Newbie - help with negotiating a parked domain purchase

[AcousticWhisper]

Hi all,

Complete domain newbie here. I have a domain that I want to buy, but it's currently parked by an IT company. I was waiting to see if they let the renewal run out but unfortunately for me, they have renewed.

How do I go about approaching them to purchase the domain? I have contact details (email) but no idea where to start, so I was hoping to get some pointers from those more experienced than me before I jump in guns blazing.

Any and all advice is welcome.

Thanks

 

[pyarasarishta]

I suggest you visit the domain purchasing sites

 

[ukbackorder]

Which sites?

 

[Castion]

Its hard to give a satisfactory answer without knowing the domain name and the company in question.

But in general the honest and open approach will probably give you the best results.

 

[AcousticWhisper]

I suggest you visit the domain purchasing sites

Could you point me in the right direction? As mentioned, complete newbie here



Thanks, Castion, I guess I'll just email enquiring if it is for sale and go from there.
I'm buying it for personal use, not trading it, so I wasn't sure because of the emotional drive if there were any big 'no-no's to avoid to stop them from essentially holding it hostage to get a higher price i.e. "if you want it that badly, we'll double the price"

Maybe something simple that doesn't sound overly keen, like...

Dear <company>,

I see that you own the domain <domain> and that it is currently unused. Is this planned to be used, or would you be open to selling this domain?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,
XXX

 

[Castion]

Well again it depends on the company, but for anyone wanting a profit from a domain an inbound lead is always considered more valuable than an offer received when proactively seeking to market a name. So regardless its better just to be upfront. Though the "I am a student and want your domain for personal use" approach have been misused so many times that I would advise you kept it very much to the point.

 

[Mr. Deleted]

Sedo and Godaddy offes a service to help you purchase names too. Never used either though, but I did sell a name on Godaddy that i had listed on afternic.

 

[Biggie]

Could you point me in the right direction? As mentioned, complete newbie here



Thanks, Castion, I guess I'll just email enquiring if it is for sale and go from there.
I'm buying it for personal use, not trading it, so I wasn't sure because of the emotional drive if there were any big 'no-no's to avoid to stop them from essentially holding it hostage to get a higher price i.e. "if you want it that badly, we'll double the price"

Maybe something simple that doesn't sound overly keen, like...

Dear <company>,

I see that you own the domain <domain> and that it is currently unused. Is this planned to be used, or would you be open to selling this domain?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,
XXX

Hi

here's what I get from reading your post:

first, you have the notion that they might hold it hostage, to get a higher price.

let me check you on that.

it's their domain name, not yours. so they can ask whatever price they want... irrespective of who you or anybody else is.

you have to understand that as a newbie and PLEASE don't take it personally
but can also work the same for you, if somebody ever wants to buy your domain name.
then you, can ask whatever amount you want it. ( may not get it, but you can ask)

next point.
if a domain is parked, that doesn't mean it's not being used.

below is a domain I've had parked at parkingcrew for last 3 years.
these are statistics for that domain during that period.

vioz.com 41,084 visitors 13,199 clicks 32.13% CTR $ 0.05 EPC $ 17.09 RPM > $ 701.98 revenue

so, one could say it is being used.

with that in mind, your perspective should change and be reflected in your efforts to negotiate.

Good luck!

imo...

 

[AcousticWhisper]

Hi Biggie, thanks for your advice. Don't worry, I don't take anything personally, and your comments make sense

I understand that I don't have a claim to the domain; I didn't know how to word it but I guess what I was getting at was... say they value the domain at $1 and would be happy at that price, but then they see that I really want it and subsequently decide to charge $3 because they know I'm a motivated buyer. Obviously, I'm aiming to get it at the $1 price tag.

Writing that out I see that there's no way to avoid appearing as a motivated buyer if I'm contacting first. Hopefully, we can meet in the middle and we'll both be happy with $2

The difference between your parked domain and their parked domain is that theirs doesn't contain any affiliate links - it's just a landing page with contact details that match the WHOIS. So hopefully they are just sitting on it waiting for a buyer. With any luck, that'll be me!

