Seller refuses to give me a price, unless I make an offer that they'll refuse?

[draco]

Found a domain on Afternic that I was interested in buying, so I requested the price. This is the response I received from the broker:

"This seller will not provide a price unless someone has met the minimum offer expectation of $5499. The actual price will be higher."

Does anyone else think that's absurd? I can understand a minimum offer. But to upfront tell you to make an offer they'll refuse, just to get the actual price...

 

[Optixgroup]

But to upfront tell you to make an offer they'll refuse, just to get the actual price...

Oh, so like half the posts on Namepros?

 

[draco]

Oh, so like half the posts on Namepros?

There's a difference between make an offer and we won't give you the price unless you make an offer, which we'll decline. What's the point of requiring a non-binding offer?

 

[DomainMundo]

Does anyone else think that's absurd?

Me. Personally, I find the whole "ask for the price" thing annoying and off-putting, whether it's a domain or a house.

All my domains have Buy-Now listings. I have zero interest in wasting my time, or anyone else's, playing stupid games.

 

[BaileyUK]

Well I think we all know these days how 'Minimum Offer' negotiations work. The wording in the reply was just over stated. No need to state that the response will be higher when the price is stated as minimum. You have to remember minimum with make-offer does weed out the low ballers

What I find offensive, Is if a seller won't state a selling price even after I make several offers to a listing.

 

[DomainRecap]

I'm not sure even what's the big deal here. The guy has a nice domain, and order to filter out all the bums, hobos and tire kickers, he requires a minimum offer of $5499, and then the seller will supply a price.

It's referred to as a "buyer qualification" so that deadbeats and losers don't flood your email box with $20 offers. That's why premium auto dealers will ask you questions and request credit cards and/or ID before letting you test drive a $500,000 automobile.

Seems pretty conventional and straight forward to me, and it's not like the seller is refusing to send you the price, he just wants to make sure you have more than a few nickels jingling around in your pocket.

In terms of problems, this one is pretty inane to be whining about, as that's the way the vast majority of premium domain transactions take place.

P.S. Don't ever contact the Domain King regarding one of his domains, as you'd probably have a heart attack within the first few seconds.

 

[bmugford]

I have a base minimum offer on many domains, mainly because I can't be bothered pricing thousands of domains.

Then, re-pricing them over and over as times change.

I will evaluate my actual asking price when I get an offer.

Brad

 

[draco]

I'm not sure even what's the big deal here. The guy has a nice domain, and order to filter out all the bums, hobos and tire kickers, he requires a minimum offer of $5499, and then the seller will supply a price.

Seems pretty conventional and straight forward to me, and it's not like the seller is refusing to send you the price, he just wants to make sure you have more than a few nickels in your pocket.

In terms of problems, this one is pretty inane to be whining about, as that's the way the vast majority of premium domain transactions take place.

I've bought and sold a lot of domains. Quite a few above $5k. In all my transactions, I've never had anyone tell me up front to make an offer that we'll refuse. The vast majority of premium domain transactions that are offers (and not BIN) involve someone making an offer and the other party either accepting or countering. Since making an offer is normally binding, that's the actual way to filter out people. They could have said the minimum offer they'll consider is $5499, and countered if they wanted more. If they countered with a higher price, I would have thought that's a normal negotiation.

 

[dirk]

All part of the game I'm afraid. I do think your case is a bit over the top but maybe it works for the seller, who knows?

 

[DomainRecap]

I have a base minimum offer on many domains, mainly because I can't be bothered pricing thousands of domains.

This is the smart way to sell domains, as many experts in the field will contend that "BIN and forget it" is a quick way to leave a lot of money on the table.

Trends change and sometimes you could be sitting on a potential goldmine that has a BIN of $2995. Others, a deep-pocketed company are prepared to come at you with a nice 5-figure offer (just to procure the domain quick) and instead find a BIN of $3500 sitting on it.

