discuss The art of setting the BIN

[kite26]

From the early days of my domaining career, the most difficult thing for me was BIN setting, especially for BIN only listings.

The usual hurdles I have to overcome:
1. If i set it too high, i lose leads.
2. If i set it too low, i leave money on the table.
3. How to find a sweet spot, which drives on a win-win situation for both buyer and seller?
4. What factors I have to study to decide?
5.Which tools I have to use?
6. Each domain is a special case. No, "one decision for all", it will not work.

One thing that I understand is that I can't satisfy every buyer. Each buyer has different budget and lower or higher interest to buy a domain name. Having said that, I am sure that all this is related with buyer's psychology. Psychology is one of the most important factors not only in domaining, but generally in life.

The key for me is to make the possible buyer to feel that he doesn't burn his money for nothing. He must feel, from the first time he checks your listing, that he found a true value for money chance. Happiness and enthusiasm doing for serious investment, or to establish his website. Positive feelings. It doesn't mean you have to lie him. Quality never lies. Don't underestimate end-user mind. Be honest.

The available tools I can use can really help me. Searching similar past sales (namebio.com), checking domain's history (archive.org) and of course the search engines (google.com) are only some of the tools which are free and available.

The question is, are the tools enough to solve all my problems? Unfortunately, the answer is no. I need something more to take the right decisions. This is what I call "Market Awareness". It's the ability I have to understand the current value a domain has, but also it's potential. In which degree a name can be useful in a fast changing world.

I always set my BIN's in one market. This must be done for two main reasons:
1. In case of two different buyer's hit your BIN in the a and b marketplace, I will be in big trouble and possibly get banned from one marketplace.
2. Make offer listings give the buyer the important "space" to send a lower offer if he has limited budget. It's different story if I accept or counter. The incoming lead is the priority.

It's worth to mention that I cannot sell all the names in one year (season). This occurs even if an investor has top quality portfolio. A small percentage of the names will be sold per year. I have to deal with it. Please keep in mind that sellers with many sales still have a huge portfolio with thousands names inside. This doesn't mean of course that they are successful. But playing with the numbers it's another story, allowing them also to lower their BIN's. It's good for them if it is done right, but now we talk about an average portfolio (let's say up to 2000 domains).

The art of setting the BIN can be very challenging journey. However, I am sure that a serious investor will improve his skills and finally be able to take the better pricing decisions. The right BIN is the BIN which both buyer and seller want and drive them to a valuable agreement.

 

[Etim Abasiama]

The art of setting the BIN can be very challenging journey. However, I am sure that a serious investor will improve his skills and finally be able to take the better pricing decisions. The right BIN is the BIN which both buyer and seller want and drive them to a valuable agreement.

This is very helpful and it has been a challenge so far. Thanks

 

[kite26]

This is very helpful and it has been a challenge so far. Thanks

Thank you. It's very challenging sometimes. Not everytime, but quite often. From the other side, it is not something you can improve. I am trying to improve it every day, as talking about me.

 

[HotKey]

As you mentioned, there's likely a lot of factors behind setting the "right" BIN. Personally I don't dwell on it too much, just set something sensible along with an option for the potential buyer to contact you. I use an "end user" lens as to what I would be willing to pay, along with some degree of padding for negotiations.

If there is only an option to set a BIN and no contact alternative, then I generally look at previous sales with that keyword, and/or search popularity, as a sort of jump-off point and set the BIN at the absolute minimum I would be happy to sell for.

Domains can surprise us with their ultimate worth, or worthlessness, I think the best price should be good mix of intuition and data. Why intuition and not only data? Because data only tells half the story. There's a lot of domains names that fly below the radar as to their perceived value, and as a long-term investor I like to focus on the value that might be overlooked by the crowd but discovered by the right buyer.

At the same time, I think it's totally OK to be put in our place with a BIN that was set inaccurately. Never underestimate the market. Yes the seller has spoken, but the buyer has the final word. Unless we don't care to hold the name in perpetuity.

 

[kite26]

As you mentioned, there's likely a lot of factors behind setting the "right" BIN. Personally I don't dwell on it too much, just set something sensible along with an option for the potential buyer to contact you. I use an "end user" lens as to what I would be willing to pay, along with some degree of padding for negotiations.

If there is only an option to set a BIN and no contact alternative, then I generally look at previous sales with that keyword, and/or search popularity, as a sort of jump-off point and set the BIN at the absolute minimum I would be happy to sell for.

Domains can surprise us with their ultimate worth, or worthlessness, I think the best price should be good mix of intuition and data. Why intuition and not only data? Because data only tells half the story. There's a lot of domains names that fly below the radar as to their perceived value, and as a long-term investor I like to focus on the value that might be overlooked by the crowd but discovered by the right buyer.

At the same time, I think it's totally OK to be put in our place with a BIN that was set inaccurately. Never underestimate the market. Yes the seller has spoken, but the buyer has the final word. Unless we don't care to hold the name in perpetuity.

I totally agree with you. I would add the need to be adaptive from time to time. Test-Analyze-Decide is my usual procedure. But an unlimited Trial and Error game could be extremely costly.

 

[Future Sensors]

What I do is this.

First decide which are your top domains. This is not easy, but at least try. These are typically the domains that you're Extremely Proud of and want to mention first when others ask about your portfolio. These are names solely intended for end-users, large corporations, startups with a lot of funding and deep pockets. Let's say this is the top 10%, 15%, 20% of your portfolio. Dare to price this group of your top domains high, even a bit too high. You're prepared to keep this group for a long time. Still, be realistic, or you will never sell any of them.

Then decide which are your worst domains. You struggle with renewing them. Set a minimum price level for those bastards and be happy to let them go, even to fellow domainers if you like. For the most ugly domains that you really hate, liquidate them even with a loss. Remember, you already made historic costs, and you can't change the past. The only thing you can do now is make some money by letting them go. Bye bye!

The largest group of your domains will probably be priced in between, in the sweet spot. Your audience will be a mixed group of end-users and fellow domainers, including impulse buyers. Create structured tiers for this group, like e.g. $1,888, $2,688, $3,688, $4,999. Such amounts can be paid easily with a lot of different payment methods. Move your domains up or down 1 single tier when you gain better insights about the possible value of the domains.

Deciding on the perfect BIN price is not easy. Experience comes with the years. You will make mistakes, and you will also be pleasantly surprised. In general, try to focus on a stable STR, reasonable prices, and a steady income. Oh, and good domains.

 

[jhm]

As @HotKey mentioned, I also thinking dwelling too much on such things causes unnecessary worry

1. If i set it too high, i lose leads.
2. If i set it too low, i leave money on the table.
3. How to find a sweet spot, which drives on a win-win situation for both buyer and seller?
4. What factors I have to study to decide?
5.Which tools I have to use?
6. Each domain is a special case. No, "one decision for all", it will not work.

The right price is the minimum price you're happy letting it go for ...your circumstance is different to others. Some want the money now, some don't. Each person has a different satisfaction level regarding price, there is no right or wrong. Your satisfaction is what counts

Research your buyer, do your job to the best of your ability ...at the very least, you should be content that you've done your bit, regardless. If in theory you've left money on the table or could have strategized better, don't beat yourself up about it ...move on to the next