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Is this end-user wasting my time?

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In my experience, the longer it takes to close a deal the less likely the sale is.

I recently had an offer on one of my names from someone in th UK. The other party sent me an offer: "Would you accept $2000 for this domain?" I countered with $3500. He replied that his maximum offer was $2600. I accepted and suggested Escrow. He agreed and said he was going to start escrow the next day and that his registrar was going to take care of Escrow (unusual).

That was six days ago. Almost each day he has messaged me saying that his registrar will proceed with escrow, but that they were taking their time. Since it is taking so long, I have doubts about the transaction.

What do you think? Is he wasting my time?
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
It happens. Having him remain in contact is a positive sign.
 
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message him and tell him that if he has problems with escrow that you can deal some other type of transaction. And then you will see what he will answer :)
 
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Be patient. I have some transactions which take weeks for an end user to close the deal..
They are end users and not domainers so they are not in a hurry.
 
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I would open the escrow.com escrow, and explain to him, you did it because his registrar is taking too long. You'll soon enough find out if he is wasting your time or not.
 
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happens alot, best of luck.
 
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Why don't you grab a free DN.com credit? That way you can offer to start an escrow transaction yourself without it costing either of you anything. If he objects, then you'll know that he's probably not for real.
 
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My last transaction was just like this. He was in Hong Kong so time difference and then someone else was to do the wire transfer (it was true) but it took a total of almost 2 weeks to complete and then he waited 5 days to tell escrow he had the domain. So I have had long drawn out escrow sales but the more communication I had they did complete. When they stopped talking is when it ended.
 
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It does happen to me sometime, consider yourself as a buyer, you need a name, there are hundreds of options and may be thousands (if you have patience and time), you have a budget, you like a name, you make an offer - why you want to limit yourself to that name, you go around searching for more, you go around and find an alternative/better/ better priced name.

Guess what I am trying to say is that there are many options available to buyer. They are more confident in 'looking out for more' since they already have one domain in their basket. If nothing else works, they can always go/come back to you. Also take into consideration ' there is no real value of the domain ' - a domain may be worth $50 to one buyer while it may be worth $500 to another buyer.

There is no use in following up with the buyer again and again. Of course they are not shameless to ask you for discount since they already negotiated price. If they need it, they will come back to you.
 
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His explanations make no sense. I'd take the initiative to open an escrow transaction with his info and outlining the details of the sale then emailing him all of the information in detail and state that if this isn't completed by such and such date, you retract your offer as you don't have the time be kept on the hook while doubting the legitimacy of his offer. I've been honest like this in the past and got an immediate response with an apology, excuse, and follow-through.

Sometimes people need that extra push when forking over money, if you're worried about him getting offended or backing out from the sale from simply creating a deadline while you got the run-around for a week, he was BS'ing anyway in one way or another. Any legitimate business person that has the funds, wants the domain and values time would understand where you're coming from.
 
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I wouldn't be surprised if they don't have the money right now.

In two similar occasions of mine, the sale fell through.
 
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@namecept
If you were a buyer and found a better name you would still have taken up his valuable time negotiating and other formal to-and-fro correspondence involved with selling a domain, including AGREEING to a price. So imo if you're going to cancel a transaction it should be done on amicable & courteous grounds, not messing around with excuses or ignoring the seller completely.
 
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Patience is the key - always and it pays of. Unless you have another offer, I would suggest be patient. You have nothing to lose, except that you are building your trust with him by being patient and professional (courteously following up, once a week is optimum, then after 3/4 weeks you can give up but I would never recommend giving a deadline. And even you 'actually' get an offer, and you are 'in a bind', let him know that you have another offer, before giving them quote you want to check with him (current buyer). Please allow the buyer to have some 'face saving exit strategy' as well. You never know when he will come back to you in future for something else. Let him look around, do his due diligence and always put yourself in his shoes, think about this way, if you were to spend about $2K - just a number here, what you will do. We go to different gas stations to buy 10/20 cents on gallon and save about $2/3 at maximum and I am sure spending that amount of money - it is not a straightforward decision (unless that person is a business). Let him do all the shopping and if your price is reasonable (because you probably know some prices are just ridiculous, I have been asked $45K for simple names), he will come to you.
 
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Very well said! Sound advice for anyone selling to an end-user really, not just the OP!
 
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Simple domains are always the most expensive, I've always found :(
 
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