Is it better to list a super premium domain with or without a price?

[richrf]

Hi all,

Is it more advantageous for the seller to have a minimum asking price for a super premium domain or better to list it as "Make An Offer"?. If you can give me your rationale, from a seller's point of view, I would very much appreciate it. Thanks.

Rich

 

[A D]

It is better if you make it so people don't have to guess your expectations.

-=DCG=-

 

[richrf]

It is better if you make it so people don't have to guess your expectations.

-=DCG=-

Hi DotComGod,

Thanks for the reply. I tend to agree with you. I certainly would want to see an asking price before I bought a home.

However, what brought this question to mind is that most of the well known sites that are offering super premium domain names (e.g. Sedo, Media Options, BigTicketDomains), for the most part list their top domain with "Make an Offer". Because they are so experienced, I would think they know what they are doing. It may be because it is so difficult to put a price on these type of domains. I've looked at these premium domains, and because they are so rare and distinct I could understand why they do not have any listing price - though it would be very helpful if they did. Do you have any further thoughts on this?

Thanks again for your help,

Rich

Rich

 

[A D]

Not placing a price will also give you lots of offers well below your expectations and probably not one above your expectations.

Names with prices or ranges sell more than names without them.

The most important thing is those sites you mentioned mostly target resellers or domainers.

A great generic should target end users.

-=DCG=-

 

[grcorp]

Hi all,

Is it more advantageous for the seller to have a minimum asking price for a super premium domain or better to list it as "Make An Offer"?. If you can give me your rationale, from a seller's point of view, I would very much appreciate it. Thanks.

Rich

Let's say you were asking $100,000.

Rather than posting an asking price of $100,000 and perhaps hurting your changes of getting more, or saying "best offer" and make someone scared to make an offer, I would say to post offers which you have rejected in the past.

Saying you've turned down a $45,000 offer tells people that you want more than that, and that others do exist who were willing to pay such an amount.

Of course, be truthful in your past offers, but that's what I'd do, rather than giving it all away with an asking price.

 

[theinvestor]

Let's say you were asking $100,000.

Rather than posting an asking price of $100,000 and perhaps hurting your changes of getting more, or saying "best offer" and make someone scared to make an offer, I would say to post offers which you have rejected in the past.

Saying you've turned down a $45,000 offer tells people that you want more than that, and that others do exist who were willing to pay such an amount.

Of course, be truthful in your past offers, but that's what I'd do, rather than giving it all away with an asking price.

A past offer being rejected though doesn't mean you will get the same offer or even a better offer in the future.

In my opinion, if you're listing in an auction then just place the minimum bid you are willing to take.

If you are listing a domain and forgetting about it then keep it as make offer. The last thing i want to do is keep revisiting and changing values for each and every domain.

 

[richrf]

Very helpful advice guys. Really appreciate the guidance.

Not placing a price will also give you lots of offers well below your expectations and probably not one above your expectations.

Names with prices or ranges sell more than names without them.

The most important thing is those sites you mentioned mostly target resellers or domainers.

A great generic should target end users.

-=DCG=-

Excellent. This is extremely helpful in helping me gain some perspective. I think I understand the rationale. What is the best way for me to arrive at a good asking price? I was thinking about looking at comparable domain names that have sold, are up for sale on auctions, and have some listing price on some of the sites I mentioned. I would say that most of the prices are probably on the high side, for obvious reasons. Should I just go along with the pack and just list at the averages of the high expectation numbers?

Thanks again. Very helpful.

Let's say you were asking $100,000.

Rather than posting an asking price of $100,000 and perhaps hurting your changes of getting more, or saying "best offer" and make someone scared to make an offer, I would say to post offers which you have rejected in the past.

Saying you've turned down a $45,000 offer tells people that you want more than that, and that others do exist who were willing to pay such an amount.

Of course, be truthful in your past offers, but that's what I'd do, rather than giving it all away with an asking price.

Hi grcorp,

So, it seems like you lean away from posting a starting price or asking price. I understand your rationale, which is something that I have also considered. Asking prices do limit the upside potential. This is why I was thinking about listing some price that would be an average of the high expectation numbers already out there. But it does have the problem that you bring up.

As a matter of course, whoever approaches me, I always provide a very truthful history of past offers and why I rejected them (primarily because I wasn't interested in selling until now). From a negotiation point of view, what helps me the most is that I love the domain name and have no financial reasons to sell it. So I can wait for offers that I think is appropriate. For this reason, I have no problem being honest with whomever approaches me.

Thanks very much for your insights.

Rich

 

[Biggie]

i list all my domains with sedo


for the majority of names sold, most did not have a price


and for those that did have a price

not one offer met the posted amount


anyway, at sedo, afternic, places like that...once you get the first offer, you'll have to reply with the price you want.


by setting a fixed price though, you remove room to negotiate upwards

BTW: there is no such thing as "super premium"...unless you're buying gasoline

 

[richrf]

A past offer being rejected though doesn't mean you will get the same offer or even a better offer in the future.

