What is the most you have paid for personal or business reasons? What extension? What domain? Mask them out fully or partially if you want but knowing the length is helpful.
Never paid much for domains, but the biggest loss was exgfs.com
I registered it in 2005ish before that whole niche in porn took off, some dude offered me $100 3 days later, being young and naive I took it thinking it was a great flip. Year later I watched him sell it for $100,000. I learned my lesson that day.
That hurts! Personally, I have lost a lot of money selling
things quickly, or if I'm not feeling that great. I remember
selling something on craigslist, and while walking through
my carport, the buyer asked me what I wanted for the '63 karmen
ghia. I was tired--I didn't like the dude--and just wanted
to finish the deal. I told him I need to think about it, but
I would take $200. I walked upstairs and said WTF is wrong with me? I had to block the dude from emailing me. As
someone who buys stuff, I've noticed young people sometimes
vastly undervalue their stuff, while a lot of older people overvalue.
Maybe 5-6 years ago I bought tgood.com for $300, negotiated down from $3,000. In 2014 I sold it to TGOOD Electric Co. out of China – their market cap at the time was ~$7B and a co-founder messaged me via Facebook. I was set on never selling it; that TGOOD was to become my VIRGIN brands. Over the years I tested different blog concepts on it. However, their offer was one I couldn't refuse and has provided a nice personal runway. My cousins law firm handled the dialog and it took 3-4 months from start to finish… since this nickname was originated by my birth name, I gave my parents about a third of the proceeds.
I sold a four-letter .org for $5000 once, original offer was $500 which I didn't think was enough. Whatever the buyer wanted to launch on it never got off the ground, and a few years later I was able to grab it back when it lapsed.
Doesn't that feel great? I had that happen. I was in negotiations with someone that fell through and then the next YEAR they decided to not renew and let it lapse.
There is a domain I really want right now that is being squatted. Any advice HN? I already own the '.net' version so I don't really _need_ the '.com' version but I want it. I doubt it is a high value name and I am considering just sending the the admin listed in the WHOIS an email like "Hey, I will give you $50 for .com, let me know." Is this a good approach or should I try to go thru an 'appraiser' or something like that.
I see you are the owner of Whatever.com. I'm in the process of trying to find a domain name for a client I am building a web site for and think your name could be a good fit. I am contacting different domain owners as we have it in the budget to buy a cool name and Whatever.com is on the list we came up with.
Would you be interested in selling it for $2,500?
Let me know and I can have the funds wired to you next day or PayPal'd to you. Just let me know your PayPal address.
1) Have a friend send an e-mail asking if it's for sale. If they respond with a reasonable price, buy it.
2) Assuming the owner/squatter is remotely intelligent, they'll do their diligence and realize that the .NET is being actively used. In that case, you'll have to decide how bad you want it and/or if you would ever consider re-branding. You could try the: "This is the best offer you're ever going to get, so take it or leave it." But the owner could always call your bluff, and just hold onto the name knowing that it's getting ever more valuable to you as you grow.
I'd try option 1, wait a few months (depending on what they say), and then try some blend of option 2.
Here's an email exchange I had with someone who bought a domain from me:
Buyer
Hi there,
Is the domain-name.com domain for sale?
Cheers
Jotux
I have future plans for the domain but I'd considering selling it. Make me an offer.
Buyer
Hi Joe
How about $500?
Cheers
Jotux
That works for me. You can paypal or dwolla money to me, I'll give you the auth code to transfer the domain.
If it's not already listed for sale somewhere for ~$50, it's very unlikely you're going to get it for a relatively low figure.
Once someone gets contacted about their domain, their estimation of the domain's worth automatically jumps. So if they're thinking it's not all that valuable, your contact will make them think it's worth something. Even a layperson will think it's worth hundreds or thousands of dollars.
I'd also check out the whois info and see how long it has been registered. Assuming it is a .com address multiply the number of years by $10 to get an idea of how much they have been paying to keep it registered.
They are going to want to at least recoup their cost in a sale (sunk cost fallacy?) so I'd offer them at least that plus 10% so they aren't insulted.
I did the same thing (sent an email to the WHOIS) to a name I wanted. The guy responded and we went back and forth a bit. He had just registered the name a few months prior from godaddy and had just paid the $12 or whatever. He however thought the value had skyrocketed since he bought it and wanted a lot more. I just found another domain that hadn't been registered and bought it.
Use the To: field of your request to your advantage. Send him an email along with 20 other webmaster@domains asking all of them if their domains are for sale and for how much. You can even throw in a line that you're looking for a quick deal and whoever can respond with a reasonable price, say $50 or so, will get the buy.
Solid domain name, and I had an interesting product for it. Didn't materialize the way I hoped, so I shut it down. I've kept the domain though.
I've occasionally run across domains in the $5k range that were quite good, but I still seem to find good enough .com addresses that I've yet to resort to buying one. I'm working on a new product now that is a 5 letter .com address, I bought it straight from a registrar, and it's exactly what I was looking for.
I've probably only owned one that was stand-alone valuable. I bought a domain in 1997 via Network Solutions, and have held on to it since then. It's a six letter .com dictionary term.
Readit News
I registered it in 2005ish before that whole niche in porn took off, some dude offered me $100 3 days later, being young and naive I took it thinking it was a great flip. Year later I watched him sell it for $100,000. I learned my lesson that day.
Subject Line: Whatever.com ($2,500?)
Hi,
I see you are the owner of Whatever.com. I'm in the process of trying to find a domain name for a client I am building a web site for and think your name could be a good fit. I am contacting different domain owners as we have it in the budget to buy a cool name and Whatever.com is on the list we came up with.
Would you be interested in selling it for $2,500?
Let me know and I can have the funds wired to you next day or PayPal'd to you. Just let me know your PayPal address.
Thanks for your time.
-YOUR NAME
Might be worth mentioning Escrow.com/Sedo upfront.
1) Have a friend send an e-mail asking if it's for sale. If they respond with a reasonable price, buy it.
2) Assuming the owner/squatter is remotely intelligent, they'll do their diligence and realize that the .NET is being actively used. In that case, you'll have to decide how bad you want it and/or if you would ever consider re-branding. You could try the: "This is the best offer you're ever going to get, so take it or leave it." But the owner could always call your bluff, and just hold onto the name knowing that it's getting ever more valuable to you as you grow.
I'd try option 1, wait a few months (depending on what they say), and then try some blend of option 2.
Once someone gets contacted about their domain, their estimation of the domain's worth automatically jumps. So if they're thinking it's not all that valuable, your contact will make them think it's worth something. Even a layperson will think it's worth hundreds or thousands of dollars.
They are going to want to at least recoup their cost in a sale (sunk cost fallacy?) so I'd offer them at least that plus 10% so they aren't insulted.
Both were webcam related sites.
7 letters, .com address, six or seven years ago
Solid domain name, and I had an interesting product for it. Didn't materialize the way I hoped, so I shut it down. I've kept the domain though.
I've occasionally run across domains in the $5k range that were quite good, but I still seem to find good enough .com addresses that I've yet to resort to buying one. I'm working on a new product now that is a 5 letter .com address, I bought it straight from a registrar, and it's exactly what I was looking for.
I've probably only owned one that was stand-alone valuable. I bought a domain in 1997 via Network Solutions, and have held on to it since then. It's a six letter .com dictionary term.