You Have Connected With a Potential Buyer, the Domain Name Sale Negotiation Begins.
There a many posts, with even more advice, and even more opinions about how to manage domain name sale negotiations – so we thought it made sense to share some of our thoughts with our readers.
This is a positive for us at BrandPlease, as well as other domain brokers, services, and domain professionals out there – as it truly demonstrates the value our business and services bring to buyers and sellers worldwide, there is such a disconnect between buyers and sellers in this space.
But, for someone new to domains, website valuation, or maybe just to sales negotiations – we wanted to offer a few helpful tips. These tips are of interest to the buyer as much as they are for the seller, but remember -Seller-it is your responsibility to prepare and educate the buyer. Just like you would expect a real estate broker to do in a physical property transaction. It is the seller’s responsibility to be prepared and help the buyer understand the relevant data and key points.
Domain Name Sale Negotiation Structure and Key Points to Consider.
Unless you really need the money for a business or emergency or whatever reason!
The key to a successful negotiation is patience, it is a fact, yes it’s boring and if you hired me to speak I would find a much cooler way to say it, but if you want to be truly successful at domain name sale negotiations – you will figure out how to be patient as well.
How to be in a position to be patient is related to proper buying, research, valuation strategy, and can be researched in the linked posts for more information: Domain Appraisal Guide, Domain Branding Key factors, Branding & Marketing & Estibot (traffic stats) as well as AiSERP (see the Website Reviewer option).
Most of the offers you get will be very low, maybe only 20% or so the real value (or perceived), truth is they are likely investors looking for a good deal. Dont be discouraged by these low and maybe frequent offers. This highlights the reason to have your research done and data on hand, as a standard response it is smart to include information such as:
- Domain age
- if developed how long live
- Site traffic
- and supporting data
- Advertising type/s and details,
- most importantly verifiable data.
Responding with an (at least a minimum) overview of the domain and relevant facts, as a standard practice, will cut off many of the low-ball offers and scammer inquiries (think broke college student, etc. type).
Remember once you agree to a deal, you are creating a contract, and you are obligated to the sale – if not legally (I’m not a lawyer), at least morally and will likely lose access to the sales platform used if not honored, And it’s just plain bad business and karma to do so. So honor your agreements, respect your clients, and create long term relationships.
Use Escrow services (e.g. Escrow.com, Payoneer, etc.), not only will if protect the seller of the valuable domain name, more importantly, it protects the buyer and may relieve potential concerns about the unfamiliar – to them – domain name transfer of ownership process. The internet’s (& unfortunately some domineers) reputation for potential scams is a true concern, an escrow service is a real solution.
