What Would You Do? Potential Buyer Doesn’t Make An Offer

On June 7th I received an email from a potential domain buyer.  It was short, brief and too the point.  Right from the beginning I could tell that this person was serious in purchasing GroupBuyingScript.com a domain name that I registered after witnessing the group buying craze.  As with anything, if there is money in it people will try to clone it.

Although there are several main stream group buying sites already out there, that won’t stop the masses from joining in on the craze.  Adding to this fervor is the top group buying site called Groupon.  Estimated at over one billion dollars Groupon reinvented the group buying craze.  I know it is hard to believe, but here is a great article which explains how they achieved this.

Now that I have given you a little background information on why I decided to register the domain name, lets talk about how the buyer proceeded to move forward.  Here is the first email I received on June 7th:

hi,
I need a price for groupbuyingscript.com.
thanks

This is a great way to ask.  The buyer wanted me to tell him the price I would be willing to sell the domain name for.  Since I don’t have an actual price in mind this makes it difficult to provide one.  I could provide a range or I could ask the buyer what his budget is for such a domain.  I decided not to do any of the things that I mentioned above.  I went ahead and decided to let the buyer know that they could make an offer.  Here is the reply email that I sent:

Hi (Blank),

Feel free to make an offer.  I also own:

GroupBuyScript.com

Regards,

Jason

I went the feel free to make an offer route.  This makes it fair for the both of us.  Locking yourself into a set price before negotiations begin is similar to shooting yourself in the foot.  I felt it was important to promptly reply to the prospective buyer’s inquiry.  This shows the buyer that I mean business and am actually interested in selling the domain name.   The buyer promptly replies with the following email:

Hi Jason,
yes, I know you own the other domain as well….and a couple of hundreds more
I’m on a tight budged -aren’t we all? so maybe we can make a trade. What sorts of domain names are you interested in?
Regards,
(Blank)

The buyer is obviously not an end-user.  Now the treading on thin water begins.  This email does not provide me with the information that I am looking for.  There is not mention of a firm offer.  In my opinion the potential buyer just through a curve ball towards my direction.  He states that he is on a tight budget and even brings up that he would be willing to barter!  These days a tight budget can mean almost anything, but the point I think the buyer was trying to get across is he doesn’t really want to make a firm offer because he has other domain names in mind which could potentially be used for his project.  Here is my reply:

Hey (Blank),

Feel free to make your best offer and we can go from there.

Thanks Again,

Jason

I was very brief in my reply.  I felt it was important not to entertain any sort of barter.  Since a firm offer has not been made, I reemphasized that I am interested in a dollar based offer regardless of how small or large it may be.  Again tight budgets can mean almost anything these days.  At this point I am starting to wonder if the buyer is serious about moving forward or not.  Lets see what they have to say:

Hi,
this domain name would be perfect for a script that I’ll launch in about one month.
I don’t have much money to offer at this point, that’s why I was looking to see if you would be interested in a barter trade or at least to find out if your desired priced could ever be affordable for me, so I can find another domain before it’s too late.
(Blank)

Now we are talking, the potential buyer has disclosed some sensitive information.  He has confirmed what I thought from the beginning.  He is entering into the group buying market with a script.  Great choice in my opinion, in fact it is something that I have thought about doing as well.  But before we jump into that story lets focus on this pending transaction.  I call it pending because it really hasn’t gained enough traction to consider it to be sale!  The buyer is dedicating the majority of his budget to the development of his script and probably a website to go with it as well.  But wait!  There is something missing here…What about a great domain name which is easily recognized by the masses?  A domain name is not something to be overlooked, I can almost guarantee that there will be a great deal of group buying scripts hitting the Internet in the near future.  What’s going to separate you from the rest?  A domain name will so lets talk business.  Here is my reply to the buyer:

(Blank),

I completely understand.  I always ask for an offer before any negotiations take place.  I am a fair person and am more than willing to work with you.  If for some reason your offer doesn’t fit what I am looking for we can always discuss a domain leasing agreement.  Thanks and I look forward to working out a great deal for the two of us.

Best Regards,

Jason Thompson

With the email listed above, I was able to get my point across.  I want the buyer to understand that this transaction needs to be fair for both parties involved.  Why move forward with a transaction which is one sided?  That is not how I conduct business, I always want the person that I am transacting with to benefit equally as much as me.  The other idea is to come up with a profit sharing agreement.  If the person doesn’t have the budget to buy the domain name outright and isn’t interested in leasing the domain name, we can determine whether a profit sharing agreement would be a potential avenue to take.  This would make things a little more complex, I would request to see a business / marketing plan of some sort.  I would need to know how they plan on making money with this script and if there is  a strategy.

For now we wait, I haven’t heard back from the buyer and the pending transaction can either go North or South.  But let me now post the question to you guys!

What would you do?