Newbie struck gold (maybe!) advice needed please

**xcyteonline@gmail** · 02-10-2009, 09:38 PM

Hello everyone, I'm relatively new to domaining and have built up a small portfolio investing what little money I have at the moment. One domain which I paid reg fee for was a two word 6 character .com. I registered this domain about two months ago and have just been contacted by a multi million $ international company who say that they were considering using the domain and would be interested in buying it. Lucky I guess! I'm just wondering the best way to extract the maximum amount out of this company without scaring them off. Eg How can I work out what the maxium they will pay for the domain is? Do I state a price or wait for them to make the first offer? Should I send them info about how valuable a good domain can be, recent sales figures and a full sales pitch? Has anyone got additional advice for an inexperienced newbie about what information to include, how to approach them and what to say? If this has been discussed elsewhere apologies and if someone could post the link it would be much appreciated!

I also own another domain which would be a very similar misspelling of the main one. Do I mention this in the initial sale pitch and offer the two as a package, or wait until they have brought and developed the domain. Then contact them about it offering to help them protect the brand?

Thanks in advance for any help.

**stock_post** · 02-10-2009, 10:10 PM

Good luck

**Acro** · 02-10-2009, 10:14 PM

I would not mention the typo so that you're not perceived as an opportunistic typosquatter. If this is truly a large corporation and the name is not a trademark, set up a blog on it while you negotiate, to indicate use. Try to talk to the right people in that company, preferably on the phone. If that's not possible, since they approached you with an intention to buy, ask for a fixed amount that they can afford. E.g. $30,000 or whatever. Good luck.

**Ilze** · 02-10-2009, 10:43 PM

Acro's advice of a blog is huge...Having a mini website-blog will protect you and
increase it's value in the meantime. Also, do not rush....If they are really interested, they will not go away.

Much Luck!!!

**Bionic** · 02-10-2009, 11:25 PM

Say $250,000 negotiable, you never know your luck!

**harleyx** · 02-10-2009, 11:27 PM

Stop by the forum one below this and contact a lawyer specializing in internet law. If it's a worthwhile domain, professional advice is the best investment you'll make.

Not a good idea to speak in detail on public forums like this, and domains are a particularly situation-specific industry. Even good advice here for one situation could be terrible advice for another.

**Poker** · 02-10-2009, 11:30 PM

Research as many similar sales as you can @ dnjournal and elsewhere...this will help you feel confident about price range.

**Focus** · 02-11-2009, 01:59 AM

Say the price on the domain for an immediate deal is 115k BIN but you will consider all equitable offers.

**rebirth** · 02-11-2009, 04:48 AM

If they request you to appraise the domain first, RUN.

**DNLingo** · 02-11-2009, 04:51 AM

If you were approached via email, be very careful. I have had this happen "several" times and it turned out to be a scam. If it is the same as my situation, the prospective buyer will lead you on and possibly even make you an offer in a follow up email. After you accept their offer, they will than politely inform you that they do not want to "low ball" you, or spend to much either. They will than recommend an appraisal of the domain from a so called "Independent" appraisal company, you can not choose the company... they do. As you probably can already see where I am going with this, it is a scam. The appraisal is not free and they expect you to pay since it is your domain. The appraisal company is theirs and they do not tell you that of course. After you pay the astronomical fee they charge, in hopes to sale for the thousands you were offered, they back out. Now they got your money and you have "No Sale".

I am not saying this is happening to you but be very careful. Good luck and keep us updated!

**jsu1995** · 02-11-2009, 05:40 AM

Originally Posted by xplicit702

If you were approached via email, be very careful. I have had this happen "several" times and it turned out to be a scam. If it is the same as my situation, the prospective buyer will lead you on and possibly even make you an offer in a follow up email. After you accept their offer, they will than politely inform you that they do not want to "low ball" you, or spend to much either. They will than recommend an appraisal of the domain from a so called "Independent" appraisal company, you can not choose the company... they do. As you probably can already see where I am going with this, it is a scam. The appraisal is not free and they expect you to pay since it is your domain. The appraisal company is theirs and they do not tell you that of course. After you pay the astronomical fee they charge, in hopes to sale for the thousands you were offered, they back out. Now they got your money and you have "No Sale".

I am not saying this is happening to you but be very careful. Good luck and keep us updated!

Yep, this is very typical scam for newbie domainer. I know as I am one myself and have had plenty of these e-mails. It's pretty easy to figure out if it's the above mentioned scam; you can google the webite of the sender's e-mail address and it should turn up some threads from here on DNF.

For your sake I hope it is a legitimate offer and you do well on it. Good luck.

**DomainsInc** · 02-11-2009, 06:21 AM

Don't get too excited/ I've had multi million dollar corps refuse to offer any more than a few hundred bucks for a domain they had called me about. Might as well try though, good luck and let us know how it goes.

