There is an art to negotiation, a risk taken by turning down an offer and countering for more. You may end up turning down an offer you believe is fair and possibly acceptable, for the prospect of a better price.
I keep most of my names at Sedo and over the years I have had my fair share of negotiations go the way I wanted. There have also been deals that didn’t happen.
I currently have one now that is a no go. The min offer I had set was $500, this is for a brandable that for whatever reason has gotten a lot of offers over the years, but all lowballs.
So I counter the $500 at $2,000 nothing crazy, this name doesn’t mean a lot to me, acquired cheap for $5 in 2012 as a closeout at GoDaddy auctions.
Sedo gives you that tiny picture of info about the seller, from that I saw they joined back in 2017 and were from Germany.
I wasn’t thrilled by that, I was hoping I would see they just joined, with the thought being they were a company that was interested in the name, parked at Sedo and had to join to make their offer.
So after the $2,000 offer expired, I went back just to play around because as I said, I really don’t care about this name.
I sent them a new offer at $500 what they offered, I was confident they wouldn’t accept. They didn’t.
But now I read a thread on Namepros about GoDaddy and negotiating on their platform.
It seems MapleDots made an offer on GoDaddy which was an offer/counter offer listing.
He really didn’t want the name after realizing it was a typo, he stated he would have honored the bid.
But then the seller countered, and MapleDots thought woohoo, I am off the hook, the same way my potential buyer at Sedo was off the hook when I countered.
But after getting different info from all areas of GoDaddy, each contradicting the other, it seems that the seller can accept his original offer and he is bound to commit to that purchase.
I have it officially…..
Thank you to all members who responded.
GoDaddy differs from services like Sedo.
When you make a bid on GoDaddy and the seller counters it does NOT cancel the original bid. If you make a bid it is binding for 7 days. So if you offer 1k and the seller comes back at 1.5k it does not void your original bid. If you do not answer the seller he can decide at any time in those 7 days to accept your offer.
I must say that I find that whole process a bit strange but I guess it is what it is.
Kinda like I go to the butcher and offer 60 bucks for the steaks and he says 80. You say no thank you and the butcher says… too bad I’ll hold you to the 60.
In this case I prefer the sedo way where the latest bid or counter bid becomes the binding one.
It was clear from the thread that everyone did not know this was how offer/counter offer listings work at GoDaddy.
This changes the art of negotiation, it gives you a free shot to counter, and then accept the lower amount, so it makes negotiating better for the seller. You get to make your counter because maybe the buyer is Google, a well funded start up, etc… When you get no reply you can still accept the first offer and get your name sold.
That is a big difference to negotiating on Sedo, I can say in the past I turned down bigger offers on Sedo, countered and the buyer disappeared, where I actually said to myself, “I should have sold at that first offer, that was a good price.”
I buy on GoDaddy, some premium listings sure, but never spent a lot of time listing names offer/counter offer. Time to shift strategy because there is a real advantage at GoDaddy providing they don’t change the rule.
I never knew this. not so sure I like it as a buyer. Thx for posting this.
I’m not a lawyer but what I remember from business law back in college, a counteroffer is a formal turn down of the original offer and is a new Offer. Hopefully a real lawyer will confirm.
You make a great point Larry. It would be interesting to get the legal aspect of this. I find the whole topic interesting and a number of people were under the impression a counter offer ended the bidders responsibility.
I’m sure godaddy will change the legal text pretty swiftly.
We list all our names at both platforms for years and as we are constant sellers can write some notices for comparison.
1) tdnam seems to have bigger exposure, at same names list receiving much offers there
2) huge advantage for seller that can raise and roll back later to initial offers, there are some minus i list below.
3) at sedo can be paid even same day buyer pays , if not, will be next business day, as transfers are super fast with push.
4) at tdnam now payments are 20 days after buyer pays and need to transfer the name at buyer’s godaddy account that is time costly as need to communicate directly with buyer.
5) usual fee at sedo is 15%, 20% at sedomls and some exotic tlds, at tdnam always 20%.
6) noticed that accepting initial offers at tdnam after a raise have very high percentage of non payments
Great info of Marketplace selling comparisons here Manos.
Thank you.
Very interesting post.
I was under the impression a counter offer meant my first offer was negated.
So, in theory if someone was looking for a certain niche or had a specific budget, they could have multiple bids out there that they didnt know since they were all countered and all offers could be accepted on day 7.
Seems very wrong. Everyone loses if that scenario happened because buyer couldnt buy all domains if more than one offer out there that came thru after countered from seller.
Something to definitely be aware of. Thanks.
No it shouldn’t be, if the buyer can read, it clearly states your offer is binding for 7 days, no matter what. It’s not Sedo.
Gotcha.
It is a great opportunity for selling there. Price your “minimum offers” accordingly.
Havent tried it but will now.
Of course is much better place for sellers, lower percentage of payments after accepting the initial bid but still good.
I agree.
Having a 7 day binding offer buffer is an awesome place to be as a seller.
Wow, i am surprised that most people did not know this.
I knew about it, as most of my domain sales are through GoDaddy Auctions.
I just assumed everyone else knew too!
Hello Ray,
These are all great revelations,thanks for this very useful information.
JAS
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger) (Former Rockefeller IBEC Marketing Intelligence Analyst/Strategist) (Licensed CBOE Commodity Hedge Strategist)
(Domain Master )http://www.UseBiz.com
Hi,
I have a question regarding the offers in Godaddy.
If I see a domain and the seller asking to submit an offer and the offer says minimum $500 and If submit an offer of $700 and the seller counter the offer to $100,000 and the counter offer is binding for 7 days what will happen if I don’t respond to the seller after 7 days? can I just ignore him and search for other domain?
Thanks
Moe
I believe they can accept the $700 within the first 7 days.
Hello Raymond,
Thanks for your reply,
Yes thats correct the seller can still accept the $700 during the 7 days but if he ignored it and also if the buyer ignored the seller counter offer during the 7 days what will happen after the 7 days do the seller and the buyer they just will end the auction without any sell right?
Sorry if i m asking a none sense question.
Thanks Again
After 7 days then I believe it’s done, you are not obligated to buy for $700.
Also the seller can’t sell it to the buyer anymore right? and the seller counter offer will not work anymore and the seller will just start to receive a new offers?
Thanks Raymond.
Also the seller can’t sell it to the buyer anymore right? and the seller counter offer will not work anymore and the seller will just start to receive a new offers?
Many Thanks
Seriously playing with offers is really toxic. You never know if the other party will ever agree of back off the transaction anytime stating payment failures or card declines and all.