Price Upon Request was a recent feature added by Efty, this in addition to the options to Make An Offer and Buy It Now. In this article I compare the buy-it-now-method versus the price-upon-request-method, listing the price upon request benefits. When the feature was released, several Domain Investors were excited by the possibilities of this new way of doing business. The driving force behind this new feature was the Domain King, Rick Schwartz. The King tweeted this in response to the feature release:
I think “Price Upon Request“ versus “Make an Offer” is going to revolutionize the domain industry in 2020.
I think it may be one of my greatest contributions to the industry ever.
One shows value and strength and the other shows desperation and weakness.
Congrats!#Domains
— Rick Schwartz 👑 The DomainKing® 👑 Since 1995 (@DomainKing) December 15, 2019
In my recent interview with domain investor Rick Schwartz, I learned at least one thing about him: with more than two decades of experience in the domaining industry, when he speaks, you should listen. This article is me listening, and examining exactly what are the price upon request benefits.
BUy it now versus Price Upon request
Below I examine 7 scenarios that pit buy-it-now versus price-upon-request. Five of them benefited the seller, which is indicative that price upon request is the wave of the future.
| Scenario | buy-it-now | price-upon-request | Related Notes | price-upon-request change favors the. . . |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| more likely to allow for impulse purchases | yes | no | Impulse purchases can result in buyers remorse | buyer |
| allows the end user to know if the domain name they desire is in their budget immediately. | yes | no | by not placing a price on the name, this may result in more inquiries. This could give domain investors a better understanding of the demand of the name, and thus the value. | seller |
| allows the end user to negotiate a price | no | yes | Price upon request gives the buyer some flexibility to negotiate the buying price. | buyer |
| most likely allows the domain investor to extract the maximum value from the domain name. | no | yes | domain investors list buy-it-now domains at a price they're willing to accept. This mentality could prevent them from maximizing value. | seller |
| in the event the domain name becomes a hot commodity, it prevents the domain investor from selling the domain at a lower-than-market-value price. | no | yes | occassionally, names will become hot due to some viral content, which is most-often unforseen. | seller |
| can be viewed by end users as a distress sale | yes | no | some users may view buy-it-now domain names as names that are willing to be moved quickly. Listing a domain name as price upon request gives a domain name a feeling of a limited resourced (which it really is), which may impress upon buyers a sense of urgency. | seller |
| gives the domain investor information on interested leads | no | yes | when an offer is received, this will, at a minimum, give the domain investor the contact information of a lead. Even if a deal isn't initially reached, then this could open the door to negotiate a future deal with any number of leads. | seller |
The biggest benefit to the domain investor is that price upon request gives the domain investor a clear indicator, via price inquries, of the level of interest in his or her domain. Most of all, it gives the domain seller a list of potential buyers, even if there’s not an agreed upon price initially. After examining the positives of price upon request, I updated my entire portfolio from buy it now to price upon request. What are your thoughts on price upon request?
