Like many other domainers, I get heaps of $100 offers on my domains. Some people complain about ‘lowballers’ and the constant offers at the magical $100 price point, but it doesn’t bother me. I see these offers as ‘conversation starters’.
Every offer is an opportunity to negotiate; to find a point of agreement between a seller’s pricing expectations and a buyer’s purchase cost expectations (and budget). This will often require some explanation of the market value of a domain, in order to adjust the prospective buyer’s cost expectations.
When I receive an offer I get the prospective customers name, email address, phone number, and offer (or other comments). The phone field on my ‘make offer’ form is not even mandatory, but I would say roughly 2/3 of people still include a phone number, simply because there’s a field for it.
The details gleaned from the make offer form assist with research and in most cases I can get a pretty good picture of who the prospective buyer is. This is terrific intelligence for negotiations!
I think $100 offers are so common for the following reasons:
- Domain values are not widely understood out it in the broader population, so many people simply don’t know where to start.
- $100 is a natural anchor point for many people, particularly as non-domainers will often see the registration price as a reference point – so they see $100 as a ‘fair return’. Most people outside of tech circles and domain investors don’t appreciate that quality domains have a cost base far above $100.
- People want to pay as little as possible, so they’ll ‘pitch low’ rather than risk feeling that they overpaid. Most people can part with $100 without feeling too much financial pain, so it’s a comfortable proposition.
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