Classic Lowballer?

[Onward]

I am now getting about 5-10 lowballers a week asking about domains...How would you respond to this one? If at all....it is for a generic/descriptive 2 word .com ....similar to actionvideo. com


The initial inquiry:

Just curious if the domain ________ .com for sale?

My response:

I would sell this name if I receive an offer I like. Submit your best offer and I will let you know if I am interested.

Inquirer resonse:

I am not 100% sure that's the name i'm going for, so i think I'll hold off for a while...i don't really know how much domains go for so i'm thinking like 50 bucks? I may be way off, it may be way more, could you give me a ballpark range though?


My instinct is to not give a reply. Let me know how/if you would reply.

I'd also like hear how you all deal with lowballs...please share any experiences with lowballers that actually turned into a decent sale.

 

[Theo]

Point them to a broker e.g. Sedo. If they are serious, they will sign up and get verified as buyers. If they don't, they were trying to squeeze a domain out of you.

 

[Salient]

What I am always curious about is; are these domainers who think I may not be a domainer or are these people who are getting started in the industry and honestly dont know their ass from there elbow?

I had one a month back who was way off, but he genuinely seemed liked he had no idea of the relative value of anything domain related. In this case, I was cordial and informed him his offer was considerably less than what I paid for the domain and that was undeveloped.

I didnt feel bad for bashing the guy and he I didnt hear back from him. Cost me about 5 minutes of my time, which nowadays equates to about 50 cents.

Stuart.

 

[dolansco]

What I am always curious about is; are these domainers who think I may not be a domainer or are these people who are getting started in the industry and honestly dont know their ass from there elbow?

I had one a month back who was way off, but he genuinely seemed liked he had no idea of the relative value of anything domain related. In this case, I was cordial and informed him his offer was considerably less than what I paid for the domain and that was undeveloped.

I didnt feel bad for bashing the guy and he I didnt hear back from him. Cost me about 5 minutes of my time, which nowadays equates to about 50 cents.

Stuart.

Stuart , you are a patient man... I now just reply with a standard "F*** Off and remove my email from your bulkmailer " , maybe I lack people skills ..:uhoh:

 

[wolfis.com]

Onward:

getting these ( almost exactly the same wording) every day.

sometimes it also includes something like "for a small project" or "your domain is one of several i am looking into getting" .

if the email contains anything like : "webdesigner","webdeveloper","poor student","broke immigrant","just released criminal"ect. - i don't bother replying.

what i really hate if i get a email containing something like : " what would it take to take it of your hands " or "you don't use the domain anyway"

i stopped replying in most cases - it really depends on the wording of the email, as i have even posted on my website that i am not selling any of my names,hoping this would take care of lowballers .( didn't )

so the rule i have is : if i get an email that has class , gets straight to the point , and makes me at the first email at least a half way normal starting offer , i reply .

answer to your last question : in my case lowball offers have never turned into any decent sales.

 

[BiggieBiggie is verified member.]

I am now getting about 5-10 lowballers a week asking about domains...How would you respond to this one? If at all....it is for a generic/descriptive 2 word .com ....similar to actionvideo. com


The initial inquiry:

Just curious if the domain ________ .com for sale?

My response:

I would sell this name if I receive an offer I like. Submit your best offer and I will let you know if I am interested.

Inquirer resonse:

I am not 100% sure that's the name i'm going for, so i think I'll hold off for a while...i don't really know how much domains go for so i'm thinking like 50 bucks? I may be way off, it may be way more, could you give me a ballpark range though?


My instinct is to not give a reply. Let me know how/if you would reply.

I'd also like hear how you all deal with lowballs...please share any experiences with lowballers that actually turned into a decent sale.

receiving low offers via email or phone is not always a bad thing.

if it's not a reseller, they may not know the value of the domain. So they will tender a low offer.

If you take the time to explain why it has value, then I have seen offers go up.

 

[hugegrowth]

It's always good if you have a price in mind for your domain, if you want to sell it. If not, err on the higher side of what you think it's worth as a starting point.

 

[Bill Roy]

I have found the most 'polite' effective way is to point them in the direction of DNJournal, after visiting there (if they do) they either come back with a reasonable offer or say 'thanks but no thanks'.

