What is your success rate in contacting domain owners? (1.Viewing)

My last 4-5 inquires through cira contact form went unanswered. This has me a little puzzled and thinking of including some above premium offers just to see if these domain owners are still alive Has anyone encountered similar problems?

What message did you send? Many won’t answer unless you have an offer that gets their attention.

Stewie said:

What message did you send? Many won’t answer unless you have an offer that gets their attention.

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I first try to keep it general and mostly attempt to inquire if it is for sale, and if yes what amount they would consider. I do spare them the 100 dollar offers

Understand that some people are paranoid about lawyers and getting caught in that "they tried to sell it to me" trap that then ends up submitted as bad faith evidence in a cdrp dispute. As they say, money talks, b.s. walks, so if you want to get their attention and you really want a domain, make your best offer right up front. If that doesn't work, well, your best offer is too low so you wouldn't get it anyway. But if they counter, you can always say, well sorry, that really was my best offer. At least you're more likely to get a response that way and then you can have a conversation.

sonatime said:

I first try to keep it general and mostly attempt to inquire if it is for sale, and if yes what amount they would consider. I do spare them the 100 dollar offers

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I don't answer those unless someone makes an offer.

I would very rarely respond to an "Is it for sale" email.

On the other hand, I have used the cira form to purchase a number of domains, I purchased one not that long ago by making a 5k offer.
Owner responded, said it sounded fair and we made the deal same day.

Now on the other end as an owner I expect the same, make a good opening offer and you have my attention.

Thanks for the feedback.

The paranoid lawyer stuff wasn't even on my radar @rlm

It just feels like it skips a step without inquiring about the availability but I can understand the sentiments @MapleDots
Didn't think one should be ignoring inquiries in the .ca space unless something is off the market.

These problems mostly started when I made a gmail account just to have some anonymity. I don't like giving away too much information if it is not necessary.

sonatime said:

These problems mostly started when I made a gmail account just to have some anonymity. I don't like giving away too much information if it is not necessary.

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Ahh, see I always use a full custom business address when I inquire, it allows the domain owner to look me up.

I use one of my other business addresses and most people don't know it's me.

MapleDots said:

Ahh, see I always use a full custom business address when I inquire, it allows the domain owner to look me up.

I use one of my other business addresses and most people don't know it's me.

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That might be what causes the problem. Whenever I asked a friend of mine to follow up on a domain his inquiries were always answered.

Yeah, if I know the inquiry is from a random domainer, I hold out little hope of a deal and often wont respond. If you look more like a legit end user buyer, then people are more likely to respond.

I feel your pain.

Tips to increase chances of a response:

1. include a serious offer
2. use a business email address, not Gmail or Hotmail
3. include some information about you so they know you are legit, such as your LinkedIn profile, phone number, Website, links to articles about you, etc.
4. explain the transaction process, that you would use Escrow.com (or whatever) to complete the transaction is a safe manner for all parties

Assume that the person thinks your inquiry is a scam or spam, and be pro-active addressing those concerns.

Signed,

Guy Who Does this for a Living

;+)

The reality is this is all good advice, provided you're actually an end user or a broker.

Assuming @sonatime is looking to invest in good quality domains, we've all been there, its a catch 22 of revealing who you are and why you want the domain in order to get a response. You're essentially saying, hey, you've got a really valuable domain, I'd like to buy it for pennies on the dollar so I can hope to make a killing later. That tends to make people think twice about selling. So I think if that's really what you're doing, I'd argue that you're better off staying anonymous and simply making your best offer. Yes, I know you want to pay as little as possible so you don't want to over offer. But if they're not responding, at least then shoot back your best offer. That's the best you can do. If they're not willing to respond after you've made your best offer, then you've done what you can.

Like others have stated on here, I just delete the standard tire-kicker "Is this domain for sale" or "Would you be interested in selling this domain" boilerplate responses, as it's never worth it.

Make a firm and realistic offer, and then see if anything changes.