If You See a Great Deal, Buy It

In 2007, I was looking through a list of names from Buy Domains, and if my memory serves me correctly, one name I liked was priced at around $4,000. I would have paid $4,000 for it because I thought it was a $10k name, but I didn’t want to pay the asking price and negotiated with my account rep hoping to buy it for $2,500.  In the meantime, it was sold to someone else.

I always thought it was silly to pay someone’s asking price. When it comes to domain names, most people price their domain names at a level they would like to get, but in reality, you can negotiate a better price. This is true for most larger companies and individual domain investors. I was so accustomed to negotiating better pricing, that when I saw a great price, I didn’t immediately jump on it, and it was my loss.

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned over the past several years is that if you see a great domain name for sale at an exceptional price, you need to agree to the deal immediately, or someone else will buy it first (you need to ensure the sale is legit first). When I bought Creole.com via DNForum last month, a few people told me they were very close to buying it from the owner. Luckily, I was able to get the deal done first.

There have only been a few times where I lost out on a name in a situation where I tried to get a better price despite being content with the asking price. These days, if I see a great domain name for sale at an exceptional price, I buy it quickly. At the end of the day, potentially saving a couple thousand dollars on a purchase isn’t worth losing out on a deal that will likely net many times that on the sale side.

Losing out on the Buy Domains deal in 2007 taught me a very important lesson that guides my business decision making to this day. When I see a great domain name for sale at a fair price, I buy it.

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

29 COMMENTS

  1. Yep, your gut instinct is rarely wrong. When it’s talking loudly to you and saying JUMP NOW!, don’t waste time, don’t think yourself out of doing it, set aside the usual hesitations, fears, and processes of diligence, take a deep breath and GO FOR IT!

  2. Yes, it’s Gut you are dame right ..
    I Lost $$$$$ during .mobi hope you don’t just jump in with your guts ..
    Market research and the trends are the most valuable ..

    Data .. Data .. Data ..

    Just my small view on Guts ..

    • I played a bunch of blackjack in Las Vegas, and that was way more gamble than a gut feel. I think Rick Schwartz would say he took a gamble with his $200k Flower.mobi purchase as opposed to having a gut feel that he’d make money.

      Big difference between gambling and knowing something is worth more than its price based on intuition.

    • I am saying there’s a difference between gambling on domain names and buying domain names because you have a gut feel they are worth more than you’re paying.

      I think Rick gambled when he bought the .mobi name and didn’t have a gut feeling that it was worth more than he paid.

      Nothing wrong with gambling but it’s two separate things.

  3. Sharing the name is your prerogative Elliot. I am asking as you are sharing your experience with us. So share fully. Also sharing the name will give us an idea about the worth of domain. .
    There might be many names listed for cheap price but later resold at much higher.

  4. I think this is a principle we should strive for whatever the NICHE or market.
    I remember back in `98 in England houses where cheap as and I was looking at buying . I ummed and ahhhed and then,but as I was in the Air Force at the time I was re-stationed to Germany ( wie gehts Deutschland) for 3 years and boom, houses sky high when I came back .
    Somtimes it works, sometimes it doesnt . As was said, A GUT feeling , and generally , the gut feeling works better than not .

  5. How do we know Mr Elliot thats the proper lesson learnt from that domain unless and until you are willing to share the name with your readers ??

    • Because it’s my lesson.

      Knowing the name I thought was a good value 6 years ago isn’t important. If you think it’s important, I think you missed the whole point of this post.

  6. Lesson this learned long ago, I saw a great domain for a real good price and still tried to haggle him down, I countered but didn’t low ball it, and the response I got was nothing, tried repeatedly to contract the seller but he chose to ignore my emails.. I even replied and accepted his initial price, NO response…

    I blew the deal, but the problem is you don’t know what the sellers limitations are, it’s risk…. Most sellers negotiate, it’s the minority who don’t.

    As

  7. The domain Rick bought was flowers.mobi not flower.mobi.

    Elliot, you mentioned quite a while ago in an interview (DomainSherpa?) that you usually offer 50% to 70% of what you think is the fair market value. Are you still practicing it now?

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