Looking for advice please

[Onward]

I have a someone interested in one of my domains. I received the offer, via an e-mail and the interested buyer used a yahoo address.

Through much research, I have found that the interested buyer is a the CEO of an entertaiment consultanting firm base in Beverly Hills CA. It appears as if they have regged all tld versions of my name and I have the .com.

It also appears as if there is a television pilot they are developing with the exact name as my domain. After checking the USPTO website, there are no TM issues.

I regged this name to develop with my investigations business, and have had it sedo parked for the last couple months...initially it received little or no traffic and this month is has been receiving about 10-20 hits a day.

I am interested to hear opinions on what to do as I had a very similar situation a couple months ago...and somehow I screwed up that one and ended up not coming to an agreement.


A couple things here.

1. The name is a 2 word generic .com which IMO has pretty good branding potential.

2. Because the interested buyer contacted me through anonymous Yahoo e-mail and did not put in an offer through the sedo parked page...it shows me the buyer may have some experience here. (otherwise...why would they not put in the offer on sedo?)

3. I really regged this name to develop (really)...but I am also a domainer and would always sell for the right price.

4. Should I be worried they may try to reverse hijack the name down the road if I do not sell now and this show becomes a hit?

I've thought about possibly saying the domain is not for sale and see what the response is...

or that I have development plans with the name, but may be willing to change my plans for the right offer.

Please give me your advice and opinions on how I should proceed.

Thanks!

 

[bdss]

its good that they have registered other extns..shows how serious they are, which means 99% the offer will turn into a sale for you ...but too give you a valuation, we need to know the domain name.
Also from your post it seems they know the domain industry well and probably wont pay you an end user price but will def pay you above reseller price.
furtermore they have registered all extns which turns into your favour.
all the best

 

[Onward]

Hey thanks for the message. I do not want to post the name, but it is very similar to:

Braintrust or mindscript (.com)

Decent names...maybe xxx-low xxxx reseller...

but I think I have an enduser who may be experienced somewhat enough to contact me via e-mail rather than offer on Sedo.

Please keep the suggestions coming.

Thanks!

 

[Theo]

It's simple really. If you received a decent offer, sell. If not, make a counter-offer.

 

[Onward]

It's simple really. If you received a decent offer, sell. If not, make a counter-offer.

Sorry, did not mention...they did not offer a price they asked if I was interested in selling the name and if so what my price would be.

I have not responded yet.

 

[copper]

You acquired it for development purpose, but, you are willing to peek at offer

 

[GAMEFINEST]

moving onward..

 

[Onward]

moving onward..

What????

Just asking for advice here.

And still looking for advice.

Thanks.

 

[Bill Roy]

Onward, you seem to be in a 'no lose' situation. You can either sell the domain name for a quick and substantial profit or develop the same as originally planned for long term profit, and yet there is a third possibility, develop the domain when the program is up and running.

As to the price you can expect to get from the sale of the domain this is difficult to assess directly. In your situation the thing to do would be to find out the traffic for websites of similar programs, this will at least give an indication of the value in terms of business to this potential end user. There are a couple of downsides as well, of course the pilot may not make it as a show and they may decide to change the name of the show (something I beleive happens quite often).

The price is you can expect from this proposed buyer is none the less much more than reseller price, after all they will take this as part of their marketing strategy when pitching the program to the network/s (it would sound pretty lame of them when they had to admit they had all gTLD's for the accompanying website except the .com).

Without the name I am sorry this is the best I feel I can say, but I do wish you good luck with the sale.

 

[Onward]

Onward, you seem to be in a 'no lose' situation. You can either sell the domain name for a quick and substantial profit or develop the same as originally planned for long term profit, and yet there is a third possibility, develop the domain when the program is up and running.

As to the price you can expect to get from the sale of the domain this is difficult to assess directly. In your situation the thing to do would be to find out the traffic for websites of similar programs, this will at least give an indication of the value in terms of business to this potential end user. There are a couple of downsides as well, of course the pilot may not make it as a show and they may decide to change the name of the show (something I beleive happens quite often).

The price is you can expect from this proposed buyer is none the less much more than reseller price, after all they will take this as part of their marketing strategy when pitching the program to the network/s (it would sound pretty lame of them when they had to admit they had all gTLD's for the accompanying website except the .com).

Without the name I am sorry this is the best I feel I can say, but I do wish you good luck with the sale.

Thank you Billbo.

I appreciate the help. You mentioning that they may change the name of the show, puts a slightly different light on the situation (which I had not considered).

I sent them the message:

"I have plans to develop this domain name, however I am willing to consider
serious offers. Let me know what you have in mind and I'll let you know if i'm interested."

Was this too canned?

I'll let you know what happens.

 

[Devil Dog]

I sent them the message:

"I have plans to develop this domain name, however I am willing to consider
serious offers. Let me know what you have in mind and I'll let you know if i'm interested."

Was this too canned?

I'll let you know what happens.

Sounds good to me. Straight and too the point with no fluff.

 

[Onward]

Sounds good to me. Straight and too the point with no fluff.

Thanks.

The company got right back to me and said that they "are serious about the domain and likewise that they are making a serious offer." The offer amount they gave was $500.

I responded back that I was not interested in their offer and that I would need a more substantial offer in order for me to change my plans for the URL. I told them I may consider offers starting above 3k.

They responded right back and said they would think about it...

 

[BELLC1]

I had a name once that was to be used in a movie title. I also basically received the inquiry the same way. After a bit of back and forth at that time, $5000 was the max they would pay. After that, they put the word "movie" or "show" at the end of the title.

First thing I would do is start scanning the movie sites and Variety to find out what it really is all about. It may be a planned remake of another movie. Then, get a TM application filed (timestamp) with the .com added before they do. You can always add it to the purchase price.

Then email them back and state you have no desire to sell it at this time though you would always be willing to listen to offers. If they bought all the rest of the TLD's, let them show their cards first.

 

[Devil Dog]

Thanks.

The company got right back to me and said that they "are serious about the domain and likewise that they are making a serious offer." The offer amount they gave was $500.

I responded back that I was not interested in their offer and that I would need a more substantial offer in order for me to change my plans for the URL. I told them I may consider offers starting above 3k.

They responded right back and said they would think about it...

Good, you have the upper hand.