Strange domain buyer

[CoolCode]

about one month back i got a offer of $95 for one of my .com domains which is 4 year old and is a typo of a alexa 1000 site. you can call it a generic brandable sort of a typo, so no trademark issues.

i responded with $750 including the web design as usual. but after about 3 weeks i got a response saying they cant afford it and can offer $150-$185. i said lets close the deal at $200 if closing the deal in two days and they have to bear the wire transfer fees or escrow if they prefer. after getting no response from them for about one week and after sending another email saying i will not be selling the domain for at least 4 digits when i move it to my investment folder, then they emailed today with a offer of $125 in my bank which will be paid on 12th of this month as they dont have money now.

tried few times and its hard to contact him via phone as it goes to his voice mail. i feel that this is a broker who is acting behalf of a big company (may be the alexa 1000 site) wants to get the domain for cheap, what do you think.

 

[dnpimping.com]

There could be a number of scenarios that this situation pertains to. This would definitely be a method which is used by a domain brokerage to gain ownership of a domain for a price which would otherwise be near impossible to offer. Hiding behind the identity of an average domain buyer makes it possible for them to offer the bare minimum to acquire the name. Why not wait it out? Sometimes you can receive a better offer simply by making the opposing party sweat a little bit. Good Luck!

 

[CoolCode]

thanks for the idea dnpimping.... there is no reason why he is after the domain even after one month other than he really need it. he also say the domain is for his friends.

the domain is making parking revenue as well, and if i make it a sale at $125 its something like selling the domain to a investor based on few years revenue.

i am quite sure they cant put a trademark case on this domain as its sort of generic. so if the big company needs it this is the only way to get it. just checked and the site now is in alexa 500 range

looking for more thoughts.. thanks in advance

 

[nielsencl]

Domain sales negotiations

Let's recap what has happened so far:

-offer $95
-counter $750 (no reply for 3 weeks - who will blink first?)
-offer $150-$185 (to me, this means $185)
-counter $200 (so $750 wasn't serious, waiting 3 weeks worked)
-no reply for one week, so price is now $xxxx(angry???)
-firm(?)offer of $125 (what happened to $150-$185?)

If you look at this negotiation history, This looks like a seller that was hoping for very nice profit, and did get a pretty nice starting offer. That is, not $10 or $20, but one that shows the buyer recognizes some value at or above $95 for a $10 domain (we don't know the domain so it's hard to say if this was a poor, ok, or great offer.)

The counter of $750 was fine, but it clearly put off the buyer.

They may have looked for another domain, or tried to figure out how much they could actually afford to pay, and returned with a "range" of $150-$185 which shows a lack of sophistication. Either an end-user or broker that doesn't realize that in stating a range, they are stating their (supposed) highest price of $185. Someone with experience will either state the high price when looking at a counter of $750, or leave room to work up to $185 by offering $150.

The counter of $200 was fine, but it shows the $750 was not serious. Perhaps the $200 is not serious either...? And the mention of escrow fees drives up the price for the buyer, so we are getting further beyond the stated top offer of $185. Did the buyer every agree to $200? I don't think so.

Then when there is no reply in a week, the seller seems to get angry and say they will be selling the domain for $xxxx if they move it to their "investment folder". This seems to be a weak attempt to put pressure on the buyer.

Then the buyer makes a "firm" offer of only $125, and only after the 12th.

I think this is either a newbie buyer that is trying to scrape together the money to get a nice domain for their site, or a broker who is new or crafty enough to know that many people will get tired of the funny business and will take the $125 because it's more than the original $95 and so much time has gone by.

The Alexa value doesn't mean much to me, it's too easy to affect and improve if someone wants to. The parking revenue is a bigger consideration since that is actual income. If you can get more than 12 months of income for the domain, then you can use that to do something nice, or buy some more domains to feed your habit. Either way you free up some cash that you can do other things with. Keep emotion out of business transactions if you can and it will be easier to know what choices to make.