The Psychology Of Offers..

[julian]

Had this happen to me quite a bit these last few years, perhaps you've had it happen too and can shed some light on what's going on. :mrgreen:

It goes like this..

Get an offer from sedo (or the like) for a domain lets say for arguments sake £100 offer in.

I reply back with a counter offer of £300 because I feel the domain is worth maybe between £200/£300

And that's it never hear back, pas, nicht, nada..

Now, what sort of person out there would bother to make an offer on very specific domains and expect them to a sell for the first amount they offer.

Further to that, having received a counter offer which is pretty reasonable, to not even bother negotiating further - punt out £150 etc to show some willing on price negotiation.

 

[Skinner]

I had this debate with Kev (get yo ass in here), about when playing the game its simply NOT possible to make your final offer first off.

Everyone expects the first offer to be an opening offer, so even if you say this is my one, only and final offer, people still expect it to be an opening offer and room for negotiation.

Its lead me to believe you have to open with 1/4-1/2 your ideal price and play ball.

 

[Bailey]

buyers just playing the numbers-game is my guess. Their not chasing any 'specific-domain'

Just looking for cheap quick pick-ups

 

[tifosi]

Got quite a few £275 offers a while back. Mainly decent descriptive domains. The pattern was pretty obvious, and I had a hunch it was a UK/US domainer.

Probably a few doing it. Notably quiet since Oct!

 

[websaway]

a 100 to 300 pound domain name is not normally a must have domain ( lots of alternatives ).
When you make an offer for a domain sedo displays a list of other similar alternatives.
I agree with Bailey the buyer probably just moves on.

 

[bulkcorn]

The Seller's options when someone makes a very low 'final' first offer are to:

1. Counter-offer higher
2. Say 'No, thank you. Not selling at that price.'
3. Ignore the offer
4. Tell the contact where to go with his offer .. :lol: (Not professional and not recommended)

I get silly low offers from time to time. There is no way of telling whether the first offer is their final but I usually respond with a higher counter-offer. I don't hear back from some buyers (some return a few weeks later with same or near silly offer). My counter-offers to this kind of low offers usually result in negotiations that end in a sale.

 

[namealot]

Don’t put up names with “offers” if you want a certain price say it..? you'll waste less time get less time wasters ?

 

[Edwin]

A lot of it may be down to buyers "bulk testing" sellers to see who's selling "cheap". Once they latch onto somebody who's ready to hit the sell button for a pittance, they can then take their time picking through their other domains (ie. the ones with real value) having started with something fairly innocuous.

 

[markb]

I don't rate Sedo really and wouldn't advertise my domains through it. Your better off just sticking a holding page up with your contact details. Don't even say the domain is for sale. If people really want to buy your domain, they will contact you direct.

I have made a few offers in the past on domains via sedo, ones that I would expect to sell say mid to high £x,xxx. Every time they have come back with a counter offer of mid to high £xxx,xxxx. I don't therefore make many offers on there any more as many peoples expectations are too high.

 

[websaway]

I don't rate Sedo really and wouldn't advertise my domains through it. Your better off just sticking a holding page up with your contact details. Don't even say the domain is for sale. If people really want to buy your domain, they will contact you direct.

I have made a few offers in the past on domains via sedo, ones that I would expect to sell say mid to high £x,xxx. Every time they have come back with a counter offer of mid to high £xxx,xxxx. I don't therefore make many offers on there any more as many peoples expectations are too high.

What would your initial offer be in that circumstance ?

 

[markb]

What would your initial offer be in that circumstance ?

In the case where I thought the domain was worth mid to high x,xxx , I would probably make an initial offer that was low enough that I had room to negotiate upwards to my max but not too low so they knew I was serious and wouldnt just ignore my initial offer. If they came back with an unreasonable counter offer I would probably just cancel the negotiation.

I've said this before though, when people value domains, especially on sedo, more often than not the owners will give their own domains unreasonably high valuations. I do this myself. I have bought domains in the past for example, lets say £3,000. When I have bought the domain, I have really hesitated about spending the £3,000. But as soon as I have spent that £3k and own it, I automatically think the domain is worth 10 times more than that. I always think that there would be no way I would part with it for anything less than xx,xxx amount. I think part of the reason behind this, is that people see several really high domain sales, for example looking at the domainprices website there are a few .co.uk domains that have sold for £xxx,xxx amounts in the past. Everyone suddenly thinks that there domain is potentially worth this amount, when in reality, you probably have better odds of winning the lottery than selling your .co.uk domain for 6 figures. How many .co.uk domains are registered and how many sell for 6 figures?

 

[TAM - Sheenah]

Hi guys!

This truly show the psychology of negotiation!

 

[websaway]

In the case where I thought the domain was worth mid to high x,xxx , I would probably make an initial offer that was low enough that I had room to negotiate upwards to my max but not too low so they knew I was serious and wouldnt just ignore my initial offer. If they came back with an unreasonable counter offer I would probably just cancel the negotiation.

I've said this before though, when people value domains, especially on sedo, more often than not the owners will give their own domains unreasonably high valuations. I do this myself. I have bought domains in the past for example, lets say £3,000. When I have bought the domain, I have really hesitated about spending the £3,000. But as soon as I have spent that £3k and own it, I automatically think the domain is worth 10 times more than that. I always think that there would be no way I would part with it for anything less than xx,xxx amount. I think part of the reason behind this, is that people see several really high domain sales, for example looking at the domainprices website there are a few .co.uk domains that have sold for £xxx,xxx amounts in the past. Everyone suddenly thinks that there domain is potentially worth this amount, when in reality, you probably have better odds of winning the lottery than selling your .co.uk domain for 6 figures. How many .co.uk domains are registered and how many sell for 6 figures?

If you have a six figure domain name,then selling it doesn't relate to similar odds of winning the lottery, if it's worth six figures like casino or the like, you may, in a good market, be able to sell it for six figures.
On the other hand if someone want's to sell a domain that's not worth anything or has limited worth for six figures, they are deluded, and they should not really be a part of the reasoning behind market trends and sales patterns.

 

[namealot]

I’ve also found sometimes it doesn’t matter how good or relevant a name is when it comes to a sale? You get some head strong MD knows all there is to know about there business but absolutely nothing about the web, there marketing department are just as ignorant or scared to put there necks out ? Just because there known in there town, county, country etc many have an overinflated view of there companies name brand (big fish small pond syndrome)
When they want to launch to a bigger market or re-brand they will often buy any old crap just because they like and want it name irrelevant? not just minnows either multinationals have done the same?
After a while of offering low and trying to sell high you’ll either have done well or have to re think your pricing for both buying and selling that last bit eludes many though ?