Another ridiculous attempt to justify a lowball domain offer

During the past 20 years, I’ve seen a lot of attempts to justify making lowball offers for a domain name in my portfolio.

The most common one seems to be that, since the domain hasn’t been active for X number of years, nobody really wants it.

My first thought and silent response, is always the same:

“That’s right buddy, it seems that you are only the 2nd one to want it – but you arrived late to the party, after I did.”

Of course, this assumption is ridiculously inaccurate, as it fails to take into account the definition of domain activity, and whether others have shown interest in it.

I’ve sold domain names after more than 12 years of PPC monetization – a fair use – but also having rejected, or ignored, dozens of inquiries about them during that time.

It’s not always necessary to explain all this to the other party who’s making all these assumptions about how I choose to run my domain investing business.

What is necessary, however, is to set the facts straight when they make claims about the domain’s function.

This week I received yet another ridiculous attempt to justify a lowball domain offer: the other party claimed that the domain matches their last name.

Considering how the offer arrived via the Uniregistry Market, signed by that person, I was astounded by their claim. The domain is only part of their last name, a short version of it, like a nickname would be.

For example, Papadopoulos being turned into Papito. No resemblance whatsoever, other than the first three letters of each word.

Upon researching the person’s background, I found out they operate a sizable product brand under their nickname – but that’s not their last name.

Such claims should be called out and set straight at the point of first contact, to ensure that the other party doesn’t get too cocky about their supposed rights in the domain.

The bottom line: owning a domain asset puts you in the driver’s seat, and you have no obligation to succumb to lowball offers, regardless of how well-wrapped or weak they are.