I just hate tyre kickers

[disruptive]

It's been one of those weeks with lots of enquiries for domain name, and me dilligently responding to find when we talk turkey (money), a great wave of silence smothers everything. Do potential buyers have the decency to even respond with "thanks, but too expensive" or "how about...".

Just chancers and tyre kickers - I hate it.

 

[websaway]

It's been one of those weeks with lots of enquiries for domain name, and me dilligently responding to find when we talk turkey (money), a great wave of silence smothers everything. Do potential buyers have the decency to even respond with "thanks, but too expensive" or "how about...".

Just chancers and tyre kickers - I hate it.

Nature of the game.

 

[domainseller200]

It's been one of those weeks with lots of enquiries for domain name, and me dilligently responding to find when we talk turkey (money), a great wave of silence smothers everything. Do potential buyers have the decency to even respond with "thanks, but too expensive" or "how about...".

Just chancers and tyre kickers - I hate it.

Maybe you didn't clarify in your correspondance to them what you meant by 'Turkey' ? they might be sitting there now thinking "What a strange man...he wants 50,000 turkeys for socialnetwork.co.uk" and that is the reason they haven't responded

 

[foz]

Having a displayed minimum of what you will consider entering dialogue will help reduce the <£100 kickers.

I've come to the conclusion from over the years that "make offer" type of sale channels just invites low balling and gives the impression of desperation.

 

[disruptive]

These were direct approaches...still happy to have some communication, its was a few seconds of my time, but still time consuming.

 

[Whibs]

When Selling always avoid the Make offer.

1. it confuses the buyer - how are they supposed to value a domain? Rarely do they have experience.

2. they will always play it safe and the difference between your expectations and theirs will be far greater.

Educate them, exacts, competition, Google favours keywords, % of potential traffic for long and short tail keywords, likely ROI in what time frame etc offer SEO, examples of recent sales, market value in accordance with current climate.

Then let them know that no bids considered under £...... if they come back with an offer you now have opportunity.

Keep their records, next year they could have grown or have a new marketing manager. New opportunity!

Educated & Expectations completed.

I have a few signatures i use and just fill in the gaps.

I always follow up and as long as there was no definite no it is still a possibility for the next time you get an offer.

A new offer comes a long and you mail the first guy just to let them know that you are in talks with a new buyer. "Just a polite follow up"

 

[diablo]

When Selling always avoid the Make offer.

1. it confuses the buyer - how are they supposed to value a domain? Rarely do they have experience.

2. they will always play it safe and the difference between your expectations and theirs will be far greater.

Educate them, exacts, competition, Google favours keywords, % of potential traffic for long and short tail keywords, likely ROI in what time frame etc offer SEO, examples of recent sales, market value in accordance with current climate.

Then let them know that no bids considered under £...... if they come back with an offer you now have opportunity.

Keep their records, next year they could have grown or have a new marketing manager. New opportunity!

Educated & Expectations completed.

I have a few signatures i use and just fill in the gaps.

I always follow up and as long as there was no definite no it is still a possibility for the next time you get an offer.

A new offer comes a long and you mail the first guy just to let them know that you are in talks with a new buyer. "Just a polite follow up"

Good post Whibs.

Sellers tend to put "make offer" because they hope that someone will offer them more than themselves they might value it at. But the reverse is more likely to be true.

 

[Edwin]

I have a "£1,500 mininum" on our public-facing sales page. It reduced the total tyre-kicker offers to about 1 in 5 or 6 from about 75% before I added that note, but it hasn't hurt our end user sales any - in fact, if anything they're up slightly.

There are still/always going to be a few folks who either don't read or who think "nah, he can't possibly mean that, I'm sure £50 would go down well" but much, much fewer such approaches...

 

[Cuailean]

Excellent post Whibs! I agree completely that this sort of approach is far more effective than the vague "make offer" response to sales enquiries. I use similar strategy but have to admit I'm not as thorough at covering all the bases as you are. Something I must work on.

It takes a little more time to 'market' names properly in this way but the advantage is that the potential buyer then knows exactly why you value the name as you do, and whether your expectations are within their price range - avoiding wasted time on both sides. Also if you do it right they will realise why they MUST have this name at any price - well we can always hope:

Of course even then there will still be tyre kickers!

 

[Blossom]

As someone who buys domain names occasionally to develop, I hate 'Make an offer'. I automatically assume it means the buyer wants a ridiculous price because they haven't even put a ballpark guide or range.

What's even worse is when you contact a seller and they are extremely cagey about what price they want even when you've specified you're interested and asked directly for a rough guide/'offers from'. Waste of my time, I don't want to have to email you four or five times just to get a price.

