I have received an email wondering if one of my recently snapped names is for sale. What is the best way to respond to these type of emails. I would like to sell the name but would rather the interested party make an offer. Any suggetions from the pros?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

"Not really looking to sell it, but if you make a serious offer, we will entertain it."

even better, is to say that registered the domain for X purpose. This improves your case should you ever get WIPOed. For example, "I'm not really looking to sell this domain because I registered it to provide a political forum for midgets. However, I would entertain any serious offer"

If your domain name is suspect you do not want to put forth an offer (over and above your out-of-pocket expenses) which might be used against you under UDRP.
Make the other party clarify the actual intent.
If the email is vague and inviting you to make the offer by only saying "Is the domain name for sale?" instead of "I am interested in buying the domain name" simply respond with "Why are you asking?"
Now he has to say if he is interested in buying, or looking for a legal confrontation.
Naturally the other party may continue this game with another vague response, at which point you should just drop the whole communication because he has no real intent to buy and is just looking for your incriminating response.
It is sometimes best to act dumb and make the other party spell out what he wants instead of fishing for his desired incriminating response from you.

Avoid using "serious offer" in your response.

"Make the other party clarify the actual intent. "

You would be amazed at how often I hear from people who say, "I received an email offering to buy a domain name."

Then, when I see the actual email, it says something like, "We want to know if you would be interested in transferring the domain name" or "We would like to acquire the domain name" or similar nonsense which is intended to sound like a purchase offer, but which is very carefully worded NOT to say anything about buying the domain name.

What people think they see, and what they are actually looking at, are often two different things.

This is also similar to the "would you sell your domain name for $X?" ambiguity which causes arguments from time to time. (and, no, I do not believe that question constitutes an offer which, if answered affirmatively, creates a binding contract)

How about (this is a quote from a someone else)

"The domain name is not for sale, however if you would like to make a serious offer I may cosider it"

I am not a lawyer, just saw the quote.

JB, how is that one?

"Make an offer" replies never work for me. I havent sold 1 domain that way yet.

I usually give them a price.

When I ask about a domain and they say make us an offer I usually hit the delete button as most the time "Make an offer" = I plan on retiring from the sale of this domain.

I don't usually respond to these "is it for sale" emails anymore unless the other party clearly states a price which interests me. That saves a lot of time.

"JB, how is that one?"

I agree emphatically with hifi in the post immediately previous to this one.

Apply the reasoning in the "is it for sale?" inquiries to anything else you own.

Is the shirt you are wearing right now for sale? Yes or no?

It's a stupid question. If I walked up to you on the street and asked if your shirt was for sale, you'd probably just ignore me and think I was odd.

However, if I walked up to you on the street and said, "I'll give you $500 for that shirt", well, you might still think I was odd, but there is little doubt I would walk away with your shirt.