How to offer a domain to a specific company?
October 16, 2017 4:48 AM Subscribe
A few years ago I bought a generic domain because it seemed like a great deal and like it might be useful for my own projects. Now I've decided I'm probably not going to use it, and I want to offer it to a specific company that I think might be interested before putting it up for a general auction on a site like Sedo. What is the professional way to handle this?
It's a generic word, but a word that's central in this company's name. I'm not squatting; it's more like I have toys.com and I want to offer it Toys R Us (but not quite that good!)
To give you a sense of the stakes, it would likely sell in the thousands on Sedo, but if this company actually wants the domain then $10k+ would be small beans to them.
So my question for those who've worked with domains: is there a typical protocol for this kind of situation? Do you send the initial offer through an agent or a lawyer or something, to look more professional? (I have a close friend that's an IP/business lawyer.) I'd hate to go straight to listing it on Sedo and have this company miss it altogether.
(Bonus question: is Sedo the best site for serious domain auctions like this? If not, what is?)
It's a generic word, but a word that's central in this company's name. I'm not squatting; it's more like I have toys.com and I want to offer it Toys R Us (but not quite that good!)
To give you a sense of the stakes, it would likely sell in the thousands on Sedo, but if this company actually wants the domain then $10k+ would be small beans to them.
So my question for those who've worked with domains: is there a typical protocol for this kind of situation? Do you send the initial offer through an agent or a lawyer or something, to look more professional? (I have a close friend that's an IP/business lawyer.) I'd hate to go straight to listing it on Sedo and have this company miss it altogether.
(Bonus question: is Sedo the best site for serious domain auctions like this? If not, what is?)
If the company that you're trying to reach is anything other than a small no-name company, they literally get hundreds of domain offers (to buy, or sell if they have any) per week, along with fake renewal spam.
If they're a small enough company that they're not flooded with this spam, then they likely can't/won't be able to spring for this doamin at the prices you seem to be considering.
I remember once after we did an acquisition we found out the company had a bunch of domain names we didn't care about, so someone tried to follow up on the offers to buy our domains. Random sampling of 10; 3 weren't contactable (bad url, or bounced email), 5 didn't reply, 1 offered 0 (you won't need to keep paying renewal fees), and one offered $10USD for a $noun.net . Said person totally felt burned for wasting time, and finally realized all of these messages are just spam that should not be given the slightest amount of consideration.
You 100% need an "In" if you want this to be seen and actually considered by a person. I think you do need your friend to at least make initial contact or offer.
On preview, I thought you friend worked there - if you don't have an actual "in" in the company, then there's really small chance of this getting seen. Maybe if your friend writes a physical letter sent to someone up the food chain, it might get seen, and might get passed on from their admin. I'd probably aim towards the marketing department rather than operations.
Generally this isn't often done as it's no longer 1999, so there isn't a standard "professional" way to do this.
posted by nobeagle at 8:50 AM on October 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
If they're a small enough company that they're not flooded with this spam, then they likely can't/won't be able to spring for this doamin at the prices you seem to be considering.
I remember once after we did an acquisition we found out the company had a bunch of domain names we didn't care about, so someone tried to follow up on the offers to buy our domains. Random sampling of 10; 3 weren't contactable (bad url, or bounced email), 5 didn't reply, 1 offered 0 (you won't need to keep paying renewal fees), and one offered $10USD for a $noun.net . Said person totally felt burned for wasting time, and finally realized all of these messages are just spam that should not be given the slightest amount of consideration.
You 100% need an "In" if you want this to be seen and actually considered by a person. I think you do need your friend to at least make initial contact or offer.
On preview, I thought you friend worked there - if you don't have an actual "in" in the company, then there's really small chance of this getting seen. Maybe if your friend writes a physical letter sent to someone up the food chain, it might get seen, and might get passed on from their admin. I'd probably aim towards the marketing department rather than operations.
Generally this isn't often done as it's no longer 1999, so there isn't a standard "professional" way to do this.
posted by nobeagle at 8:50 AM on October 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
If you want to reach the VP of Marketing (or any other senior staffer at a company), don't send them an e-mail; send them a Fedex with a letter that follows standard business letter conventions.
In a previous job of regularly sent letters to the chief legal counsels office. I always used Fedex, and I always got a response.
Now the VP of Marketing probably gets much more junk mail than the chief legal counsel, but it should be possible to get someone to at least read your letter.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 11:17 AM on October 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
In a previous job of regularly sent letters to the chief legal counsels office. I always used Fedex, and I always got a response.
Now the VP of Marketing probably gets much more junk mail than the chief legal counsel, but it should be possible to get someone to at least read your letter.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 11:17 AM on October 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
1) We own a company and get domain offers on the regular. They are typically short and sweet, something along the lines of: dear company owner, you have www.yourwebsite.com and we have a related www.ourwebsite.com for sale; if interested, please contact us by these means. There really is no need to be more clever than that - if anything, the longer your pitch the more likely it is to get discarded, because TLDR. Caveat: if your domain is so good that it gets regular unsolicited hits, by all means mention that number in your letter.
2) Sedo and SnapNames as well as GoDaddy (ugh) and Ebay (another ugh) are good for general domain auctions.
3) Check global and local trademark registrations. They can greatly affect domain value - if your domain is trademarked (even in one state) it's value is likely nowhere near $10k.
4) If you are willing to invest a small amount of money, there are SEO experts on Upwork who can research your niche and come up with an international list of companies to contact, for just a few $ per hour (since you indicate that it's a somewhat generic term).
posted by rada at 8:49 AM on October 17, 2017
2) Sedo and SnapNames as well as GoDaddy (ugh) and Ebay (another ugh) are good for general domain auctions.
3) Check global and local trademark registrations. They can greatly affect domain value - if your domain is trademarked (even in one state) it's value is likely nowhere near $10k.
4) If you are willing to invest a small amount of money, there are SEO experts on Upwork who can research your niche and come up with an international list of companies to contact, for just a few $ per hour (since you indicate that it's a somewhat generic term).
posted by rada at 8:49 AM on October 17, 2017
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Let them make the first offer before you mention anything about price - it might be worth more to them that you realize.
Or it may be worth a lot less. Only way to find out is to ask.
posted by COD at 6:42 AM on October 16, 2017 [1 favorite]