Thread: Asking for your advices on an Enduser sale

Hello everyone, i'd like to have some help on a situation i'm involved in.
In May I have received a purchase inquiry from a UK based company (that is going to open offices in India) for a .co.in domain i own.
It's a generic city name that is the exact name of their company, and they own the .co.uk version.
Luckily i've previously developed my domain with a minisite with original content so i shouldn't have any TM issue.
They seemed to be very interested in acuqiring the domain and I asked them to make a reasonable offer and also gave my phone number to discuss it thorugh phone. They take a lot of time (10 days) and offered me (via email) 100£ (about 150$). That offer pissed me off because they are a big company and they need the name (the .in is owned by a travel agency and it's undeveloped).
I countered saying that with 100£ I can barely take my girlfriend out for dinner and that I can consider offers in the XX,XXX range.
Since then (we were in june) I've never had any response.
What should I do?
Wait because one day they'll come back because they need the domain or write them to reopen the negotiation?
Thank you very much for your help.

i guess its best not to reply to them now. wait for a month

let them do advertising

donnied79, I have no idea if your expectation of XX,XXX for the domain is reasonable or not (I don't know what the domain is). Therefore, it's really hard to comment on whether or not the UK company will likely contact you again. If your counter-offer was unrealistic, my guess is you've scared them away and won't hear from them again. If your counter-offer was in fact realistic then there's a strong chance they'll contact you again.

Lastly, and no disrespect intended here, I think you should approach such negotiations in a more business-like manner. For example, I'd avoid saying things like "I can barely take my girlfriend out for dinner." Again, no disrespect intended and it's just some friendly advice.

Originally Posted by Ceres

donnied79, I have no idea if your expectation of XX,XXX for the domain is reasonable or not (I don't know what the domain is). Therefore, it's really hard to comment on whether or not the UK company will likely contact you again. If your counter-offer was unrealistic, my guess is you've scared them away and won't hear from them again. If your counter-offer was in fact realistic then there's a strong chance they'll contact you again.

Lastly, and no disrespect intended here, I think you should approach such negotiations in a more business-like manner. For example, I'd avoid saying things like "I can barely take my girlfriend out for dinner." Again, no disrespect intended and it's just some friendly advice.

Hi Ceres, thanks for your reply.
XX,XXX is absolutely too much for that domain. In a reseller value maybe even 150$ is too much. But they are not reseller, they are enduser. I can sell it to them for low/mid X,XXX.
But the fact is that i've tryed to be the more professional I could in my first email. For work I'm used to discuss with bigger companies for big contracts. So reading an offer of 100£ for something they really need was very disturbing.
BTW I've done my researches and even XX,XXX can't scare them. I think if you want to open an office in a foreign country you have to plan marketing investments bigger than that.

Originally Posted by donnied79

BTW I've done my researches and even XX,XXX can't scare them. I think if you want to open an office in a foreign country you have to plan marketing investments bigger than that.

It's great that you did your research. I've read that a domain's value is whatever an end user is willing to pay for it. Therefore, knowing how to negotiate with the end user plays an important part.

It would be great if we can hear more opinions and insights about dealing with end user sales...

It depends what you are trying to accomplish and the quality of the domain in question.

If it's a domain that will likely get other end user offers and you don't need the cash, doing nothing may be your best bet.

If you are looking to raise some money, you could go back to them. You could say something like you need to raise money for a project and so for the next week you are willing to sell the domain for a specific (reasonable) sum.

My experience is that people who start off with low ball offers never give decent offers, even if the reason for the low ball offer was ignorance rather than aggressive negotiation.

Agree with the feedback you have received here.

IMO if you are not in a hurry to sell the domain, just sit tight till they come back. If after 2-3 months you don't hear anything then may be you can check with them without sounding eager to sell. That way, if they genuinely forgot or were scared because of the price tag they might come back to the negotiating table.

If the domain is a city name like you mentioned, then $150 is probably less. You could probably expect low to mid x,xxx in the next few years depending how important a city it is.

yes, i agree with Jeff. If you know the name can easily sell to an end user for $x,xxx, then pitch it to this end user, and if they don't agree, ignore them. Also, one word city.co.ins are only increasing in value, so you probably don't want to undersell your name now(unless you need the cash). I would hold, as you probably will get other offers in the future. That company was looking for a super bargain in this depressed economy

Nice to hear everyone's perspective but would I really pay xx.xxx for a domain or would i purchase a mycompanyindia.com domain and spend the same in advertising it which has higher return on investment?

Just because its an MNC doesnt mean it will pump huge amount to acquire a domain.

I my short stint at domaining, endusers do not come often.

If the <CityName>.co.in is a Big Indian City (like Mumbai.co.in), I would say there would be more end-users coming your way. But if the <CityName>.co.in is not in India, then there will be a few willing to pay XX,XXX. Just because they are an UK based company opening an office in India doesn't translate to unlimited or vast amount of money. Maybe they are offshoring to India in order to save money.

Just my two cents.
--Ace