Who Can Beat This Monster?

[jideofor]

Okay, he isn't a monster per se, but a normal human being like you and I.

If that got your attention, we all love challenges, don't we?

I have this domain name I want to sell to a health organization; it's a geo name. They own the keyword in separate extensions which is forwarded to their main site.

I was able to get the owner's email, which wasn't available at the whois contact except her name. I emailed her and she forwarded it to the IT guy whom I had avoided at the whois contact lol.

Now, she actually forwarded this email to the IT guy same day that she got the email from me but IT guy only emailed me 7 days after and he asked how much am I willing to sell the domain name.

I gave him a little below $4000 as price.

No news from them for 2 weeks.

So, on Monday, I asked what their decisions were on the purchase or if they have a price in mind. Still no reply lol.

I know he is playing the mind game like a professional negotiator and that was why the owner brought him in to seal the deal.

Yesterday, I suggest if we could talk about it over the phone.

He quickly, within 2 minutes of getting the email, said "too much money" lol. Which means my price is too high.

Again, I suggested he table a price for consideration and he went silent again.

Quite a fun thing lol. Domaining and negotiation is mind and chess game. I don't know how to play chess and maybe that could have made it easier but I sense that he is looking where to box me below the belt. He is probably looking for where I will pressurize him too much and he will then make a ridiculous offer lol, a trap.

Who can beat this MONSTER? Let's hear from you folks and I am sure we can learn a few things from this.

 

[DomainVP]

forwarded this email to the IT guy

The dreaded "IT" guy, aka "web guy". In my experience, when that person is involved sales go nowhere fast.

Set a $3k price tag on a GoDaddy BIN listing and have your domain forward to it. Let them know it's out there for all interested parties to secure on a first-come basis.

Then move onto another sale and let them marinate in that for a while.

 

[jideofor]

The dreaded "IT" guy, aka "web guy". In my experience, when that person is involved sales go nowhere fast.

Set a $3k price tag on a GoDaddy BIN listing and have your domain forward to it. Let them know it's out there for all interested parties to secure on a first-come basis.

Then move onto another sale and let them marinate in that for a while.

lol... You made me laugh a whole lot. Thanks

 

[SheikhOvais]

That is why domaining can be a great learning experience as well as experiencing fun times like these.

If you are not a motivated seller and don't need instant cash, let them play their mind/waiting game. However, keep in contact with the IT guy after every two weeks (if the deal doesn't go anywhere soon, lol).

Either way, keep us posted about it. Good luck.

 

[Recons.Com]

Keep the original contact in loop.

Respond that you are willing to sell for your original price minus, let's say, 20% if they close the deal by January 22 and cc the first contact there. If the it guy is just being irresponsible/jealous, then having someone watching the correspondence will add accountability.

 

[Nerevar]

Perhaps they are genuinely not interested because they expected a much lower price, so they see no good in further negotiation. Some people really expect to buy professional domains for pocket money.

 

[Willox Perez]

Pretty cool thread thanks for sharing your hands on experience. From my past negotiations I feel the person will either be interested or not. If you reach out and they ask how much once you set the price you want just let it be.

When I did make the sales it was directly speaking to a CEO/VP type of person. This is the best situation but most of the time I go by what the Whois email is and I try to make the email as personal as possible.

Make sure you are reaching out to people who will benefit from owning your domain. My main targets are related websites with my domain keyword within them, sites ranking on Google for my domain keyword term and sites advertising for the term with Google Adwords.

- Will

 

[DavidH]

The dreaded "IT" guy, aka "web guy". In my experience, when that person is involved sales go nowhere fast.

Set a $3k price tag on a GoDaddy BIN listing and have your domain forward to it. Let them know it's out there for all interested parties to secure on a first-come basis.

Then move onto another sale and let them marinate in that for a while.

Agree with DomainVP; then just be patient - if they are really serious about wanting the name they will come back to you. Too much chasing IMHO indicates desperation!

 

[jideofor]

Wow... Thanks Guys. I think they are interested, otherwise, they would have stated that they are not interested. The CEO actually forwarded the email to the IT guy and instructed him to inquire.

 

[jideofor]

Perhaps they are genuinely not interested because they expected a much lower price, so they see no good in further negotiation. Some people really expect to buy professional domains for pocket money.

They are interested. If they weren't, the owner wouldn't have instructed the IT guy to contact me. Consider the timing of reply by the IT guy and you will understand that he is an expert at things like this.

Firstly, owner messaged him on same day that I contacted her but IT guy took about 7 days before contacting me.

If your last statement regarding them wanting to pay less for a domain name, why is the IT guy refusing to make an offer when presented with an opportunity that could have allowed him table what they can afford? Any idea?

 

[Recons.Com]

Or he could be a lazy guy that also possibly does not see the value the owner sees, as he is not into sales/marketing/customer relations etc.

 

[Nerevar]

They are interested. If they weren't, the owner wouldn't have instructed the IT guy to contact me. Consider the timing of reply by the IT guy and you will understand that he is an expert at things like this.

Firstly, owner messaged him on same day that I contacted her but IT guy took about 7 days before contacting me.

If your last statement regarding them wanting to pay less for a domain name, why is the IT guy refusing to make an offer when presented with an opportunity that could have allowed him table what they can afford? Any idea?

Well, they could be mildly interested. You know, if the domain was $100 they would be interested. But they feel weird to counter your $4000 with their $100. Anyway, I think that most of the times when people stop corresponding is because they are astonished with the price and never expected anything close to it.

