Judge the offer against the domain's retail value, not against what you paid. Most unsolicited offers come from resellers at 10% to 30% of retail, which is normal and not an insult; an end user who needs the name pays retail. Get an independent appraisal before you answer, counter from the range rather than from the offer, and never agree to buy a specific appraisal or use the buyer's escrow service to "prove" the value.
Short answer: an offer is fair when it sits where you would expect for the kind of buyer making it. Resellers pay a fraction of retail, end users pay retail. The only way to know which fraction you are looking at is to know the retail range, and the only way to know that is an independent appraisal, not the buyer's opinion and not your memory of what you paid.
Here is how to judge the offer, how to answer it, and the three scams that follow real offers around.
We tested our engine against ten years of the biggest reported domain sales, 1,217 of them, appraising each domain five times and comparing the consensus range with the price actually paid, adjusted for inflation and market growth. The spread tells you what "fair" looks like in practice:
Even among the most famous sales on record, more than half transacted below the retail range. A wholesale offer at a quarter of your appraisal is the market working as designed. An offer inside or above the range is the end user showing up, and that happened in 47% of these sales. The full study is on our blog: Do domain sales actually match appraisals?
Counter from the appraisal, not from the offer. "Thanks for the offer. Independent appraisal puts the name at $18,000 to $26,000; I would sell at $22,000." That moves the conversation to the range and gives the buyer something to react to. Countering at double their number anchors to their number instead.
Offer a payment plan if the gap is cash, not value. End users often have the budget over a year but not this month. Lease-to-own, where the buyer pays monthly and takes ownership at the end, closes deals that a lump sum would not.
Set a deadline and keep it short. "This price holds for 14 days." It stops the offer drifting for months and tells the buyer you are a serious seller, not a hopeful one.
Move the deal to escrow or a marketplace the moment you agree. Funds are held until the domain is in the buyer's account; the buyer confirms receipt; you are paid. Both sides are protected and nobody has to trust anybody.
A real buyer's incentives are simple: they want the name, and they want to pay as little as possible. Any step that asks you to pay anyone before you are paid is not part of a real purchase.
No. That is the most common domain scam. The "buyer" earns a commission on the appraisal you are told to buy and disappears afterwards. A real buyer either accepts your price or makes their own offer; they never require you to buy a particular certificate. Any appraisal you get should be your choice, for your own information.
Only if you have a number you are happy to sell at. Otherwise ask the buyer for their budget. If you do name a price, anchor to the top of the retail range and leave room to move; the first figure you say becomes the ceiling of the negotiation.
Within a day. Genuine end users are usually solving a naming problem on a deadline and move to their second choice if you go quiet. Reply promptly even if your answer is "not at this price".
Ask what the buyer plans to do with the name. A domain investor will not pay retail and should not; a company launching under the name can. If the buyer is an end user, counter from the range. If they are a reseller, decide whether a quick certain sale is worth more to you than waiting for the retail buyer who may never come.
Use a licensed escrow service such as Escrow.com, or sell through a marketplace that holds the funds until the transfer is confirmed. Never transfer the domain on a promise of payment, never accept an overpayment with a refund of the difference, and never use an escrow site the buyer names that you have not heard of.
A $19.99 consensus report gives you the retail range and the comparable sales behind it, in under a minute, with no account. Reply to the buyer from a position of knowledge.
Check the offer against an appraisal, $19.99