Just got my first offer on Sedo.

[Blue Wren]

Hello DNF Memebers

I purchased a smattering of .com domains in January this year. I parked and listed for sale most of them on SEDO.

Today out of the blue, I got an offer for one of them of 500USD and my asking price is 1288USD.

Question:
What should I counter with? (if at all)
I've never sold a domain before at all (first time). As mentioned it is on SEDO. Any tips you may have or 'need to know' advice?

Thank you

 

[stewie]

*don't forget sedo takes a bite out of your apple.

 

[Blue Wren]

*don't forget sedo takes a bite out of your apple.

Thank you stewie I know they take their chunk so again thanks for the reminder and help. Cheers

 

[Johnn]

An offer does not mean anything until money is in the bank.
Many of them live in either Alaska or North Pole so they do have cold feet even in the Summer.

 

[airmax]

Most sedo offers end when you counter anything above their $60, or $100 first offer, long way to go in closing yet...

 

[mclovin]

initial offer of 500 means that theres interest and at least semi-serious intent. when i get offers like that and if the domain has the worth to back it up i wouldve countered with 5000

 

[silentg]

Counter with $1,188

initial offer of 500 means that theres interest and at least semi-serious intent. when i get offers like that and if the domain has the worth to back it up i wouldve countered with 5000

Op has a asking price of $1,288. If he counter offers $5,000 then the buyer will be long gone.

 

[mclovin]

Counter with $1,188


Op has a asking price of $1,288. If he counter offers $5,000 then the buyer will be long gone.

Of course. I meant to say that my asking price would've been 5000. I agree with 1188 in this case.

 

[nydomain]

Congrats! I know it's a great feeling. If you don't need the money, and you're willing to risk losing the sale, you can counter at $800. If they really want it, they'll accept or at least counter.

Please keep in mind, you can pocket a couple hundred AND register/ renew over 20 additional domains AFTER the commission RIGHT NOW. If you need the money, it's a no brainer. Accept the offer.

A fairly safe strategy is to wait a couple days- if they're eager to buy, they might just purchase it at the BIN. Their bid is binding for a week (if I remember correctly) so you can accept any time within that time frame.

 

[Maxwell]

Give it a little time and let them sweat.

Best of cases: they're a deep-pocketed buyer hoping that $500 would have been under-the-radar enough so that they were not "showing their hand", as it were. Your putting the offer off could encourage them to reconsider how they're showing their seriousness.

Worst of cases: $500 is all they have, and they're hoping to hell you'll take it.

Acting too fast here can throw off your upper hand of them coming to you.

But in this particular instance, it's not like they offered $60 on a $5,000 name. They offered you about 40% of your asking price, which you probably would have taken less than to start with.

So, I understand your dilemma here. You've got a good offer, but not a great offer. You'd love to take "good", but you don't want to take just "good" and later find out you could have gotten great, or keep on wondering whether you could have gotten "great".

That being said, I would send it to auction. That is the beauty of what Sedo has to offer.

By sending it to auction, you are guaranteed that $500, less the commission, since their offer is the first bid.

The best that can happen here is that others see the value in it, and on that basis, place higher bids, bringing you further into "great" territory.

The worst that can happen is that nobody else bids on it, so then you have to settle for $500.

That's what I'd do here. It's close enough to your asking price that the worst that can happen is you get nearly half of what you wanted, and you have the option to let the price inflate itself to your benefit whilst in auction.

That's how I'd go about it. Good luck!

 

[woofard]

I think you should first get the main concern out of the way - do I need the money?

ANY counter offer is a an opportunity to lose the sale if you do need the money. If you need the money, you should take the offer.

The other hand:

If you don't need the money, then schooling yourself in the negotiation techniques suggested here by other domainers is important.

The man who owns this forum - Adam Dicker, almost always responds to counter offers with a "I don't need your business" mentality. It's almost as if he's pulling the domain away from the buying table. He almost always counters as high as he thinks he can go with the particular name he is selling and any hesitation from the interested party is addressed with "pick another domain, we're too far apart on this one" By coming from a position of not needing someone's money or their business, he instills a fear of loss in the buyer and ends up getting top dollar most of the time. They don't call him the "Dot Com God" for nothing...

If you don't need the money, then you can use this as an opportunity to learn negotiating lessons first hand. Counter with a high number and see what happens. $1,188 is good in this instance - it gives a little money off and still leaves you room to work if they counter back low. If they are truly interested, they'll play along.

Good luck!

 

[urlurl]

a dollar today is worth more than a dollar tomorrow.

 

[hugegrowth]

counter at $1000.

If you hadn't had a BIN price of 1288, and if I knew what the domain was, it's possible you could counter for higher.

 

[Domonetise]

I have not had an offers as yet, but when the time comes and i'm in your shoes, i'll be going for Gold!

 

[SeanIM]

Agree with the strategy below...

counter at $1000.

If you hadn't had a BIN price of 1288, and if I knew what the domain was, it's possible you could counter for higher.

 

[Blue Wren]

Thank you all so much for your wonderful help and great advice. Some of you have really gone all out with writing up some long replies and for that I am truly grateful. I haven't countered or replied yet so I'll get to doing this today.

Cheers everyone.

 

[dotFame]

Congrats mate,

I am a newbie also,

Looks like we are going to grow up together in this business

Tim

 

[katherine]

The other party made a good faith bid of $500 so I guess they can increase their bid a little. They must be expecting that you will settle for something in between. So you can counter at $1000 or something for a quick sale.

 

[dcristo]

I don't like the going to auction idea I feel that would be a deal breaker for some potential buyers and understandably so. Anyway, good luck with closing the deal.

 

[tomsa]

I agree with Kate it seems logical for the seller and the buyer to meet the half way between the bin price and the first offer.
So counter at $1000 and expect to close the deal at $800.

Good luck