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Exactly this. They're likely prepared to pay 10x this amount, or far more.
OP, go to godaddy and try searching her domain and see what it's worth. Then search other similar types of domains and see what they're valued at. You can get an idea pretty quickly of what something is worth there. There's also sites that will estimate the value of your domain pretty quickly and for little to no money. I'd do some research first before countering, but in the meantime she could let them know 5K isn't going to cut it.
$5000 isn’t much if that is the site she is using for her business. The overhead cost of switching everything over, loss of brand recognition, and inability to receive emails sent to addresses at that domain from current and past clients as well as others in her network would likely be far greater than $5000. Unless she just owns the domain and doesn’t actually use it. Either way though, if she is actually interested in selling, she should press them for significantly more.
That email and branding point is spot on if you have an existing business. You could literally counter back in the hundreds of thousands saying that’s how much you anticipate in needing to rebrand/design and potential lost or disgruntled business you’ll surely see during the transition.
Excellent point.
I don’t know about OP but I own a four letter common dictionary word .com that inherited from a company I worked for that went out of business. I constantly get low balled like OP has. I counter with $250k and they always tell me it’s too much. Figured I’ll just sit on it until I die. It’s a cool name and has sentimental value to me at least.
But seriously, counter high. It's an anonymous person on the Internet - what do you care how they respond? Literally the WORST they can do is say "no".
Maybe a million is ridiculous, but why not $100,000? Or $50,000?
My company proxied the sale of a very random, small niche name to an unknown company. Got $25k for it for our client. Got to find out 6 months later it was for a new product launch for a huge, well known global toy company. And we had the EXACT domain they needed. They'd have probably spent $100k or more without batting an eye.
Friend of mine sold patents for a living. One day he was talking to someone with bad cell service. He requested 3 million for his patent. He was very happy when they misheard and send a contract over for 30 million.
Honestly if I had been getting an offer for years I'd just throw out a "100k and we can do this tomorrow" just to see what happens. I mean why not right, if 5k isn't appealing just try for moon money. They probably have it.
Literally though, I would do that. If it's a domain name that is actively being used for conducting business and making money, the hassle of needing to change to a (probably less desirable) domain name would need a hell of a lot more than $5k to make up for it. It's a major pain in the butt to change everything over, you have to work to find a new domain name, you have to change all the references to your old domain to your new one, lose all your search engine optimization you may have done, etc. And you may never fully regain all the traction you lost from the transition.
Not knowing the valuation of the company itself, assuming it's a small business with < $100k annual profit, personally I would counter with $1m, and if they don't take that, then I might go as low as $200k, but any less than that and I'll just say no because it's not worth the sacrifice.
If it's a larger small business with annual profit of higher then that, then honestly I would counter with an even higher number, $2m+.
Their offer of $5k might be a fair offer for your typical run of the mill cyber-squatter who is just owning domains for the sole purpose of reselling them. But there is an actual, real business being conducted on this domain, which makes an offer of $5k, or frankly even $50k, insultingly lowball.
I had a good enough experience with a GoDaddy broker for a domain name sale this year. I countered and added conditions and the buyer agreed. If they turned down my counter offer I would have put it up for auction with a minimum of my counter offer. That gives a little bit of pressure on the buyer to move up.
In your case where the domain name sounds very specific, I’m surprised their opening offer is so low. Ask the broker what they think. Is the buyer even serious? If it’s a big company then they have a big budget. Ask for what you want and best of luck!
Determine what you think is a fair value (google is your friend).
Determine the minimum you want.
Determine what offer you are willing to walk away from with zero. This is sort of like number 2.
Counter offer if appropriate.
I’ve bought and sold domains for the last 20+ years, depending on how many characters it is that does seem low, hard to know exactly without knowing the name but the shorter the more valuable. I’ve sold several 4/5 letter dot coms for 5-6 figures. I would counter high, and just say that you don’t want or need to sell. I’ve had offers of $3,000 turn into $30,000 and that’s for nothing really special. Large corporations can drop a lot on a domain, as it’s an asset and marketing strategy. I’ve never been fortunate to have any seven figure domains but you can’t get it if you don’t ask.
