Sedo Forces Asking Price?

[verbster]

When responding to an offer through Sedo, it seems there's no way to decline (or respond to an offer) without posing a counter-offer of some sort.

I got a $60 offer on a domain worth much more.

I don't want to start an auction for the amount offered.

I tried the "Cancel Negotiations," but it wouldn't let me without entering an "asking price."

I tried respsonding both with one of their canned replys and with just a monitored note, but neither would go through without an asking price listed.

I don't want to put a price to it at this stage. Plus, I don't know what they want an asking price for...or what they'll do with it.

Please let me know if I've missed something.

Thanks

 

[Broker]

Same thing happened to me, you have to make a high counter offer and if you dont want to sell, hope the buyer declines. Doesnt make any sense I know.

 

[gazzip]

Please let me know if I've missed something.

Nope...thats about it, all you can do is either put in a really high price or ignore the offer. Silly is'nt it - A simple reply like - sorry I have received higher offers (without putting in a price) would make more sense as you are more likely to get better inital offers - rather than the.......oh, I wonder how much they want for it - I'll just offer $60 to find out :hehe:


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[Algis]

Just don't reply at all.

 

[verbster]

Just don't reply at all.

But the whole point is to establish a dialog conducive to a sale. If sellers are forced to place a value in order to continue the dialog, it handicaps the seller...or forces a complete break-off by not responding. Neither way helps the seller make a sale.

 

[TheBulldog]

What was the domain if I might ask?

 

[Kate]

That's strange. You are not supposed to enter a price to cancel negociations. Could be a bug. I would PM or E-mail Mara

 

[rocknrollo]

Those 60 dollar offers are just silly . I get them all the time . i usually repond with a $250000 counter.

 

[gazzip]

That's strange. You are not supposed to enter a price to cancel negociations. Could be a bug. I would PM or E-mail Mara

You can't cancel an offer until you reply with your first price, if they counter that then you have the option to cancel it. If they accept then you have to sell.

Not a bug...just silly IMO

This is the email sedo sends you when you first get an offer

Please note, that you will receive reminder mails about this offer, until you respond and you will need to submit at least one counter before you can cancel the negotiations. This process was designed to ensure a communicative and successful market place.

communicative....yeah right !



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[mirrorcube]

Same issue for me as well. Sedo really needs to have a legitimate decline option without asking for a price. I think they do this to try to force a sale.

 

[circa1850]

The key is to set a realistic price that you would settle for (in other words, the minimum selling price).

If you don't eliminate all the $60.00 BS offers you can get swamped in them.

If you want 60 bucks, then take 60 bucks.

If you think this is a cheap way of getting domains to auction, then be prepared to piss off the person who made this offer. If it is the only offer made and no one else bids and that buyer is gone (a GREAT many of them will NOT want to wait 7 days), then too bad. And sedo DOES NOTHING to enforce their own policy nor can do nothing to force anyone to pay.

 

[Kate]

you will need to submit at least one counter before you can cancel the negotiations. This process was designed to ensure a communicative and successful market place.

That's it. Thanks for the clarification.

 

[verbster]

The key is to set a realistic price that you would settle for (in other words, the minimum selling price).

A minimum is essential to weed low bidders out. Unfortunately, in this case, just a couple of days ago I had a rep upload my latest domains...long story, but the short of it is that it reset everything, including the minimums, to zero. I'll fix them soon, though.

What was the domain if I might ask?

It was EIL.mobi

 

[accent]

I also got a $60 offer on e--.mobi, bet it is the same "buyer". I see no reason to respond.

 

[Damion]

I would counter offer and try to get to an amount you feel comfortable with as this would be the reserve, sending it to auction and then hope the market is interested enough to bid higher then the bid it holds when you send it to auction.

I have a feeling you're unsure what you're expectations are for the domain, why not give it a good thought and then make a counter offer to negotiate a number close to your expectations?

Then with the final offer you received, an offer that would be fine with you as an reserve, mention to the buyer you are not really satisfied with the latest number received and should there be no higher offer be made, a final offer, an offer you are content with, you would have to send it to auction to get the most out of the potential of the domain.

But do mention this to the buyer, don't send it to auction without notifying the buyer.

A really interested buyer will probably take you up on your latest offer, an offer to close the gap towards your expectation price or would take his chance bidding up against other buyers. A speculator would probably let it go to auction and take his chances as well.

Knowing what you want (price) is essential in negotiations.
Disregarding offers just because they are the minimum is bad business practice and potentially shooting yourself in the foot.

