Foolish Inquiry: “I Am a Domain Buyer, Not an End User”

I want to share a piece of domain buying advice with you based on an inquiry I received on one of my domain names from the Voodoo.com sales form.

In the field asking for an offer, the person replied (with spelling and punctuation corrected): “How much?  I am a domain buyer, not an end user.” Translated, it means, I am not going to offer you what the domain name is probably worth.

Although I do appreciate the fact that knowing the buyer wasn’t going to pay top dollar, I was able to save some time with the negotiation, I think it is a poor way to open a negotiation to buy a domain name. Why tell the domain owner you’re not going to pay him or her what the domain name is worth?

My reply was simple: “too much.” If the buyer was going to come close to what it would take to get me to sell the domain name, he would have asked how much is too much, but he did not.

When you’re negotiating, I think you should act in good faith, but don’t kill the negotiation before it starts. When replying to a domain forum sales post or to a domain newsletter listing, it may be appropriate to mention that you’re not going to pay end user pricing and that’s an expectation with a listing to other domain investors. However, on an unsolicited offer, it’s probably not a good idea to initially mention that you’re not an end user, unless you don’t want much of a response.

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

17 COMMENTS

  1. Hi Elliot,

    It has happened to me many times, almost few times a month we get a similar email from domainers or resellers.

    My response is always like this:

    Unless you are willing to pay end user prices, we can’t sell to you. Let us know what you think?

    Then you hardly hear back:)

  2. You are in control as the owner. Quote him your price.
    The I am a Domainer so i deserve a discounted price that many have taken on is a Joke
    You either can afford to live Beachfront or you don’t

  3. I understand emails like this very well and appreciate them.
    Guy simply is looking for reseller prices ( are you looking for end user pirces?). Some domainers do not mind selling to other domainers other sell only to end users.
    He does not want to waste your and his time.
    If you do not reply him he knows you are selling to end users and will not bother you.
    Honest, straight to the point.

    Personally, I ignore emails like this if I am looking for end user for my domain but if I do not mind selling to other domainer I reply and offer domainer price.

  4. Could mean that he wants a bargain, but could also mean that he just wants to pay a fair price, rather than have to beat all other bidders by a factor of ten (which seems to be the minimum that some sellers look for).

  5. Could mean that he wants a bargain, but could also mean that he just wants to pay a fair price, rather than have to beat all other bidders by a factor of ten.

  6. I agree with Adam 100% and want this info. A lot of domainers waste time with anonymous low ball offers on Sedo. As the owner it would be great to know this is a guy with $500 budget trying to buy a $5000 domain, no need to waste time.

    There is a wholesale and retail market. I have brokered plenty of names where big domainers at your level Elliot have said right away, “I am looking for reseller prices, I am not an end user for this domain,”

    Anything that speeds up the time wasting process is good imo.

    I think we all have domains we know we only want that end user price and then there are some that we will sell at wholesale to move some domains along.

  7. “There is a wholesale and retail market. I have brokered plenty of names where big domainers at your level Elliot have said right away, “I am looking for reseller prices, I am not an end user for this domain,””

    Did you go to those people and offer them the names, or did they come to you asking to purchase the names unsolicited?

  8. end users want reseller prices, have to be very careful, I treat every offer as if it is an end user, if domainer doesnt like price, well they can register the .net.

  9. The buyer is letting you know he won’t buy your domain at Mike, Rick and Frank’s prices. You previously mentioned that you would ever buy a domain at their end-user prices (Domain Sherpa interview).

    Why take offense to the end-user and domain statement? It is a two-way road. You once ended the negotiation process at Sedo because the seller replied back with a much higher counteroffer. Why refuse to negotiate, especially when you can get an awesome deal like the new owners of Orangefield.com?

    If the buyer (domainer) was serious about purchasing your domain, they would have just made an offer. The domain is not an priority to them. The buyer is hinting that for the right price, they will purchase your domain. If the price is not right, then they will move on. IMO, he is the type of buyer you find scouring domain platforms for a good deal.

    We are witnessing some terrible domain sales. Everybody thinks they can take advantage of the end-user. Sooner or later, the end-user will get a brain and gain a competitive advantage.

  10. The buyer is letting you know he won’t buy your domain at Mike, Rick and Frank’s prices. You previously mentioned that you would never buy a domain at their end-user prices (Domain Sherpa interview).

    Why take offense to the end-user and domainer statement? It is a two-way road. You once ended the negotiation process at Sedo because the seller replied back with a much higher counteroffer. Why refuse to negotiate, especially when you can get an awesome deal like the new owners of Orangefield.com? (horrible)

    If the buyer (domainer) was serious about purchasing your domain, they would have just made an offer. The domain is not an priority to them. The buyer is hinting that for the right price, they will purchase your domain. If the price is not right, then they will move on. IMO, these are the type of buyers you find scouring domain platforms for a good deal to park on InternetTraffic.

    We are witnessing some terrible domain sales. Every domainer thinks they can take advantage of the end-user. Sooner or later, the end-user will get a brain and gain a competitive advantage.

  11. I think it’s a fair opening remark and does save time. If you are in need of cash, maybe you’d sell for lower than end-user price. If this guy does this 100 times on 100 different names, he might get one or a few deals. The worst thing is when potential buyers have a bad attitude, like they are owed the domain and you are scum for having registered it before them.

  12. I think it’s good actually. It’s honest (hopefully) and now you know the conversation is going to be in wholesale prices, and if you are looking for retail first reply is “sorry, I’m looking for a retail buyer, no wholesale pricing here”.

  13. Few days ago I was contcted by a guy working as IT Manager with a big European company. He is based in Dubai. He wanted to buy a one word (Indian) City dot com from me.

    He wrote ” I am an enduser, not a reseller”.

    I asked him to make an offer. He offered $100 !!!

    May be he will now try to buy Burj Khalifa Towers for $ 100.

  14. Elliot–how about a posting asking for everyone’s funniest/ wackiest/ oddest/ etc none-automated domain purchase inquiries; with or without including the domain in the story.

    If you do, here’s one of mine:

    A few years ago I received a purchase inquiry on my Cash Back Checking.com.

    The wacky part of the story is that he said that; though he was working for a regional bank; he wasn’t contacting me on their behalf, but because he wanted to use the domain for a personal project he was working on.

    Yea, right.

    And he even sent me the e-mail from his office at the bank.

    Doh!

    ps As I do with most inquiries, I referred him to my domain website for pricing guidance, and never heard from him again.

  15. I think its a very sensible opening by the buyer because you know not to go any further and waste no more time.

    Atleast he was honest and told his real condition and you had the liberty of not wasting any further time.

    Sometimes these buyers open things up after exchanging couple of emails and then tell you the truth which could be very annoying.

    Cheers.

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