Am I wasting my time?

[stockshark]

Hey I was just wondering what everyone thinks is the best place to buy domains? And by "best" what I mean is where there is a good number of both serious buyers and serious sellers (emphasis on "serious"). The reason I am asking is that lately it seems like i've been wasting alot of time trying to buy domains off people (many at sedo and afternic) who won't take anything less than $1, 3 or even $5,000,000. And these are definitely not top-notch one word dot.com's....... I would call them "very good" domains which would maybe fetch high 5-figures/low 6-figures at auction where both the buyer and seller are in a rational state of mind and serious to make a deal. One thing that makes this difficult is that many sellers don't set any price expectation and so you don't know going in what to bid to start things off. So if they plan to counter your opening bid with $10,000,000, no matter what you bid will be too low.

Do any of you other guys run into this alot? Even some of the crappy domains have minimum offer expectations for tens of thousands of dollars. At least the ones who come clean and just state it so you don't have to waste time with those. What am I doing wrong here?

[DNjet]

the problem you have at sedo and afternic is the sellers might assume you are an end user and will try and get every penny , if its a very good domain they aren't going to sell to a reseller anyhow either, you really must be able to negotiate with the owners directly , post exactly what you are looking for here on the forum in domains wanted, and put a budget range with it, you might find something.

[EJS]

If they are as good as you say, they are probably making nice ppc revs so there is no pressing need to sell.

[stockshark]

Originally Posted by DNjet

the problem you have at sedo and afternic is the sellers might assume you are an end user and will try and get every penny , if its a very good domain they aren't going to sell to a reseller anyhow either, you really must be able to negotiate with the owners directly , post exactly what you are looking for here on the forum in domains wanted, and put a budget range with it, you might find something.

Good point, I guess I didn't consider they don't know end users from domain investors. I will probably take your advice and at some point post here what I am looking for. I haven't been a member too long yet so still getting familiar with the place. Good advice however...

[stockshark]

Originally Posted by EJS

If they are as good as you say, they are probably making nice ppc revs so there is no pressing need to sell.

Yes a couple of them I am guessing PPC revs are ok (although I don't know for sure just assuming since they don't even provide figures), however there have been others that have a blank page, or even no DNS at all (no site found). In fact one domain I offered above both the appraised value (afternic appraisal) and above their minimimum (which was well above the high end of the appraisal even. Yet they don't even bother to respond and let the offer lapse. I don't get it honestly..

[Provider]

stockshark, you are absolutely right. I totally agree with you, vast majority of
domain name owners do not have any plan in mind. If you go to invest on the stockmarket you will be happy to make 300% a year return, but with domain names it is totally different, you don't really need to be smart to invest in domains. Many people expect unreal returns on their investment. I don't want in any way to say that domainers are stupid, I am just saying that it is just much easier to invest into thismarket than other venues, and for that reason our market atracts many people that read reports on dnjournal.com and think that all the domain names sold for these prices.

[stockshark]

Originally Posted by Provider

stockshark, you are absolutely right. I totally agree with you, vast majority of
domain name owners do not have any plan in mind. If you go to invest on the stockmarket you will be happy to make 300% a year return, but with domain names it is totally different, you don't really need to be smart to invest in domains. Many people expect unreal returns on their investment. I don't want in any way to say that domainers are stupid, I am just saying that it is just much easier to invest into thismarket than other venues, and for that reason our market atracts many people that read reports on dnjournal.com and think that all the domain names sold for these prices.

You're telling me, many investors would be happy just to beat the S&P and make 20% a year in the stock market . I agree I don't think domainers are stupid I just think some have unrealistic expectations. I guess I think of it sort of like real estate.... you can't expect to buy a house out in the middle of nowhere for cheap, put a for sale sign out in the front yard and then expect someone to come along and pay you the same thing they would pay for a Beverly Hills mansion, "just because". Might as well go buy lottery tickets instead, as I think the odds might be better

[BILLBO]

Hi Stockshark,

The problem with Sedo is they have a maximum of £10,000/€10,000/$10,000 that you can put as a minimum bid or 'sellers price expectation' unless you pay for Sedo to do a so called valuation! So many just leave the minimum bid blank. I today literally received an offer of $160 (although I had stated £'s), after Sedo takes off its $150 commission that would leave $10!

In the end I countered with $9,500,000 just to be as rediculous as the offer that was made (I also sent a comment that 'The domain does not come that cheap!'). It just seems that both sides (and unfortunately this time that included myself) may unrealistic offers and counter-offers just to see how serious each other are, and of course remember that the offer or counter-offer is binding for 7 days, so what each party is trying to do is come slowly closer together so that the buyer pays as little as he can and the seller gets as much as he can! (My domain in question is valued around very low $xxx,xxx to a domainer and the sky is the limit of course to an end-user.)

I must admit though that I never just ignor an offer, you should out of simple courtesy if not good business practise reply to all offers made.

You could of course do a 'Who Is' lookup on the registry, I like many others now post 'For Sale' in the registry details with how to contact me, I think many 'serious domainers' do the same.

[stockshark]

Originally Posted by BILLBO

Hi Stockshark,

The problem with Sedo is they have a maximum of £10,000/€10,000/$10,000 that you can put as a minimum bid or 'sellers price expectation' unless you pay for Sedo to do a so called valuation!

Wow, now that I did not know.... guess you learn something new every day. That's too bad really without this info it does make it harder for buyers/sellers to know if the expecations are in line. I understand making a ridiculous counter offer to a lowball initial offer.... although IMO if someone is making an initial offer over $1,000 hopefully that is high enough that while maybe "weak" it is at least a starting point. Gotta start somewhere, right?

Anyway I think so far I like snapnames the best, it's a pain going through so many names to find good ones, but at least when you find one you want you have a chance of getting it....

[Duckinla]

The problem with things that are free is that there is no shortage of demand for them. The free listings on Sedo bring people who aren't really serious about selling unless they find that needle-in-a-haystack enduser who will pay a silly amount. And I don't exclude myself from that group. If they charged some minimal amount, say $1 per month per listing, it would reduce the listings by 90% but the sellers would be serious and the prices would be realistic. I think a lot more transactions would occur that way. I would probably list 1/10th as many domains but my asking prices would probably be about half of what they are.
The way it is right now, I think you will find much more realistic prices here on DNF than at Sedo.