How would you work it?

JMJ · Oct 1, 2005

Lets say you have a domain such as chat.com and the owner of achat.com makes an offer on your domain via a reseller site. Most of the time you wouldn't have any idea of who was making the offer only in this case you happen to have been a member of achat.com for years. The offerers username is ironically similar to the owner of achat.com username + the call letters of his site. The odds of this being a different person other than him are astronomically high.

Now this name you haven't really intended on selling and have/had plans for development but everything has a price. The offer was so so. Not enough to convince you to sell especially since you turned down a similar offer weeks earlier. You also happen to know since you are a member of this person's chat that he is on the verge of launching a new version. His current chat has a member base in the millions and it's a paid chat.

You know that your name is a better name for certain purposes like sub-domains for example. You own chat.com so whole range of sub domains could be created such as hosting.chat.com domain.chat.com my.chat.com, usernames.chat.com etc. Where he can only have achat.com. Now this person has no idea you are even a member of his site since it is a chat and you are amoung a million plus users.

He doesn't seem to want to budge from his intial offer which as I said is decent but not decent enough and you know he has the cash.

Now with knowing all of this would you?

1. Act like you know nothing at all and hope he makes a move.
2. Contact him and let him know you have been member of his site for years and work personally with him and mabey even get in on his deal.
3. or?

Note: All domains used are an example. He nor I own either.

greggish · Oct 1, 2005

Counter with a higher but reasonable price. I don't see any benefit to you in letting him know that you know who he is. Just play dumb and try to get your price.

JMJ · Oct 1, 2005

greggish said:
Counter with a higher but reasonable price. I don't see any benefit to you in letting him know that you know who he is. Just play dumb and try to get your price.

I would usually agree. But as I said I've been wanting to develop this name. This market is very underserved and he is one of the pioneers of it. The residuals would be much nicer than a one time sale. This is why I'm torn.

greggish · Oct 1, 2005

If you are torn and you're not desperate for cash then keep the name and give development a shot. If it doesn't work out you could always try to sell it later. Good luck with whatever you decide.

DNjet · Oct 1, 2005

I would justify the higher price by letting him in on the plans for the domain , pay me now or pay me later , price is cheaper now.

JMJ · Oct 1, 2005

greggish said:
If you are torn and you're not desperate for cash then keep the name and give development a shot. If it doesn't work out you could always try to sell it later. Good luck with whatever you decide.

The development costs of such a site are way up there. To reach the level of development and member base he has would require some heavy cash flow. High $xx,xxx and months mabey even years with no ROI. A basic site just to develop would run in the mid thousands. Not as easy as buying a template and script and throwing up a site.

Searchsix.com said:
I would justify the higher price by letting him in on the plans for the domain , pay me now or pay me later , price is cheaper now.

Yesterday I gave him a few examples of recent sales. One in particular is from the same site which was not as good as mine and in the range of my asking. Also as you said gave him my intentions with the name. Today I droped the price to the same price as my example. So far it's been a one sided negotiation process.

greggish · Oct 1, 2005

NameMogul.com said:
To reach the level of development and member base he has would require some heavy cash flow.

Why do you think its necessary that your site be as developed as his and have the same size member base as his? It sounds like even a much smaller site in this area can still be a successful venture.

JMJ · Oct 1, 2005

greggish said:
Why do you think its necessary that your site be as developed as his and have the same size member base as his? It sounds like even a much smaller site in this area can still be a successful venture.

A small basic site won't fly. It would be like starting another domain forum with phpbb, trying to lure members away from here and charging them a price. A competitor of his site did this and it took him several years of development and work before he could justify charging a price. I'm a member of this site aswell and have been for years and to this day they still haven't converted me to a paying member.

dvdrip · Oct 1, 2005

What is the difference between your price and his offer?
Is it 1 to 2, 1 to 5 etc...?

JMJ · Oct 1, 2005

dvdrip said:
What is the difference between your price and his offer?
Is it 1 to 2, 1 to 5 etc...?

Originally 1 to 13 with the intentions of meeting in the middle. Which I might add is less than the sold name example.

dvdrip · Oct 1, 2005

What is the difference now, after you lowered your price?

JMJ · Oct 1, 2005

1 to 11

DNjet · Oct 1, 2005

reading the rest of your posts I would probably sell if its a nice tidy profit and I have not had other interest in the domain.

JMJ · Oct 1, 2005

Searchsix.com said:
reading the rest of your posts I would probably sell if its a nice tidy profit and I have not had other interest in the domain.

I turned down a similar offer a few weeks ago on another site. May or may not have been him. I would assume not since they are two different sites.

dvdrip · Oct 1, 2005

You are too far apart.
I don't think you are going to reach an agreement.

If you have no immediate need for cash, I would suggest you don't lower your price and don't contact him again unless he contacts you with a new offer.

NameMogul.com said:
1 to 11

JMJ · Oct 1, 2005

dvdrip said:
You are too far apart.
I don't think you are going to reach an agreement.

If you have no immediate need for cash, I would suggest you don't lower your price and don't contact him again unless he contacts you with a new offer.

It's a lowball offer. He's hoping for a great deal. I'm definately not out of the ballpark on my figures. I justified my price with very recent sales. Two of which were "not" TLD's and in the low $x,xxx range. His offer high $xxx range.