Buying a single word domain

[Tonearm]

I've been running my online store as KeywordShop.com for many years. I'm thinking of switching to Keyword.com which has nothing online now, but does say it is for sale. I sent the owner of this domain an email from an anonymous email address asking how much he wants for it, but I received no response.

If you wanted this domain, what would you do next? It's not in a valuable niche at all. It's fairly obscure and not commerce related. How can I figure out how much I should pay for it?

[draggar]

Where does it say it is for sale? In the WhoIs information? Is it a parked page that says "This domain may be for sale" in a corner or when you go to it you get a page that says that the domain is for sale?

I'm sure the owner gets a lot of spam and he might have ignored your request since you used an anonymous email address (sounds like you used hotmail, GMail, or another free email service?).

[Webwork]

I ignore domain inquiries that exhibit any of the following:

1. Free email address.

2. No concrete offer. ("I am willing to pay $$$$ for Example.com")

3. Email that doesn't refer to me by name.

4. Email that doesn't contain full name and contact detail for prospective purchaser.

Treat me like you think I'm greedy or stupid and I'll ignore you. If you "hide" why should I come out an play? Why should I trust you?

Domainers receive volumes of inquiries from all manner of bottom feeders, con jobs, etc. Most such emails are form emails. Don't send an email that looks like all the other junk mail.

Put your offer in the subject line for your best results.

[Tonearm]

I looked again and it doesn't actually say it's for sale although there is an "Inquire about this domain" link and the DomainMarket.com logo is on the page. I did find the domain listed in DomainMarket.com this time. Non-intuitive syntax required.

I made an offer....

[Tonearm]

I get this:

"Please make an offer. Most of our domains are priced over 10,000 US. Your offer was X."

I can't see paying that kind of money for the domain. I don't even know how much type in traffic it gets. I suppose I could try the "Inquire" link again with more specific information.

[trader]

Usually, only domainers think about typein traffic as you did. That indicates to the owner you plan to resell the domain or use it for PPC and are not an end-user. Often you will not get a good response due to that and the owner thinking you are a low-baller, which using a throw-away email address only confirms. Acceptable price level inquiries normally do not come from a free email account.

I don't recall ever getting a good inquiry (which led to a well-priced sale) from someone who wondered about traffic, or even used a free email account. Most all non-domainer buyers willing to pay a fair price do not even know what a "typein" is.

Even if the domain is 5-figures an end-user may not ask (or even care) about traffic or income in my experience. In fact, a few times I have volunteered the information anyway but even then they often do not want or care about the stats.

[MiniAlex]

personal experience look on different sites that list his domain for sale i have found a couple of times when the same domain is listed on a 2 sites and they only reply to one site...
i once bought a domain from go daddy auction for 10% cheaper than the minimum bid was in Sedo BEFORE the seller even replied to my sedo offer!
here is a list of the top of my head:

[edited by: Webwork at 2:16 pm (utc) on May 10, 2008]
[edit reason] See Stickymail; Please avoid promotional posts per Charter [/edit]

[SlimKim]

maybe try leasing it for a year with an option to buy if it pans out