By Hugh Beckett, Domain Broker
Many Sedo users contact us with concerns about receiving bids that they consider to be too low. The good news is that there is another option for securing serious offers for domains. Although a Premium Listing is recommended, there is an under-utilized option available that can help: set your own pricing information.
A majority of domains for sale on Sedo are listed with no price information. Without a suggested price in place you will most likely be deluged with minimum value offers. Many sellers will purposely leave fields blank thinking they are leaving the door open for higher offers, but that plan can often work to their disadvantage since buyers could be turned off by not knowing where to start or bid with a lower offer to test the waters. While the quantity of offers may be valuable for a low-demand domain, if you are looking to receive an acceptable price for a premium domain, you are going to need to invest time in setting a suggested price. Futhermore, As a seller it is in your best interest to define the conditions on which negotiation will take place.
Setting a fixed sale price for a domain and hoping a buyer comes along that is willing to pay your set price is not a optimal solution either. So how do you go about driving up the price and still keeping buyers interest? I advise using a well positioned minimum offer price. Select a value that is either the lowest possible amount you would accept or a value 40-60% of what you actually want for the domain. (Note: to set your minimum price to an amount above $10,000 you will need to have your domain appraised.) This forces prospective buyers to make a decision to offer that minimum amount or more to demonstrate their interest in the domain. Then you can start negotiations. In my opinion this is the best way to go about things. You don’t have to deal with lowball offers, yet you also are leaving room for buyers to make unexpectedly high offers as well.