Why would somebody even bother asking about a domain if...

[greggish]

...if this is how they are going to react when you give them a price?

Last week I got the following email asking about my domain linuxlink.net...

"Hey, I am interested in linuxlink.net. How much do you want for it?"

I emailed back...

"$1000"

He emailed back...

"How about $12 and 4 paper clips?"

I emailed back...

"$999 and 5 paper clips"

--He came to me, I didn't go to him. It's just so stupid to react that way just because somebody gives you a price higher than a few dollars.

 

[Damion]

That is indeed kind of a strange response. next time you get morons like that send them this back

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.......... .........../..../ /
............./´¯/'...'/´¯¯`·¸
....... .../'/.../..../......./¨¯\
........('(.. .´(..´......,~/'...')
.........\........ .........\/..../
..........''...\....... ... _.·´
............\..............(
..... .........\.............\

 

[GoPC]

Look at ebay. Look at Afternic. Look at Sedo.

SO MANY people ask astronomical prices, WAY out of touch with reality... I think alot of intersted parties have got the impression that EVERY domain for sale is inflated many thousands of times. So a 10 - 30 percent offer isn't THAT uncommon.

Others, just trying to get a steal.

While still others are trying to make a point, that your site isn't worth anywhere near what you are asking for it.

I see "interesting" domains that should fetch $x,xxx dollars listed for $40 Million Dollars, I might send an offer like "$12 bucks and 4 paper clips". LOL!

GoPC

 

[greggish]

Thanks for the suggestion Damion

GoPC, I don't think this is at all similar with the crazy prices asked for domains on ebay and such. This was an unsollicited inquiry and $1000 is not a crazy first price to give (do I think I'll get it? probably not). But the way its supposed to work in the real world is you get a reply like... " That's way over my budget, I was thinking more along the lines of $100." But to say "$12 and 4 paperclips" just makes no sense when the guy contacted me. Ahhh... just stuff like this gets me annoyed.

 

[seeker]

it's probably just a kid who is trying to buy a domain with his lunch money...

 

[VV]

$12 is a pretty ridiculous offer. Even somebody not in the domain business should be aware that it's barely above registration fee.

You should have asked him if the paperclips were made of gold.

 

[gingeman]

It sounds like a bored kid/daydreamer to me. Unfortunately there are way too many of them in this industry, who relish the opportunity to waste your time, as their own time is not valuable. Breathe a deep breath and forget about it.

 

[GoPC]

greggish... don't get me wrong. I wasn't say YOU were guilty of it. But so much of it is going aroud that I think the overall impression of this industry is that we are ALL out of our minds, regardless of the asking price. I agree, I think you are inline but the person that sent you that rediculous offer certainly falls into one of those 3 catagories.

I too have had offers on high end domains that were a waste of the electrons it consumed to send me the offer. The thing is, for every 100 of these rediculous offers they send, they actually GET a few bites. If it pays off just once, what's the harm in asking, yeah?

Anyway, no ill will there greggish. I was speaking in general.

Best!

GoPC

 

[fonzie_007]

I personally like the guy's response. Yeah, he's a tight wad, but at least he has a sense of humor. I similarly inquire quite often if people are interested in selling their domains. I often get back prices that are 10-100 times what I (as a reseller) would pay for the domain. I know some people probably have similar reactions to my inquiries (e.g. why did you contact me unless you want to drop x,xxx on the domain?).

 

[Ronald Regging]

I once wanted a domain, the page was some korean landing page, so I couldn't understand it, but it appeared to be parked much like GoDaddy... And the domain wasn't anything special, just something I was interested in. So I sent an email much like the one the OP received and the guy responded, "I'm hoping to get 100,000 USD."
My response was, "hahhahahahaahhahaahahaha good luck with that."

So yeah, a lot of prices are inflated, but this may be due to the fact that it's hard to put a value on domains. Sure we do appraisals, but for some reason appraisals only seem even somewhat accurate when it comes to clear cut good domain names. When you get an obviously good name, then its easy to say what price range it falls into and compare it to other obviously good names. The problem comes when you have names that aren't so clear cut, because those names may sell for $20 on here, then turn around and be sold for $4,000 on SEDO. There have been a lot of domains that sold for good money, which just make you scratch your head in amazement, because they don't seem to be that spectacular.

I think it's like winning the lottery, you can't win if you don't play. You can't make big money if you try to sell all your domains for $20...

 

[Phronesis]

It works both ways. I made a generous $250 offer on a .info via Sedo that has 89 OVT without extension - no traffic or revenue. The guy countered with $260,000 (nearly 10x the highest reported .info sale btw). If that's his way of saying I lowballed, he blew it because I would have paid $1000 but instead I walked. So he is either a dolt, a dreamer or doesn't really want to sell it - in which case he shouldn't have listed it on Sedo in the first place.

 

[RogueWriter]

There are so very many domains that are overpriced and will just sit there unused and unbid on. Really, though, if you think about it, any legitimate business that needs a specific domain ought to be able to pay at least $500 - or a whole lot more - for the domain. The only ones not willing to pay that are, IMO, other domainers looking to park the domain themselves, or domainers looking to resell to an enduser they already know of.

 

[floatingworld]

You could have accepted the $12 and asked him to donate the paperclips to a charity of his choice.

 

[Rubber Duck]

I personally like the guy's response. Yeah, he's a tight wad, but at least he has a sense of humor. I similarly inquire quite often if people are interested in selling their domains. I often get back prices that are 10-100 times what I (as a reseller) would pay for the domain. I know some people probably have similar reactions to my inquiries (e.g. why did you contact me unless you want to drop x,xxx on the domain?).

Frankly if you are collecting email address from Whois and contacting people with the intention of offering less than $XXX, then in most peoples eyes you would be a nuissance spammer.

 

[NeeJam]

lol damien.

 

[1901gt]

I read about how this guy who sell things online. He sold things from big size paper clips to unwated goods. And now he collected enough to buy himself a house. I think that where the kid get that idea. Lolx.

 

[fonzie_007]

Frankly if you are collecting email address from Whois and contacting people with the intention of offering less than $XXX, then in most peoples eyes you would be a nuissance spammer.

Yes, some people think that; however, others are quite happy that someone contacted them and actually will pay them money for a domain that they otherwise were going to let expire.

 

[GoPC]

Phronesis... your BF2 forum software isn't working "quite" right.

Too bad 2

GoPC

 

[greggish]

If I were making an offer on a domain on a forum like this, then ok, its not out of line to offer $ xx. But it would never even cross my mind to contact somebody out of the blue on a domain and offer less than $100. Even NSI and Register.com have a minimum of $200 to make an unsolicited offer for a domain... sheesh!

 

[fonzie_007]

If were making an offer on a domain on a forum like this, then ok, its not out of line to offer $ xx. But it would never even cross my mind to contact somebody out of the blue on a domain and offer less than $100. Even NSI and Register.com have a minimum of $200 to make an unsolicited offer for a domain... sheesh!

Say for instance, I am looking to acquire LLLL.com domains (which I'm not at this time, it's just an example). I don't care about what the letters are too much, I just want the domains for under $10. Personally, I don't think it is out of line to offer this way because the value of random LLLL.com's is not that high. Yes, you have a point if you have a LLL.com and someone offers you xx, but in my case, I'm offering fair market value (for resellers) for the domains I am going after.