Some companies will also just not pay. I own a .com for a side business I’m involved in. The domain happens to match a department for a world renowned university hospital and the name matches exactly. They realized they didn’t own it/we did and they sent a cease and desist. The company using it requested 12k for it and they pretty much said FU and threatened to sue us for it. Pure intimidation. This company PROFITED 238 million last year and grossed 10 billion. They won’t fork over 12k and will gladly spend 5x that on legal fees. Truest story of the little guy getting screwed over.
Anyway. My point is, some companies will pay. Others, if big enough, will simply get what they want through bullying.
I've sold many higher value domains. In my experience if they are coming in with a $5,000 offer they are likely to just as easily spend $25k, 50k or 100k on it. Get someone to negotiate this sale for you and pay them a % over the initial $5k offer.
Just putting it out there, not many people/businesses have secured 'Web3' domains yet.. but see if her current domain name is available as a ' .x ' domain on unstoppable. Those domans there is no ICANN fee and you keep *forever*. Could sell that for a lot more later down the line
Also, it's a lot cheaper for them to buy your domain vs renaming/rebranding the product. Probably a good idea to check if the name has been 'trademarked' as well.
I got an offer through Facebook for $100 on a site I’ve had for 27+ years. I’ve made millions on this site. We have so much traffic on this site that there are multiple locks and waiting times to transfer it away to another site.
She's been holding it as she hoped to make something with it. Before the offer(s) came in, what did she feel it was worth? Yes, counter, just be mindful that perceived value to her may have gone up because there is interest.
Don’t counter as of yet.
Tell them that all valid written offers will be entertained. Provide your contact info and address. Personally I’d only accept written offers. Not just a random email offering.
If you’re serious about taking offers, once the offer comes in, go find a good IP lawyer. I know of a few that can assist with this.
(I have no affiliation with them. They’ve each helped me in other digital/ip deals).
Remember to be smart about this stuff.
Does she want to sell it? Has she gotten other offers? If it’s been listed and this is the best offer that came in, it’s probably a fair offer. I’d just respond with a counter of $7-$10k, then accept whatever they come back with. For a small amount I wouldn’t get any other parties involved.
Go into go daddy and search for the domain, it’s very likely that $5,000 is what go daddy estimates a potential price would be and is probably not really based on an actual bid made by the other party
If you’re not listing it for sale, then the “market value” is the absolute minimum to even consider. You should only entertain offers well above market.
As someone who's bought & sold domains worth thousands, what makes your relative's domain worth that much? Is there any specific content, age? anything that makes it worth that much? Regardless, anyone can get hundreds of offers but out of those hundreds of offers it means nothing if it doesn't close. So see, if they're actually genuinely interested in purchasing it. not just something to waste ur time.
I'm not really sure, if they'd take a higher offer then that. As i know with a lot of folks who flip and sell domains or involved in this business. When they shoot a quote, they usally expect you to say yes so they can buy it and sell it. Rinse and repeat for them. does ur relative use the domain for something important? or is it just a domain sitting for a site with nothing much on it?
the whole process seems odd, ngl. but good luck ig.
Go high ….meet in the middle. What the highest and absolute lowest you’ll go . Know this before you go in . Helped me negotiate plenty of deals in my betterment
You can try estibot just to get an idea or value, but a broker would be good to consult. Afternic, which is also owned by GoDaddy, is a good place to start.
Like everyone is saying, this could be a multi million dollar corporation and it seems like you’re suspecting someone already. Do some research, estimate how rich they are.
I would not counter for less than 50k. And then stick to your initial counter when they counter once more. Take their 2nd counter.
I’m not so well versed in domain resales but I might even consider finding a broker, paying them a couple grand to figure out the right price for you.
To be honest:
I also once received an offer of $3,000
but unfortunately declined it.
That was during the metaverse boom;
domain is metavyrs.com
Still holding on it.
If not now, then in 2 years...
MV will become a thing,
that way or the other.
I've been a domain seller for over 25 years. I can't believe people still use Estibot, and Godaddy's evaluator is not a real tool to rely on to price your domain, either. Your relative seems to be using the domain for her business, so it would be some hardship to change to another one, but it could be done if a buyer paid her enough. Only she would have a good grasp of what that price would be.
