Alia (1.Viewing)

So I get a $1K offer from a Godaddy broker on this domain.
I respond with a much higher price by simply saying "the price is $xxxxx".
They respond with $3500, claiming its a great offer because its a little more than the Godaddy valuation and then embedding the GoDaddy valuation into their response.

That's the first time I've had a GoDaddy broker try and use their own valuation to tell me their offer is a good one. Has anyone else heard that from a GoDaddy broker before??

I hope that broker is just using that tactic on me - and didn't mention that to the buyer - because if he did, he just put up a serious mental roadblock in the buyer's mind. I get it that he's stuck working with the buyer's budget, but damn, their valuation tool is so off base when I know I've had many 6-figure transactions where they value it at $10K or less.

So now I'm deciding how to respond, and I'm considering saying precisely that, that I sincerely hope that he didn't derail any potential sale by bringing up their valuation to the buyer. And then for good measure I could start listing off all their ridiculous .ca valuations...

Anyone have any thoughts?

Personally I would price the domain at $31,250

Then I would respond to the godaddy rep by telling him I am able to reduce the price of the domain by the amount of the godaddy commission (6,250) and all he has to do is send the client straight to me.

I would basically ignore any remarks he says about his own evaluation tool.


That said, the domain alia sounds familiar, I saw it somewhere, was it on the TBR list?

I agree, this is a $10k+ name. Don't have a good enough grasp on big .CA sales to give an exact range...but $3500 is peanuts

And if GoDaddy is using their own valuation when speaking to customers, that's BS. Especially since they top out at $25k. You could have a million dollar domain and they'll only come back with "More than $25,000"


Slightly off topic...Was this an actual GD broker or an Afternic broker? Reason I ask is I've been contacted by Afternic over the years but never GoDaddy. And whenever I've tried adding names to GoDaddy auctions a lot of them never get accepted even though I've set the TXT record and everything

Spex said:

Slightly off topic...Was this an actual GD broker or an Afternic broker? Reason I ask is I've been contacted by Afternic over the years but never GoDaddy. And whenever I've tried adding names to GoDaddy auctions a lot of them never get accepted even though I've set the TXT record and everything

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I found that a hassle too but with the domains at godaddy it is basically a few clicks to add to auction with no verification required. Same goes for afternic, that part is built right into the control panel.

The bulk control panel for godaddy is getting really good and I have found no other registrar where I can add to auction, add to afternic, and manipulate so many domains all at one.

I have the domain discount club and that irks me to pay every year but in the end I save so much time at godaddy that it is worth the little extra to me.

rlm said:

So now I'm deciding how to respond, and I'm considering saying precisely that, that I sincerely hope that he didn't derail any potential sale by bringing up their valuation to the buyer.  And then for good measure I could start listing off all their ridiculous .ca valuations...

Anyone have any thoughts?

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I think you have the right idea about addressing your thoughts/concerns head-on with the broker. I've had a handful of GD brokers reach out to me within the last 12 months and they never once mentioned GD valuations. They weren't pushy at all and didn't really seem that motivated to be honest.

I think it's very possible it's the buyer themselves that mentioned the GD valuation and told the broker to mention it to you as part of their reasoning/negotiations... or the broker simply mentioned it because the buyer brought it up during their discussions(s).

Can't see a broker doing that otherwise, unless they're a newbie or something. And if they are a newbie, and not Canadian, then it's likely he/she knows squat about expired .CAs and therefore automatically assumed the domain is a handreg given the reg date... and therefore further assumed you should be thrilled with the offer (and got carried away with the GD valuation comment).

rlm said:

That's the first time I've had a GoDaddy broker try and use their own valuation to tell me their offer is a good one. Has anyone else heard that from a GoDaddy broker before?

So now I'm deciding how to respond, and I'm considering saying precisely that, that I sincerely hope that he didn't derail any potential sale by bringing up their valuation to the buyer. And then for good measure I could start listing off all their ridiculous .ca valuations...

Anyone have any thoughts?

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I have been approached by GD Brokers on numerous times and if I can't recognize the person, I would ask him straight as to how long he/she had been with GD.

No one has ever mentioned about the tool during their conversation and I would agree with the possible scenario noted by [notify]Esdiel[/notify]

Nice to know about the tremendous success you have had with your sales and should we start a new thread for those to be listed? Just kidding.

Spex said:

Slightly off topic...Was this an actual GD broker or an Afternic broker? Reason I ask is I've been contacted by Afternic over the years but never GoDaddy. And whenever I've tried adding names to GoDaddy auctions a lot of them never get accepted even though I've set the TXT record and everything

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An actual GD broker, his email footer says "GoDaddy | Domain Broker Service"

I don't list any domains for sale on any platform, so I'm guessing someone must have engaged their brokerage services as a way to be anonymous. They contact me frequently this way. I'm not sure how many brokers they have but it must be a bunch of them, as I have received these type of inquires from MANY different brokers at GD. So either they have a revolving door of brokers, or they have a lot of them. But this was the first I can remember that quoted their own domain valuation....

I still haven't replied to the broker yet. I guess I'll get around to that soon.

Eby said:

Nice to know about the tremendous success you have had with your sales and should we start a new thread for those to be listed? Just kidding.

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lol, maybe we should start with you - have you ever reported a domain sale??

I remember back in the day you were the king of ignoring sales inquiries! So I'm guessing if you sold anything, it was for big money! People would periodically contact me with "hey do you know how to get hold of this Eby character? Is this a real person? They won't respond to me!"

Well I had a long-winded response prepared, thought better, deleted 90% of it and got straight to the point. I told them if that's your client's budget, they should probably just save their money and register a two word variant like Alia{product}.ca or Alia{service.ca}. I said we're priced to sell to companies that understand the value a premium domain & brand brings over the life of the business, and for those businesses, this will be just a drop in their advertising & branding bucket.

He had a very good reply back, so I appreciated that. I thought some of you might like to hear what he said:

Thanks for your email and background. I completely understand. Our verbiage to the buyer is that the domain is for sale for $15k and give 2 options, to accept or make a strong counter and I typically suggest 20% off of the asking price ($12k). This buyer, however, asked me to come in much lower… it is likely not the right buyer for the domain name, and it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see this sell for $15k.

I will get with the buyer and let them know you are firm at the asking price, and let you know if there is any more interest. If not with this one, hopefully we can bring a better buyer to you in the future.

Great responses both ways.

So is Alia a firstname domain, or something like Ali A? Or just a nice short brandable word? just wondering who could be after it.

I like this wording and may use it myself we're priced to sell to companies that understand the value a premium domain & brand brings over the life of the business

Nice way of putting it Rob *THUMBSUP*

I said we're priced to sell to companies that understand the value a premium domain

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domains said:

So is Alia a firstname domain, or something like Ali A? Or just a nice short brandable word? just wondering who could be after it.

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Its a first name. The .com is dead, but there is alia.ai operating out of the US. And there are a number of decent sized canadian businesses using Alia as the beginning of their name (like AliaHomes, etc..)

I’m always learning new things from domaining which is great.

domains said:

I’m always learning new things from domaining which is great.

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The name has the most value for an ai application, and I have to say I am surprised the .com is dead and they don't see the potential.

https://alia.ai/