I was reading an article on Fusible about Michael Berkens’ rejected offers and I had one of those “what a brilliant idea” moments. It’s a strategy that my wife has been using for years. She doesn’t every tell me what she wants, she merely tells me what she doesn’t want. “What would you like for dinner?, I’ll go get it” I ask. “I’ll eat anything, just no pizza, chinese, or mexican”. In that little statement, she made me feel like I get to choose but in reality she’s kept me from going the easy “cheesy” route.
Making public what you will not take for your domains accomplishes the same thing. You are saying, I am selling these domains but please don’t offer anything lower than this. You are taking all offers but giving the potential buyers some price guidelines to save everyone time. By putting up rejected offers you are,
1. Showing you are open to offers
2. Showing the popularity of the domain
3. Setting minimums without opinion but fact
All good auctions and deals start with an opening bid for a reason. It’s a bid that gets things rolling. People love to have guidelines to get them started. Nobody wants to offend the seller yet they want to know if they are even in the game before they put too much effort into the deal. It also shows that these domains have interest from others and they are willing to pay a price , it’s just not enough. The rejected bids gives a guideline for a price that was an actual offer not a number made up by the seller. Of course, the offer could also be made up by the seller. But even if it is, it’s a much more effective way of saying “minimum offer’
I think Afternic.com was doing this few years ago (not sure they continue). For the buyer point of view is was very annoying in fact because most of the time you was making offers (no specially low ball) and the only you was seeing in return is that the minimum make offer amount was your previous offer. No sign from the seller, you not even was sure he declined thee offer. I don’ remember any purchases through this marketplace for this reason, I started buying when I started to communicate with Neil (BuyDomains.com/Afternic.com).
For the seller that is holding and can wait for a good price that sure it’s positive.
his is why they are months I want to also implement this option on Cax.com to attract big domainers that don’t price names in advance and like Mike are waitting for the big sale. The difference is I will offer a good communication channel so the buyer and seller could discuss without any barrier and avoid the Afternic.com frustration and blocking.
Absolutely Francois,
Communication is the key after the initial bid. The rejected offer is the start point, the rest is up to the seller.
Sounds like a great idea but you also giving the IRS a delcared value on your name. Tax time they may be calling. My value is the registration we pay every year.
Ahhh, tax man. Funny how half my business decisions always come back to the IRS. Great point Michael.
Nice idea. The minimum offer with most marketplaces does the same thing (not allowing a potential buyer to make an offer under what you are prepared to consider). But the big advantage of your idea is that it shows there is real interest in the name (as long as there is) and that if they don’t make a decent offer then there is a good chance someone else will in time.
domain value as nothing to do with taxes….its the profit you make when you sell it only. just like stocks. most likely schedule c income vs capital gain for most.
I agree with ocdomainer – no tax issues with the IRS here until a transaction occurs and then you’d want as high a cost basis as possible, at least from a tax standpoint (from a sheer ROI standpoint you’d want as low a cost basis as possible).
Michael – to what IRS issue were you referring above?