Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Domain Names : Been contacted about selling domain. Help!

[shadwwulf]

I've operated a website based company for 11 years. About 7 years after starting the company, a company in Canada opened with the exact same name. They used our website name only with a hyphen. They have contacted me in the past about purchasing our domain name, and I'm now shutting the company down and am willing to sell to them. I e-mailed and asked them if they were still interested, and they expressed a high interest. The company is not a huge company, but it's a multi-million dollar company. I own all three website names without hyphens (.com, .net, and .org). They are unwilling to tell me how much they will buy it for, and want me to tell them the asking price first. Help! I don't want to give out the website name for privacy reasons, but it's a two word, difficult to mis-spell, and easy to remember name that is the same as theirs without the hyphen. What would you sell them for as a group?

[Domainitor]

How long is a piece of string?

Without any detals at all, it's essentially impossible for anyone to offer any assistance at all.

Perhaps you should get an appraisal from a few different companies for the .com version -- the .net and .org aren't all that value regardless -- and use those as initial guidelines.

[shadwwulf]

Besides the domain name itself, what parameters aren't defined in my original post? The company that wants to buy the domain name has contacted me several times wanting to buy it, because it is their exact website name without the dash. It would be equivalent to master-card.com instead of mastercard.com. As mentioned in the previous post, they are a multi-million dollar (approx. $15 mill in 2006) and world wide. I have gotten multiple appraisals, but they range from $500 to $84,000 and haven't allowed me to explain the factor that the company has been wanting to buy this exact domain name for over 5 years. This is why I'm looking for help. Thank you in advance.

[stub]

Assuming they make 10% profit and are willing to pay 10% of 1 years profits for their domain name (1% of turnover). That's a cool $150,000. Since they've been asking you to sell for the last 5 years, I don't think that's an unreasonable starting position.

[plumsauce]

What you could do is just walk away from the conversation.

They have wanted to buy it. You have let them know it is now on the market. Once they stew long enough, they might realise that it would help to make an offer.

The problem they are facing is the same as you. No one wants to be first.

At some point, you have to decide what the price is anyways.

Personally, I expect that someone who wants to sell something should already have decided the final price. If they haven't, then they need to go away until they know.

[shadwwulf]

Thank you for your input. This will give me some ideas to work on in the future. I've put a 'for sale' sign on the website, and contacted them only to let them know it was now for sale, and that's when they e-mailed me back. It's true though I hadn't really thought of an asking price. I just figured people would make offers. Also, what it's worth to that company is much more than it's worth to anyone else and they know that. Thank you again!

[Domainitor]

Stu2's approach is as good as any. In fact, it's entirely reasonable.

Knowing from your third post that they're doing roughly 15 million in sales, and that they contacted you multiple times during the last half decade, I would push a little higher. One of three things will happen. Either they buy it at that price, they counter offer, or they walk away. If they walk away, I'd keep the domain until they come back, but I'd put a monetization page up so that there's content. If they counter with a good number, take it. If it's rediculous, either counter or walk away.

But plumsauce is right: at some point you've got to decide your minimum acceptable price. I've made many sales and in no case did I get a reasonable offer when I didn't provide a number at the outset. But be sure to leave yourself some "wiggle room" so that you're able to negotiate and drop your price. You can always start a little high and come down, but you can never start a little low and get a buyer to negotiate up from your first number.

Good luck with it. Let us know how you make out.

[Dovid]

I just wish I was as lucky to be sitting on such a domain.

[Mikie4648]

This is very ticky situation. If you say too much you'll never hear from them again, if you dont price high enough youll end up selling the domain for less than its worth. Im in the same situation. I have a domain that I receive at least 8 enquiries a year. Everytime i name my price i never hear from the receipient again.

[legallink]

I actually don't think that it is that tough of a situation. As an attorney, I deal with these types of situations all the time. The tricky part is trying to negotiate value for them vs. what you would expect to receive. Pick a number, any number that you think you should receive from it, or you think is representative of the value to them.

Then, define why you think that price is reasonable, expected, or justified. A lot of this negotiation process is trying to "sell" them on the idea that this will help their business. Did you track your website hits over time? I hope you have record of that. That will add up to it being worth more from your old customers to simple traffic which advertises their site.

If you want to chat more about it, PM me.

[mtgm]

What kind of traffic does your site get (if any)?

[managepartner_com]

As due to privacy reason you are not able to mention the domain name, in this case only you can evaluate your domain name on different parameters like average traffic on your site, how easily one can optimize it, and most important How much you are expecting to get against your domain!

[cartikadave]

Before I put a price on it I would have to ask myself "how many other people would want it"? If the domain is something no one else would really find value in and it's only because a single company has a "brand" on the hyphenated version the price would be much lower...much...much...lower. If it's a generic keyword term that draws a lot of traffic, that is another story.

[managepartner_com]

Then i think lower level of $xxxxx will be fine considering the opposite company has a good spending power!