Some things sellers say just make me scratch my head

**TrustButVerify** · January 22nd, 2012, 10:59 PM

Here's part of an email that I received from a domain seller:

Recently I had done an appraisal on all my domain names and found out I am sitting on over $12Million in domain names.

Just because these domain names appraise at a certain price doesn't mean they couldn't go for far more and in many cases many multiples or the appraised price.

I am willing to sell domain names in bulk at a big discount so this can be even more lucrative for the person selling these.

For example, For $200,000 I would give $400,000 plus in appraised value.

Just thought I would share

**Eternal** · January 23rd, 2012, 1:03 PM

He may as well have just said "I don't want to seem desperate, but i'm desperate, please give me some money". I'd offer him £10 and as an extra incentive i would throw in a free kinder egg.

**KenW3** · January 24th, 2012, 4:16 AM

This sounds like a typical n00b domainer valuation assessment

Appraisal is an art more than a science at this point, but could (and should) be much more of a science, handled far more professionally.

This sounds like someone deluded by get-rich-quick domainer manuals, a case of beginners attempting to influence (and profit from) other beginners. For domain names in this valuation range, this type of sales attempt would never be considered by an experienced seller.

**TrustButVerify** · January 24th, 2012, 9:50 PM

What's funny is this guy actually has sold some domains in the past. He does have SOME good domains and he claims to have sold a package in the past for 6 figures. He just doesn't seem to be able to differentiate the domain values.

Most valuations are bogusly inflated. The high price domains only gets sold under very specific circumstances where someone REALLY wants that domain.

**Sally** · March 2nd, 2012, 6:47 AM

This seller seems an amateur. There's a professional domain reseller that I know of which has ridiculous prices for their domain names. They have a grading system for their domains and even the worst are often priced at mid X,XXX. I'm talking names like softgreenwidgetsnewyork.com. They have a ticker that lists recent domain names and I find it hard to believe the claims of sale they make.

**crabfoot** · March 2nd, 2012, 7:57 AM

There are those people who notice your unprotected whois details, and write to you when your domain is expiring. They are really asking you to transfer your domain to them and pay an inflated rate for the transfer and hosting of the domain, but they don't put it like that. They imply that they are the people responsible for your hosting, and they hope to get some junior person in your organisation to put their invoice through and pay it.

Those sharks wouldn't do it if it didn't make money - real fancy paperwork and postage costs at least $1 a shot, and they have to target their customers, too.

now, is email cheap?
So somebody who owns a bunch of domains has them valued on one of those automated sites, then sends out a lot of spammy emails about it. This is a mostly automated process so it doesn't cost much. Maybe they target their customers a little - they scrape contact emails off existing sites. Whatever, if they get one positive response in a thousand or so, and make a sale, they are going to make money.

There are a lot of people on the web who don't know the value of what they have, or what they are being offered. Other people rely on that as a way to make money from them.

**David S** · March 2nd, 2012, 9:45 AM

Originally Posted by KenW3

Appraisal is an art more than a science at this point, but could (and should) be much more of a science, handled far more professionally.

While there can probably be some more scientific methods applied to domain name appraisals, the biggest hurdle is the fact that value is often very subjective. How much does THIS buyer really want the domain? There are other factors that are also difficult to quantify, particularly if you are dealing with domains that are not primarily geared to keyword searches.

**Clinton** · March 2nd, 2012, 9:53 AM

David, what would you say are the main difficulty to quantify factors?

**Sally** · March 2nd, 2012, 10:13 AM

Originally Posted by David S

How much does THIS buyer really want the domain?

That's true. Sometimes sellers will hold out for much more than a fair value without realizing that if the prospective buyer disappears, they'll be back to square one with no inquiries for months. I've had sellers directly ask me 'What is the maximum that you can (afford to) pay?' which seems a silly way to negotiate.

**TeamFreedom** · March 2nd, 2012, 12:16 PM

I had a pal tell me that everyone will sell for something. Domainers seem to have a notion of playing the lottery. They know they have sh*t for money domains but BECAUSE they read somewhere that because it has this factor or that factor. It has to be that price.

They set really high but will come down when they want to. Have you ever noticed the domainers that set high and sell for pennies often times seem to be the most desperate? I have noticed this a lot. I have come to a conclusion that these are the new ones just getting in the business and been misguided. I say this because I have been there. Bought a domain, was a cocky s.o.b and was blasted before I knew it.