In my opinion, if you're listing in an auction then just place the minimum bid you are willing to take.

If you are listing a domain and forgetting about it then keep it as make offer. The last thing i want to do is keep revisiting and changing values for each and every domain.

Hi theinvestor,

Yes, I agree that future quotes may not be more, however, in this case, offers have tended to increase over time. But until now I never really wanted to sell the domain name so I didn't pay much attention.

Right now, the listing is on Flippa and I am pretty happy with the results however, without a price, the listing is more or less invisible to Flippa's search and for a variety of reasons I do want to spend $40 every two days to get back on the front page. If I put a starting price on the private sale listing, then it would show up on Featured Listings sorted by price. Otherwise the listing is pretty much lost.

As you suggest, and I strongly agree, I would like to settle on the listing (either with or without a price) and move on to other activities such as contacting potential end users. I'll have to give this more thought.

i list all my domains with sedo


for the majority of names sold, most did not have a price


and for those that did have a price

not one offer met the posted amount


anyway, at sedo, afternic, places like that...once you get the first offer, you'll have to reply with the price you want.


by setting a fixed price though, you remove room to negotiate upwards

BTW: there is no such thing as "super premium"...unless you're buying gasoline

Hi biggedon,

lol. The reason I call it super premium, is in order to distinguish it from the group of premium domains in the low to mid 5 figures which are easier to price because there are many more sales (datapoints) to assist in the pricing. In this case, no one I've talked to has been able to give me any guidance on pricing other than "What would you like." My answer, of course is, "As much as a buyer is willing to pay". So, coming up with a way to price (Starting or Asking) is a bit of a challenge. I am not greedy. I just want to be reasonable. But how do I get to that point?

The primary issue I had with Sedo was lack of visibility. They didn't want to put me on Great Domains and I was totally invisible and lost among the tens of thousands of names they have in their database. I couldn't find my own listing. Afternic was a bit better. I could pay for a $50 feature listing for one month (fine with me), except their super premium listings seem very, very thin nowadays and I don't know why. At least on Flippa there are a handful of other listings that are getting some good press and that draws potential buyers to the site.

I need to figure out what I want to do with the pricing aspect so that I can move on. It seems that you lean toward putting some sort of starting price on the listing.

Thanks for offering your suggestions. Very much appreciated.

Rich

 

[grcorp]

A past offer being rejected though doesn't mean you will get the same offer or even a better offer in the future.

It means that somebody was willing to pay that dollar amount at some point. While it is no guarantee as to what someone will offer today, I think that past offers say a great deal about the domain's minimum value.

---------- Post added at 06:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:16 PM ----------

i list all my domains with sedo


for the majority of names sold, most did not have a price


and for those that did have a price

not one offer met the posted amount


anyway, at sedo, afternic, places like that...once you get the first offer, you'll have to reply with the price you want.


by setting a fixed price though, you remove room to negotiate upwards

BTW: there is no such thing as "super premium"...unless you're buying gasoline

Offers you get on Sedo are not always a good indicator of the name's value.

Since the buyer remains (effectively) anonymous, he does not have to worry about you getting offended by a $60 offer. He can just come back the next day with something more reasonable. There are a lot of buyers who will just offer a token $99 and hope you'll take it.

Re: the gasoline - I actually wrote that one down. :lol:

 

[richrf]

It means that somebody was willing to pay that dollar amount at some point. While it is no guarantee as to what someone will offer today, I think that past offers say a great deal about the domain's minimum value.

---------- Post added at 06:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:16 PM ----------


Offers you get on Sedo are not always a good indicator of the name's value.

Since the buyer remains (effectively) anonymous, he does not have to worry about you getting offended by a $60 offer. He can just come back the next day with something more reasonable. There are a lot of buyers who will just offer a token $99 and hope you'll take it.

Re: the gasoline - I actually wrote that one down. :lol:

Hi again grcorp,

lol.

The offers I have received were from the actual buyers - not brokers. While brokers did approach me, I didn't feel comfortable with their process and never really got to anything like offers or prices. As you rightly indicate, the offers are totally anonymous coming out of no where and I have no idea what to make of it. So, I didn't pay much attention. I don't mind working with brokers, but I have to know what they are doing and which side they are really representing, and what they are actually doing for the commission. At this point, the process is too opaque for me.

Since I did receive many offers in a ballpark area (these were in general opening offers which I didn't move forward with) I have some idea of the absolute minimum that someone would pay. However, the offers, were from my point of view, not sufficient to motivate me to sell. It is a great domain name, and I love it (has lots of history for me) and if I cannot find a buyer then there is always the possibility that I will find a business that I can place on top of it. But right now, I am focused on the sale.