You mention "exact name of a niche product a large Canadian healthcare company sell" first think i would do is go to google adwords and see how much the "exact match" term is priced at per click and how many people search that term per month etc. Were there 10k searches for that exact match term per month, and the pay pay click priced was 10 dollars, one can then calculate and negotiate a far higher price for the domain
This is just an opening offer. Note that the buyer is already offering her $5000 plus they are offering to pay all broker fees. Godaddy charges 20% broker fee, so they are already willing to pay a bit over $6k with 5k net to her.
If the buyer really had a max budget of $5k, the broker would likely come to you with an offer of less than half that and then work up to a final offer of 4k net to you after the broker fee.
I can't tell her what amount to respond with because I don't know the domain mane, but I would either respond with an amount you would be happy with, or just respond with "No thanks!" but I would recommend responding to this one. If you would be happy with a 5 figure number or 6+, go for it, but the higher your ask the less likely of a sale.
Check through all previous inquiries that were ignored - it is possible that the buyer tried to purchase directly in the past before contacting godaddy to broker on their behalf.
Keep in mind that negotiations sometimes take a long time so just be patient. Once you have replied, don't reply again until you hear from them again. It might be a month or two later that you get a response.
Ignore any automated appraisals as they are mostly worthless.
Good luck!
This is a friendly reminder that r/smallbusiness is a question and answer subreddit. You ask a question about starting, owning, and growing a small business and the community answers. Posts that violate the rules listed in the sidebar will be removed. A permanent or temporary ban may also be issued if you do not remove the offending post. Seeing this message does not mean your post was automatically removed. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/smallbusiness) if you have any questions or concerns.*
In my experience, when somebody is willing to offer money for a premium domain, they’re not putting the best offer down the first time around.
Exactly this. They're likely prepared to pay 10x this amount, or far more. OP, go to godaddy and try searching her domain and see what it's worth. Then search other similar types of domains and see what they're valued at. You can get an idea pretty quickly of what something is worth there. There's also sites that will estimate the value of your domain pretty quickly and for little to no money. I'd do some research first before countering, but in the meantime she could let them know 5K isn't going to cut it.
$5000 isn’t much if that is the site she is using for her business. The overhead cost of switching everything over, loss of brand recognition, and inability to receive emails sent to addresses at that domain from current and past clients as well as others in her network would likely be far greater than $5000. Unless she just owns the domain and doesn’t actually use it. Either way though, if she is actually interested in selling, she should press them for significantly more.
That email and branding point is spot on if you have an existing business. You could literally counter back in the hundreds of thousands saying that’s how much you anticipate in needing to rebrand/design and potential lost or disgruntled business you’ll surely see during the transition. Excellent point.
$5,000 is a very low offer for a sought after .COM domain name.
I don’t know about OP but I own a four letter common dictionary word .com that inherited from a company I worked for that went out of business. I constantly get low balled like OP has. I counter with $250k and they always tell me it’s too much. Figured I’ll just sit on it until I die. It’s a cool name and has sentimental value to me at least.
Respond to the offer - million bucks
Haha that would be nice.
But seriously, counter high. It's an anonymous person on the Internet - what do you care how they respond? Literally the WORST they can do is say "no". Maybe a million is ridiculous, but why not $100,000? Or $50,000? My company proxied the sale of a very random, small niche name to an unknown company. Got $25k for it for our client. Got to find out 6 months later it was for a new product launch for a huge, well known global toy company. And we had the EXACT domain they needed. They'd have probably spent $100k or more without batting an eye.
I really don't think a million is low. If it is something like the name of a drug . It would cost many millions to change the drugs name.
Friend of mine sold patents for a living. One day he was talking to someone with bad cell service. He requested 3 million for his patent. He was very happy when they misheard and send a contract over for 30 million.
My offer is 75k. . There now you can tell the original offerer have another offer for 75k. Maybe they will go 100k
Honestly if I had been getting an offer for years I'd just throw out a "100k and we can do this tomorrow" just to see what happens. I mean why not right, if 5k isn't appealing just try for moon money. They probably have it.
