poll Sold name at first offer.. do you sell at first offer usually or not?

[alcy]

I told myself to try not to sell at first offer.. but then at same time, I had more than one disappointing occasion where I countered and never heard from buyer... even after reducing my counter a few times (sometimes even going down to his original offer lol... and still no reply!).......

I guess it can go either way..... done is done I guess... of course, I also evaluate countering or not by name itself.. its potential value... and definitely extension too.. so given this is .biz... I suppose many will agree I should not have countered... and then some will probably say I should have countered... seeing on sedo the buyer regged there only in 2018... and had no buy activity bars showing... did help me decide too.

so anyway.. the name is below... and I thought I'd make a nice poll out of it too while im at it...

block group
..biz

800$.....6 months old handreg.....sedo offer.

 

[DomainVP]

A lifetime of negotiators tell you to never accept the first inbound offer for about 10 great solid reasons.

An offer for $800, you could have countered with $1200 and they would have either been fine with it, offered somewhere in between, or told you that $800 is their max.

Either way, you make them invest themselves into the interaction, through discussion or monetarily.

This way even if you end up accepting their 1st offer, they won't feel like they overpaid and will follow through instead of backing out.

Anyone can do what they want, and great .biz sale btw, but its negotiations 101 to never accept the first offer.

 

[IMEZI]

once i got $800 for geo .com on godaddy and i countered for $1200 and the buyer went silent for 2 months, later i ask help from @Joe Styler the very same buyer were reduced their offer to $400, i accept the $400 offer but no more answer and its already more than 1 month since i accept the $400 offer...

 

[thekiller]

I accepted once a $1,000 offer and buyer changed his mind, after asking he said his partners are not agreeing and then after a few email exchanges was ready to buy it at $750.

Always counter, even at slightly higher than customer's offer.

 

[JudgeMind]

that's a solid price for a .biz sale, im surprised by it in fact. congrats

 

[sbweb]

I accepted once a $1,000 offer and buyer changed his mind, after asking he said his partners are not agreeing and then after a few email exchanges was ready to buy it at $750.

Always counter, even at slightly higher than customer's offer.

This is true. Even buyers play these games. If you accept the first offer, they will assume they can work their way down on the price because you were so eager to accept the first offer they made.

Even if you're happy with the first offer, you counter. It's psychology. In most cases, this is the way. Out of hundreds of deals, I can only think of a handful of deals where I lost deals because I countered. You have more to lose if you're giving away the upperhand. Further, you can still make a deal even if they don't like your counter. But your goal is to start high and go down, not start at the middle and then end up too low.

Note: There is a difference between a marketplace deal vs a negotiated deal (you personally or brokered). I'm talking about a negotiated deal.

 

[Grego85]

I always just put a BIN on my domains. I'd say you did very well on this sale though. Well Done.

 

[Furquan]

I told myself to try not to sell at first offer.. but then at same time, I had more than one disappointing occasion where I countered and never heard from buyer... even after reducing my counter a few times (sometimes even going down to his original offer lol... and still no reply!).......

I guess it can go either way..... done is done I guess... of course, I also evaluate countering or not by name itself.. its potential value... and definitely extension too.. so given this is .biz... I suppose many will agree I should not have countered... and then some will probably say I should have countered... seeing on sedo the buyer regged there only in 2018... and had no buy activity bars showing... did help me decide too.

so anyway.. the name is below... and I thought I'd make a nice poll out of it too while im at it...

block group
..biz

800$.....6 months old handreg.....sedo offer.

Man its an inbound offer (it's like he begging for the name) you have full control of your sale. Go ahead accept it or simply don't fear about anything & give him an acceptable "Counteroffer".

If I was you I would choose the 2nd option.

I love inbound offers in this you are at upper hand not like outbound where people spam hunderd email adress & get $200 sales.

 

[MSN-Domains]

FYI - I sell 6/7 figures names the same way

like Monitors dot [KING]

Reserve is ................. least conversation as possible. Money in escrow - Goodbye Goodluck

It's not about me - "Domainers" IMO need to show genuine buyers more respect. The money companies are parting with is hard-earned capital which 90% of the time has peoples livelihoods on the line

 

[creataweb]

I just had an offer on GD for a name (highly liquid name in .com), countered and haven't heard back (been over 5 days now) --- they should at least counter-offer because the original was a joke anyway.