 

[Mr. Deleted]

theirs doesn't contain any affiliate links

Parking crew is NOT affiliate-links, it is Pay Per Click ads. Big difference. It is more like putting Adsense on a web page with content, but with no content at all, they have to search for related keywords which are all pay per click ads. @Biggie could point it to an affiliate that sells shoes or any related product that the people want and if they buy, he would get a % of the sales, but as is he is getting money for people clicking on the ads.

Just to clarify the difference, PPC is per click, an affiliate link is per sale.

 

[AcousticWhisper]

Sorry, poor use of terminology on my part! Difference noted

 

[AcousticWhisper]

So I emailed the company and they got back to me pretty quickly (within an hour). Here's their response:

"Hello XXX,

That domain is reserved under my company, but I can consider to sell it.
The price would be 5000 USD.

Please note I'm currently on vacation and my responses may be delayed.

Best regards,
YYY "

That's priced me way out. I was expecting (baseless guess) around $250 - $500 USD. It's a .in TLD.

Does anyone reckon that I can negotiate this, or is it a lost cause?

Cheers

 

[ukbackorder]

Can you not get an alternative? You said it's for personal use so is it essential that you have that *particular* domain? Generally .in domains aren't worth 5k.

 

[jaydub]

Why not try to negotiate it.
“Unfortunately I have a maximum of $700 to spend so I will have to try and find something else that will work for me.
Thank you for the prompt response and taking the time on your vacation to do so!”

Don’t walk away without trying if you really want the domain. He may have just put the number out there hoping to hook a fish. Let him know nicely that your money will have to walk away(which it will right?)
Bottom line is, you know what you can/will spend so why not take a shot. Worst that happens is they say no and you are no better or worse off and at least you tried.
Good luck!

 

[Castion]

AcousticWhisper shared the name in PM.

Its a common keyword that frankly is probably worth around the 5K, even in .in. He will have a very hard time getting this for 3 figures.

 

[jaydub]

ahhh...OK

 

[AcousticWhisper]

Thanks for the advice, everyone, I appreciate it. This is stuff I wouldn't know without speaking to those in the industry.

Since it seems like a lost cause I thought I'd email back anyway. Like jaydub says, I've got nothing to lose:

"Hi YYY,

Thank you for the prompt response and for taking the time on your vacation to do so.

I have a maximum budget of 500 USD for this domain purchase.
If we cannot come to an agreement then, unfortunately, I will have to try and find something else that will work for me.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Best regards,
XXX"

With Castion's solid advice on the specific domain, I doubt it will be entertained. However, I will update here if I receive a reply.

Time to look at more domains I guess!

Cheers

 

[Castion]

As stated in PM you would be lucky to get this at 3 figures, but I totally agree that you are not risking anything by giving it a try. Maybe the seller needs liquidity right at this moment.

Best of luck with it. If you get it for 500$ I will pay you 1K for it

 

[AcousticWhisper]

I got a reply, but as expected my budget doesn't even touch the value he sees in the domain:

"Hello XXX,

Unfortunately we cannot strike a deal as the gap is too much.

<keyword> is a highly brandable name and the Indian market is huge and
promising. Hope you understand why I'm not interested in selling it for
a relatively low amount.

Anyway thanks for contacting me and good luck in finding a good
alternative.

Best regards,
YYY"

Nice chap.

So through all this, I've lost nothing and gained knowledge. I can see now that even though for me the domain was a TLD wordplay (e.g. letme.in) I had completely overlooked the fact that the base word was a short, simple, and common keyword. The price makes sense now and I see just how far off my initial guess was!

Thanks to everyone for taking the time to help me out.

Regards

 

[jaydub]

Well said! And you handled it professionally as did the other party. Nice to see.