one payment. He already bumped himself so he wants it. Shoot even say $14,000 because you already had it priced to move quickly. Then delete this thread

Or people could conduct themselves with dignity and practice honesty and integrity in business. I'd rather take $4000 less than have to live with being dishonest.

 

[cocaseco]

Or people could conduct themselves with dignity and practice honesty and integrity in business. I'd rather take $4000 less than have to live with being dishonest.

That's a great idea in theory and I truly wish it worked better in real life than it sounds in a forum or on paper. The reality is that your honesty will not be matched and you will be taken advantage of by the other party in most business dealings. Dishonesty has a scale and IMO inventing a fictitious competing buyer is on the very low end of the scale. We all have a point on the scale where our own ethics comes into play. You have to always do what you are comfortable with, but in a sales environment if your threshold is too low to use this kind of technique, it will be much harder to be successful.

 

[wcpthree]

Or people could conduct themselves with dignity and practice honesty and integrity in business. I'd rather take $4000 less than have to live with being dishonest.

More than likely the buyer was being dishonest about having his eye on another domain. If you agree to their very first offer, or in this case the second offer in which he didn't respond to the first, perceived value is diminished. If he said, "ok, stroke me a check for $10k," in the buyer's eyes, he may have thought that the domain wasn't that valuable to the owner, and then came back and said "well it turns out I could only come up with $9k." Maybe not though. Either way is risky. I've negotiated plenty of high ticket items, one thing is for certain buyers are liars. They don't do it to hurt you, they do it to save money. As a seller of anything, its a complete 180. Now, on either side of the fence, as long as there is nothing malicious or that would hurt or screw someone, I'm not against it. And I respect people that have a game plan and hope they can respect me doing my job. I can also say, the people I make the most money off of, like me the most, the people that get the best deals, usually think I ripped them off. Its all about perception.

 

[wcpthree]

Let's not ruin this guys thread either and just hope the best for him. If you want to pm me fine, if you dropped it, that's fine as well

 

[Vinod R]

Waiting for an update @brandnow

 

[campout]

Judging from what you have said about yourself, I feel the best course is to counter with $12,000 and make it clear you will not waver from that point. Then make peace with losing the sale -- you think it's worth $12K+ -- stick to your guns :D

Looking forward to hearing how this resolves. Best of luck.

 

[pdevananth]

The original offer was for $10,000. I feel the domain should be worth around $12,000.

Can you please help me how did you determine the value as $12,000 not $10,000?

 

[brandnow]

Can you please help me how did you determine the value as $12,000 not $10,000?

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

 

[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.

 

[ChubbyDfat]

Really solid advice and different angles. I'm reading through it right now.

Here's another little interesting tidbit I just discovered. I checked the availability of the .net and .org of this domain I'm selling. Looks like the .org version of it was registered... yesterday! So I think it's reasonable to conclude that the one who registered the .org is the one who placed the big on Sedo. At least I can work with this assumption.

Now this is a bit interesting, I think. Because he went ahead and registered the .org. I wonder if that means he may just be satisfied if he only ends up with the .org OR if he would still much rather have the .com. For this domain name the .org works, but of course, the .com is infinitely better.

I am still pondering a little bit more about it.

Dont over think it.
Get back to the basics. There is an offer and you can either accept, decline, or come back with a different price.

Personally, if you can sell the domain for a profit (since it listed at SEDO, I would assume it is not making you any $ while parked there), I would be all about taking the offer (Only if its for profit and your not taking a loss) and then re-speculate that money (or just the profit) into another domain and let the dream continue.

Free up your assets for more bargains.

Hope that makes sense.
Cheers

 

[brandnow]

Dont over think it.
Get back to the basics. There is an offer and you can either accept, decline, or come back with a different price.

Personally, if you can sell the domain for a profit (since it listed at SEDO, I would assume it is not making you any $ while parked there), I would be all about taking the offer (Only if its for profit and your not taking a loss) and then re-speculate that money (or just the profit) into another domain and let the dream continue.

Free up your assets for more bargains.

Hope that makes sense.
Cheers

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.