How much should I ask...

I received a call tonight asking me to sell...

[dineen]

A few years ago I bought a domain name. It seems that a very large corporation (recently formed) in Australia has the same name. I just received a message on my cell phone asking me if I would sell it to them. They are a $20 mil a year company, by my very short research tonight, and I've NO clue what to ask! Do I ask them what they want to pay? How do I know I'm getting the most I could get?

ANY help appreciated!

[GameMasterM]

Here's what I suggest. Put the name up on one or more of the free domain sale sites. Write the contact that you have decided to test the waters. Put a ridiculous price on the name and force him/her to make a legitimate offer through the listing service. You get escrow protection and a great deal of the headaches involved fall on their shoulders.
Negotiate hard, these guys want the name. Don't be intimidated. Good luck.

[Luddite]

Tell them you're saving the name for a REALLY good porn site. ;-)

OK seriously, what I would do:

A] place some content related to the name on the domain
B] post it for offers as suggested above

Best of luck

[dineen]

Thanks! What are some free domain sale sites? I've never done something like this before.

tks again!
D

[dineen]

Recieved my first offer from them today - from the cfo - $500.

[walkman]

> Recieved my first offer from them today - from the cfo - $500

IGNORE IT. Start a site talking about turtles or whatever species that may share that name ;). Eventually they will offer a decent price.

[otc_cmnn]

Post it to sedo and afternic for $25k

Use sedo's domain parking feature to see how much traffic it gets from their(The au companies) marketing efforts. I think you may be surprised. You may even make a few bucks on the PPC.

[Green2K]

They need that domain.

I just bought the .com where I owned every other single extention and derivative. I had a site growing fast on another extension... And acquiring the .com is massively valuable for me and the future value of this particular venture.

I would have paid $xx,#*$! but ended up offering high $#*$! and paying low $x,xxx. Don't sell out cheap. Tell them you are entertaining other offers of $xx,xxx (be exact if you want) and that you're in no hurry.

Green2K

[Freedom]

$500?!

Just tell them you don't like that price or as another poster said, ignore them. They'll follow up on it and keep coming back to you.

Keep us posted. Good Luck.

[voices]

Just tell them you really don't want to sell it. $500.00 isn't enough money to change your life. Heck it won't even pay a months rent.

[kevinpate]

so how goes the who blinks first game?

[Aberdeen]

Sorry, I don't want this post get lost on the second page, as it is more exciting than an episode of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.

Keep us posted on how you get on.

(yes, I know, I should get out more)

[Luddite]

LOL Aberdeen - I was tempted to "bump" it too.
I expect a few of us have flagged the thread.

[dineen]

Sorry I haven't posted - but nothing much has happened! My last correspondence was 'thanks but no thanks'! I'm waiting to hear back. I think both of us are playing the waiting game to see who flinches first!

[Lex_Luther]

Did you list it on sedo, with a parking page?

[Lucifer]

Okay, here's the facts..correct me if I misread something:

1. You have been the owner of a TLD name for a company worth $20 Million.

2. You had this domain years before this company arrived on the scene.

3. You own the .COM domain where as they have a .com.au.

Here's what I'd do if I were in your position (I wish!):

1. Put up a content rich website that is regularly updated.

2. Introduce adsense or other advertising on the website.

3. Put a clearly visible stats meter on the footer (so they'd know what they're missing).

4. Keep declining all offers I get from them until and unless they AT LEAST hit the US$ 50k mark.

Understand this: The fate of their business is partly in your hands -- the hands of a stranger. The moment they realize you won't budge is the moment they will cave in.

And even if they DON'T cave in -- I'd rather have a rich, quality website providing me constant cash flow in terms of advertising money than sell it out cheap because -- what's the point?

Best,
Lucifer.

[dineen]

OK, fantastic advice. I've got a lot of pages finsihed already. As I said before, I bought this so long ago, I had started development on the site. I guess that will be my mission over the next few days. Thanks everyone!