What's the going rate for a Twitter account name?

Ask what they intend to use it for, how they decided they want the name, etc. Find out how much they really want it before starting to throw around numbers, and also find out how serious they are. Adjust accordingly and figure out a fair payment method, also- look through their ToS to see if there’s anything about account ownership/sharing/selling, just to be on the safe side.

I thought Twitter was free?

Back in the early days of the web, I had a friend that took the URL for a lot of major corporations. He earned $5,000 – $10,000 a pop selling the URLs with the name back to the companies. You might want to check into intellectual property valuation processes.

You can just put your “sweat equity,” so to speak, into your own chosen Twitter name, and bring up the value of the real estate, unless, of course, you’re going for the ‘validated’ celebrity type names. Otherwise, you should try to bring up your own to something worth having, as oppose to purchasing ready-made fame to fortune, I think. But, what to I know. I only have a couple thousand Tweeps, myself. I have more than double that amount on one of my FB accounts. I still wouldn’t think to buy a name. It’s so much more fun to build it up yourself. Maybe I’m being silly.

Find out how much they really want it before starting to throw around number