Not all inquiries at Domain Name Sales lead to a positive, constructive exchange.
Let’s face it: every impersonal communication can deviate from the rules and principles of “in person” exchange. The use of email can trigger responses that can be misconstrued by either party, thus leading to an escalating exchange that jeopardizes or destroys any prospect of closing a domain sale.
Personally, I try to remain calm when a lowball offer or a silly inquiry arrives, but it’s not always easy.
My biggest gripe is the ability of ‘buyers’ to place a series of consecutive offers, in order to gauge the minimum asking price.
In January, during NamesCon, I discussed the issue of such invalid offers with Jeff Gabriel; my suggestion was to block further offers until the seller responds. Unfortunately, there has been no resolution of this issue and I am in the process of seeking a solution by DNS.
Such activity by a buyer has triggered the occasional combustive response on my part; a particular buyer went from $10 to $1,000,000 in a matter of minutes, upon which I responded with an “FU” note and promptly blocked his email.
On the flip side of things, I have quite often spent time to either educate the person placing the inquiry about the value of domain names, or to direct them to alternate solutions they can afford.
This approach, in return, has resulted in sales, despite my apparent pitch of cheaper alternatives, such as available ccTLD or TLDs.
Despite my efforts, it’s not rare to get this kind of toxic response back:
“I refuse to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for a domain name. Please stop contacting me!!!”
Naturally, I informed them they are being blocked and never to be contacted again, but these messages clearly show how much of a challenge it can be to respond to inquiries via DNS or other platforms that allow direct communication between seller and buyer of domain names.
I reached out to a local magazine about a relevant .COM domain name to see if they might be interested. They responded yes. I provided a link to the Godaddy Auction BIN listing at low $XXX. They said there was no way they would pay that much for a domain. I wonder how much it costs to advertise in their publication.
Leonard – For many buyers there is no way to convey the concept of digital “real estate”. They are after tangible assets only. As you said, a way to gauge cost would be by comparing the domain acquisition cost to ad placement costs; then *maybe* they get a better grasp of domain valuation.
Theo,
Another great article. I remember the conversation we had at Namescon. Your point does make sense, and it was taken very seriously. It is something we have been working on. The difference between DNS, and our competitors is they immediately reject the offer, and you, the seller, never has the opportunity to see it where our system logs the offers. Some people like it, while others do not.
When DomainNameSales and Uniregistry are integrated this will change. You will see the system act more accordingly to what you have asked for. All of your (our customers) ideas to make our product better are taken into account, discussed internally and have a very good chance of being implemented. It might take us a few months to get it done, but I promise when we release it, you will not be disappointed.
Keep the ideas coming folks. We want to hear from you.
Thank you for your business!
Jeffrey M. Gabriel
Vice President of Sales – DomainNameSales.com
1-800-818-1828 x6261
Jeff@DomainNameSales.com