advice What do you say to a buyer that knows what you paid?

[rentmynames]

How do you respond when the buyer says this about how much you paid:

inflated price- for $xxx domain which was sold a few months ago you were saying $xx,xxx.

The buyer cancelled the deal after she knew the price I paid ($xxx) for the domain 2 months ago.

 

[Kate]

The value is in locating and securing the asset in the first place.
If domainers didn't exist, the good domain names would be registered by corporations or individuals anyway, but the big difference is that fewer of those names would be available for sale on the market.
Domainers have a place in the ecosystem because they provide end users with a supply of viable domain names at affordable prices.

Of course, this is not the kind of reasoning that people are usually willing to accept.

You know, it's almost like buying stocks at an early stage and reselling them at a profit later because they have appreciated. For example, I may have bought Apple stock in 1980 for $0.05, they are now worth $200+. So if I am going to sell them now, it will not be at the original price plus a small markup. No way.

Or BTC. I may have paid $300 for stuff that is worth 5K today. What I initially paid is irrelevant.

 

[bmugford]

You are likely not going to covert a buyer with that attitude. The price you paid is irrelevant.

They have 3 options -

1.) Invent a time machine.
2.) Pay a price you are willing to take.
3.) Move on to another option.

 

[creataweb]

Tell the buyer good luck buying it for $xxx or less anytime soon

 

[Joe Styler]

Hello XX,

Our Billing team has called the Escrow and GoDaddy, They have warned us for the cybersquatting by you and also informed that this domain was sold for $xxx USD 2months ago.

We are canceling the deal now.


WTH?

Have you contacted Godaddy about what she said they told her?

@Joe Styler

We would not say anyone is cyber squatting. That term has a lot connected to it. I don't think anyone here would say anything like that or encourage people to not buy your domain because you bought it for less than you want to sell it for. None of that makes any sense.

 

[E-Promote]

How do you respond when the buyer say this.
The buyer cancelled the deal after she knew the price I paid ($xxx) for the domain 2 months ago.

Be diplomatic and probe. At this point the sale is dead in the buyers mind, so ask them what they would like to offer. They may come back at you with the price you paid...if that happens tell them to take care. If they come back with a somewhat decent offer, well now you have something to work with. You may never see the previous offer again from them but you can now try to pull them closer and you can always decline to sell if they don't come up far enough in the end. Don't worry about the previous high offer if they don't come close this time, they never wanted to pay it in the first place and are now just looking for a way out.

 

[.X.]

I don't respond, Don't Respond. Time is money, Money is time. and she is wasting yours.

 

[anantj]

I'd go with what @E-Promote says. At a min, say thank you for your time and please contact me if you change your mind.

Ps. An iPhone is manufactured for ~$350. Would someone, after knowing this, not buy the iPhone which retails at ~$800-$1100?

 

[Sinh]

In my opinion, I will keep silent and do as below:

1- Renew domain for 5-10years
2- Private your domain
2- Increase price upto 3 times

P.S: I have experienced this case and finally the buyer had to email me back and bought the domain.

 

[NamesAgent]

Clearly they want the name. What you paid for it is irrelevant. I would be courteous as to not burn any bridges, but kindly send them on their way. If they were ever serious about the original offer they may come back with another offer. If not, they were just looking for way out as E-Promote said previously.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

I would politely tell them that costs are incurred in acquiring, holding and promoting domain names, only a minority of which sell, and for this reason resale prices need to be higher than acquisition prices, even when the time between the two is limited. I would then express the hope that they will change their mind, and say that you would be happy to do business with them if they do. If there are recent comparator sales that clearly establish the original price,I might repeat them.

I would leave it at that, be polite, short and as positive as possible. I would not change the price an iota. If there are other potential purchasers, I might be a little more aggressive in seeking them, too, just so that the original almost purchaser comes to regret losing the name!

PS @Kate has superbly expressed the role of domain name investors in her reply. I think it is an eloquently expressed and valuable case she makes that we should all keep in mind as we need to justify domain name investing "profit".

 

[anantj]

Wrong comparison. Think about real estate. If a buyer finds out that you purchased the house a couple months ago for $300,000 and you are now asking $1 million. Buyers would be equally upset unless you can justify what you DID to add value to the home (i.e. renovated the house, upgraded the electrical, etc.) The OP cannot explain what value he has added thus, the buyer doesn't feel the price in justified.

Sorry, time and effort do add value. You obviously need to justify the "markup" (so to say. Markup is not the right word in this context). @Kate has explained it better and in more detail.

