Here is another look back at a post from Mike a decade ago. This was published in November of 2009. The post generated a lot of traffic and 65 comments.
1st Rule Of Dealing With Domain Offers Is: People Lie
We generally receive 10-15 offers a day, everyday so several thousand a year, and here is the 1st general rule of thumb.
Buyer’s lie.
Yes people on the Internet often lie.
Yes the emails you get from that beautiful model from Russian that wants to marry you and have sex with you 5 times a day, is probably from a hairy guy in Detroit.
The law firm wanting to sending you a $5 million dollar inheritance; its not coming.
and the offer from the college student that has no money but wants your domain for $1,500, is probably lying.
Here’s an email I just got this past week:
“Hi there,
How much is the domain TheProfessors.com? My daughter and her friends dressed up as professors for Halloween, and I wanted to put their photos up online.””
Yeah right
Sure
So I wrote back:
“Sorry this is a serious asset and is not going to be priced for the purpose you’re suggesting”
“You can go with another extension like a .me or .tv or other extension for such a use”
His response:
“You shouldn’t make an assumption that I don’t have the money for it. How much do you perceive your domain to be worth?
My response:
“I’m not making an assumption you don’t have the money for it, I’m making the assumption that a domain you’re buying for the expressed purpose of:
“My daughter and her friends dressed up as professors for Halloween, and I wanted to put their photos up online.”
“Is not going to be viable to pay fair market value of this type of domain”
His final response:
“So once again, you have refused to answer the question. Congrats on losing potential business”
Ok so what does this show you?
Buyer’s lie.
Usually I wouldn’t even engage with this type of buyer but I was in a playful mood that day.
Typically I disregard anything in the email, any story, any plan for the domain, any information about the buyer that he is providing.
Instead I just quote a price.
At the end of the day the domain is worth what’s its worth, the price is not dependent on the buyer’s pocketbook.
The statements or representation made buyer that buyer it maybe true or not but your price should certainly not be lowered based on them.
However the domain maybe worth MORE to certain buyers not because they have more money but because they have more need for the domain.
So if the buyer properly identifies themselves and from that information you can determine the buyer has a particular need for that domain, then its fair to say the domain is worth more to them.
That’s good information to have.
I love these look backs, I never read them the first time around. Mike is always an interesting read.
Fantastic read
“Buyer’s lie.
Yes people on the Internet often lie.”
That what it is all about….”BUllS” people lie aka people BS, that in our genes.
Funny, I just received such an email asking about one of my domains with an offer of $100
He wrote…
Please Contact me. I want to make a Website for my Hometown Soccer Club. The Name of the Domain fits just perfect.
—–
Now I ask you does Besnus.com sound like a hometown soccer club?
I guess it could but doubt it. So I wrote back..
Thanks for your offer, however the domain name you are asking about Besnus.com
has a much higher price tag.
———
He responded with ..
okay too bad.. i’m just curios, how high is the Price then?
——–
I just listened to a podcast of Rick S. and he said something like he feels a good domain is worth 15k min.
So I quoted him that as an offer I would consider..
so far no response..
Hard to KNOW what is a lie and what is not, but like most of you I assume I do not buy domains to sell them for $100. any comments?
Surely not…
Had someone ask me if I would sell them my domain name and when I asked what they were offering, they outright stated that they had no intention paying for the domain and wanted me to just give it to them out of the goodness of my heart for their hard luck story involving orphan girls in Israel.
Shrug.
I don’t think people are actually lying about their motivation for buying a domain name. But I do agree the price of the domain should not be based on how much the buyer might be able to afford.
Last week I received an inquiry asked me to give him the domain name (for free), it happend to be the name of his local band. After I politely declined, the man was perplexed and asked me why I wound’t give him the domain name since it was not being used.
I was feeling chatty that day so I replied to him about “domaining” and “parking” and I didn’t even bother to tell him how much I wanted for the domain name.
I meant, I don’t think everybody lies.