advice GoDaddy offer. Complicated. Asking advice.

[JustaGringo]

Need advice please. This is a bit complicated.

Received an offer for 15k from GoDaddy broker for a domain I already had listed at Sedo with a 25k buy it now.

The GoDaddy representative knows I had a listing on Sedo for 25k. I forgot I had auctions at sedo. I since removed them.

I turned down the initial offer. I did not counter offer. I promptly received a reply from the broker stating we just have to come to a price. I've not done anything since and am trying to figure out my next move, if any.

It's a 4 letter .com for which there are many companies with the same 4 letter abbreviations. I think the GoDaddy client is a large overseas client who in 2016 trademarked the four letters in the US as one of their product brand names. Luckily, I owned the dot com long before then, and it's super generic. If it's who I think it is, their product has exploded in popularity in the past 24 months.

So the GoDaddy offer right out of the gate was 15k. That is kind of telling to me that the end client is serious and has funds. The last time I worked with a GoDaddy domain broker the initial offer (for a brandable two word domain) was 1/7th the final agreed upon price. In other words, I sold it for 7x their first offer.

Why the actual customer/buyer didn't just do the buy it now over at Sedo when they had the chance I don't know. My guess is that the end customer is unaware of the various marketplaces for domains and went straight to GoDaddy. Or maybe they really wanted to get it for less than 25k, but higher than 15k? That makes no sense. Or they want to keep the acquisition off the books? I dunno.

So you think the the buyers budget is far greater than the 15k original offer? I kind of do.

I won't part with it for anything less than 25k. I don't care if the sale falls through. The broker is going to want to close a deal so they get a commission, even if that means it goes over the 25k I had listed on Sedo I would think.

So I am thinking of either not countering at all or asking 6x their initial, say 90k.

Thoughts? Nuts right? Wish I knew how GoDaddy brokers are compensation. They must have a reverse-payout grid or something. Where they get a larger commission if the price is kept lower.

Thanks
Don

 

[karmaco]

There is no way to know without knowing the name and no don’t post it here. Its strictly up to you but 90K is quite a jump from 25K. 90K sales are also very infrequent and reserved generally for dictionary words.

It’s possible its another domainer and I would not be so sure the 25K wasn’t seen by someone involved. It seems like you have made up your mind that the name is worth more than you previously priced it at.

Just because a company can afford a price doesn’t mean they are willing to pay it. You may be holding for a long time before another offer comes in. Don’t let greed cloud your judgment and assess the name on its own merit not on the buyer you think it is.

 

[VadimK]

I totally agree with my fella @karmaco

I will say exactly the same - if you had it priced at $25000, you had the reasons in the first place. Going 3-4 times that, is pure greed and is extremely unlikely it will be compensated. I'd stick with where you are and wait for the final offer, chances are it will follow. If not - wait for a month and then price the way you want.

What you can also do is check the history of similar 4-letter names on NameBio to get a better idea if unsure about pricing. But to think - ''oh, they are huge, they got the money and they won't go alternative'' is an extremely wrong mindset, imo. They easily will if you raise the bar inadequately (in their eyes).

 

[Mister Funsky]

ALWAYS go for more than initial offer...especially when coming from a 'neutral' broker.

If the buyer is motivated (a 15K initial offer shows they are) then do your best to stay calm...time is on your side. I just spent almost 6 months on a sale...I knew the worth of the name and held out until that number was reached.

Resist the desire to overcommunicate...let them know you understand the value of the name.

ALWAYS be courteous and professional with a potential buyer/broker. This will pay off in the long run (sometimes people are too short when getting a lowball offer initially).

To get 90K, it would have to be a top tier 4L...I've lost more than one sale by throwing out too high of a number without laying proper groundwork.

 

[Yanosh]

My opinion is to never accept a 1st offer , especially from a broker.

But I have a question : are you sure the broker noticed the domain was listed for 25k on sedo ? How ?

There are 2 options :

He knew : so he think he can get the domain below that price. But on my opinion a 15k initial offer is strangely too much.

He didn’t : you can try to get more than 15k for sure. But I would be cautious about asking for too high ( 90K).

