Enquired about buying a parked domain

How much did they want?

[surfgatinho]

I looked up the website of a small time online store that went bust a year ago and it had been re-registered anonymously and parked with the usual spammy links.

At the bottom I noticed the "interested in buying this domain?" link so I clicked on it.

I filled out the form and put in an offer of $500. Bear in mind this is a .com site that has a pretty niche name.

Anyway, I got the response from the agent saying the offer wasn't sufficient (of course) so I replied asking how much did thy want.
Their answer: in the region of $21,000!

I had to restrain from sending off a tirade of sarcasm. I'm sure they are trying it on, but I'd imagine it would take them many years to make even $500 off a parked domain that probably only got a round 50 unique visitors a day a year ago.

Anyone dealt with this kind of thing before?

[HuskyPup]

What do you think it's worth to you?

I'd offer 66% of my maximum and see the response, if they were still playing silly and not even moving I'd send a polite not interested note and walk away.

[surfgatinho]

Debatable how much it is worth to me. I was thinking of setting up an online shop as a very small sideline so an established domain would be a bonus.
So entirely speculative and probably not more than a few hundred dollars a year.

However, I'm sure I am the only person who could possibly be interested in this domain name. And I know practically everything and everyone one operating in this regional niche - the vendors don't as they are on the other side of the Atlantic

[woop01]

Been there done that. Listening to a speculator who knows nothing about a niche ask for $xx,#*$! (because they don't deal in non-five-figure domains) for a domain you know is worth $1,000 tops is quite bewildering. It's tempting but extremely unproductive to ask why they're wasting time in that niche.

There's really nothing you can do but be frustrated over it.

[Webwork]

Forget frustration. Forget sarcasm. Make a reasonable offer. Make it clear that it's a final offer. Put a time limit on a response - indicating that after that date you will choose a different domain. Stick to the dates. Move on and forget about it if nothing comes of your offer.

[woop01]

If it's something you can just forget about and not have at least a little frustration over you didn't really want the domain in the first place.

[callivert]

been there, done that too. the domain parking company wanted $4000 for a domain that I wanted. Needed, actually. But I refused, they let it go and it went to auction. There were 11 bidders and lots of activity but I won and paid $370. Therefore, the market price, as determined by an actual market, was 10% of their asking price.

[tim222]

Well on the flip side what do you do when somebody wants a name you own, but the real value of the name doesn't really catch your interest? $500 might be a reasonable offer for the name, but it's not very much money so it would be easy to pass on that offer.

[callivert]

I have nothing against a domain owner highballing the price. It's just business, after all. We buy and sell strings of letters and numbers. Weird, isn't it?

[Leosghost]

If you consider that we actually buy and sell and exploit the precise sequences of letters and numbers that are best suited to trigger certain associations as old as language ..and thus strongly driven actions result and acrue to those who have the best calls ( hooks ) to our culturally conditioned triggers ..

Nowadays many of them are crosscultural ..ie "sex.com" isnt likely to make all but the most reclusive amazonian tribesman nor the most cloistered carmelite think that they are about "new kitchens" ..the word is as international as "coke" or "dollar" ..or "google "or "microsoft"

What all of us search for in our domain names is that degree of recognition to as much of that potential audience as is possible ..even if we are selling "new kitchens". ;)

Then of course there is branding ..

That we now use google as verb is a good example of brilliant branding .. ( inspite of their "protestations" ) ..they were and are smiling all the way to the bank ..'cos it worked..

Those who park domains without ever intending to develop them , understand maybe half of the first paragraph ..and nothing at all about the second nor the third ..branding means creation ..

Domain parkers are hoarders ..not creators ..as time passes and cultures change ( and that can be very very fast )..they can find themselves ( unless they own "generics" ) owners of treasure chests of parked "dust" ..

If you can buy for what you can afford ..fine ..if not dev what you can have ..think out of the box ..you'll make more than they will .long term ..because adsense for parked domains isnt going to last forever ..

[tim222]

People buy domain names for vanity as well. I registered some variations of my first and last name - and I'll bet some others of you out there have done the same.

[piatkow]

Partly vanity but I have registered my own surname to provide my whole family with personalised email addresses. My daughter just has a Hotmail account but has a "real" email address when pitching for research work.

[surfgatinho]

I have nothing against a domain owner highballing the price. It's just business, after all. We buy and sell strings of letters and numbers. Weird, isn't it?

I don't have a problem with that particularly - if the domain is worth what they are asking.
However this domain is worth what I offered to me and nothing to anyone else. Therefore it deprives me of an opportunity and it is the best offer the owner will get

[chicagohh]

Well, you can always try the "technique" used in this thread [webmasterworld.com].

You never know, they may have moved and forgot to update their domain profile. Just make sure you call them squatters so everyone knows you're the good guy.

[edited by: Webwork at 1:45 pm (utc) on Aug. 12, 2009]
[edit reason] Tidying up linkage [/edit]