 

[verbster]

I would counter offer and try to get to an amount you feel comfortable with as this would be the reserve, sending it to auction and then hope the market is interested enough to bid higher then the bid it holds when you send it to auction.

I guess we all have our own ways of deciding what kind of buyers we want to deal with....and how to proceed. Your method is one I considered but rejected for my own reasons about the kind of buyers I want to deal with and how. There are too many "hopes' and "tries" for me in your strategy for a $60 bid and auction.

I have a feeling you're unsure what you're expectations are for the domain

Not quite sure what you mean here or why you would say it. My only expectation is to sell it for the price I have in mind, which I don't believe the $60 bidder will fulfill. My personal opinion is that he is not "a really interested buyer." (This was what prompted this thread to illustrate the limited options Sedo provides when dealing with nuisance bidders or low-ballers...that the seller is forced to either ignore the bid or include an asking price with any other action, which may hurt the seller's negotiating strategies.)

Knowing what you want (price) is essential in negotiations.

Can't argue with that...Makes it difficult to negotiate if you don't know if your asking price is above or below an offer.

Disregarding offers just because they are the minimum is bad business practice and potentially shooting yourself in the foot.

Have to disagree with both of these opinions. Ignoring (not responding to) an offer doesn't mean it's being disregarded. One example of this would be the strategy of effectively using silence as a response to an offer. If the offer is truly from "a really interested buyer," he will make another offer after his first was ignored and expires...probably one more in keeping with what's reasonable. Furthermore, once a higher second offer is sent, the buyer now has a much better idea off the seller's interest, which figures into the negotiation strategy and saves everyone time.

 

[Damion]

Not quite sure what you mean here or why you would say it. My only expectation is to sell it for the price I have in mind, which I don't believe the $60 bidder will fulfill. My personal opinion is that he is not "a really interested buyer."

Well, if you would be sure on the amount you want to sell you could counter offer with a number somewhat higher then the amount you have in mind to ultimately sell it for and see what happens when a next offer comes in.

That initial $60 offer could suddenly jump up and that would be something you would never find out should you not respond to the $60 offer.

You never know who you are dealing with when you receive an offer how small it may be.
Perhaps it's someone not familiar with buying domains or negotiating and decides to just make an initial offer, an offer that they feel is safe to begin with. To start the process but then they don't get any reply back and feel discouraged? or perhaps offended?

I know you would be thinking that you should be offended if you receive the minimum offer for a LLL.mobi as you perceive the value and it is higher then the $60 but not everyone is familiar with domain values.

A lot of times people make these low ball offers just to get the ball rolling and you never know how far it could go if you don't respond.

Say you have 10 $60 offers per month coming in for domains which should receive a better pricing then that.
And you respond, it only takes a couple of minutes of your time you have more chance in getting sales then not responding at all :imho:

Not responding would mean in most cases 10x no chance of a sale.
I rather have 10x a chance to get a sale


My philosophy would be to give any offer a chance as you don't know who you're dealing with.
If subsequent offers come in and you see the bidder hardly makes any effort to increase their bids THEN you know you're dealing with a low baller or someone not really that interested.

So you would have to take it a little step further to find out and it doesn't take up to much of your time

 

[Name Trader]

I don't often buy at Sedo, but when I do, I ALWAYS offer the minimum. To my way of thinking this is only to open up the negotiations. I'm expecting the seller to counter with what he expects for the domain. We can then take it from there. Oftentimes I get no reply from the seller. I think mostly they don't want to deal with low-ball offers. But to my way of thinking, if they don't want to deal with low-ball offers, then they should be setting a higher minimum price. It's what I do.

 

[verbster]

But to my way of thinking, if they don't want to deal with low-ball offers, then they should be setting a higher minimum price. It's what I do.

I agree with you about setting higher minimums, which is common sense if sellers don't want to deal with low bids. As explained though, in this thread I was more concerned with the choices presented by Sedo when dealing with an offer...being forced to respond with an asking price no matter which respose (except no response at all).

Normally, my minmums are satisfacory to me, but because of the upload of hundreds of domains to udate my Sedo listings, I didn't have the minimums set. I don't begrudge anyone making a minimum offer, but I do have issues with the choices Sedo limits the buyer to once an offer comes in.

 

[wot]

If you are buying of course you always make a low offer first.

If selling keep your min offer prices at a sensible level to suit you, all of mine are $488 , maybe I miss some potential sales but unlikely.