When an end user contacts a domain owner to purchase a domain name, the challenge of negotiating a sales price begins. Oftentimes, the domain owner has a certain sales price in mind, while the buyer has a number in his head, either determined by his budgetary requirements or his own personal constraints. A domain seller needs to play part psychologist and part savvy businessman to determine how to read between the lines of an email to yield the best possible price, but to ensure the negotiation isn’t ended prematurely.

When the negotiation dance has begun, I think less attention should be paid to the buyer and more to the domain name. Sure, if the buyer really needs the name and has an unlimited budget, the sky could be the limit for the sales price. However, if the seller misreads this need, a sale could be easily lost by drastically over-pricing the domain name. One of the most important things to keep in mind when negotiating is that category killer names (such as LaptopComputers.com, HomeMortgage.com…etc) usually can’t be replaced easily, and the price can be reflective of this . Brandable names (such as CoolGadgets.com, FunTrips.com…etc), on the other hand, can usually be replaced much more easily, and the buyer may go out and find an alternative at a much more attractive price rather than over-pay for this type of name.

An example of this was when I was looking to acquire a home decorating domain name a few months ago. I negotiated with a few domain owners to try to buy a brandable name for an affiliated site I wanted to build. I am sure each of three names I inquired about received no natural traffic, and they weren’t developed, so the true value was in the name and what a buyer would pay. While two of the names were very over priced and not even worth making a counteroffer, a third person replied “you sold xxxxxxxxx.com for $x,xxx and the price of this name is a little less,” which I found to be ridiculous since the names were completely unrelated. Just because I can afford to pay more for a domain name, doesn’t mean I will pay more, especially because I have a feel for domain valuation. Needless to say, I decided to simply register an expired name for $7.44, and I bought DecoratingDiscounts.com, which is much better than the others in a cost/benefit analysis.

Yes, a domain name is a one of a kind piece of Internet property that only one entity can own. If an end-user tries to buy the domain name, the seller should balance his knowledge of the end user’s finances with the value of the domain name. Sure, great deals can happen, but just like in a game of double down video poker, you never know what price is going to lose you a sale. People don’t like to be taken advantage of, and if they feel the seller has increased the price simply because of who the buyer is, the negotiation may be ended.

For me, when I buy a domain name that I plan to sell, I have a value in mind. If/when I receive an offer in that range, chances are good that I will sell it.  While it’s great when people sell a domain name a huge sum - and there are plenty of stories like that, I know there are many more stories where the buyer says “no thanks” and moves on to another name. There have been plenty of times when I would have paid more for a domain name, but the asking price was unreasonable. Sure, name your own price if the money isn’t life changing and you don’t need to sell your domain names. But if you are “rich on paper,”  over pricing domain names isn’t going to help put you in a strong cash position.

Jeremiah was a bullfrog… and a biblical figure… and a common first name… and now you can own the domain name Jeremiah.com for just $55,000 $39,000 - or if you submit a best offer that’s accepted by the owner via Ebay. Some recent first name .com sales include:

Jacob.com $75,000 (I think this was a steal)
Marilyn.com $45,000
Doug.com $45,000
Kathy.com $65,000

There have already been two competitive offers placed in the first 8 hours of listing, so I would be surprised if it makes it until the listing end date of April 29th.

Sing it with me…

“Joy to the world, all the boys and girls, joy to all the fishies in the deep blue sea, joy to you and me…”

On April 4th, I offered the domain name UnemploymentLine.com for $5,750. The name didn’t sell then, so I am going to drop the price on it today. The new price is a crazy $3,500. This is a cool name, and with the current recession, unemployment is a hot button issue.

First person to respond “sold” in the comment section will get the name.

Today’s domain deal of the day is for Metabolizers.com with a sale price of just $4,500. I’ve noticed several diet supplement commercials touting various metabolizers to help lose weight. From the little I know, metabolizers supposedly speed up a person’s metabolism to help metabolize fat and lose weight. I’ve been seeing more and more of these types of commercials lately.

According to one site I read, “Fat metabolizers or fat burners are a group of over-the-counter diet pills with active ingredients that theoretically raise metabolism and help burn body fat.“  There are many questions about whether these pills work or not, but there is no question that they are being actively marketed on television, on the Internet, and at dietary supplement shops.  As a special offer, I will also give the buyer FatMetabolizers.com for FREE, although this name must be pushed to a Moniker account.

