Received an offer -- Didn't counter

[mcaricofe]

Out of absolutely nowhere, this morning I received an email with a high $xxx offer for a domain I've had for several months (it's listed at Sedo, but I've done no other marketing).

Thinking it was another appraisal scam, I replied, accepting the offer with two conditions: the name will be sold as-is, no appraisal of any kind; and we use escrow.com and split the fees.

We've opened escrow; I'm assuming this will go through without any problems.

Lesson learned: don't assume offers are scams. I guess I'm too cynical for my own good. I should have countered -- my asking price at Sedo was $5,000.

Oh, well.

 

[CrazyTech]

I haven't had a legitimate reasonable offer yet and I've had a total of 4 offers for domains on Sedo. However, even when I suspect it's a scam, I still respond because you just never know.

 

[DropLister]

thats what you get for trying to stoop to the level of scammers. Just repond to all interested emails with a counter offer.

 

[fonzie_007]

It is bittersweet news. First of all, congrats on the sale. However, in the future, assume all offers are valid and counteroffer accordingly.

 

[RJ]

Nevertheless, congrats on the sale!

 

[mick]

Why escrow.com? I thought Sedo offers also escrow service just like afternic.

 

[matt_bodis]

Escrow.com is cheaper and faster.

 

[mcaricofe]

Hmmm. I hope I haven't gotten myself further into trouble -- although the domain is listed at Sedo, the offer I got was an email direct to me, not through Sedo.

If a domain is listed for sale at Sedo, are you required to sell through them, or can you sell outside of their system?

I have much to learn.

 

[fonzie_007]

You are fine. If the email came to you outside of Sedo, they are not entitled to a commission on the domain.

 

[scrsteven]

Yea, as long as the offer wasn't on sedo you don't pay them any commission. Just remove your sedo listing for that name once you sell it. Congratulations on your sale! I tend to always counter but countering can make some ppl disappear, so it's not always bad to just accept.

 

[Earthian]

counter-offering always depends on the domain , the amount offered and your specific circumstances eg. if you need the money for something fast or not ... don't put yourself down ... if you counter-offered too high you could have spooked him ...








one more thing ... when using escrow.com do NOT share the fees ... always ask the buyer to cover them (besides , they are not that much and it IS the usual practise) ...

the reasoning is this ... if the buyer backs down after he transfers the money , escrow will demand half the fees from you for the cancelled transaction ... if the buyer is supposed to pay all the fees ... they will just subtract them from his deposit ...

it is also an incentive for a buyer not to back down in the middle of the procedure ... also it can deter pranksters who might try to play you ... you might say it is a small amount ... well , if you make a large amount transaction which gets cancelled , I don't suppose you want to end up without a sale AND paying half-the-fees money for nothing ...








::ATTENTION:: ::ADDED::

I checked a little more regarding the issue above and I found this ... which is what (I think) formed my opinion regarding this issue when I read it , quite some time ago ...

as I see it more carefully right now , if the "agred to pay" goes only to the original shipping fees then it could be interpretted that buyer pays the fees if a transaction is cancelled ... if "agred to pay" goes to escrow fees also then the buyer and seller should split the fees if a transaction is cancelled ...

since there is a possible misunderstanding ... I sent a ticket to Escrow.com regarding this ...

when I receive a response , I'll post it here to clarify the issue ...