How to make an offer on a domain name

Most names worth having are not sold at a fixed price. The owner wants an offer, or wants to know a real person is asking before naming a figure. That leaves the buyer with a blank message box and no idea what a reasonable first line looks like.

It is simpler than it looks. A good offer is short, specific and made by someone who has already decided what the name is worth to them.

Before you write anything

Decide your ceiling: the most you would pay rather than lose the name. Not what you hope the seller will accept, and not what you think the name is worth in the abstract. Write the number down somewhere. During a negotiation that figure tends to creep upward, and having it written makes the creep visible.

Then decide your opening offer. It should be a figure you would be genuinely pleased to pay, and low enough to leave room to move, without being so low that the seller reads it as a sign you are not serious. An offer far below anything plausible rarely gets a counteroffer. It usually gets a slow reply, or none.

If you have no idea where to start, ask for the price first. On a listing marked price on request, asking is the expected first step, and the answer gives both sides a real number to work from. How much should a startup spend on a domain name? covers how to set a budget in the first place.

What to put in the message

• The domain, spelled out in full.
• The figure and the currency.
• How you want to pay, which should be escrow.
• A way to reach you that you actually check.

That is all. You do not need to explain your company, your launch date or how much the name matters to the plan. None of it helps your position and some of it hurts it: a seller who learns the name is central to a funded launch has learned something about the price.

A first offer

"Hello, we would like to buy example.com and can offer $2,500, paid through Escrow.com. Happy to move quickly if that works for you."

Asking for the price first

"Hello, is example.com still available, and what price are you looking for? We would pay through escrow."

When a counteroffer comes back

A counteroffer is good news. It means the name is for sale and the seller is willing to move. Answer within a day or two, and move by a smaller step than you did last time; it tells the seller you are approaching your limit without saying so.

A counteroffer of your own

"Thanks for coming back to us. $5,000 is above what we can do. We can go to $3,200, through Escrow.com, and are ready to start this week."

If the two figures are still far apart after a couple of rounds, say plainly what your best figure is and that it is your best. Then stop. Repeating the same number in new words does not move anything, and a seller who wants to sell will come back to a clear final offer.

When to walk away

• The price is above the ceiling you wrote down, and nothing about the name has changed since you wrote it.
• The seller will not use escrow.
• The terms keep changing after you have agreed them.

Walking away politely costs nothing. A short "Thanks, that is beyond our budget, but do get in touch if anything changes" leaves the door open, and sellers do sometimes come back months later.

Once you agree

Confirm the figure, who pays the escrow fee and how the transfer will be done, in writing, before anyone opens an escrow transaction. The rest of the process, and the warning signs worth knowing, are in How to buy a domain name safely.

Making an offer on Webba

Every name page on Webba has three buttons: request the price, make an offer, or ask a question. An offer goes to a person, who replies by email, phone or WhatsApp. Every sale goes through Escrow.com, the escrow fee is paid by the seller on Webba's current terms, and the transfer normally completes in one to five days. Every name sold is covered by a 100% Money Back Guarantee: you get the domain, or your money back.

Start from every name A to Z, or browse the short .com names.