Ok I was looking at generic domains with an idea to use the domain to host an app for more than one website.
I found several suitable ones, and registered them all, figuring when I decided, I would register the name as a DBA.
So I got a call the other day from some one about "one of my domains"
Appearently he got the .net domain like one of mine and wanted to buy the .com one.
I can do without this name for the right price you know. (some I couldn't or wouldn't) Now I am wondering if this offer is reasonable. It is very generic, but not short. (15 letters that spell three words) Of course this name has more potential than I would ever use it for. and I am not greedy.
What would you do?

I'd sell it and be reasonable about it...that's just me though. As far as I'm concerned, I don't feel cheated if someone buys a domain from me for $300 and makes a million dollar site with it...I still made a profit and a nice one at that. :)

I would agree with lightnin. Don't allow yourself to become emotionally attached to your domain names. Make your decision based on your best judgement of what you think the buyer will pay if you want to sell. If the buyer already appreciates the name enough to register the .net I would think the selling price minimum should be several hundred dollars. But, maybe not much more you have to decide.

Michael Collins

At first he offered "$200 to $300"
Then when I got home, looked up where it is registered, and called back he said he was going to get with "his people" and stuff, and called me to confirm payment process ect.
So I want to confirm the price, and I ask "How much were we talking about?"
then he said "$150"
So I said "It sounded like more earlier".
He said "well, $150 or $200"
I replied "$200 sounds fair, because I did have plans for one of the names, and I know it is generic, I just hadn't entertained the idea of selling one."
He reminded me he has the .net.
I reminded him I have the .com (he he)
I don't want to be greedy, but I think I will ask him to pay the ($15 to $18) escrow service fee on top of that.
That sound fair?

I may have already said too much with my vague suggestion. I can't really begin to tell you what is a fair price for a name when I don't even know what the name is. I was only trying to suggest that if I had a .net that I was considering building a "real" site on, I would definately pay several hundred dollars to get the .com. I think most people would, not everyone though.

Michael Collins

You should not sell your domain under $500. I'm sure you can make more than $500 with your domain if you keep it.

Originally posted by NetworksData
You should not sell your domain under $500. I'm sure you can make more than $500 with your domain if you keep it. Do you know the domain name or something?
How do you know he can make $500 off it?
I have a mess o names I'd like to make $500 off of.

If it was a name I didn't have plans for, I'd sell it for what I could get out of it.

Originally posted by SoftWareRevue
Do you know the domain name or something?
How do you know he can make $500 off it?
I have a mess o names I'd like to make $500 off of.

If it was a name I didn't have plans for, I'd sell it for what I could get out of it.
I don't know his domain name but he said he would use his domain for his business then I assume that he could make more than $500 (if under $500, should he go into his business?). It's just my opinion because I'm not a domain seller, most of domains I registered are used for my business, if I sold my domain for $200 it'd be not worth doing that. However I agree with you that if you don't have plans for your domain (why did you register it?) then selling it is an idea.

Originally posted by ATST
At first he offered "$200 to $300"
Then when I got home, looked up where it is registered, and called back he said he was going to get with "his people" and stuff, and called me to confirm payment process ect.
So I want to confirm the price, and I ask "How much were we talking about?"
then he said "$150"
So I said "It sounded like more earlier".
He said "well, $150 or $200"
I replied "$200 sounds fair, because I did have plans for one of the names, and I know it is generic, I just hadn't entertained the idea of selling one."
He reminded me he has the .net.
I reminded him I have the .com (he he)
I don't want to be greedy, but I think I will ask him to pay the ($15 to $18) escrow service fee on top of that.
That sound fair?

Sounds fair, ya...but I'd think about upping the price on the SOB for playing around with the price and reminding you he had the .net...make him sweat a bit...lol

I would not sell him the domain... YET. I would keep it until you see what kind of site he is building with the .net.

Then, once you see what he's doing you can get a better idea of what to charge. If he's selling high-value goods/services, then you can ask for a lot more. If it's a simple fan site and he's not making any money.. then he wouldn't be able to afford much so there's no point asking for much.

The advantage you have is that the .com is always going to be good for him to buy, because he's guaranteed to be losing traffic when people forget it's a .net and not a .com to find his site the first time.

Mr zippy this is definately a domain one would want if they intend on high profit. Otherwise, why would one want the .com instead of the .net? He kinda acts like I don't know what I have, that probably why he said $150 when I called him back. (*I took the call at the mall, and said I couldn't hear well, and would call him back) I probably shouldn't have said "I said I had intended on using it, but I have others I could use." when he asked if I intended on using it. To me that simply meant, "I would be interested in selling." Not "I am stupid."
Even if I used this name to it's full potential, I wouldn't at all care if he has the .net. Something he doesn't understand. (or is pretending not to) Something else would be if I kept it and parked it on my site, I would probably get a lot of his traffic.

and yes, I would like the higher amount he mentioned. I don't like being jacked around. Thats why I will insist on an ecrow service at his expense. Maybe he was authorised to go to $300? and made the mistake of saying $200 to $300?
I bet I can't even BUY the traffic I would get if I parked the name on one of my site(s) from his vistors typing the .com instead of .net for $300.

*He had called me twice before, (both times when I was picking the kids up from school) and I returned the calls and got his machine, but didn't know what he wanted, so I wouldn't give out my cell. Finally I had the phone on forward, and was at the mall picking up something for the brats, when he called. Once he said what the call was about, I gave him the cell number.

Unless you need the money, I wouldn't even bother selling. Tell him you want $2000 for it (the cost he would have to pay if he wants to go for ICANN arbitration, etc..) and then leave it.

