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As a domainer, one of the most crucial lessons I have learned is to carefully review all inquiries. Everything needs to be researched and verified. In order to respond to a potential buyer, I need to know everything I can about them, their company, financial situation, even other domains they may own. Why is this important you may ask?
1. It enables you to make an appropriate counter offer and or initial offer.
2. It will help determine if the inquiry is legitimate or a waste of time.
The other day I received an inquiry/offer through one of my parking providers. (Fabulous.com). It included Name, Email, Offer Price of $1,200, and IP address.
The email address came from gmail.com - which left me with very littleinformation about the individual who made the inquiry. I put the email address through all of the major search engines, seeing if I could find any indexed pages associated with this individual. No surprises here, nothing.
I then did the same with his full name. Unfortunately his name is relatively generic and pulled up many results. I dug a bit deaper and included his name in a few keywords that could be associated with the domain he inquired about. Again, little to no luck.
Finaly, I took the IP address and traced it back, hoping for a stroke of luck. Whats this? Finaly a break. As it turns out, the IP address the inquiry came from, is from a large publicly traded company, that has a very similar domain name in the industry.
Now knowing who I am dealing with, I have a better idea of what they can afford. When dealing with a larger business, the domains tend to go up in potential sales price, because larger businesses typically have larger budgets for these types of acquisitions. I personally never like to conduct negotiations via email, it makes it very difficult to judge a reaction of either party, and of course it slows down the process altogether.
I replied back with the following:
Shortly after sending the email, I recieved a dreaded bounceback notice. Was this inquiry fake? Well, there is of course only one way to know for sure.
I sent an email to the companies support department, requesting contact information for the individual who's name appeared on the inquiry.
24 Hours later I recieved a response with an email address @CompanyName.com of the person who made the inquiry.
I responded with the following email:
I then recieved the following response:
Next Step? Obviously going to respond confirming a phone call on Monday, but also I will be calling his office sometime this evening (after hours), in hopes of trying to discover his position or title with the company. Even what department he's in would be helpful with negotiations.
I will follow through with progress on this sale, and update the thread when I know more, or following my phone call on Monday.
1. It enables you to make an appropriate counter offer and or initial offer.
2. It will help determine if the inquiry is legitimate or a waste of time.
The other day I received an inquiry/offer through one of my parking providers. (Fabulous.com). It included Name, Email, Offer Price of $1,200, and IP address.
The email address came from gmail.com - which left me with very littleinformation about the individual who made the inquiry. I put the email address through all of the major search engines, seeing if I could find any indexed pages associated with this individual. No surprises here, nothing.
I then did the same with his full name. Unfortunately his name is relatively generic and pulled up many results. I dug a bit deaper and included his name in a few keywords that could be associated with the domain he inquired about. Again, little to no luck.
Finaly, I took the IP address and traced it back, hoping for a stroke of luck. Whats this? Finaly a break. As it turns out, the IP address the inquiry came from, is from a large publicly traded company, that has a very similar domain name in the industry.
Now knowing who I am dealing with, I have a better idea of what they can afford. When dealing with a larger business, the domains tend to go up in potential sales price, because larger businesses typically have larger budgets for these types of acquisitions. I personally never like to conduct negotiations via email, it makes it very difficult to judge a reaction of either party, and of course it slows down the process altogether.
I replied back with the following:
First Name,
Thank you for your offer of $1,200 for the domain SAMPLEDOMAIN.com - I would love to discuss the possible sale of this domain name with you via a telephone conversation if that is at all possible. What number could I reach you on, and what is a good time for you?
Sincerely,
My Name
Shortly after sending the email, I recieved a dreaded bounceback notice. Was this inquiry fake? Well, there is of course only one way to know for sure.
I sent an email to the companies support department, requesting contact information for the individual who's name appeared on the inquiry.
24 Hours later I recieved a response with an email address @CompanyName.com of the person who made the inquiry.
I responded with the following email:
First Name,
I am the owner of SAMPLEDOMAIN.com - I believe you sent an inquiry through our parking provider with an offer to purchase this domain. I was unable to respond to you at the email you provided, but was able to track you down using your IP address. I would love to discuss the possible sale of this domain name with you via a telephone conversation if that is at all possible. Please let me know.
Sincerely,
My Name
I then recieved the following response:
Hi Justin –
Thanks for the reply. That would be great, how is Monday 1pm pst? My contact info is listed below.
To Greater Success,
First + Last Name
Direct Number
Fax Number
Mobile Number
Next Step? Obviously going to respond confirming a phone call on Monday, but also I will be calling his office sometime this evening (after hours), in hopes of trying to discover his position or title with the company. Even what department he's in would be helpful with negotiations.
I will follow through with progress on this sale, and update the thread when I know more, or following my phone call on Monday.
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