How much to ask for your names

Many domain name owners, especially those that have been around for the last decade or so, regularly receive offers for their best names, wether they’re advertised for sale or not.

In most cases, a short message comes in the domain owner’s e-mailbox asking if the domain is for sale and if so, how much is asked for it. The first answer is usually along the lines of “No, this domain isn’t for sale but just out of curiosity, how much are you willing to offer to get it?” and the prospective buyer usually plays it safe but asking for the domain owner to actually name a price.

This kind of situation is somewhat frustrating because if the right price came to be offered, many domain owners could decide to sell even their best names but since negotiations are so tough, using e-mail messages, more often than not, nothing happens and whatever was discussed is quickly forgotten.

Experienced domain name owners know very well that serious buyers usually identify themselves clearly and this is mainly to make sure they won’t be sued, after they purchase a domain, for misrepresenting themselves. Imagine if your competitor anonymously came in and offered you money for one of your valuable domain names and you let it go only to find out, later on, that you’ve been conned. This would be enough to sue your competitor for misrepresentation so the serious buyers, even if they happen to be your competitor, will be smart enough to identify themselves.

In the event you’re comfortable with the other party you’re negotiating with, it’s probably smarter to discuss money matters over the phone, unless you’re really uncomfortable doing things this way. The obvious “double advantage” is that you can quickly decipher all the non-verbal information that’s nowhere to be found in e-mail messages -and- you can openly negotiate at the speed of speech. Numbers can fly a lot faster, this way. Of course, before agreeing to anything, you always say that you’ll think it over and call back to confirm.

Now, let’s think about that “perfect selling price” for your valuable domain name. You could rent it or install an ad for the potential buyer on it but in most cases, it’s a buyer and seller context so we’ll explore this common scenario.

Asking a million dollars for a domain name can be fine, in certain cases, if you consider the following:

• The value of the domain name renewals, since it was purchased – if it’s 10$ per year times 10 years, well, that’s 100$ right there;
• The domain-related value of whatever was made available through the domain name – for instance, if you operated a 500k$ a year toy store, you may value your name at a percentage of that amount, maybe even 100%;
• The vanity value of the domain name – keep in mind that anything that’s bound to be considered popular is a candidate for a vanity value premium, which can add up pretty quickly;
• The technical value of the domain name – if it’s short, generic (found in the dictionary), commonly used, widely known or easy to type, your domain name can be considered technically superior to other and may therefore carry a higher price tag;
• The multiples potential uses for the domain name – it’s amazing how some domains can be used in relation to a variety of themes so if it’s the case for your domain, you need to factor that into the price;
• The online popularity of the domain name – refers to all the places that link to the domain name and that have, through their own system, ranked it favorably. This needs to be considered in the selling price.

Over and above that, you can add as much “profit money” as you want, when selling your name and frankly, as long as the buyer is ready to pay, you can freely upgrade your pricing to fit his lofty means.

Once the conditions satisfy both parties comes the payment part. Escrow services usually work well for large amounts of money but they can be quite costly. If the buyer seems respectable, you can always go with a direct bank deposit followed by a transfer of your domain name as soon as the money has been secured. You can throw in a friendly lawyer’s letter explaining this, for good measure. Smaller transactions can be orchestrated through a payment processor like PayPal.

Serious buyers usually ask to be kept in the loop if you’re not interested in selling quickly. It’s always nice to know one of your names holds that much value for them.

Last but not least, respect your gut feeling. If you feel selling a given name, even for a hefty price, might turn out to be a bad idea, especially if it’s expected to rise in value in the coming years, perhaps you should play it safe and listen more closely to your inner-voice. Inversely, if you feel good about a deal, go for it!

Tags: domain names, selling domains, domain prices, price for domain names, web