As a broker, I’ve noticed that those who submit domains along with prices for consideration frequently say something along the lines of “let’s just start by aiming higher and then we’ll see” and from their perspective, it seems logical. After all, sellers want to extract as much money as possible but there are two more parties involved: the broker and the buyer.
From their perspective, things tend to be a bit trickier.
The thing is, the broker wants the sale just as much as the seller because after all, we only make money after a finalized transaction.
At the same time though, the broker is equally interested in buyers being happy.
At the end of the day, this is what a broker is ultimately paid to do: build a bridge between buyers and sellers. Which isn’t always easy.
To explain why, we’ll now see things from the perspective of the buyer.
Let’s assume you’re a LLL.com buyer and that the average price of a LLL chip is currently $30k.
If I contact you on behalf of a seller who wants to “aim higher” and offer you a LLL chip at $50k… what would your reaction be? You’d obviously be irritated because I’m wasting your time by offering you a bad deal. If tomorrow, I contact you with another $50k LLL chip from another seller who wants to aim higher, you might even decide to stop doing business with me altogether.
This is what sellers have to understand.
They might think that a broker is never risking anything.
After all, it doesn’t take capital to broker domains, right?
Well, no but actually yes.
If you mean money then no, it doesn’t take money to broker domains. But what most people don’t understand is that brokers have a capital of trust with their buyers. Each time you give buyers a good deal, that trust is reinforced. However, each time you waste a buyer’s time with an unrealistic offer, trust is removed from the pool you have with that buyer.
At the end of the day, the pool of sellers and good domains is HUGE but good buyers aren’t easy to come by.
Let me explain.
If I offer to broker Homes.com and tell the owners I can get him $50,000,000, he’ll most likely say yes. Same if I sell the $50,000,000 dream to the Cash.com owner and so on. These are just random examples but you get the point. There are lots of people who want to get rich off their domains, huge pool.
A broker’s job is finding people who want to sell AND have realistic expectations.
A much smaller pool and therein lies the subtlety of brokering, finding the right balance between keeping sellers and buyers happy… which is why asking brokers to aim high doesn’t make sense.
Brokers don’t just need sellers and buyers. They need motivated sellers and motivated buyers.
It’s a broker’s job to be realistic. Not pessimistic, not optimistic. Not a dreamer, not a doom and gloomer. Sometimes, this isn’t the most pleasant position to be in but you don’t have a choice.
I’ve written this post so that sellers understand why brokers have to turn down inventory so frequently.
I’m a people pleaser who genuinely hates saying no but when you have no choice, you have no choice 🙁