 

[JustaGringo]

Thank you everyone. I think I am going to sit on it and wait it out. I realize over communicating is bad.

The broker mentioned my sedo listing in his initial offer. But yeah, then his 15k offer is too high right? The only thing I can figure is he really wants to close a deal on his platform. Which would make sense.

In this particular situation my 4 letter domain is literally printed on their product, has been for years. And now, their product is getting very popular. If the past they got by without owning the domain but now I think they realize they really need the domain. Every single product, I think probably a few million items a year, leaves their factory with these 4 L's on it. Basically they built a brand without any forethought on acquiring the domain. They are not in a position to rebrand and repackage everything.

 

[bmugford]

It's difficult to give any real advice without knowing the domain and the pool of potential buyers.

I assume the $15K offer came after seeing a $25K asking price. If the buyer was willing to pay $25K then they should have pulled the trigger to start with.

It's your domain and you can price it how you want.

My guess though is your price expectations might be unrealistic, but again that is based on virtually no information.

However, if it is a super high quality LLLL.com for $25K I feel like there is a good chance it would have already sold.

Brad

 

[Yanosh]

It’s probably as @bmugford said.

I think he is willing to pay even 25k , but he probably wanted to close the deal on GoDaddy.
That’s quite interesting.

For sure I would not reach back to him , cause that puts you in a weak position.

He will come back

 

[bmugford]

So the GoDaddy offer right out of the gate was 15k. That is kind of telling to me that the end client is serious and has funds. The last time I worked with a GoDaddy domain broker the initial offer (for a brandable two word domain) was 1/7th the final agreed upon price. In other words, I sold it for 7x their first offer.

Things don't really operate in a linear manner like that.

Every buyer is different. Some will come in near top of their range, while others might start with an extreme lowball.

It also depends on price range. 7 x $1,500 or something is a lot different than 7 x $15,000.

Brad

 

[rh2000]

It's not complicated at all. You either accept it or don't.

 

[AEProgram]

Are they using another extension now for these 4 letters? Sometimes companies try other extensions and if they have a big customer base they will end up with people calling or emailing that they tried going to the site but it didn't work, a lot of people ignore extensions and just go to the .com. In these cases, companies feel under pressure to secure the name.

When a domain broker offers you 15k, they don't always tell you the back story. We assume that someone called in and said "Hi, I would like to offer 15k for abcd .com." It could be that they offered 500 and the broker put in work and got them to a higher number and then sent you the 15k offer.

A big company does not mean they understand the value of a name. As @bmugford said, without knowing the name, it is hard to make a better guess.

In general, a big starting offer is a very good sign. Another good sign is that after the decline the broker said "we just have to come to a price."

You had the name for a long time, any other good offers in the past?

 

[br1ll1on]

First off you should consider that there's a chance it's not even the company/brand you have in mind
Secondly if they've seen the 25k on sedo and still didn't pull the trigger chances of selling it to them more than 25k is little to nothing
Thirdly if you were going to take 25k initially, take your 25k and move on greed will cost you

 

[jideofor]

This is my take. You were going to sell it for $25k before the offer came. So counter $25k and sell at $18k to $20k. But it seems you had a feeling that you could get more than $25k as soon as you saw the offer and you quickly removed it from Sedo.

I would call that greed and I hope it does not hurt you and you end up regretting losing the sale. Comparing your previous experience with a Godaddy broker where you sold a domain for 7times their initial offer does not mean you will have the same experience now due to changes in factor and the probability of having the same factors in different scenarios is almost zero.

You should always have a price you want to sell your domain name, regardless of who is buying, whether a big company or a small company. But when you base your price on how big a company is, does that mean you would sell for less if a smaller company had approached you?

Also, your assumption that it is the big company behind the Godaddy broker might turn out to be false and Godaddy will never reveal that information to you and it is just that, an assumption but not fact. Just because a company is big does not mean they are willing to pay more for a domain name.

There are numerous cases where companies, especially the ones that are fully established (which I suspect your assumed company is) but don't need a domain name to push a product because they already have a strong brand built over the years. Startups hustling to make a name would always chase domain to brand and make themselves look sexy and attractive.