 

[lock]

Tell them it was only $10- $35 (Depending on year) to register it new and you made the $xxx investment up to them to pay the $xx,xxx develop and make the $x,xxx,xxx return. If they got there sooner it would have been $10 so are they prepared to pay more than $10 for anything?
The guy before has his margin. You have the name and your going to get your margin based on the demand for the keyword or branded name. xx,xxx domains will always get offers perhaps just remove the price tag and let them all ask.

 

[MediaCode]

We would recommend not becoming fixated on this one prospective buyer. If your domain name is of good quality, other prospective buyers should appear over the coming year(s). It's simply a matter of having patience and waiting to sell it at the price for which you feel it's worth trading.

That said, another angle to consider is to take her focus off what you paid for it by pointing out to her that she is trying to buy the domain name from you to then go and make hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars off the domain name that you are only asking $XX,XXX for. That puts her in the awkward position of having to deny that she is going to make that much money using the domain name. If she does, then you can reply to her that you are not interested in selling your domain name to a buyer who is not going to put it to its 'highest and best use'. You'd rather wait for that buyer who values it the most and sees that the asking price of $XX,XXX is a pittance compared to how much money the buyer is going to make by putting the domain name to its highest and best use. She can then take it or leave it (see above).

 

[likeslikes]

I had this happen not long ago and the guy kept saying i was greedy. I pretty much told him it's irrelevant what I paid because I was willing to pay 6x + what I got it for and I believed that was the true value. Eventually he agreed to pay me about 11x what I had paid for it despite knowing what I paid, but it was a lot of back and fourth.

 

[Rich]

Here's a nice throwback post from our very own @mwzd
https://www.mwzd.com/blog/please-justify-your-asking-price/

 

[anantj]

Not sure how you got that out of my post.

"You are likely not going to covert a buyer with that attitude."

Grammar lol. The subject isn't confusing in that statement! The "with that attitude" can also apply to "You" equally
Sorry, not being a grammar nazi but I was genuinely confused.

 

[frank-germany]

Sorry, time and effort do add value. You obviously need to justify the "markup" (so to say. Markup is not the right word in this context). @Kate has explained it better and in more detail.

no need to explain
as the buyer doesn't want to understand

just renew the name for 10 years set it at afternic/undeveloped BIN
and forget about it

and of course don't have it at godaddy...

 

[rentmynames]

Hi

did you contact this "buyer" first.... or did they contact you out of the blue?

it's relevant.

imo….

I have never contacted the buyer to buy my domains.

 

[alex067]

The buyer is an idiot and has no business sense. According to their logic, they shouldn't wear any clothes because you can buy it for cheap in a Chinese sweatshop.

I would just ignore them and wait for the next buyer.

 

[myfavorite]

I will politely thank her for the initial interest in buying the domain. Advice her to contact me again if she changes her mind.

Then will "rudely" increase the price because I know she will definitely be checking on the name from time to time.

 

[DanSanchez]

Triple the price, you may be dealing with a scummy domainer that is trying to front your inventory. Happens ALL the time.

 

[SpotOnDomain]

Wow what a story and interesting replies.
I haven’t read through all so apologies if I’m repeating what others have said.

I think two things could be said to the buyer in a polite way;

1 - carry out research on domain investing. Point her to sites such as namebio which will show that domains have sold for 6/7 figures. Maybe it will provide understanding that domains are a huge market and may trigger her to buy some of her own and sell.

2 - my comparison would be to an antique (same thesis as @Kate) in the sense that if you find a rare or valuable item at an auction or eBay for example, you buy it to sell as a profit. Here in the UK I’ve seen antiques bought for £50 and sold for £20,000. In the news they’ve reported Chinese antiques found at markets for £100 and sold for 6/7 figures.

If the name you’re selling isn’t trademarked etc then I’m sure you’ll sell it.

Good luck and look forward to hearing a positive outcome!

Dan

 

[myfavorite]

Even if they are a nonprofit organization they should understand there are business established for making profit.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

This excellent example why Estibot more hurts than helps to sell domains.

Most people will not like pay (if they know how much you paid) many times more because it seems like overpaying, no good deal. It motivates them more to find other domain.

Estibot (and GoValue) may well hurt the prices for certain types of domains, but I don't quite see how it applies to this particular case. Possibly I misunderstand, but I thought the possible purchasers resistance was based on a known prior price (e.g. through NameBio) and not on a lower automated estimate of worth.