How Quickly I Reply to Offers

I think there are two schools to thought regarding the speed in which a domain owner replies to an offer for a domain name. Some people reply quickly in order to capitalize on a hot lead, and others respond slowly as a means of showing a lack of desire to sell a domain name. Generally speaking, I reply to offers fairly quickly.

I don’t necessarily think there is a right or wrong way to reply. I also think the response time should be part strategic and partly related to the situation at hand – both with the business and with the company making the inquiry or offer.

There are several reasons why I tend to respond to offers quickly, and I want to share some of them with you:

  • When someone inquires, they are interested in buying my domain name at that moment. I don’t want them to lose interest over time.
  • Their financial situation may change at a later date/time.
  • They could find another domain name for their project.
  • I want to show that I am decisive with my pricing.
  • Business people like when their requests are dealt with promptly.
  • I don’t want to forget to reply to the inquiry, and I may forget to reply if I put it off.

Some people prefer to wait for Ā period of time before replying to an offer. Here are a few reasons why it might be good to wait to reply:

  • Shows that I am not all that interested in selling the domain name.
  • Allows the negotiation to progress at my pace.
  • It can make the buyer increase his offer to accelerate the pace of the negotiation and reach a result more quickly.
  • If the buyer maintains interest over a period of time, it shows how much they want or need this particular domain name.
  • Some larger companies move slowly and methodically, and by doing the same, I can show how important the domain asset is to my company because a deal needs lengthy consideration.

There are plenty of good reasons for replying to offers quickly and taking time to reply to offers. With my business model, I prefer to engage the company inquiring immediately to try and work out a deal. Perhaps I get to be a bit impatient, but that is how I operate.

I am certainly not an expert at negotiating, and I am sure there are people who reply quickly or slowly for different reasons than the ones I listed above. I would be interested in hearing how quickly you reply to offers, and what your rationale is.

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

13 COMMENTS

  1. Remember that old ‘three day rule’ about dating: it does not apply šŸ˜€

    The world of online business moves fast, and capital liquidity can shift from one day to the next. It’s advisable to respond promptly, but not in a hasty manner, to inquiries. As long as one completes their research on the background of the buyer, a response within 24-48 hours is the norm.

    Personally, I don’t respond to inquiries that arrive on weekends, unless they are direct calls.

  2. I found an inquiry from a company about a domain of mine which had been forwarded to a related developed site of mine. This potential buyer sent their we are interested in buying this domain email to the email for the developed site – an email account I rarely check. So I didn’t discover their email until several months later. I replied but never received a response back. They probably moved on to some other name.

  3. If you are in real estate how fast do you reply? If you are in car sales how fast do you reply? If you are in retail sales how fast do you reply? The answer is as soon as possible. These people that say they wait 3, 4, 5 days and sometimes a lot longer are foolish and probably don’t sell many domains.

    • That is not a bad idea, but not sure how effective it is. Reply right away to get the discussion started, but reply slower to make it seem like you are “thinking” about things.

  4. I always do my best to respond with 24hours.. You never know how quickly the party need the name and whether there are other names they are considering.. Like in any business a timely response is appreciated.

  5. Internet is still the Wild West. Responding fast instills confidence that you are a real business and removes any doubts of…

    “It took them 5 days to respond to an offer, will it take them 2 weeks to transfer the domain?”

    Anything you can do to remove any doubts when money is on the line, good domain, professional site, professional logo, SSL, Security Scanner, quick replies, etc… helps.

  6. >”I want to show that I am decisive with my pricing.”

    So then it would seem you also usually reply with a definite price, or do you ever reply more vaguely with only a range while hoping an offer comes in at the upper region of the range, for instance?

    • Most inquiries from DomainNameSales have a price, and I generally counter offer.

      If the buyer didn’t make an offer, I usually wait to see where they are before naming my price. No sense in continuing a discussion (especially if they want a phone call) if they can only pay $1,000 for a 5 figure name.

  7. Yes, end users usually find the whole thing confusing. A response is always welcome as they know they’ve actually made contact. Imagine emailing a company about a five or six-figure purchase and getting a reply days later.

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