My point is, that you should sell the domain at what you would want to sell it before that offer came in, which is $25k. At least this is what I have learned from @AbdulBasit.com. He always has a fixed price for all his domains. He prices them based on his perceived values, not because a company is big or small and there have been numerous cases where he turned down offers that are less than his intended fixed prices too.

You had a fixed $25k but hoping to get 7 times their $15k offer because of your previous Godaddy broker experience is what ONLY YOU can find out by countering $105,000 (7x $15,000). So go ahead!

 

[BaileyUK]

I certainly wouldn't do as you seem to indicate and reply with Silence, Height of disrespect when you've freely advertised the domain as for sale and a considerable offer has been made. Given your previous experience I would have thought you would have a least an outline strategy in place. Besides all your really saying . Is I haven't a clue what I'm doing.

Lets not forget Negotiating is part of the basic requirement and skill set of any domainer. You can't just ignore that part of this business just because your Not comfortable with it. Get a pair of Balls man and cut your teeth in the real world.

If as you stated the Godaddy broker has said "We have to come to a price agreement" then go ahead with something in the mid high $XX,XXX the Godaddy broker is most certainly not going to ignore your counter. There is probably a lot more to play out in this negotiation , So don't baulk at the first hurdle.

Finally there is nothing complicated in this transaction at all. You just seemed to have instilled that into it as a kind of defence mechanism. Deal with what is on the table and at hand NOT some imaginary perspective to the sale that is irrelevant.

 

[jideofor]

I certainly wouldn't do as you seem to indicate and reply with Silence, Height of disrespect when you've freely advertised the domain as for sale and a considerable offer has been made. Given your previous experience I would have thought you would have a least an outline strategy in place.

Lets not forget Negotiating is part of the basic requirement and skill set of any domainer. You can't just ignore that part of this business just because your Not comfortable with it. Get a pair of Balls man and cut your teeth in the real world.

If as you stated the Godaddy broker has said "We have to come to a price agreement" then go ahead with something in the mid high $XX,XXX the Godaddy broker is most certainly not going to ignore your counter. There is probably a lot more to play out in this negotiation , So don't baulk at the first hurdle.

Finally there is nothing complicated in this transaction at all. You just seemed to have instilled that into it as a kind of defence mechanism. Deal with what is on the table and at hand NOT some imaginary perspective to the sale that is irrelevant.

Negotiating is not his problem here. What is considering is getting more than the $25k he had on it at Sedo. He removed the $25k when he received that offer in the hope that he could counter more than $25k which was his initial intended price tag because he is assuming that the offer came from a BIG FISH.

He is seeking an excuse to justify what he is planning to do by countering 7 X the $15,000 because he did it before and hoped he could do it again with this one, negating the absence of numerous factors that could have made that 7X sale possible.

So it is not about negotiating, it is about getting more than the price he had wanted to sell the domain for.

What do you call that?

 

[BaileyUK]

That Godaddy broker is almost certainly going to point out any previous price listing, If he thinks it will influence the negotiations, So just see if it comes.

I'd have no qualms in saying I pulled a previous listed price because I decided it was to low. Deal with what is at hand not an imaginary scenario. So the seller pulled the price on Sedo due to this Offer, That isn't going to shock anyone. The Godaddy broker is more likely to think Smart-Move, if he was aware.

There is no way of negating history, but, that shouldn't stop you putting your own spin on it when it's referenced. From the Donal Trump book of ethics,. Why feel embarrassed or compromised from a distance. Save those moments for when it's a friend or relative only

And if it ends up at a 25k sale, and not a penny less. Well that's a far better sellers situation than he was in last week.

 

[MasterOfMyDomains]

Seems to be getting more complicated.
Great thread though

 

[biggie]

I forgot I had auctions at sedo. I since removed them.

Hi

were the auctions at sedo for the 4L.com in question and if so, did you pay for the auction or did you send it to auction after getting an offer?

also, which platform are the domains nameservers pointed to now?
as it makes a difference when commissions are deducted.

imo....