**draggar** · 02-11-2009, 06:24 AM

Originally Posted by xplicit702

If you were approached via email, be very careful. I have had this happen "several" times and it turned out to be a scam. If it is the same as my situation, the prospective buyer will lead you on and possibly even make you an offer in a follow up email. After you accept their offer, they will than politely inform you that they do not want to "low ball" you, or spend to much either. They will than recommend an appraisal of the domain from a so called "Independent" appraisal company, you can not choose the company... they do. As you probably can already see where I am going with this, it is a scam. The appraisal is not free and they expect you to pay since it is your domain. The appraisal company is theirs and they do not tell you that of course. After you pay the astronomical fee they charge, in hopes to sale for the thousands you were offered, they back out. Now they got your money and you have "No Sale".

I am not saying this is happening to you but be very careful. Good luck and keep us updated!

Excellent advice. Even if the email looks legit, it can be spoofed.

Originally Posted by jsu1995

Yep, this is very typical scam for newbie domainer. I know as I am one myself and have had plenty of these e-mails. It's pretty easy to figure out if it's the above mentioned scam; you can google the webite of the sender's e-mail address and it should turn up some threads from here on DNF.

For your sake I hope it is a legitimate offer and you do well on it. Good luck.

Not just newbie domainers, I think most people here get this at least once a week.

Googling the email address' domain is an excellent idea, too. Some of these companies are sneaky, though, they'll flood their own sites with praise to get the top 20 spots in Google to make them look better.

You can search for:
+domain +scam

You'll get a while list of different results.

**Ilze** · 02-11-2009, 06:41 AM

Ask for a phone number to call them at to discuss this further. IF they give you one, that is good. Again, a serious end-user has no problem with moving the negotiation to a chat format.

**INVIGOR** · 02-11-2009, 07:46 AM

A lot of good bits of advice here. I'm of the opinion that if it's a truly good and expensive name, hire a qualified broker to handle the contact, pitch, transaction, etc.

**Ilze** · 02-11-2009, 08:05 AM

Can you suggest a qualiied broker for me?

**biggedon** · 02-11-2009, 08:44 AM

Originally Posted by xcyteonline@gmail

Hello everyone, I'm relatively new to domaining and have built up a small portfolio investing what little money I have at the moment. One domain which I paid reg fee for was a two word 6 character .com. I registered this domain about two months ago and have just been contacted by a multi million $ international company who say that they were considering using the domain and would be interested in buying it. Lucky I guess! I'm just wondering the best way to extract the maximum amount out of this company without scaring them off. Eg How can I work out what the maxium they will pay for the domain is? Do I state a price or wait for them to make the first offer? Should I send them info about how valuable a good domain can be, recent sales figures and a full sales pitch? Has anyone got additional advice for an inexperienced newbie about what information to include, how to approach them and what to say? If this has been discussed elsewhere apologies and if someone could post the link it would be much appreciated!

I also own another domain which would be a very similar misspelling of the main one. Do I mention this in the initial sale pitch and offer the two as a package, or wait until they have brought and developed the domain. Then contact them about it offering to help them protect the brand?

Thanks in advance for any help.

i would just ask them to make an offer, if they are interested in purchasing.
though i think you should have a price in mind that you would sell for, in case they respond.

you need to know it's value as is, and it's potential "to be"

even if they have big money doesn't mean they will pay big money.
it all depends on how bad they want it, and how it will fit in their plans.

if they have alternative names to choose from, then overpricing it will certainly run them off.

putting a mini-site, blog or whatever to the domain will help justify a "perspective" of expenditures on your part.

those expenses can be used to "inflate" the cost of development, planning, marketing etc. which adds value to the domain when negotiating.

imo...

Good Luck

**INVIGOR** · 02-11-2009, 08:50 AM

Originally Posted by QueenMother

Can you suggest a qualiied broker for me?

I use Phil Lodico at Fair Winds Trading. They only work with high end names. They recently sold pharmacy.com.

Originally Posted by biggedon

i would just ask them to make an offer, if they are interested in purchasing.

It's been my experience that end users are reluctant to make an offer for fear of putting too much on the table. As a "seller" you should know what your price range is and it's appropriate to reply with

low
low to mid
mid
mid to high
high

$xxx,xxx (or whatever it is). In general, sellers should price their wares, not vice versa; however, that's not to say that other tecniques don't also work..

**biggedon** · 02-11-2009, 09:06 AM

Originally Posted by wmloz

It's been my experience that end users are reluctant to make an offer for fear of putting too much on the table. As a "seller" you should know what your price range is and it's appropriate to reply with

low
low to mid
mid
mid to high
high

$xxx,xxx (or whatever it is). In general, sellers should price their wares, not vice versa; however, that's not to say that other tecniques don't also work..

in all of my sales to end-users via email inquiries or phone calls, i always ask them to make an offer first.

then if they do, we go from there by sending price ranges or specific prices.

i guess it all depends on each domainers personal situation.
with respect to how financially stable they are and their need or desire to sell.

i think the less frantic you appear to be for a sale, the better your chances are of getting what you want for the domain.

**copper** · 02-11-2009, 09:15 AM

Just because buyer is big doesn't mean they will pay $ million for $10 domains.
If you are not sure about value of your domain, hire a broker.
Don't be in a hurry.

Good Luck.