How NOT to sell a name!

[neddy]

The following is just my personal opinion .........

I recently placed an offer on a catalogue listing on NF. It is a two word name - one keyword plus a brandable word. The seller had put some stats up saying that the term received 2900 Local Exacts per month. When I checked them, the Local Exacts were in fact just 390. Big difference. The Phrase Search claimed was also way out. (I did message him about that using NF's new feature).

My estimation of value was between $500 and $1000 - and so I placed an initial bid of low $XXX. Within an hour I received a counter-offer of $50,000!

If you're a seller, and you've got a name for sale (and a low value one at that), the last thing you want to do is scare a potential purchaser off with a counter-offer that is off the planet.

If the seller had given me a low $XXXX c/offer, I would have stayed in a bit longer and played the negotiating game. But by virtue of him being OTT, I don't intend playing anymore.

I think a lot of people feel that way. What do you think?

 

[Chris.C]

Agreed.

Unless you have the sort of domain that would net at least $1,000+ on a NetFleet AMA then a counter offer than is $XX,XXX is just going to instantly scare away the current buyer, and potentially future buyers.

You also see some domains listed in the NF catalgoue that are asking for outrageous prices, and the second I see that I just think to myself, there is zero chance I'm even going to bother making a bid.

 

[bradderick]

I have had that happen to me a few times.

Offered low x,xxx,

received a counter of $100,000+

I think one thing that is better these days on NF is the opening up the lines of communication between buyer and seller, rather than just offer - counter offer etc.

A phone call can work pretty well too. Easy to tell if someone is wasting your time.

But a OTT counter offer can be pretty effective at doing that too

 

[coreyg]

Australian Domainers certainly have an over inflated value of their domain names when it comes to selling.

Cheers
Corey

 

[DavidL]

Australian Domainers certainly have an over inflated value of their domain names when it comes to selling.

Domainers in general I think you'll find.

Let's face it, everyone, no exceptions, struggles with keeping valuations of their own domains in line with how they'd value others' domains.

 

[Chris.C]

Australian Domainers certainly have an over inflated value of their domain names when it comes to selling.

Sort of...

I guess everyone needs a few sales to fall through before you start realising it's you, not the market, that has the valuation wrong.



... but not everyone has "over inflated" expectations otherwise no domains would sell and that doesn't seem to be the case with dozens of domains selling both on the AMA and via the NF catalogue every week.

 

[DomainNames]

Maybe they registered it 10 years ago and paid for the business name ( $120 in nsw) + $140 melbourne It + renewals for the last 10 years.

People need to realise a lot of names simply are not worth selling at under $1000 to many owners Offers of a few hundred dollars are a waste of time for many . If you say you value it at $500 - $1000 make that offer and if they accept it buy it. If not dont waste your time. Obviously their counter offer of $50,000 means they are offended in some way by your offer.

I think netfleet should allow people to set minimum bids again for their names to avoid this

 

[Shane]

If you say you value it at $500 - $1000 make that offer and if they accept it buy it. If not dont waste your time. Obviously their counter offer of $50,000 means they are offended in some way by your offer.

Assuming that you've bought a house or car sometime in your life, was your first offer what you believed was a fair price for both parties? If so, you fail at negotiating!

And the silly counter offer doesn't mean they were 'obviously' offended. More likely they just have no idea. It wasn't one of your domains was it?

 

[Cooper Mills DomainLawyer]

I think that most of the crazy counter offers come from part timers or mums and dads as opposed to professional domainers.

The best rational a mate of mine has used for this behaviour is the lottery ticket syndrome - where average Joe has a domain and pays his $49.95 renew fee every 2 years in the hope that someone will one day offer him something massive for a domain which is probably never likely to be worth more than $200.

In fairness to Netfleet, there are many sellers who come back with reasonable counter offers and deals can be done.

Just my 5 cents

 

[neddy]

People need to realise a lot of names simply are not worth selling at under $1000 to many owners Offers of a few hundred dollars are a waste of time for many . If you say you value it at $500 - $1000 make that offer and if they accept it buy it. If not dont waste your time. Obviously their counter offer of $50,000 means they are offended in some way by your offer.