For a 2 word .biz I'd take the money and run otherwise it may never sell

 

[ricksinfoshop]

I remember one time I countered a guy that offered me $1000 to $1500 and the guy never talked to me again...sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. If the offer is good I'd take it unless its a top-level domain and you know you can get way more for it.

 

[skullnames]

Once got an inbound offer of $500 for a keyword based domain related to artwork. I was thinking for a whole day and research some previous market sales and the keyword metrics. As the domain was very long and I was handreg this one for just a few bucks at discount price, also the keyword was not a strong one with many search volume and doesn't have any higher CPC or competition at all. Eventually, I accepted this offer. The buyer rejected and counter with $200. I again counter with $300 and the buyer accepted the deal.
After 3 months of this sale, I found this domain listed in Godaddy auction. But, I was pretty surprised to see that the last bid was over $1k.
I can say that I'm not a noob in market research. Still confused about this auction. And, that day I started to believe in "Domain has no predictable price".

*We should counter at least once which could prevent buyers from thinking that the seller is desperate to sell this domain.

 

[1Darko]

@alcy - nice sale!

Last year I tested what will happen if I immediately accept the initial offer. Four times I accepted and at the end I was not able to sell at all. I have over 20 years experience in marketing and sales and decided similar to @xynames advice to engage in future inquiries with the buyer to get a better picture about the buyer intentions and to get as much infos as possible. At the end their should be a deal if possible.

 

[poweredbyme]

yes for sure.. bin makes it all very different from makeoffer.. but that does not really conclusively say if you'd be getting higher price from offer or bin... one excludes the other.. so if you sell domainx.com at bin.. yuou will just never ever know what you'd get for it if you negotiated the final price

I choose the both depending on my price expectation:
Domains under 2k - 10k >>>> BIN
Domains above 2k - 10k >>>> Make offer or auction.

As to the original question, usually I decline all offers, with no counter. Serious buyer always makes another offer after a few weeks, then another offer, then another. I had and still have such potential buyers who have been after some of my domains since years. They don't get rid of making offers. I don't set a minimum offer too. Because minimum offer = BIN or very close to BIN.


Counter offer = BIN.
If I counter, I am telling the potential buyer "I have a BIN in my mind. I just don't want reveal it publicly." But on the other hand if I had a BIN in my mind, I would set a BIN. I am conflicting with myself and this weakens my decision making process, makes me hesitant. If I had a BIN in my mind, why do I want to spend time in negotations and lose some potential buyers under the uncertainity of negotations?

I am telling the potential buyer one more thing about the conflict in me: "I didn't have a BIN in mind until receiving your offer, I countered you a number based on your offer, as you see the difference between your offer my counter offer is not big. My counter offer looks very reasonable compared to your initial offer. Please accept my counter offer". Actually I am telling the buyer: "You are the boss here, I own this domain but I have no idea on what to do with, why did I buy it, please help me, take this trouble from me. I don't know what I am doing. You know the market better than me, I believe your offer is fair. I appreciate your help, my lord".

Making counter offer makes me conflicting with myself. An experienced buyer/seller is always good negotiator, leaves such negotiations or takes the control easily to take advantage of the weakness in his opponent. Never conflict with yourself in a decision making process even if your oponent doesn't notice. Stay integrated and in harmony with yourself.

If you really want to rule the "make offer" game, decline all the offers until you don't want to decline. Don't be affraid of losing buyers if your domain is valuable. They will knock your door again and again. If you have an idea about the price, always set a BIN, a little more than what you think to prevent possible regret after the sale. Possibility of leaving money on the table with BIN is correct only for high priced domains. Low priced, low quality domains don't receive any offer and are not sold if there is no BIN. Be realistic about the quality of your domains. It must be worth to negotiate for you and for your potential buyer.

Low priced domains rarely receive offer. Because potential buyers usually think these in seconds:
- "I like this domain. But it has no price. The asking price must be high. Because spending days in lengthy negotiations to get a few hundred more wouldn't be a right thing to do for the seller. If I make an offer this seller will negotiate with me at least to get a few thousands more from me or will decline my offer, I will lose time in both scenarios. I am ready to pay now for this lovely domain if it had 500-1k price tag. What a luck! I want to offer 500 for this but I know it will be declined. Who would spend time with me to get a few hundred more? If I offer 1k in the first place, the seller will likely to ask for more. I have only 1k. If I offer 500 and raise it to 1k gradually it will not be worth the time of the seller as he likely owns thousands of domains. If the asking price was really under 1k, negotiation wouldn't be needed, there would be a price tag. I should look at the other domains with prices around 500-1k"

 

[NYJimbo]

Nice for a two word .biz
Sometimes they wont budge on the price if you counter higher and after a few days they cool off and walk away from the name. In this case, I think you did right.