Thanks again,
Rich

 

[Biggie]

one thing to consider

once you do sell it, then you won't own it anymore

so, what would be next after that?

that being said


forget about being reasonable

it's not your responsibility

you are only responsible for coming up with a price that the buyer can consider


and that seems to be the main problem


if the domain is that great, then it should be earning some revenue now

the traffic and rev if any, can be used to help calculate value, then you just figure a price

 

[richrf]

Hi there,

Thanks for responding.

one thing to consider

once you do sell it, then you won't own it anymore

so, what would be next after that?

One thing I will not be doing is thinking about what to do with the domain.

forget about being reasonable

it's not your responsibility

I have always tried to be reasonable when it comes to business. So this would require a real character change. Not sure it is possible.

if the domain is that great, then it should be earning some revenue now

Unfortunately, not. I have tried several projects and for one reason or another, they never quite made it. One project in particular was well on its way before someone pointed out to me that while I was working on my project, a new site Diigo.com had been announced, that was doing everything I intended to do with my site ... only 10x better. C'est la vie.

I have done some amount of due diligence, and at least among the public sales there is a fair amount of premium domains that have been sold that are completely undeveloped. Some have subsequently been developed and others not. It is similar to buying and selling land. It would be nice if a business has been built but that is not always the case.

Thanks for helping me out.

Rich

 

[Raider]

I like to show a minimum price or a firm price, It weeds out the lower ballers and people who aren't willing to pay my price, Saves me a lot of time and headache too.

I just started parking at Fabulous which has a real nice inquiry form, it allows you to include your minimum price on the form.. I really like this because it gives them that price range before making that offer.

When setting your minimum price, always add some cushion to allow for negotiation.

 

[james2002]

I like to show a minimum price or a firm price, It weeds out the lower ballers and people who aren't willing to pay my price, Saves me a lot of time and headache too.

I just started parking at Fabulous which has a real nice inquiry form, it allows you to include your minimum price on the form.. I really like this because it gives them that price range before making that offer.

When setting your minimum price, always add some cushion to allow for negotiation.

Totally agree. If you send minimum offer range, it would filter out people who can't afford or don't want to buy at end user prices.

If you say minmum offer is low xx,xxx, your counter offer or asking price might still be $200,000.

 

[WeBuyThe.Com]

An Uber domain doesn't need to look for end users nor offers as they find him.
It's always best to provide a range or you will end up getting hundreds of xxx to low x.xxx bids.
If it's a great name you'd like to consider selling why not find a buyer that's been in the market
for 15 years that's ready to execute? wink wink

 

[lilian]

for a super premium domain: not list price ; for a premium domain :list price .

 

[richrf]

I like to show a minimum price or a firm price, It weeds out the lower ballers and people who aren't willing to pay my price, Saves me a lot of time and headache too.

I just started parking at Fabulous which has a real nice inquiry form, it allows you to include your minimum price on the form.. I really like this because it gives them that price range before making that offer.

When setting your minimum price, always add some cushion to allow for negotiation.

Yes, this sounds like an idea. Certain sites such as Websiteproperties.com and PremiumDomains.com insist on some price so I am doing as you suggested on those sites. Others, I am simply listing as Make an Offer. Thanks for your suggestion. Rich

Totally agree. If you send minimum offer range, it would filter out people who can't afford or don't want to buy at end user prices.

If you say minmum offer is low xx,xxx, your counter offer or asking price might still be $200,000.

Very good. This is along the lines that I was thinking. When a site insists on some published site I am simply picking a price that is in the range of other super premium domains that are being listed. Thanks for you comment. Appreciate it.

An Uber domain doesn't need to look for end users nor offers as they find him.
It's always best to provide a range or you will end up getting hundreds of xxx to low x.xxx bids.
If it's a great name you'd like to consider selling why not find a buyer that's been in the market
for 15 years that's ready to execute? wink wink

Thanks. This is what I am finding out. Actually I don't mind low ball figures. It keeps me active with something to do. In any case, I am basically doing what others are suggesting, so I am quite comfortable with the approach.

for a super premium domain: not list price ; for a premium domain :list price .

Hi lilian. Thanks for confirming what others are suggesting. It seems to be working fine when I list along the lines that everyone is suggesting. Offers are coming but I am being patient for the right end-user to come along who I believe will provide better value. It is still early in the process so I am still testing the waters.

Thanks everyone for your assistance.

Rich

 

[RMG]

IMO a super Premium domain has no price...

Would prefer to develop it than sell... $Million money: for what?

 

[richrf]

IMO a super Premium domain has no price...

Would prefer to develop it than sell... $Million money: for what?

I agree. I am always looking for ways to develop it. Right now I am actually looking at a proposition from another company. I may end up developing it or I may end up selling it. Both possibilities are available to me. Thanks for your comments.