The price is very firm and the name(s) won’t last long at this price. The first person to post “sold” in the comment section will get these two names for cheap.

Here are a few keyword geographic domain names that I am offering for the dirt cheap price of $20/each have sold. All of these names are registered at Moniker and have several months before expiration. To sell the set faster, I will set a price of $100 total. To make it even better, I will donate the $100 to Turning Point, a domestic violence organization in the Lehigh Valley.

DelawareStrippers.com
IowaStrippers.com
MississippiStrippers.com
NebraskaStrippers.com
NewMexicoStrippers.com
OklahomaStrippers.com
OregonStrippers.com
WyomingStrippers.com

First person to post sold in the comment section will get the names for a good price and a good cause.

Today I am listing Crooning.com for just a bargain basement price of $975. With some recent American Idol crooners doing well, this could be a great domain name for a website about the art of crooning - which is defined as singing popular songs in a soft, sentimental manner. I am not personally a fan of this type of singing, but based on the last two American Idol series, there are many people who dig it.

The first person to respond, will get this great domain name.

Another day, another good deal. Today I am selling Saxophonists.com has sold. There are 271,000 Google listings for the term “saxophonists.” One cool idea would be to build a website/blog with profiles of famous saxophonists like Bird, Coltrane, and Michael Brecker (who I saw live). To monetize the website, you can add mini Amazon.com shops/widgets with cds from these artists in addition to Adsense banners.

Come to think of it, if the name isn’t sold by the end of business today, that’s what I will do with it! The name is registered at Moniker, and my blog is the only place I will list it for sale.

TaxGuide.com and TaxGuides.com have sold at the BIN price.

I have seen various blog posts and forum commentary discussing the recent listing of large quantities of domain names by various domain companies and individuals. I can’t speak on behalf of anyone else, but it looks like many domain owners are in the midst of evaluating their portfolios. Companies and individuals have been sifting through their portfolios, choosing names for development, names that are earning their keep in PPC revenue, and trying to sell the other names that aren’t performing well and have little intrinsic value to them.

In the past several months and years, many companies and individuals made large portfolio acquisitions. When a portfolio of thousands of domain names is purchased, there is relatively little control over what is included in addition to the gems of the portfolio. Oftentimes a domain owner will include swaths of unprofitable names in a domain sale, as it will help increase the overall sales price of the portfolio. As these domain names come up for renewal, the buyer has to make a business decision about whether to keep the underperforming names, let them expire, or try to sell them.

A domain owner needs to decide if an underperforming name is worth keeping, as it could be worth quite a bit if developed. There are many fantastic generic domain names that are parked, but they don’t generate a ton of revenue because traffic is light. When there is tremendous competition for certain keywords, parked pages might not yield significant traffic if there aren’t links or type in traffic, but the name might be strong nonetheless. For some companies, a valuable domain name on paper isn’t as valuable as cash in the bank. Therefore, selling these domain names is the best option - especially for second tier names that might be great for a smaller portfolio.

With the cost of full-scale development being expensive, it makes sense to be picky about which names get developed. Some names (like typos) get great traffic and generate revenue, but would be silly to develop. In this case, it’s better to keep them parked and possibly list them for sale at a generous revenue multiple. The worse case scenario is that a link is created on a respected website (like Afternic), which could be of passive value to the name.

With tremendous uncertainty in the domain market as well as world economic markets, many domain owners have been using this time to evaluate their holdings. If a domain name wouldn’t be good for development, doesn’t generate PPC revenue, costs $7.00 per year to renew and may possibly be a legal liability, there really isn’t a reason to list names for sale. One person’s junk could be another’s treasure. I think it is a great move to sell names that aren’t worth the expense.

I just bought a mega geo domain name, which is currently in Escrow and will be announced the acquisition next week. I am looking to raise capital to fund this purchase. Therefore, I am selling UnemploymentLine.com.

UnemploymentLine.com is for sale for $5,750.

Here are a couple of things to think about. Unemployment continues to rise across the United States, and it will probably be worse before it gets better. People will be seeking unemployment benefits and information, and I think this is a fantastic domain name for an informational, Adsense supported website.

This is posted in a few places today, so first to respond gets the name.