Quite often, third parties inquire on behalf of an actual domain buyer.
In the domain investing lingo, these are “proxy buyers” that have one mission: to maintain the privacy of the real buyer and their budget.
Researching every inquiry as it arrives, has one prerequisite: do not set a BIN price for the domain.
Assuming that you also set a minimum or threshold price, those incoming inquiries are adequately filtered.
A proxy buyer can use a corporate email address, making their intentions clear. Most often, however, they use Gmail, Hotmail or any other free email address, and it’s a typical “firstname.lastname” setup.
Once you’ve determined that the inquiry arrives from a proxy buyer and not a domain speculator or “fronter” looking to acquire a domain on the cheap, your next move is to assess your price quote.
Research your domain, in an attempt to determine why is someone interested in it. News can provide such information, and other resources such as recent trademark applications. It’s not rare for companies to proceed with the launch of a new brand while attempting to secure the matching domain name.
By all means treat that inquiry as a legitimate attempt to buy the domain. Even if there is no verifiable information on the buyer, attempt to extract from them some additional details, such as their phone number. You can then engage further with them, to determine who they are and what are their motives.
A proxy buyer most definitely has a budget, and quite often it can be surprisingly within your selling range. Negotiation is a necessary element of your communication with them, if you want to maximize your ROI.
In a transaction I completed recently via Escrow.com and their Concierge service, I was able to determine that the inquiry was made by a marketing agency, despite their gallant attempts to hide their identity. They are commendable for the stingy manner in which they communicated with me, all while completing the steps of the escrow process in an expedient manner.
Being confident about your domain asset and its market value isn’t a complex process, and in many cases you won’t need a sales pitch, particularly when you’re dealing with a proxy buyer whose client is determined to acquire the domain name.
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