Buy Now is easier but you get less data about interest in your domain.
I’m a big fan of setting Buy Now prices on domain names. Most of the domains I sell are for between $1,000-$5,000. I don’t want to waste my time negotiating for sub-$5,000 domains, and a benefit of Buy Now prices is you’re telling the prospective buyer to take it or leave it.
There’s a downside to this, though. By not accepting offers, you’re missing a key signal to determine if there’s demand for your domain.
Even if it’s for much less than your asking price, an offer is a signal that there’s interest in your domain name. A domain with multiple offers gives you more certainty that there’s demand for your domain and a higher likelihood that someone will eventually buy it for your price.
I was reminded of this the other day as I reviewed my domains and considered my strategy for them going forward. For the domains I listed at DAN.com with just a Buy Now or lease option, I had no data signals about potential buyer interest other than traffic (which isn’t always a good signal). I had decent data for domains listed on platforms with the make offer option.
One solution is to leave the negotiating up to someone else. With Afternic, I set a Buy Now price and a floor price. This allows Afternic to negotiate on my behalf. Afternic doesn’t expose data about inquiries in your account, but you can request the data from your account manager.
I still think Buy Now is the way to go for most of my domains. However, it would be helpful if marketplaces captured signals on Buy Now domains and provided these to sellers. For example, it would be helpful if DAN.com showed if someone added a domain to the cart but didn’t check out, or if someone interacted with the domain financing options on a domain.
Sedo & DAN offer the option to have a BIN price, whilst being able to accept (lower) offers from interested buyers that cannot afford the full asking price. This is, by far, the most profitable strategy overall for typical sweet-spot deals $500-$5,000.
I just recently switched my Dan landers from the new domain financing to the old. The new domain financing does not allow for “make offer” on priced domains while the old version does. I’ll be curious to see how many times someone makes an offer on a domain that is priced.
If using the “new” leasing option, you can simply disable the instalments on a particular name and it reverts to BIN with make offer…:)
Of course, by accepting offers for sub $5k domains, I’m back to negotiating for sub $5k domains 🙂
Dan needs to allow for more than 12 months financing again on the old plan. At least 24 months, minimum.
BuyNow is best for me.
Buy Now with optional Make Offer option is the only way to go IMO. All your bases are covered.
Buy Now
Make Offer
Financing Plan
These are the 3 features to have….that it….easy peasy.
Why can’t they have these 3 features display on the page??
Maybe. More options on a page can result in lower conversion rate.
As a domain name buyer of two word exact match domains, I have never bought a domain from a “Make an Offer” without a “Buy It Now” price as well. I figure its going to be a bunch of back and forth process , or a domain way overpriced as has been my experience.
You missed one…
Buy Now
Make Offer
Financing Plan
LEASE THIS NAME FOR _ YEARS
How often do you see someone do a domain lease without an option to buy? Seems highly, highly unlikely.