A few months ago I got an email from someone who was interested in buying a domain name I own. It's the kind of domain name that has no value at all in terms of search traffic but from a possible brand perspective, it is perfect for the the right thing.
I get lots of email inquiries about domain names and almost 100% of them are not even worth responding to. For some reason I thought there was something about this inquiry that was legit so I sent back my standard reply which is basically, please make me an offer and if I think we can work something out, I'll get back to you.
He did and he offered 8k which is way more than most offers I get and I know an offer of 8k means a number much higher in most cases. I also googled the persons name and lo and behold, he was the ceo of a company, a well known company and he had just sold that company to a new company and they were looking to re brand the site. The domain name they were interested in was absolutely perfect for the type of thing they did.They also have a lot of money.
The domain name name was also the perfect domain name for me if I ever decided to get back into the recruiting business or something related to that. I have a way of valuating domain names and in most cases, the potential buyer understands completely my reasoning though in some cases, most cases actually the number is too high and I am ok with it because based on my history in the domain name industry, I am way ahead based on how I buy and sell.
We ended up having a few long conversations on the phone and I gave them a number that would be acceptable to me and to make a long story short, they went with their 2nd choice because it was cheaper - a lot cheaper than what I had told them I wanted. I scratched my head a little and thought 1. I know they have the money to pay my asking price, 2. I know they recognized it was by far the best name available for what they do and 3. I'm always happy when I don't sell a name because I don't like selling them though I know business means buying and selling.
So what does this have to do with recruiting? I am sure something but this is not a recruiting post, it's a story post. However, I guess if you want to sell a domain name, it will only happen if you have a buyer who will pay your price and if in fact you want to sell, the value you have stuck on that domain name may be completely irrelevant because there may be no one to pay it, even the guy who wants that name.
Before you enter a negotiation for something like a domain name, know in advance if you really want to sell it or not. In this case, I was happy not selling it but I would have been happy selling it as well.
Sorry for the bad grammar and spelling. I typed this fast.