Creatively Bridging the Gap in a Negotiation

Win/Win/Win/Win The fourth win is the positive light that this reflects on domain investors.

Congrats Elliot!

I admire your skills and ability to compromise to find a solution.

Not an easy thing to do.

@ Mark

Thanks… It wasn’t a huge sale but I wanted to share this so others may be able to propose deals that work in favor of all parties.

@ gary

I don’t know if that’s the case, but I suppose it’s better than the alternative

I like this. Thanks

@ Uzoma

Instead of charity, you can also offer to take some goods from the company if they have products that you like. I’ve done this before and will write about it in a part two at some point.

Funny, I had used exactly that tactic with my negotiation last year with my biggest sale. It didn’t work in my case but I was very happy with sale price anyway and I felt like I was squeezing them a bit hard at that point anyway

Great minds think alike

Really creative! Neither party had to be the one giving up on their entrenched position, and both sides could say they only gave a bit for the sake of the charity. brilliant.

Congrats on the sale. Did you ask him to provide proof of donation or you took his word?

@ Gnanes

Took him at his word… he’s a well known CEO in that field and does a lot of speaking. I trust his word.

Great idea, mate. Am impressed.

congrats elliot and your right, win win for everyone.

business wise i don’t get Elliot.
you have gap in price.
you offer him to pay the gap to charity .
the deal is done.
what does the buyer get out of this ?
A tax reduction ?

I do not know how it works in the USA .
if he got a tax reduction then it looks like a win/win/win

personal point of view: it sounds super. money is nice but not everything. but that is my own personal opinion.

I wouldn’t say this is win/win/win because you have basically still got the same amount yourself making it lose/win/win. A good salesman closes the deal without making such trashy offers. I am starting to think you would have offered him sex if he paid your requested amount and you still would have been thinking of it as a win.

To the people who think this type of deal is a great new way to do things, you might also be interested in blackmail, extortion and death threats as this is the obvious progression…

Keep up the writing,
Martin

@ theo
He makes the donation to charity and gets the tax write off. Even though he pays more than he wanted, it’s still a write off.

“I am starting to think you would have offered him sex if he paid your requested amount and you still would have been thinking of it as a win.”

@ Martin

Sounds like you’re quite the intellect.

As I said, his offer was fair enough and I took it. He is happy, I am happy, and the charity is happy. It’s quite obvious that it is win/win. This is a descriptive domain name (non trademark) so clearly there was no need to have the name. I thought that was obvious, but apparently there are some slow readers – well, at least one.

Keep up the negative comments – hopefully it’s making you feel better about your own failures in life.

Yes, sorry, I actually am ashamed of myself for my comments and actually like your blog very much.

Congratulations for the sale. When other domainers are blogging with their difficulties in selling names you are still there making great sales.

Apology accepted… In truth, the sale value wasn’t all that great but I thought the idea could be used by others and possibly adapted (taking cash and products the buyer makes for example). In a difficult economy, we all need to think outside the box to make favorable deals.

1. M. Grace doesn’t live up to his name does he.

2. Elliot, the second part of your solution was a case of a Domainer doing something GOOD. I applaud that; and encourage all other Domainers to realize that they are all connected to everyone, and everything, on this planet.

All for one, one for all, or none at all.

as long as all parties are HAPPY it is all win for everyone.

if I were Elliot, I found another one who really need that name and could decide at once …no more barganing or waste of time

All the nay-Sayers seem to be missing the point. Elliot willfully decided to lower his price, something normal and acceptable-who cares why. Then his challenge was not looking weak and he found a great way to get his number, look strong and help others. Odds are the buyer makes charity donations anyway so it was just a matter of re-directing those funds. There was also a chance the buyer said no but re-confirmed his offer and allowed Elliot to accept. Well done!
Auto auctions often have cars sold with all proceeds going to a charity, maybe Elliot just opened a door to help with the image of the industry.

I recently was going to let a domain expire but instead gave it to someone in exchange for a $150 donation to Cancer.org

I have worked in the Sales industry (selling network computing products) for seven years and I tell you one thing – If the customer wants a certain price and declared the same, they will usually buy it at that price only, irrespective of our ‘pitch’.

And if they have declared a target price, they usually don’t negotiate further unless we accept immediately or we wait long enough for another competitor to enter.

I really liked this idea! I might even apply it for future non-domain negotiations too.