How you answer a buyer decides the sale

Answer while the buyer is still choosing

Answer the day the message arrives. Elliot Silver replies very quickly, and gave the reasons on DomainInvesting on 26 August 2014. A buyer may be weighing several names, and may pick another one while waiting for a price. A project can also be dropped, and the money a buyer has set aside today can be spent elsewhere.

Writing about speed again (DomainInvesting, 23 February 2022), Silver felt that many buyers keep a short list, and that a price given slowly can send them to the next name on it. Even about the most valuable names Silver replies quickly, but does not usually price them in the first reply. Usually that reply cordially says an offer is far too low, or asks why the person wants the name.

Someone who replies fast can still fall behind. Konstantinos Zournas wrote on OnlineDomain on 4 September 2019 of answering every inquiry within 24 hours through the year, weekends and holidays included. After time off in August 2019, Zournas found that three weeks of inquiries had gone unanswered. Both outcomes were possible, Zournas allowed: a lost sale, or slightly higher prices on a couple of names for having seemed indifferent.

Find out who is asking before you price

The searches Silver runs before replying, listed in a DomainInvesting post of 20 February 2017, cover the person's name and email address, the other names the person owns, and the company on LinkedIn. Silver also checks whether the person holds the same word on .net or .co. Some of the people who write cannot be found, the post added, and some write on behalf of someone else.

What you find should not set the whole price, though. A friend of Silver's who works in finance asked about names for side projects, and was quoted absurd prices (DomainInvesting, 28 June 2016). Silver's bet was that the owners had looked the friend up and assumed that a big buyer was asking. Owners who price only on who is asking are likely losing some deals, the post concluded.

Some inquiries do not earn a negotiation. Silver's post on DomainInvesting on 10 August 2020 quoted an investor's list of messages to ignore: offers of $100, messages saying "just curious" or "reasonable", and messages from other investors. On that last item Silver disagreed, having done substantial deals with several investors. Silver's own additions were students, and anyone who opens with a small budget, mainly for the more valuable names.

A curt answer to your price rarely needs a reply. Andrew Allemann quoted $35,000 for CandyCorn.com to a very small business, and the answer was "good luck with that" (Domain Name Wire, 14 January 2019). Arguing would waste both sides' time, Allemann wrote. But a buyer who seems qualified and opened with a decent offer, $10,000 in Allemann's own example of 2019, might be worth a conversation.

Quote late, and with evidence

In our reading, there is a reason to keep your price out of the first reply. A buyer who names a figure first shows you a budget. A seller who names a figure first sets the top of the deal, and every step after that moves down.

A visible price also changes who writes. After adding a current value to the for-sale pagesLanderThe page a visitor sees at a name that is for sale: a price or an offer form, and a way to pay.Read the definition, Silver reported a major drop in inquiries (DomainInvesting, 8 October 2025). Silver accepts that drop for one-of-a-kind one- and two-word .coms, but does not want it where the price is flexible. Afternic's price request form hides the buy-now price, the post noted, so a buyer put off by a high figure may still ask.

Check what the buyer can see. Silver's advice on DomainInvesting on 16 May 2014 was to search the major marketplacesMarketplaceA site where owners list domains for sale and buyers make offers, such as Sedo or Afternic.Read the definition before quoting a price, and to look for old listings too. One buyer had seen a Sedo listing for a name Silver had recently bought. That listing was someone else's, and its price was considerably lower than the price Silver quoted.

Then answer with evidence. In Unique Domains, a name's drawer shows Est. value, which is the model's estimate. It also shows Similar sales: the count and median of past sales of names like it, among the sales we track. A past sale is a fact, while a claim that a price is fair is an opinion.

Evidence means true evidence. Silver never claims a higher past offer that was not made, or traffic that a name does not get, and said so in a DomainInvesting post of 11 December 2025. Claims like these could be proven untrue.

Follow up once, without pressure

A buyer who goes quiet is not always lost. Afternic, the marketplace, wrote on its blog on 15 July 2025 that 36% of its 2024 sales came from leads over 30 days old. A lead is a buyer who has written in. Buyers balk at a price, the post said, then raise money or change priorities and come back, while Afternic's brokers follow up. The figure is Afternic's own.

The way you reach the buyer can matter too. Allemann wrote that leads tend to slow down after the first reply by email, and that a text message sent after that reply worked amazingly well (Domain Name Wire, 5 March 2020).

The wording counts as well. Konstantinos Zournas inquired as a buyer and, on OnlineDomain on 24 May 2016, reviewed the follow-ups that came back. Zournas liked one that asked for a maximum budget to keep on file and one that offered payment over time, but did not like "What is holding you back?", which came after a $90,000 quote in 2016.

The follow-up Zournas liked best said that another qualified buyer had shown interest. Whether that was true, Zournas had no way to know. Zournas also wanted the asking price to be in every follow-up. Put your price in yours, and mention another buyer only when there is one.

Silver's follow-up, described in a DomainInvesting post of 12 December 2022, was a single email to each chosen stalled lead, sent in reply on the thread of the earlier talks. The email asked whether the buyer wanted the name at the price discussed, before the year ended. The week of that post was probably December's best for following up, Silver judged, since time off makes approvals harder on larger deals.

When a broker should take over

A broker is a negotiator paid by commission. When neither side will move and progress has stopped, Silver hands the negotiation to a broker, though rarely and only when needed (DomainInvesting, 1 November 2017). A broker may be able to change the tone and raise options nobody considered. A buyer may prefer dealing with someone new. If the broker closes the deal, the commission is well spent, in Silver's view.

Size is the other test. A very large lead that comes in can go to a top broker for that one deal, with the broker's pay agreed at the start, Silver suggested on DomainInvesting on 22 April 2024. In the post's example of 2024, a broker might ask for 25% of the part of the price that is above a $500,000 opening offer.

Unique Domains holds no listing, no inbox for inquiries, no escrowEscrowA neutral third party that holds the buyer’s money and the domain until both sides have done their part, then completes the swap. It is how large domain sales avoid either side going first.Read the definition and no portfolio of the names you own. The talks run in your mail, or through a venueVenueA place where names change hands: a marketplace or an auction house.Read the definition such as Afternic or Sedo. The payment runs through that venue, or through an escrow service such as Escrow.com, the subject of the next lesson. What the product gives you is the evidence for your figure.

Before you answer a buyer

• Reply the same day: thank the buyer and ask what the name is for.
• Look the buyer up: search the email address, the company and the other names the buyer owns.
• Search the major marketplaces for old listings of your name at another price.
• Write down your price and your floor before you quote.
• Let the buyer name a figure first, and answer it with past sales.
• Give ground in steps, never all at once.
• Follow up once, on the same thread, with the price in the message.
• Hand a stalled or very large deal to a broker, and give the broker a floor price.