question When do you give in and accept that $300 - $1000 offer?

[NickB]

Been happening a lot to me over the last 12 months.......

Posted earlier that I was messing around a lot last year with nameservers, pricing etc and was not consistent

I have now set BIN's on DAN with min offers in place and on Sedo, Afternic and Godaddy all at make offer ranging from $100 - $1000 to help gauge interest more than anything else......

I have had numerous offers in the $300 - $1000+ range and have flat out rejected them or countered and heard nothing back......also a lot of enquiries that went nowhere......

A few after countless back and forths never budged on their opening offers or raised to a level that I found not acceptable so I have raised the BIN on some and left others at the original BIN and not bothered replying back to some of them......one especially pissed me off so have tripled the price and renewed for a further 12 months

So does there come a point where you have to start accepting some of these offers for cash flow, renewals or do you stick to your guns?

I do not need the money per say so can keep doing this, but sometimes I have a nagging voice in the back of my head (and no it's not the wife @johnn !) saying just accept a couple of them, buy a better domain or renew a few of the good ones......

I'm at just below 300 domains - dropping down to around 230 - 250 in the next few months so on one side it would be nice to cover the renewals on the other side I can wait for a potential better pay day

Asking for your personal experience, opinions etc on what you do when you have a spell of offers and enquiries and no sales..........

 

[kemjika11]

When do you give in and accept that $300 - $1000 offer?

For me, when these conditions(or a few are in play) are present:
1. The ROI is xxx% or more
2. Market history says selling xxx name for xxx price is relatively common
3. You haven't held the name for long(5 years or less; if you hate renewing, domaining isnt meant for you)
4. You can easily replace the name you are considering to sell on the reseller aftermarket
5. This is the highest offer till date this name has received
6. Domainer's cash flow needs/could do with a bump(business wise, this is all its about)
7. Domainer's sell domains...you are doing the right thing when you're pushing domains out of your account(s) into other users accounts,(THATS TOP DOMAINING SH*T), not dropping, or selling really cheap(and then you start regretting in such a short while). Don't get attached to domains- when their time comes, LET THEM GO.

Nice thread btw.

 

[blogspotter]

None of my names are 6 figure names, even though I won't mind accepting with the blink of an eye if I ever get a 6 fig offer.

I am entered the game late and I am picking up mediocre names for 100 bucks to a 1000 bucks.

So I don't have great hopes for my names.

So even if I know that similar names have sold for 10-15 k and I get an offer for 2-3K, I would take it, if I bought the name for say 500 bucks.

Since this is a number's game at all kinds of "quality", I'd rather have 4-5 names worth 500 each than hold out a $500 name.

I also feel it is better let an end user who is willing to spend a few thousand bucks go away happy instead of getting pissed at the industry.

I am buying names to trade up and get a great portfolio. if I were to own a one word .com which gets an offer every week, i will wait for the 7 figure end user and get the deal done.

But my XXX-XXXX portfolio domains, I will move them all day long and save up to buy a good 1 word domain when the opportunity knocks.

 

[garptrader]

While I still believe domain names are greatly underappreciated by most end users, the reality is few are willing to pay five figures or more for a domain name. Of course with a solid name one can wait for the right buyer but most of us are not in a position to wait for the perfect buyer. I recently rejected a 500 euro offer for a two-word .COM. The original registration date was 2004. Replacing that type of name in today's competitive bidding market would easily cost $1500 or perhaps more. The perfect buyer might be willing to pay well into five figures but given how few end users are willing to pay those prices for a domain name my strategy would be to aim mid to high four figures. Even that might never happen. Most end users opt for low-quality domains because they don't understand how a poor domain hurts their business.

 

[NickB]

Quite a few people have stepped up on this thread and given some great advice and shared some of their valuable experience.....appreciate it

 

[twiki]

Funny thing is, I sell quite a lot of domains for xxx range, but I never take offers on xxx range.

Found out it's a ridiculous waste of time overall.

Example, I've recently placed a lower min offer of $200 on $750 domains. Got a $200 offer, rejected. (Edit: He never went up so I ended up setting a BIN only price of 1K, that's it. Side note I don't commonly do this but wanted to see again what happens)

When buyers are offering your lowest, they almost never go up and you also get a lot of nonpaid. So that basically ain't my buyer. If you can't offer at least half of my value, I'm wasting time with you. Also everything under $250 min seems to attract lowballers like there's no tomorrow.

So right now I have BIN only on all my names. (set as bin=min offer). No min offers. Pay up or go away. This is what I have observed to bring the most bang for the buck.

I know pretty well what the price of my domain is. You either buy it, or not. If I don't want to renew it, then I gradually reduce price until sold. If still unsold, then I either clear it by other means or let it expire, OR I decide to renew and then I put the end user price back up. Prices always go up. If I end up renewing it for 5 years, guess what, I paid maybe $50 but I'm gonna get a 3K end buyer. Or more. Otherwise I sold it for low meantime and I wont' get a similar name for cheap, 5 years from now on.

If your .com has real value, you don't give up selling it for pennies. It is far better for your bottom line to wait for the end buyer. However if the value is not much, then yes.

Domaining is a time-based game. Patience is key. Good profits come, mostly, after 1 or more renewals.