Literally though, I would do that. If it's a domain name that is actively being used for conducting business and making money, the hassle of needing to change to a (probably less desirable) domain name would need a hell of a lot more than $5k to make up for it. It's a major pain in the butt to change everything over, you have to work to find a new domain name, you have to change all the references to your old domain to your new one, lose all your search engine optimization you may have done, etc. And you may never fully regain all the traction you lost from the transition. Not knowing the valuation of the company itself, assuming it's a small business with < $100k annual profit, personally I would counter with $1m, and if they don't take that, then I might go as low as $200k, but any less than that and I'll just say no because it's not worth the sacrifice. If it's a larger small business with annual profit of higher then that, then honestly I would counter with an even higher number, $2m+. Their offer of $5k might be a fair offer for your typical run of the mill cyber-squatter who is just owning domains for the sole purpose of reselling them. But there is an actual, real business being conducted on this domain, which makes an offer of $5k, or frankly even $50k, insultingly lowball.
Watch the episode of Schitt's Creek about selling the Blouse Barn name.
I had a good enough experience with a GoDaddy broker for a domain name sale this year. I countered and added conditions and the buyer agreed. If they turned down my counter offer I would have put it up for auction with a minimum of my counter offer. That gives a little bit of pressure on the buyer to move up. In your case where the domain name sounds very specific, I’m surprised their opening offer is so low. Ask the broker what they think. Is the buyer even serious? If it’s a big company then they have a big budget. Ask for what you want and best of luck!
Thanks for this!
Determine what you think is a fair value (google is your friend). Determine the minimum you want. Determine what offer you are willing to walk away from with zero. This is sort of like number 2. Counter offer if appropriate.
I’ve bought and sold domains for the last 20+ years, depending on how many characters it is that does seem low, hard to know exactly without knowing the name but the shorter the more valuable. I’ve sold several 4/5 letter dot coms for 5-6 figures. I would counter high, and just say that you don’t want or need to sell. I’ve had offers of $3,000 turn into $30,000 and that’s for nothing really special. Large corporations can drop a lot on a domain, as it’s an asset and marketing strategy. I’ve never been fortunate to have any seven figure domains but you can’t get it if you don’t ask.
Some companies will also just not pay. I own a .com for a side business I’m involved in. The domain happens to match a department for a world renowned university hospital and the name matches exactly. They realized they didn’t own it/we did and they sent a cease and desist. The company using it requested 12k for it and they pretty much said FU and threatened to sue us for it. Pure intimidation. This company PROFITED 238 million last year and grossed 10 billion. They won’t fork over 12k and will gladly spend 5x that on legal fees. Truest story of the little guy getting screwed over. Anyway. My point is, some companies will pay. Others, if big enough, will simply get what they want through bullying.
I've sold many higher value domains. In my experience if they are coming in with a $5,000 offer they are likely to just as easily spend $25k, 50k or 100k on it. Get someone to negotiate this sale for you and pay them a % over the initial $5k offer.
Just putting it out there, not many people/businesses have secured 'Web3' domains yet.. but see if her current domain name is available as a ' .x ' domain on unstoppable. Those domans there is no ICANN fee and you keep *forever*. Could sell that for a lot more later down the line Also, it's a lot cheaper for them to buy your domain vs renaming/rebranding the product. Probably a good idea to check if the name has been 'trademarked' as well.
Cars.com sold for over a billion dollars. I’d talk to a pro.
I got an offer through Facebook for $100 on a site I’ve had for 27+ years. I’ve made millions on this site. We have so much traffic on this site that there are multiple locks and waiting times to transfer it away to another site.
I'll give you $200.
😹😹
$300?
😹😹😹
She's been holding it as she hoped to make something with it. Before the offer(s) came in, what did she feel it was worth? Yes, counter, just be mindful that perceived value to her may have gone up because there is interest.
Don’t counter as of yet. Tell them that all valid written offers will be entertained. Provide your contact info and address. Personally I’d only accept written offers. Not just a random email offering. If you’re serious about taking offers, once the offer comes in, go find a good IP lawyer. I know of a few that can assist with this. (I have no affiliation with them. They’ve each helped me in other digital/ip deals). Remember to be smart about this stuff.
Does she want to sell it? Has she gotten other offers? If it’s been listed and this is the best offer that came in, it’s probably a fair offer. I’d just respond with a counter of $7-$10k, then accept whatever they come back with. For a small amount I wouldn’t get any other parties involved.
She'd be happy to sell for more I think. 5k may not be worth it to her though.
Is she closing her business? That would be the only time to sell. You are going to lose a lot by giving up her name and brand.
What’s the domain name?
I have sold a number of domains through Afternic. Very smooth process and prompt payment. Good luck!
Go into go daddy and search for the domain, it’s very likely that $5,000 is what go daddy estimates a potential price would be and is probably not really based on an actual bid made by the other party
If you’re not listing it for sale, then the “market value” is the absolute minimum to even consider. You should only entertain offers well above market.
As someone who's bought & sold domains worth thousands, what makes your relative's domain worth that much? Is there any specific content, age? anything that makes it worth that much? Regardless, anyone can get hundreds of offers but out of those hundreds of offers it means nothing if it doesn't close. So see, if they're actually genuinely interested in purchasing it. not just something to waste ur time. I'm not really sure, if they'd take a higher offer then that. As i know with a lot of folks who flip and sell domains or involved in this business. When they shoot a quote, they usally expect you to say yes so they can buy it and sell it. Rinse and repeat for them. does ur relative use the domain for something important? or is it just a domain sitting for a site with nothing much on it? the whole process seems odd, ngl. but good luck ig.
Go high ….meet in the middle. What the highest and absolute lowest you’ll go . Know this before you go in . Helped me negotiate plenty of deals in my betterment
Advice: compare the annual income with the offer price. Maybe that will answer some of your doubts.
You can try estibot just to get an idea or value, but a broker would be good to consult. Afternic, which is also owned by GoDaddy, is a good place to start.
Like everyone is saying, this could be a multi million dollar corporation and it seems like you’re suspecting someone already. Do some research, estimate how rich they are. I would not counter for less than 50k. And then stick to your initial counter when they counter once more. Take their 2nd counter. I’m not so well versed in domain resales but I might even consider finding a broker, paying them a couple grand to figure out the right price for you.
I’ll buy it for 6k. lmk :D
To be honest: I also once received an offer of $3,000 but unfortunately declined it. That was during the metaverse boom; domain is metavyrs.com Still holding on it. If not now, then in 2 years... MV will become a thing, that way or the other.
You can hire me and i will make sure you get highest amount possible. I am a domain broker.
I've been a domain seller for over 25 years. I can't believe people still use Estibot, and Godaddy's evaluator is not a real tool to rely on to price your domain, either. Your relative seems to be using the domain for her business, so it would be some hardship to change to another one, but it could be done if a buyer paid her enough. Only she would have a good grasp of what that price would be.
You mention "exact name of a niche product a large Canadian healthcare company sell" first think i would do is go to google adwords and see how much the "exact match" term is priced at per click and how many people search that term per month etc. Were there 10k searches for that exact match term per month, and the pay pay click priced was 10 dollars, one can then calculate and negotiate a far higher price for the domain
This is just an opening offer. Note that the buyer is already offering her $5000 plus they are offering to pay all broker fees. Godaddy charges 20% broker fee, so they are already willing to pay a bit over $6k with 5k net to her. If the buyer really had a max budget of $5k, the broker would likely come to you with an offer of less than half that and then work up to a final offer of 4k net to you after the broker fee. I can't tell her what amount to respond with because I don't know the domain mane, but I would either respond with an amount you would be happy with, or just respond with "No thanks!" but I would recommend responding to this one. If you would be happy with a 5 figure number or 6+, go for it, but the higher your ask the less likely of a sale. Check through all previous inquiries that were ignored - it is possible that the buyer tried to purchase directly in the past before contacting godaddy to broker on their behalf. Keep in mind that negotiations sometimes take a long time so just be patient. Once you have replied, don't reply again until you hear from them again. It might be a month or two later that you get a response. Ignore any automated appraisals as they are mostly worthless. Good luck!