Advice for responding to end-user email?

[Maxwell]

What a great way to wake up on a Monday morning - I find in my email inbox a message which reads as follows;

"Dear sir,

I am writhing you to hear if you would like to sell ----.com??

Kind regards,

"

The domain name is a surname domain name. This guy's surname is the name of the domain name. A quick facebook search of the email turns up a legit-looking profile (400 friends, their locations consistent with his claimed location).

To make his desire for the use of the surname even clearer, his facebook URL is even "facebook.com/(surname)".

Now, the obvious course of action would be to either email back with an asking price, or make the all-too-annoying request of "make me an offer".

However, I'm being careful here for the simple reason that there is a large (several thousand employees) company in the US which uses the same name. They only have trademark on the logo, not on the surname. However, I am hesitant to express an interest to sell and perhaps allow that to constitute as "bad faith".

I have no reason to believe that this guy is in any way annexed to the company. But I don't want to run the risk.

I contemplated sending a reply to this effect;

"I am considering selling this domain name. I have not yet decided what I will do with it. However, I would entertain an offer in excess of USD $2,500."

Am I on the right track here? Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[A D]

Is $2,500 your bottom price on this domain?

-=DCG=-

 

[Maxwell]

Is $2,500 your bottom price on this domain?

-=DCG=-

It's not, but I think it's worth significantly more to the big US company, as their current domain is horrible.

The figure was arbitrary for the purposes of the post. I have no idea how much I can get out of the guy, but $2,500 seemed reasonably low so that the average joe could afford it if he wanted it, and high enough to make me happy.

My plan was to get an offer out of him, hire a broker to shop it to the US company on a "now-or-never" basis at a much higher price that I know they're capable of paying. If they say no, I've still got his offer.

But to answer your question, no, it is not my rock bottom price. What would your recommendation be on that basis?

 

[A D]

I would start at $4,888 and see what his counter offer is.

-=DCG=-

 

[Maxwell]

I would start at $4,888 and see what his counter offer is.

-=DCG=-

I'm not so much concerned about the number as I am about how I phrase it.

Is the way I wrote it in my initial post good so that

a) I'm not indicating an attempt to sell in "bad faith"

and

b) I'm leaving my options open to "now-or-never" the US company?

 

[DomainsInc]

Don't get too excited. I get emails like that every day but most don't want to pay more than 100 dollars. I have also had a good number of the ones who actually agreed to pay a decent price just disappear and never reply again. Dealing with them can be a big pain in the ass.

 

[Onward]

I would send this:

Hey there _________, Not not sure about selling this domain. We bought it a year or two ago from it's original owner for a project. What did you have in mind?

 

[Biggie]

I'm not so much concerned about the number as I am about how I phrase it.

Is the way I wrote it in my initial post good so that

a) I'm not indicating an attempt to sell in "bad faith"

and

b) I'm leaving my options open to "now-or-never" the US company?

stop being a wuss and ask for what you want from whoever/whomever contacts you.

quit being scared of "what if" scenerios, cause what if may never come

you don't know who this guy represents


if you tell one emailer one price ($2500) while hoping to sell to US corp for 10x's that amount.

that's bad faith in your mind.


tell everyone the same price, so there's no discrimination



every domain i buy, i have a plan for it

so when i disclose that within conversations, it's a true statement


thus the acquisition of it was done with good intentions

so when you state a price or range in "response", there is no bad faith.