Like Dolansco the thing I really cannot stand is when it is 'well I'll do you a favour' email. The best one was when I was offered pro rata the registration fee for the five months left before renewal! In that particular case I replied that perhaps he should leave his pennies in his piggy bank.

 

[dnalias]

receiving low offers via email or phone is not always a bad thing.

if it's not a reseller, they may not know the value of the domain. So they will tender a low offer.

If you take the time to explain why it has value, then I have seen offers go up.

i agree. if the offer comes through email cut the chase ASAP and have them call you. if they call you then they are interested. have your explanation ready in outline form and explain to them why the domain is worth what it is, etc.

 

[Onward]

Great suggestions.

I did respond a minute ago....using suggestions given here.

I will let you all know what happens.

If anyone has any success stories with initial lowballers ....I would love to read them and get the gist of the correspondence.

 

[copper]

I used to send below url to lowball offers
http://smiliegen.com/subliminal/links/725411001196358244.gif

Now, I send URL for previously sold domain names that is similar to my domain.

 

[JohnnJohnn is verified member.]

I received a $20 offer on a decent name a couple of months ago.
I politely replied with an explanation why this is not a $20 name. He said he just want to get my attention.
We then complete the transaction a couple of days later in the mid $x,xxx range.

Don't get upset with these lowball offers. Not everyone is a 'domainer' so trying to reply to them. You have nothing to lose but a sale.

John

 

[LarryWentz]

I have found the most 'polite' effective way is to point them in the direction of DNJournal, after visiting there (if they do) they either come back with a reasonable offer or say 'thanks but no thanks'.

Very good advice - I point people to http://dnjournal.com/domainsales.htm and http://dnjournal.com/ytd-sales-charts.htm to show prospects current/past selling prices.

 

[FuseFX]

I _ALWAYS_ counter-offer every offer I get. =) A lot of times it converts to sales. Why let a lead go cold?

 

[Poohnix]

I get those types of letters daily, almost all for different 3-letter .coms.
It gets funny when the same "poor student" thinks exactly that 3-letter .com would fit his college project perfectly, identical letters sent for 4 different domains...

I usually reply with a 40Kish counter offer. :yes:

 

[DomainsInc]

I'm sure all of you paid market value for your domains. 50 bucks is pathetic and I can't think of what they are really thinking but pretty much all domainers are lowballers. They just don't like to be on the other side of it.

 

[Poohnix]

I'm sure all of you paid market value for your domains. 50 bucks is pathetic and I can't think of what they are really thinking but pretty much all domainers are lowballers. They just don't like to be on the other side of it.

I buy basically 100% of all my domains at marketplaces as DNForum or Sedo. I don't have the stomach to pretend I'm someone else and lowball spam domain owners.

.

 

[dolansco]

I _ALWAYS_ counter-offer every offer I get. =) A lot of times it converts to sales. Why let a lead go cold?

Because it is usually on LLL.com ... 80 times the same letter from the same ass gets annoying ... then multiply that by 2/3 more people and on days you can get 150-200 almost identical crap emails ... and you would still reply ?
--- ( anyone that owns multiple LLL can vouch for this )

as someone above wrote , you get the genuine interest also ... fine .. answer that ...

But the LLL spammers ( on this forum BTW ) ... I really wish they would learn to exclude obvious domainers from their lists. Or at least accept my request to F.O. ..

 

[JuniperPark]

What do I do?

This is shocking: I actually tell them what I want for the domain!

Seriously -- you folks bring these headaches upon yourselves with your "Oh, I don't know what my price is game", then come here and cry about the predicatible results, which is lots of time wasted with emails back and forth.

This isn't rocket science, people. I make a lot of sales and waste little time simply because I ask for what I want.

 

[Onward]

What do I do?

This is shocking: I actually tell them what I want for the domain!

Seriously -- you folks bring these headaches upon yourselves with your "Oh, I don't know what my price is game", then come here and cry about the predicatible results, which is lots of time wasted with emails back and forth.

This isn't rocket science, people. I make a lot of sales and waste little time simply because I ask for what I want.

No crying...asking for advice and experiences. Thank you for your advice...

I have lots of decent sales...just more lowball offer though.