Finding common ground regarding the valuation of a domain name is often a struggle for a prospective buyer and domain registrant. The buyer usually has one idea about the worth of a domain name and the registrant has another idea. Sometimes both parties can agree on a valuation for a domain name but making a deal is still impossible.

Many domain registrants fall in love with their domain names. There may be a long backstory to how a domain name was acquired, or the domain name may have been in someone’s portfolio for many years. Whatever the reason, it can be difficult for some domain registrants to agree to sell their domain name even if a “fair” offer is made. A prospective buyer will need to offer substantially more than its value to get a deal done.

Look at this another way. George Steinbrenner purchased the New York Yankees in 1973. Steinbrenner died in 2010, and his son is now the majority owner of the company that owns the team. Let’s say you made billions in Bitcoin. You want to buy the Yankees, despite the fact that they haven’t won a World Series in many years while their Red Sox arch rivals have won 4 times since 2004. You look at Forbes and see the team is valued at $6 billion. You team up with someone and decide to offer $6 billion to buy the team. Do you think you’ll get a deal done? No way.

In short, the NY Yankees may be worth $6 billion according to Forbes, but that doesn’t mean the Steinbrenner family would even consider selling the team for close to that figure.

Domain registrants may not be as attached to domain names as deeply as the Steinbrenner family and the Yankees, but you get the idea. An offer may be “fair” and equal to the market value of the asset, but that doesn’t mean a deal gets done if a market value offer is made. Sometimes it takes substantially more money to get a domain registrant to part with a domain name.