One of the more annoying aspects of domain investing is negotiating a deal, coming to an agreement, and the buyer flaking when it is time to pay. It can be disappointing and frustrating, but I do my best to forget those broken deals and put them in the past.
I’ve always set minimum offer amounts on my platform-listed domain names. I don’t want to deal with $100 offers for 4 and 5 figure domain names. I have heard great tales of brokers closing six figure deals that started with 3 figure offers, but I’ve never seen that.
What is more common is people with low budgets inputting ever-growing offer amounts to try and find that magic number that will allow them to hit submit. Most of these offers aren’t genuine and deals will never close. If a seller is interested in locking in a deal, that initial offer may be accepted, and the deal won’t close.
Sometimes a buyer has other constituents that need to approve a deal. The prospect may be a lower level employee who needs buy-in from the CEO or CMO. In order to try and get the necessary sign-off, the buyer needs a firm price. What appears to the domain registrant as a bonafide negotiation could be more of a fishing expedition from the buyer to lock in a price to present to the team.
Buyers don’t always have the ability to pay. They may need to pay over time but the buyer expects an immediate payment. There could be banking or currency issues – or there could be language issues that cause problems at close.
Sometimes it is as simple as trust. For whatever reason, the buyer loses trust in the seller or doesn’t feel comfortable transacting in the way the seller requires.
There are a ton of reasons why buyers flake, and I’ve probably experienced them all in one way or another. The key for me – and it’s not easy – is to put those deals in the past. A buyer who really wants a domain name will figure out a way to close a deal. A buyer who doesn’t will let a deal die. It’s a rare but unfortunate occurrence. It’s not usually my fault, a broker’s fault, or the platform’s fault. It’s frustrating and annoying, but I do my best to put it in the past as quickly as possible.
As I said many times,most of the fake buyers are usually people that knows you and they are just phishing and playing with you