I think netfleet should allow people to set minimum bids again for their names to avoid this

I think you're missing the point of my post. If you knew the name invoved, you would agree - I guarantee that.

Netfleet does offer sellers the opportunity to nominate a Target / Buy Now Price. Perhaps sellers should take advantage of this feature more. It would help sort the wheat from the chaff very quickly.

 

[neddy]

In fairness to Netfleet, there are many sellers who come back with reasonable counter offers and deals can be done.

Agreed!

 

[Mark]

The following is just my personal opinion .........

I recently placed an offer on a catalogue listing on NF. It is a two word name - one keyword plus a brandable word. The seller had put some stats up saying that the term received 2900 Local Exacts per month. When I checked them, the Local Exacts were in fact just 390. Big difference. The Phrase Search claimed was also way out. (I did message him about that using NF's new feature).

My estimation of value was between $500 and $1000 - and so I placed an initial bid of low $XXX. Within an hour I received a counter-offer of $50,000!

If you're a seller, and you've got a name for sale (and a low value one at that), the last thing you want to do is scare a potential purchaser off with a counter-offer that is off the planet.

If the seller had given me a low $XXXX c/offer, I would have stayed in a bit longer and played the negotiating game. But by virtue of him being OTT, I don't intend playing anymore.

I think a lot of people feel that way. What do you think?

The search volume stats are generated by us actually Ned. I just did a manual check, and you are right, it is not that high.

As ever with G stats they can be somewhat erratic. I'll get it checked out though.

And just to add, it's important to remember that many sellers on Netfleet are single domain, retail clients, who do not know how to value their domain names. It's one of the trickiest problems we face - but hopefully one that over time as more historical data is available, it will lessen (to an extent).

In a perfect world where we all have lots of time, I would suggest responding with a further offer, citing past sale prices, to see if the response is more realistic. It depends how much you want the domain of course!

Cheers
Mark

 

[neddy]

The search volume stats are generated by us actually Ned. I just did a manual check, and you are right, it is not that high.

The seller actually messaged me through NF and told me this. I felt like a right dork. Ha ha!

And just to add, it's important to remember that many sellers on Netfleet are single domain, retail clients, who do not know how to value their domain names. It's one of the trickiest problems we face - but hopefully one that over time as more historical data is available, it will lessen (to an extent).

Totally understand and agree Mark. My comment was not a reflection on the service that NF provides - it was more a general WTF!

In a perfect world where we all have lots of time, I would suggest responding with a further offer, citing past sale prices, to see if the response is more realistic. It depends how much you want the domain of course!

That's the point - there is no such thing as a perfect world.

 

[dave]

I recently noticed a great domain name that was redirecting to an online shop and thought it may be worth a query to see if the owner was interested in selling (I didn't make any offer). The e-mail I got back provided me with a lesson on "Internet real estate" and said that he was going to shop the domain around some big brands.

I sent him back a reply asking if he was interested in negotiating a price and haven't heard back.

He had no idea who I was, who was representing, or what I was prepared to pay. Probably a good example of an overinflated opinion on what is domain may be worth.

 

[coreyg]

Domainers in general I think you'll find.

Let's face it, everyone, no exceptions, struggles with keeping valuations of their own domains in line with how they'd value others' domains.

I'm talking from experience, over 13 years in the .au arena

Cheers
Corey

 

[Shane]

I'm talking from experience, over 13 years in the .au arena

Cheers
Corey

So what's your best AU domain? If you've been in the market for over 13 years you must have some absolute crackers.

 

[coreyg]

So what's your best AU domain? If you've been in the market for over 13 years you must have some absolute crackers.

I have an appraisal listed @ http://www.dntrade.com.au/christmas-presents-com-au-t4185.html

Cheers
Corey

 

[neddy]

I have an appraisal listed @ http://www.dntrade.com.au/christmas-presents-com-au-t4185.html

Corey - Shane wasn't asking you about a particular domain. You made a statement about being in .au domains for 13 years, and he suggested you must have some crackers.

He asked which was your best domain?

Or is christmas-presents.com.au your best domain?