 

[wh0isthis]

a few things to think about
1) How valuable your domain name is, you believe. If it is a very precious domain name, reject the offer without any hesitation.
2) How many possible buyers. If there are many potential buyers, then you may not be in a hurry to sell it now, and wait for a higher offer.
3) How long do you want to hold your domain name. If you can wait, wait for a better offer.

Otherwise, if I were you, I would counteroffer 30% higher which is $19.5k.

 

[draco]

Unless I'm mistaken or something has recently changed, if a GoDaddy broker approaches you, the Buyer is paying the commission. So you'll net the entire $15k (or the final sale price). That means the Buyer is already paying more than $15k.

Since the broker works for the Buyer, they're also likely aware of the $25k Sedo price. If it was me and someone raised the price to $90k, I'd walk. Unless I REALLY needed the domain.

If it was me, I'd ask the broker who pays the commission. Then I'd try to negotiate so the Buyer's end price is under $25k. Unless I didn't care about making a sale, and didn't care about the possible hit to my reputation.

 

[jideofor]

Unless I'm mistaken or something has recently changed, if a GoDaddy broker approaches you, the Buyer is paying the commission. So you'll net the entire $15k (or the final sale price). That means the Buyer is already paying more than $15k.

Since the broker works for the Buyer, they're also likely aware of the $25k Sedo price. If it was me and someone raised the price to $90k, I'd walk. Unless I REALLY needed the domain.

If it was me, I'd ask the broker who pays the commission. Then I'd try to negotiate so the Buyer's end price is under $25k. Unless I didn't care about making a sale, and didn't care about the possible hit to my reputation.

Thank Draco. You got an idea of what is playing out here and I believe if the seller pushes his luck too far, it will happen the way you have stated it here.

IMO, they are aware of the $25k and this is why countering their offer with $25k is the safest way to go at this point. After all, he had wanted to sell it for $25k.

 

[Omit]

9 months ago I got a offer for rhp*.con 1500$ then 2000$ and then 3500$ via Godaddy broker
My bin was 9988$
I told them 7988$ is my last 9 months ago.
Last month they come back with 7500$ , i refused
It sold by 9988$

I need money for that I sold it by 9988$

I think your buyer will come back with your Bin.
Good luck

 

[scithe]

Getting more than 25k might be hard. I feel like had you been negotiating directly with the buyer, you might have been able to say something like "oh my! I just looked at my Sedo account and it looks like I uploaded an pricing spreadsheet from 2021 by mistake. The price should actually be $30k. Since you brought this to my attention and I have been able to revise my other 500 names as well, I'll honor that 25k price to you for the next 7 days."

I have never used a domain broker though and from what I have read here, it doesn't seem like they relay those things (they didn't relay UDRP threats according to someone else at NP).

Some others have said that ignoring the offer is bad. I think trying to gouge is worse than silence. If you either decline without a counter or ignore, after some time they might just use the BIN option at SEDO and no big deal on losing the 69.99 from GoDaddy.

If buyers pay the broker fee, then I think I would probably just decline the offer from the broker. Maybe mention something like, "As you've pointed out, the BIN price is 25k" Then see if they will up their offer and go from there.

There might be several companies using these 4Ls but only so many that can and would buy the domain. So if you miss this 25k you might not have another offer on it.

Also, since there is a company with the US trademark, I would make sure your landing page is free of any ads for their brand or any competing brand in that industry. As that could put you in danger of losing the domain even if it's SEDO's fault for choosing what to advertise and even if the domain was registered before the trademark.

 

[scithe]

9 months ago I got a offer for rhp*.con 1500$ then 2000$ and then 3500$ via Godaddy broker
My bin was 9988$
I told them 7988$ is my last 9 months ago.
Last month they come back with 7500$ , i refused
It sold by 9988$

I need money for that I sold it by 9988$

I think your buyer will come back with your Bin.
Good luck

There were 3 other rhp* com sales this year according to namebio and yours was the only one over 1k. Nice job! :D

 

[Omit]

There were 3 other rhp* com sales this year according to namebio and yours was the only one over 1k. Nice job! :D

Yes
Thank you