 

[JudgeMind]

thanks... well i think the general idea is that any 2 word biz sale is a nice and rare suprise imo... i mean with so many nice 1word biz dropping daily..taken in many extensions.. and people dont even bother to rereg those..

cheers

The popularity of the extension has drastically dwindled over the past few years. So imo any .biz sale is a win

 

[Brands.International]

For each domain name I have my vision (can be totally different from what most people think) what that should sell for. So:

- If the initial offer is higher then that (well, rarely), I immediately accept, no counters.

- If the initial offer is less then that - I counter to the level I think is the value of the domain name.

I do not care much what buyer tells me - I would rather wait for another buyer for few years, then to sell good name for low.

just imo

 

[xynames]

If you wish to accept the initial offer you may do so by engaging them then later accepting. This is a little beyond simple Negotiations 101.

In many cases engagement should be done before any price is even presented. It just depends on what exactly the inquiry is and how it’s worded.

How exactly you engage them though may make all the difference. And that’s Advanced Negotiations 204.

 

[alcy]

What kind of owner verification do you use at Sedo when you list your domains there? What works the best for you? I have probably over 50 names in need to verify.

since gdpr things went down the drain for verifications
as I have domains across various registrars and it messes things up for txt records for me
.. cause some registrars do not offer bulk changes... others won't let you change txt record unless I point dns to their defaut servers.. etc..

so I do not use records at all to verify.

for gd auctions I now go through afternic (which means those lame price requests emails each time someone makes offer thjrough gd auctions)... and for sedo, I change nameservers to sedo park for 24h.. and its all verified. then I change back.

 

[BaileyUK]

once i got $800 for geo .com on godaddy and i countered for $1200 and the buyer went silent for 2 months, later i ask help from @Joe Styler the very same buyer were reduced their offer to $400, i accept the $400 offer but no more answer and its already more than 1 month since i accept the $400 offer...

Never a Good-move, to act desperate for a sale.

If your not comfortable with your asking prices, then re-examine where your getting your pricing from. Every once-in-awhile, I too lower my published asking prices, (let previous enquirers know) one sale later they are back where they should be. (just Cash-flow)

Sub-offer pricing - after an initial offer - tells everyone you are soooo desperate, and don't have a clue where your coming from. You've just undermined even their own purchase confidence

 

[Domainace]

I used to second guess myself when I counter-offered and they walked away. Then I tried accepting opening offers - and buyers would still disappear. A lot of buyers simply change their minds overnight.

That's another advantage of BINs. If the buyer comes home after a few drinks and decides to buy at BIN at Godaddy (or wherever), they normally won't come back to try to cancel their order the next day. It would be a major hassle.

But if the same buyer has a few drinks and offers $2000 for a name with no real commitment, they may change their mind when you accept their offer the next morning. And all they have to do is not respond.

So, normally I engage and counter-offer.

 

[alcy]

I always just put a BIN on my domains. I'd say you did very well on this sale though. Well Done.

yes for sure.. bin makes it all very different from makeoffer.. but that does not really conclusively say if you'd be getting higher price from offer or bin... one excludes the other.. so if you sell domainx.com at bin.. yuou will just never ever know what you'd get for it if you negotiated the final price

 

[MSN-Domains]

Once the reserve is matched I let it go. I know the consensus on here is always counter - Do the math? If you buy/sell great domains and have a high sell-through rate vs needing 1 sale.

I've developed a stoic attitude towards all my domains - As Sol Orwell said his domainer friends are still "Developing" their domains 15 years later......... What does that tell you

I keep a very attractive reserve which 98% of the time is accepted and I let the domains go - I don't even bother to enter in conversation.

Money in escrow - Goodbye have a nice day.

All the domains I've sold have developed into great companies

 

[MSN-Domains]

Always counter

Is that learned through personal experience or just another regurgitated opinion which you now claim as your own?

 

[NYJimbo]

An offer for $800, you could have countered with $1200 and they would have either been fine with it, offered somewhere in between, or told you that $800 is their max.

... or just walked away. We see this all the time.