Now BINs are great for marketplaces, as they can pretend they're Amazon with retail prices on everything, and heavily promote "the need for Buy-it-Now listings", but unless you're playing "toss spaghetti on the wall with 10K domains", individual domain investors are not well-served by them.

 

[DomainRecap]

I've bought and sold a lot of domains. Quite a few above $5k. In all my transactions, I've never had anyone tell me up front to make an offer that we'll refuse. The vast majority of premium domain transactions that are offers (and not BIN) involve someone making an offer and the other party either accepting or countering.

So in your entire life, you've never run into a Minimum Offer before?

Ummmmm...

 

[bmugford]

I've bought and sold a lot of domains. Quite a few above $5k. In all my transactions, I've never had anyone tell me up front to make an offer that we'll refuse. The vast majority of premium domain transactions that are offers (and not BIN) involve someone making an offer and the other party either accepting or countering. Since making an offer is normally binding, that's the actual way to filter out people. They could have said the minimum offer they'll consider is $5499, and countered if they wanted more. If they countered with a higher price, I would have thought that's a normal negotiation.

I would say the reply from the Afternic broker is poorly worded.

It could have said something like -

The seller is only willing to engage if there is a minimum offer of $5499. The asking price varies, but will normally be higher.

It essentially says the same thing.

In reality, the buyer is probably just trying to deal with serious buyers.

Brad

 

[draco]

So in your entire life, you've never run into a Minimum Offer before?

Ummmmm...

I've never run into a minimum offer that they're telling me up front they'll refuse.

 

[URL Stream]

Is this really any different from every (hidden) auction reserve?

 

[DomainRecap]

I've never run into a minimum offer that they're telling me up front they'll refuse.

Come on, everyone knows the seller is not going to accept a "minimum offer", as its prime use is to weed out lowballers and cheapskates, not to serve as a BIN. A Minimum Offer is NOT the same thing as a BIN, you understand this right?

This has to be the dumbest thread I've seen all week, and that's saying a lot.

 

[DomainRecap]

Is this really any different from every (hidden) auction reserve?

No, and the OP is just all wired up because the seller stated the Minimum Price is not the BIN, when we all know that the Minimum Price is not a BIN and you'll have to pay more to get it, sometimes significantly more.

It's like going into a art auction with a minimum bid and then complaining when the bidding takes it higher and you need to pay more. That's kinda the way the world works. The base minimum price is what is needed to PARTICIPATE, not to WIN.

For some reason the fact the Minimum Price isn't the same thing as the BIN has this guy all riled up and looking for trouble.

 

[draco]

Come on, everyone knows the seller is not going to accept a "minimum offer", as its prime use is to weed out lowballers and cheapskates, not to serve as a BIN. A Minimum Offer is NOT the same thing as a BIN, you understand this right?

This has to be the dumbest thread I've seen all week, and that's saying a lot.

See my response above. I understand a minimum offer is not the same thing as a BIN. I have NO problem with a seller countering an offer I make. I understand that's business. I just don't understand the LOGIC in telling someone to make an offer that will be declined, just to get the price. They've already said they'll decline it, so the offer isn't binding on me. So what's the point?

@bmugford gave what I thought would have been an excellent response, "The seller is only willing to engage if there is a minimum offer of $5499. The asking price varies, but will normally be higher."

If the broker had said that, I wouldn't have posted anything about it.

 

[DN_Hunter]

I don't think it was the Seller who made that reply -- it was the Afternic broker. And if that is the case, then the Afternic Broker needs more training on how to properly reply.

 

[DomainRecap]

If the broker had said that, I wouldn't have posted anything about it.

You're picking gnat shit from pepper.

I think I'm done here.

 

[zeff]

Thanks for sharing your experience

That’s typically the reason why I think that the domain name market is not mature.
As long as you’ll have this kind of behaving, this will discredit the whole domain name market.

I don’t know another market with this type of behaving.

Unfortunately I don’t see any improvement unless the market establishes itself the rules of domains sales.