 

[jideofor]

Pretty cool thread thanks for sharing your hands on experience. From my past negotiations I feel the person will either be interested or not. If you reach out and they ask how much once you set the price you want just let it be.

When I did make the sales it was directly speaking to a CEO/VP type of person. This is the best situation but most of the time I go by what the Whois email is and I try to make the email as personal as possible.

Make sure you are reaching out to people who will benefit from owning your domain. My main targets are related websites with my domain keyword within them, sites ranking on Google for my domain keyword term and sites advertising for the term with Google Adwords.

- Will

Thanks Will. Actually, it same approach in this case but they do forward two of their domains, .net and .org, to their main site while I own the .com.

When I checked the whois, the owner of the organization has her name but not her email on there, except the IT's email.

So, I knew going through that route won't get me result and I went further to scout for her email which was eventually found. However, she had to get the IT guy to come talk to me but he is just making a mess of the whole thing and being less responsive and uncommunicative.

 

[JimJammy]

I'm sure this post won't go down well but if you want some brutal honesty, here it is: They don't want your domain.

"She" forwarded it to the "IT guy" to get it off her desk.

The "IT guy "did not respond immediately because he really couldn't give a f.... He doesn't own this business. He too answered eventually to also get it off his desk.

Your price was too high and he probably deleted your email and marked it off as 'job done'.

I'm sorry but that's the way it is. They are not playing mind games with you. This domain is not their company name. Just because they own a geokeyword.ext that they have pointed to their domain does not mean they want the geokeyword.com.

Most domainers will tell you, contacting any end user reduces the price of your domain significantly. Put up a page, rank above them and it increases the price of your domain significantly.

Again, sorry, but that's the way it is.

 

[jideofor]

Well, they could be mildly interested. You know, if the domain was $100 they would be interested. But they feel weird to counter your $4000 with their $100. Anyway, I think that most of the times when people stop corresponding is because they are astonished with the price and never expected anything close to it.

As much as I would agree with you, you may likely hardly make big sales with such mindset.

Typically, I find such people who lack balls to speak their mind irrespective of what they can afford strange and sometime wonder if they are humans.

We all buy things from the market at any point and we are bound to negotiate.

I don't know where you reside but hey, being a Nigerian myself, I know what we do over here when we wanna buy things... I have never seen a Nigerian go to the market and runs just because of the stated price. We Negotiate price no matter what the seller tag their goods, even if it will make the seller angry lol. I have seen cases whereby seller get angry all because of the pricing a buyer offers and some have resulted to exchange of blows lol.

But that's the fun thing, we always negotiate. It's left for the buyer to take it or not.

On the other hand, I am a human and one with a conscience and understanding as well. If they make a move, I am sure I will know what to do.

But not making any move is like complaining without trying which is what has made lots of people lost out on great opportunity.

My advise, always negotiate no matter the price, you just might be lucky and get a bargain.

 

[Nerevar]

My advise, always negotiate no matter the price, you just might be lucky and get a bargain.

I am a domainer, so I do negotiate. This is because am aware that the price quoted is very far from the wholesale price, and the same domain could go for $4000 on a marketplace, while for $100 between resellers. But the Western mentality (outside of domainers world) is a bit different, they do not generally counter $4000 with $100 in markets and shops. The "discount" that they think of is 10%, 20%... maybe even 50%, but definitely not 90+%

 

[jideofor]

I'm sure this post won't go down well but if you want some brutal honesty, here it is: They don't want your domain.

"She" forwarded it to the "IT guy" to get it off her desk.

The "IT guy "did not respond immediately because he really couldn't give a f.... He doesn't own this business. He too answered eventually to also get it off his desk.

Your price was too high and he probably deleted your email and marked it off as 'job done'.

I'm sorry but that's the way it is. They are not playing mind games with you. This domain is not their company name. Just because they own a geokeyword.ext that they have pointed to their domain does not mean they want the geokeyword.com.

Most domainers will tell you, contacting any end user reduces the price of your domain significantly. Put up a page, rank above them and it increases the price of your domain significantly.

Again, sorry, but that's the way it is.

lol... thanks for your time.

 

[Recons.Com]

Nerevar, most western end users don't view domain names as regular goods with some perceived costs that went into the production.

For them, it is something somebody bought for almost free and is trying to get a fortune out. They often believe $100-300 is a generous offer, so they don't start from your price point. I haven't seen this mindset from Asian buyers, on the other hand.

 

[Nerevar]

Nerevar, most western end users don't view domain names as regular goods with some perceived costs that went into the production.

For them, it is something somebody bought for almost free and is trying to get a fortune out. They often believe $100-300 is a generous offer, so they don't start from your price point. I haven't seen this mindset from Asian buyers, on the other hand.

Absolutely true. However, this strengthens my point. When they see a price that they think is "outrageous", they often do not bother to counter, they see it as fishy, they do not understand that this is a proper negotiation process.

 

[DomainVP]

At the end of the day, try not to focus too much time on one sale. I'm very big on the "do, or don't" mindset.

Here's my domain, if you want to buy it it will cost $xxxx. Will they buy it? They either do, or they don't.

Of course thats not the script - I put the best foot forward, use sales tactics and negotiation strategies, and talk to the right person... but that is all domaining 101 that you know by now.

Most sales professionals will tell you that the #1 motivator is fear. Most people are motivated by fear more than by any other outcome.

So you put them in a position where the domain could be obtained by someone else in their industry at any second. Once you have done that...

They either do, or they don't.