 

[TauseefKhan]

BIN or Offer are two extremely complicated areas of domain investing. You have to see the big picture always. One good BIN sale will offset many low offers. And, by reducing BIN on almost all domains you leave money on the table. Reviewing pricing strategy from time to time (monthly basis) has to be done.

 

[Omar Negron]

I've learned to work a deal and accept an offer while the iron is hot.

One deal I messed up on was several years ago for a 2 word .com (first name last name) domain. I bought it for $79 in a snapnames auction.

Not too long after I got an offer via email for $2,500. Not sure what I was thinking but I countered at $12,500.

Why? Because I am an idiot. Well, the buyer wasn't interested after that counter offer and I never heard back from them again.

Just look at your OVERALL ROI for a specific sale. Domain sales have incredible ROI potential but I think it's important to have "realistic" expectations when it comes to most of the domains in our portfolios. 2-3 word domains probably aren't going to command the highest prices. Focus on a nice ROI and get that cashflow in to buy some more domains.

1 word .com domains are a little bit different. But also, this depends on cashflow and how comfortable you are rejecting a great offer and hoping you will get another one in the future.

-Omar

 

[Matt Morgan]

Not too long after I got an offer via email for $2,500. Not sure what I was thinking but I countered at $12,500.

Why? Because I am an idiot. Well, the buyer wasn't interested after that counter offer and I never heard back from them again.

I wouldn't say that, and wouldn't be so harsh on yourself calling you that I word.

Instead I would say that, that incident where you countered at $12,500 (which they obviously didn't take) .. I would instead say that it was part of your learning curve within your domaining journey, and you learned a lesson(s) with that experience.

 

[Silentptnr]

I do two things...

I put solid BIN prices on my domains with reasonable minimum offers. Then I wait. Funny thing is, I get very few offers. Most of my sales are via BIN. I have seen my sales steadily increase each year for the past 5 years.

What I do for cash flow is I hold quarterly auctions. I might auction anywhere from 20-50 domains. I select names that are not my top names, but names I feel will get bids and sell. This way, I generate 2k - 4k per quarter which pays for the renewals of my roughly 1500 domains. It works very well.

As far as negotiating, I'm at about 50%. I would say I close the deal somewhere below my BIN price about 50% of the time when an offer comes in. The other 50% that don't close, I choose to believe might come back some time in the future.

I have accepted initial offers below bin but above my minimum offer. It just depends on the domain. I set my minimums where I truly might sell if it feels right. I don't use minimums simply to try for much higher when an offer comes in.

My portfolio changes all the time. I'm adding names, selling names, dropping some, etc. Like you, I'm in no hurry to sell, but I am a domain investor to make money.

I think the most important thing for me is to carefully examine my domains and my prices regularly. The market is there.

 

[TauseefKhan]

@Silentptnr Well said. What I think, generally, we don't spend much time on the sales quadrant. And, this is the reason why we always have doubts about the pricing. Reviewing your pricing from time to time. Giving your own domains a particular grade (let's say - A being the best, B, good, C, Average, D, drop type) may also help us. And, this exercise also needs to be revised. Good domains may become average. And, vice versa. There is a lot on the sales side of domain investing which we keep on learning.

 

[twiki]

I do two things...

I put solid BIN prices on my domains with reasonable minimum offers. Then I wait. Funny thing is, I get very few offers. Most of my sales are via BIN. I have seen my sales steadily increase each year for the past 5 years.

What I do for cash flow is I hold quarterly auctions. I might auction anywhere from 20-50 domains. I select names that are not my top names, but names I feel will get bids and sell. This way, I generate 2k - 4k per quarter which pays for the renewals of my roughly 1500 domains. It works very well.

As far as negotiating, I'm at about 50%. I would say I close the deal somewhere below my BIN price about 50% of the time when an offer comes in. The other 50% that don't close, I choose to believe might come back some time in the future.

I have accepted initial offers below bin but above my minimum offer. It just depends on the domain. I set my minimums where I truly might sell if it feels right. I don't use minimums simply to try for much higher when an offer comes in.

My portfolio changes all the time. I'm adding names, selling names, dropping some, etc. Like you, I'm in no hurry to sell, but I am a domain investor to make money.

I think the most important thing for me is to carefully examine my domains and my prices regularly. The market is there.

Same here - constant updates of pricing and monthly (not quarterly) auctions and discount "closeouts" for some of those about to expire in the next 1-2 months.

I no longer have min offers since I realized something.

I used to sell a lot via min offers on my landers. Then I realized I might be self-canibalizing my own sales, since someone seeing a BIN on sedo but visiting my lander will def be tempted to offer the half amount when they have that option. I know pretty well what price to put on the domain so I'm not worried about that.

Similarly, on Afternic I get very few sales via offers.

So. Ever since I switched to BIN only, I'm seeing an increase in sale-through ratio due to that BIN. This leaves the buyer with very few options, namely two: "This is the price, I either buy it or not." I also believe this tells'em "this buyer is really set on what this domain is worth". So they might feel there's no going back on this. Edit: I believe that this cuts the hopes of those coming back from time to time to see if there's a discount and they will be more tempted to buy the BIN. Anyway this is at least my own assumption.

I do, however have min offer on domains priced above 3K, but everything 3K or less is BIN only. And it works - if you set the correct prices.