If I see 'Make an offer', 99% of the time I'll close the page.

 

[chrisduggan]

You do not see a house for sale with a "make an offer" sign or a motor vehicle with an "open to offers" sticker.. Paying full askng price is a rarity and negotiations are expected, but a price is there for a reason. I appreciate domain names are a different ball game but the basic principles of doing business are the same. Only you know what price you want for it, either someone can afford it or they cannot. And stick to your guns, don't reduce, reduce, reduce your asking prices every 20 minutes expecting a quick sale. Doesnt work like that and makes you look desperate. Give a realistic price, backed up with some reasoning. Fill your inbox with potential leads, not empty questions asking the same old thing.

I appreicate my past experiences and expectations of multiple offers and attempt to learn from them.. The frustrations of the game.

Staring into an empty pm box and waiting for illusive buyers will be a waste of time, time = money. Price it reasonably and get it gone, or not.

My 2p's worth..

 

[cc976a]

I've had a couple of replies from interested companies this week for the same name that I have been marketing - I always provide a guide price (agree - pointless with 'make offer' statements - not only unlikely to get a reply but looks unprofessional) but no replies on either. So I can relate to the OP.

I always reply to messages (well most of the time) and do so as quickly as possible so it is frustrating when you're waiting for that 'Sold' reply......but nature of the selling business I'm afraid!

 

[websaway]

Whether or not you lead with a BIN price is a matter for the seller, and the approach can differ depending on the quality of the name, the quality of the target market and the desire for a quick sale/or not.
It's not always as simple as "this is the name, this is the price".
Most big priced names that are sold are only sold after extensive negotiations and a lot of bluff from both sides. You don't buy business.com by saying want this name for x amount and the other party saying yes, fine, send it over and I'll put the money in your bank.

And some people who sell names only sell there bad names and it's easier to put a price on bad names.

 

[chrisduggan]

Fair point.

 

[Whibs]

BIN prices on cheap domains.

It makes no difference what quality of domain one has. If the seller has an absolute minimum they would accept for that domain then that is the min price.

Negotiating is more than bluffing on both sides, it is a process of evaluation and investigation. In most premium negotiations it is the sellers job to ensure it is sold over his min expectations and in the same manner the buyers job not to exceed the max budget. this is certainly not bluffing!

If one understands the buyers purchasing power and appreciates the processes of procurement departments, one can remain controlling the sale. these guys deal with deals this big every week, they are professional negotiators and did not get to that position by bluffing. if you bluff you are far likelier to lose, you may smile as the deal you got was good, but ask yourself, was the buyer as happy with the deal as you were? if so you lost out.

 

[websaway]

BIN prices on cheap domains.

It makes no difference what quality of domain one has. If the seller has an absolute minimum they would accept for that domain then that is the min price.

Negotiating is more than bluffing on both sides, it is a process of evaluation and investigation. In most premium negotiations it is the sellers job to ensure it is sold over his min expectations and in the same manner the buyers job not to exceed the max budget. this is certainly not bluffing!

If one understands the buyers purchasing power and appreciates the processes of procurement departments, one can remain controlling the sale. these guys deal with deals this big every week, they are professional negotiators and did not get to that position by bluffing. if you bluff you are far likelier to lose, you may smile as the deal you got was good, but ask yourself, was the buyer as happy with the deal as you were? if so you lost out.

Good post though slightly naive by my experience.
Good bluffers are like good salesmen, neither admit to being either.

 

[boxfish]

I think Frank's post that was featured is quite interesting with regards to offers:

http://www.fwitter.co.uk/domain-trading-turning-100-into-10000-a-true-story/

Someone opened with $500, he countered with $6k etc, $4.5k stated as final acceptable price, sales wasn't agreed

Someone else opened with $2k, he countered with $15k, it sold for $8k

Had he priced it at $4.5k to start with (the amount he was willing to accept from the first bidder) then he would be $3.5k down

 

[Edwin]

Hindsight is always 20:20. Had the person who offered $2k broken off the negotiations at the $15k counter, he would have been $4.5k down. That's why it's dangerous (or at least un-representative) to play the "what if" scenario game when working backwards from a successful outcome.

 

[foz]

Perhaps it was the same entity in both?

 

[boxfish]

Hindsight is always 20:20. Had the person who offered $2k broken off the negotiations at the $15k counter, he would have been $4.5k down. That's why it's dangerous (or at least un-representative) to play the "what if" scenario game when working backwards from a successful outcome.

How far the seller is willing to push it is down to them, but surely an opening offer of $500 and an opening offer of $2000 give you more of a clue to how far you can go with it.