I am not sure about you, but I regularly receive a reply from a prospective buyer who tries to tell me my domain name is worth less than the price I set. “That domain name isn’t worth six figures,” or something along those lines, is a response I receive on a regular basis. It’s like somehow the lawyer, software engineer, or digital marketing manager is also an expert in domain name valuation.

Despite an obvious lack of knowledge about domain name values, some people are quick to opine that a domain name is overpriced. Domain name valuation is subjective (and dynamic), but there is enough information and data available that a buyer should at least be able to get an idea about what a domain name is worth before inquiring about it.

What works best for me is replying by asking them how they came to the conclusion that the domain name is not worth six figures. When I respond to offers, I usually provide a list of domain name sales I believe are somewhat comparable, so asking them for insight as to why my domain name is not worth an amount similar to other comparable sales I shared is usually disarming.

In April of this year, I submitted an offer to buy Neighbor.com. At the time I made my offer, Neighbor.com was forwarding to the LunchBots.com. LunchBots are neat, stainless-steel food storage containers that are particularly helpful for sending lunch to school with children. The founder of LunchBots was the registrant of Neighbor.com, and she was using Neighbor.com to send traffic to LunchBots’ website.

When I made my purchase offer, I was told the price to buy Neighbor.com was $300,000 and the figure was non-negotiable. This was beyond what I would pay for the domain name, so I passed on the opportunity. I just learned that Neighbor.com sold recently. Unfortunately, the former owner declined to disclose the final sale price.

Neighbor.com was acquired by Neighbor, “a peer-to-peer storage company that connects hosts with unused space to renters in need of affordable storage.” Since the company was founded in 2017, Neighbor has raised $4.1 million in funding, according to CrunchBase.

I needed to re-add a domain name to my marketplace account, and I spent a few minutes trying to find the previous asking price. While looking through my emails, I found an exchange I had a couple of years ago with a prospective buyer. He offered $1,000 to buy the domain name, and I had it priced at $15,000. For whatever reason, he was perturbed that I owned the domain name as an investment.

Instead of responding to him in kind with insults or defensive commentary, I chose to de-escalate. The purpose of my reply, as I recall, was to show that the domain name is valuable, is coveted by others, and he should understand that it might not be available to buy at all had someone else owned it. I was pretty certain this wasn’t going to end in a deal, but nobody wins in a pissing contest.

I don’t think I have had a negotiation like this since, but I would definitely consider reusing this reply if necessary: