advice I have an offer for over $5K in hand at SEDO. Does anyone have experience selling on SEDO using the Start a Public Auction option?

[BestBrandDomains]

Does anyone here have experience selling on SEDO using the Start a Public Auction option? Any good or bad experiences when the minimum is an acceptable offer? Basically after you get an offer, and you can accept, counter, decline or push to auction (for free).

I have received an offer today that is lower than my list price, but is still an acceptable offer for me for this domain (over $5K). But SEDO allows for Start to a Public Auction (Option C) with that bid as the reserved price. It says you are guaranteed that price if no other bids are offered. I wanted to see if anyone here has good or bad experiences with this option when the minimum is an acceptable offer. Is there any risk of losing the orginal bidder? I read the terms and it sounds pretty solid and without risk.

It seems like a good win-win situation with SEDO and the Seller (me) in this situation. I think I could lose the sale if I did a counter offer, but if I used SEDO's option to Start Public Auction then it sounds legally binding to get this offer or higher. I can't see why I wouldn't go for this option? But I wanted to get a sanity check here among the group, and hear your experiences.

Bonus question: Once I push it to auction, is there any recommended ways to promote this to get more bidders. It's a high starting price so the normal auction bidders may be hesitant. Would the SEDO home or category promotions help? I can pay for various promotion methods on Sedo or other places too. But also the timing is tight to coordinate for this short auction.

Let me know your thoughts. And if you have experience with this, please chime in. I haven't seen this type of message posted before this way. So it'll be good to know for others!

Thanks in advance for your help and comments! Wish me luck on this one, lol

 

[BestBrandDomains]

When receiving an offer in Sedo, they give you these options:

Option A: Confirm Offer - Sell Domain
Option B: Make Offer
Option C: Start a Public Auction
Option D: Cancel Negotiations

 

[BestBrandDomains]

I'm considering Option C: Start a Public Auction

In reading the terms, it looks pretty solid:
https://sedo.com/auction/auction_startinfo.php?language=us

Let me know your thoughts.

 

[topdom]

Sell: not the best (for first offers)
Auction: not the best (probably noone else will come even if you invite many people)
Counter: may work
Cancel: if you cancel, you can add a fixed price a little higher than their offer.

Since the buyer may not pay anyway, worrying too much about losing a sale by not accepting, is not a good idea.

 

[.X.]

If you are happy with the offer, take the offer . otherwise push it to auction, that's risky , it gives the current offer buyer a chance to rethink buying the domain.

 

[wwwulff]

It is always difficult to know what to do when you do not know the name (is it a name with many potential buyers or is the buyer group very limited), but I would either accept the offer or make a counter offer and never use the action option for the same reason as @.X. gave that if the buyer sees there are no other buyers for the name and regret the offer - Sedo's guarantee that the first offer is binding is not worth much, as many just end up disappearing and Sedo can`t do any thing about it..

 

[bmugford]

Unless the domain is really good, the odds of getting any more bids are remote.

The odds of pissing off the party that made the offer are much higher.

Brad

 

[homebuyer]

Your buyer will no doubt monitor any bids that come in. If none do, the buyer might think that the domain is not worth $5,000 and rethink buying it.

 

[QUAD DOMAINS]

Keep in mind the offer is an offer. It’s NOT necessarily a completed transaction. Take it with a grain of salt. You, and Sedo, likely have no way of guaranteeing the person will pay. With this stated, I’d recommend accepting the offer if it works for you and seeing where things go from there. In the event they don’t pay (hopefully they do), consider starting an auction to build some interest and possibly close a sale.

If it eases your mind, we had a $100k “purchase” of “ip.credit” fall through via Sedo. Sure, it would’ve been nice to clear the sale; but we never count a sale as done until funds have been collected and the asset has been transferred. This is a good way to ensure expectations remain healthy. Offers can definitely be a good motivator. Keep pushing. Wishing you all the best.

Mel
QUAD Domains

 

[BestBrandDomains]

Sell: not the best (for first offers)
Auction: not the best (probably noone else will come even if you invite many people)
Counter: may work
Cancel: if you cancel, you can add a fixed price a little higher than their offer.

Since the buyer may not pay anyway, worrying too much about losing a sale by not accepting, is not a good idea.

You're right no sense in worrying too much about it, agreed, there is always the chance the buyer might not pay in any scenario. And yes agreed, it's not always good to take the first offer.

 

[BestBrandDomains]

Keep in mind the offer is an offer. It’s NOT necessarily a completed transaction. Take it with a grain of salt. You, and Sedo, likely have no way of guaranteeing the person will pay. With this stated, I’d recommend accepting the offer if it works for you and seeing where things go from there. In the event they don’t pay (hopefully they do), consider starting an auction to build some interest and possibly close a sale.

If it eases your mind, we had a $100k “purchase” of “ip.credit” fall through via Sedo. Sure, it would’ve been nice to clear the sale; but we never count a sale as done until funds have been collected and the asset has been transferred. This is a good way to ensure expectations remain healthy. Offers can definitely be a good motivator. Keep pushing. Wishing you all the best.

Mel
QUAD Domains

Thanks for the advice Mel, and also for the real-world example! Agreed, you can't count on the offer until it's a completed transaction.

 

[alcy]

unless it's some liquid perm name and u accept bit under value u basically have zero.odds of getting more bids. but u do have some odds of pissed buyer who now gotta wait 7day... and thinks u are greed monster... and he may not pay or buy something else
..cause guess what sedo terms mean nothing if buyer doesnt care to lose account etc...sedo is not federal judge where if u told pay your wife each month child support and u dont then u go jail and u be big bubba bunk mate and more.

 

[Jv1999]

Always counter

 

[Jannes]

Accepting the first offer leaves somewhat bad taste in mouth for both parties.
The seller: "Did I leave money on the table?"
The buyer: "Did I offer too much?"