advice Received my first inbound offer, counter offer rejected

[Jay Ha]

I was about to put my phone away and get some sleep at around 3 AM when I received an e-mail from Undeveloped saying that I got a 200 USD offer on one of my 5-letter names. Knowing that I had a 199 USD minimum offer I thought that this guy is after a bargain.

I looked up the guy's name knowing that he resides in a specific country (from my google analytics and Undeveloped also shows me their location). I found his LinkedIn profile and I'm 100% sure it is him. He works at a multi billion dollar chemicals company, in their commercial development program. That company's domain name is a 3-letter .com which is worth several millions. Their pockets are pretty deep, that's all I can say about them (please don't throw guesses on public).

Anyway, here's the whole convo with his name hidden for their own privacy:

Now I know that I hit high on my counter offer. Several reasons include it was waaaay too late in my timezone, really didn't feel like selling a name for the amount he asked, and given that he works in a commercial program, I didn't really buy his story about the nickname thing.

Just wanted to share this experience since it was my first in ~5 months of domaining. Has any of you guys went through this situation before? How does it usually turn out? Any comments on how I handled this brief convo? Anyway, thanks for reading!

 

[BaileyUK]

Hopefully, but personally I'd probably still walk because I would feel like you'd been trying to scam me. I know that wasn't your intention, but buying and selling is quite an emotional thing .

In all fairness, this guy was likely to stay in the background for the purchase, seeing it was his Wifes nick-name. It's not like he could move-on and buy another name . I bet he had some wonderful banter with his wife when the $34,000 counter came in. "Sorry honey I just don't think your worth that much"

My advice is never try to read too much into the potential users possible motives when it comes to price . that's unless it is something very darn obvious or something with multiple buyers in place.. You'll end up going screwball forever looking back on sales made (or lost)

This could have been very easily a missed opportunity if the last owner had renewed. It would've gone through Sedo (or was that Godaddy) at that original listing price

 

[briguy]

Congrats on your sale!

Maybe just maybe, you get into the habit of only during serious business when the mind is clear and the belly is full...

 

[d-e-x]

The guy just messaged me that he asked his wife and she said 500 USD are OK. So the deal is done. Will report it in the Completed Sales thread once the money hits my account.

It was a great learning experience for me and I hope it was for other NPers too.

Congrats

 

[xeroox]

And after a week we will see the new domain under the fortune 500 new project

 

[Jay Ha]

And after a week we will see the new domain under the fortune 500 new project

That's what is going to keep me awake the next couple of weeks, or maybe more.

 

[BaileyUK]

Apple are using one of my domains (a $2,000 anonymous purchase by them) every day of the week, I don't lose any sleep over it. It just goes to show I'm on the right track when it comes to domains. I treat it as an acknowledgement.

And dare I say it was a fair market price. I love to see my domain contrivances up and running, Yep even when various TV adverts feel like they are calling my name

 

[rh2000]

And after a week we will see the new domain under the fortune 500 new project

Of course.

 

[maya-zir]

34k? you kidding?
well.. continue renewal it the rest of your life because now you know if you let it go, this guy will get it for handreg fee..

 

[BRANDERX]

BINs are the way to go..

Take it or leave it..

but I know not everyone can do that.

@Jay Ha congrats, & make sure there are no other listings of your domains on different marketplaces.

 

[karmaco]

I don’t think refusing the offer was wrong, I think countering at over 4 figures was the mistake. This name is not likely worth the quoted amount no matter who the buyer.

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

I prefer the direct email negotiations VS anonymous bidding at various marketplaces...
And counteroffers in this direct mode are not mandatory at all... you may raise up the buyer without them (just verbally).

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Congrats @Jay Ha and thanks for taking us through the process with you. I feel there was a risk the 5 figure counter might have ended the discussion, but glad it worked out. I think the final price is a reasonable one for both buyer and seller. Hope this will be the first of many sales for you.

 

[Jay Ha]

To those saying I valued the name for mid five digits (for real) as if I thought I had hit the jackpot with every name I have:

Oldest message is when I bought it off a NP auction. The rest are just me trying to quick flip it but no one took it. I know the value of the name as shown in the earlier examples but I have to price according to the type of buyer in order to get the maximum out of my names. Eventually, for this name, it can be valued at:
8 USD bargain price
70 USD reseller price
500 USD end user price incl. commission

 

[domains21]

This was fun to read. It had suspense, shock and a (hopeful) happy ending. Congrats on the sale!

 

[J Sokol]

Congrats @Jay Ha! I love it when we newbies get some sales under our belt. Hope this will be the first of many.

 

[frank-germany]

the domain name value has nothing to do with the capabilities of the buyer

nobody ever buys a domain for a fortune 500 company
everybody wants it for the school project of the little daughter

asking 34K was a little high but the right idea

 

[JudgeMind]

I agree that you shouldn't buy his story about it being his wifes name but I think your valuation is out to lunch, no hard feelings just my opinion. I have had similar cases where the buyer gives me some story that they are a student or its their wife or childs name, I never buy it. I think you could have gotten mid $x,xxx or perhaps higher and that's kind of pushing it for a not well pronounced name that has little seo value and is only 6 months old. The thing you need to think about is this might be the only inquiry or interest you get in the name for the next year or more. I guess you can ask whatever you want but if you want to be a seller and not just a buyer you need to price your names appropriately.

 

[WatchDogue]

Overall an interesting post regarding handling " offers/ counteroffers " from both the OP's perspective as well as the perspectives of many experienced NPs!

IMO a " make offer " minimum should be in reasonable approximation to the owner's final acceptable price range, regardless of type of item for sale.

Very pleased for you the discrepancies between offers and counter-offers ultimately worked out well for you.

 

[BaileyUK]

You mentioned only one other obscure extension was registered

Well there's an easy check to see if it is indeed a fortune 500 company in 20 seconds after transfer and save waiting weeks. No fortune 500 or big business proposition is going to leave the .NET. ORG .INFO and possibly one or two other extensions sitting there to hand register If they are still available then trust me - It's his wifes nick name

 

[Jay Ha]

You mentioned only one other obscure extension was registered

Well there's an easy check to see if it is indeed a fortune 500 company in 20 seconds after transfer and save waiting weeks. No fortune 500 or big business proposition is going to leave the .NET. ORG .INFO and possibly one or two other extensions sitting there to hand register If they are still available then trust me - It's his wifes nick name

Yeah I'm pretty sure now he's an IT guy who doesn't even live in the city where that Fortune 500 company is located.