No More Minimum Offer (for me) at DNS

Earlier this month, I wrote about changing the minimum offer for my portfolio at DomainNameSales.com to $100,000. The primary objective was to see if buyers would continue to increase their opening offers prior to my responding. I thought that it would put more cards on the table for me to look at before taking action.

In addition to the comments that were shared below the article, I received a few emails from people who suggested this was the wrong tactic. I continued with it because I wanted to see for myself how it would work, and I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try it out for myself.

I recently removed this minimum as a result of a failed negotiation I had. The prospective buyer made an opening offer of $15,000, then he increased it to $20,000, and then he finally increased it to $50,000. I responded to his $50,000 offer to let him know that the domain name is worth more to me, and he responded that his best offer was actually $20,000. He submitted a higher offer because he saw the message that said the offer was too low, and he raised his offer to try and get the system to accept an offer for me to see. I am glad that I was not going to accept his $50k offer or that would have been a letdown.

I previously tested a minimum offer of $1,500 to weed out the annoying $10 offers, and I found that people would keep raising their offers and stop once the minimum was met. I felt that this wasn’t a good idea because people might have a misconception that they were submitting an acceptable offer, which was usually not the case.

With the new high minimum, I incorrectly assumed that people would be reluctant to submit a much higher offer for fear that it is accepted. I would not be comfortable submitting a $50,000 offer on a domain name I valued at $20,000. Apparently, I was wrong.

I have removed a minimum offer from my portfolios at DNS. When I receive the uneducated offers, I can determine if it’s worth spending time explaining the value or simply ignoring the inquiries.

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
  1. Thanks for sharing your research on minimum pricing – very helpful, Elliot. Your post title made it sound like DNS was making a big change in their platform…

  2. Ironically, shortly after posting this, I received a $75 offer for a different domain name that had a $10k offer last week.

    After I told the prospect, he advised me that I should have sold.

    Sure, I’ll take domain name advice from someone who offered $75 for a domain name that is worth at least $10,000 to someone else.

  3. I get tons of offers these days that never get past escrow.com agreement, ie, bogus offers or people not serious about following through. I’ve accepted low offers just to call these people’s bluffs and even then my hunch was confirmed. It’s getting very annoying.

    I don’t think having a minimum makes any difference. Just have to kiss lots of frogs before you find your prince.

  4. Easiest way to avoid these annoying inquiries that walk the price up to your minimum is to price your names.
    Price them all high rather than setting the minimum at a high number

  5. As more people come online, I am spending more time ignoring/educating lost, or misguided users.

    For one limo domain, I constantly have people trying to book limos, or get quotes thru the DNS inquiry page, you would think they would figure out it was for a domain name purchase.

    It is getting extremely time consuming, but it is a plus, as it shows people are out there using the internet searching for such services, and avoiding telephone contact, like the plague.

    • Re your limo domain story, I have few gambling-related domains parked at Voodoo and I’ve been getting requests for telephone betting accounts from people in the US and credit accounts in India.

      Maybe I should become a bookie, I reckon people that cannot recognize a parked page from a betting site would be good customers to have.

  6. I’ve done what that guy has done countless times. Even if you don’t hit the minimum offer, the form should go through as a way to open up dialogue.

  7. Hello Elliot
    I can understand that ‘this or that’ situation, you do anything is correct but I think ‘minimum’ creates confusion rather you can say ‘$150,000 Negotiable’
    Would like to hear from you!

  8. Elliot, had that same deal from a real person, who offer $70k on a name I was brokering. Customer said yes, and I confirmed via email we accepted that offer. They wrote back and said they offered too much and wanted a lower price. I wrote back and said I’ll let the lawyers work it out.

  9. It seems to me that it’s still a good idea to set a small minimum as a “conversation starter” just to avoid the $10 and $75 time wasters. I once watched a video, I think it may have been an interview of DNF Adam D. at the Sherpa site, in which it was recommended to set the minimum to something like $1288 (strange # of course). I often set the minimum to $1K, $2K or $10K and then put in the comments that it was only meant for listing purposes and perhaps I really want $250K, etc.

    So “no min.” vs. merely a “min. min.” for a little efficiency – no good?

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