Then.. create an account for it with your web host and forward it to your own domain. After a while (once he gets his own site up and running nicely..) you can show him the log files and visitor statistics and ask for whatever is appropriate.

If he refuses, then redirect it to a porn site.

That is guaranteed to make you cash.

Cheers!

I don't need the money.
That is, I didn't intend on selling it when I bought it.
I can always use the money.
I orginally agreed when he said $200 to $300, thinking $300. (Who wouldn't?)
I didn't like that $150 crap, so I am inclined to tell him I can profit more by keeping it and reaping the rewards of his traffic, than by selling it for $200. Since he did offer and I agreed to the $200 to $300 figure, I would like to stick with $300 plus escrow fees.
Then he can reap the rewards of having both the .com and the .net.
I don't like going back on my word, but I can't help feeling like he went back on his already ya know?

So, without knowing him, you are going to assume he's going to put up a beautiful site, that he advertizes it well, that tons of traffic comes, etc.

Betting on him getting enough traffic that it spills over onto your domain is gutsy. I would be apt to tell you to trust your first impression and don't get greedy.

Assuming you paid $10 for the domain, getting a $300, $200, or even $150 return is pretty nice.

Of course, negotiate a little on the price, because if he offered X the first offer, he most definately would probably consider x+50.

:D

-WC-

Here's what I would do and have done a few times. Tell him you'll list it on an auction site with a reserve of $200. Tell him you'll list it and give him the link. Now the fun begins. Say, if you want to buy it now without giving anyone else a chance at the name, pay me $400. This is perfect because you are not being greedy - he is if he objects! You are accepting $200 in a reasonable time and in a reasonable way, and it is nothing but generous to offer it to the public for a higher price if someone else might be willing to pay it.

If he says go ahead and list it, (don't take too much time, it's not worth it), if you know some other people who should be interested in the name, send them an short email with a link to the auction.

Good luck!

You could always bid on your own domain to drive up the price.. :angel:

propject, I thought about doing just that.
Mrzippy, I would never do that. (my motto: If I can't make a buck honestly, I don't want it.)
But you know that name could suit me just well if I did use it.
The other names I had in mind, aren't as good.

First offer by the buyer was 2 to $300? Insist on it.

Best thing however is not to procrastanate and develop the site yourself, more Fun in the long run :)

Well, it would be too costly to set up and then not use it. I guess I could put a "comming soon" page up.
It was to host a secure application to be used by more than one site. All the sites using it would belong to our company, but the potential exsists to sell this service to others. I wouldn't, because that isn't what I want to do, but someone else could. Instead of having a security cert on each site, (costing way more) all the secure pages would be housed on this generic name site, and I only have to pay to set it up once.

Anyway, if / when the deal is completed, I will reveal the name, so stay tuned.

It all depends on what the domain is, and how much traffic it gets. To get a real suggestion on what to do, you should list the domain. If your going to sell it, why not post it?. You might even sell it for more here!.

RMF

First off, a .net that is being used is worth more than a .com that has no DNS even.

That said, you always ask your MAX price! Once you mention your price, his agreement to that price won't let you raise that price, and if you do it will appear as clear non-professionalism and extortion. How much do you want to - potentially - make off this sale? $300 ? Then ask for this much. Then, negotiating can either bring this price down or you might sell it at your asking price.

Good luck!

I'm surprised he mentioned a range at all. I can't imagine him saying "$200 to $300" and you saying, "OK, $250's in the middle." :rolleyes: Sellers only hear the highest number, and buyers only remember the lowest number.

You may just want to sell it and move on. Recently we wanted a name that was a slightly better variation of a site we were developing. We contacted the seller, and the price was over $3000. (It included the .net and .org variations too.) We responded with a firm final offer of $300 -- we didn't need it THAT much. They countered at $2000 and we dropped it. Two months later I find it on www.deleteddomains.com and I register it for $8. Lesson being, there's a point where people just walk away.

Originally posted by bill_jpn
I'm surprised he mentioned a range at all. I can't imagine him saying "$200 to $300" and you saying, "OK, $250's in the middle." :rolleyes: Sellers only hear the highest number, and buyers only remember the lowest number.

You may just want to sell it and move on. Recently we wanted a name that was a slightly better variation of a site we were developing. We contacted the seller, and the price was over $3000. (It included the .net and .org variations too.) We responded with a firm final offer of $300 -- we didn't need it THAT much. They countered at $2000 and we dropped it. Two months later I find it on www.deleteddomains.com and I register it for $8. Lesson being, there's a point where people just walk away.

That's why I always renew the domains that I was contacted about but did not agree on the selling price :D Makes them mad.

Update.
He has not bothered to call back, so I guess we will use it after all. Maybe what he really wanted was to see what we were going to use it for.
Anyway, it isn't my fault he wanted our name, and bought the .net of it. The name itself has the same prefix as our main sites name - starts with "my" as do several of our domains - so seeing as how we have registered it as a DBA, we may as well use it. I wanted to finish redesigning our site before parking it. Well, I just finished it, so I finally parked it on our main site.

The thing is, while our site won't be competing, we link to our clients sites, and one of them does compete in a round about way. This guy is selling prepaid cell phone time, and my client sells prepaid long distance minutes. Plus, we are an affiliate of a long distance company.
His site is up, but not active. That is to say, he has a few pages, but you can't buy anything. The order pages are not working.
Oh well, if he doesn't like it, he should have either 1) snapped it up when I was in a selling mood, or 2) bought a .com name in the first place.
We also have the "our" version of it if he wants to pay for that . . . :D

Thanks for all your help. Now we know what to do if we get a decent offer.

Cool, thanks for the followup! Too bad it didn't work out. Who knows, he might come back..

-WC-