Are you having trouble selling your domains? Well, do not feel bad most people in the industry have this problem. Let me tell you why. Simply put, the names you are trying to sell suck. Sorry to say it but its true. Now do not go and get offended by this, we all own crappy names. Do not kid yourself that every domain name you own is worth thousands of dollars. This will only hurt your bottom line in the long run as a domainer.
You are probably asking by now, “if my domains suck then what do I do?” Another simple answer, buy quality domains. Any experienced domainer will tell you that domains will sell themselves if they have potential. Literally they will sell themselves with little to no work at all. Now I do not mean go buy domains for hundreds or thousands of dollars, this is an easy way to get burned quickly. This is another thing that experienced domainers know; hand regging is NOT dead.
Sign up for Chef Patrick’s newsletter, he sends out some of the best deleting domain names once a week. He hand picks his winners, I think last night he sent out 100 names deleting today. Do it now, sign up on the top left of this site.
Contrary to popular belief there is MAJOR money in hand regging. It just all depends on what you reg, research, and the conclusion on WHY you think it is a great hand reg. I guess the biggest problem on why people hand reg crap is because they hear stories about people selling domains for millions or they see other people selling similar names with list prices really high. Another thing is just because estibot.com tells you it’s worth 18k does not mean it is in the slightest. It could be a broken string with “fake overature”. Ohh one more thing to add here is some people do not do enough RESEARCH!
Things to look for in a domain that I recommend are keywords. These are probably the most important thing in a domain. For god sake domains are made up of words, DUH! IMO, if you want to improve your portfolio first thing I would do is firesale all domains that are made up brandables, LLLL.coms, LLL.coms, any .nets that are not one or 2 strong keywords, same for .org, any .infos that are not one word and fit the extension, any ccTLDs besides 1-2L.ccTLD and ones in your own ccTLD. Now the only exception here is the LLL.coms. The reason I say get rid of them is because they are only as good as the next LLL.com. These domains are up to you whether you want to keep them or not but IMO I would get rid of them.
After you have “cut the fat” from your portfolio you are ready to start getting some nice names at reasonable prices. If you firsaled the names you will have a little bit of capital to start this. Hopefully you made a profit if not you still have the capital and will make a profit the second time around. Here is where it gets tricky and I will leave you with a couple tips on how to select names for your new and improved portfolio.
1. Be selective! It’s ok to pass up a domain if it does not fit your standards, remember the goal is to have domains sell themselves. If you are having second thoughts about a name then you probably should not pick it up.
2. Ask yourself, “What can this domain be used for?” If nothing comes to mind right away then it is probably not worth regging in the first place.
3. Does the name have potential for traffic or to be developed for traffic? This question right here can make or break a domain if you are looking to diversify your portfolio with a little bit of development. This is a great way to supplement income if times get tough.
4. Always remember there are trends and new technologies that come out every day. Do your research and find them before other domainers do. More than likely domains like these are long haul holds so be selective with these types of domains.
5. If you are buying a domain on the aftermarket do not be afraid to make a counter offer or even, dare I say it, hit them with a low ball. You never know what someone will take on a domain. I for one am known to give good deals on domains, if I give you a good deal on a domain chances are I regged it !
After reviewing these tips apply your methods on finding domains and you should be on your way to helping your bottom line. Also remember that just because a portfolio is small does not mean it is crappy. As a matter of fact, I would take 20 awesome quality domains over most portfolios I find on domain forums.
Back to the original point of this post; spend more time finding domains and picking only the cream of the crop and you will see your bottom line increase by tenfold. On another note the higher quality your portfolio the more liquid it becomes. Now who does not want liquidity in the domain industry?
*Disclaimer: Any domain can be worth thousands or millions. Just trying to help out your chances of finding and making those thousands or millions.
Ross Conte
YGrab.com
Good read Ross. One thing that I didn’t see here or must have missed is the effort that goes along with selling a domain name. If you are content with just putting up a thread on a forum with the name(s) you have for sale and bumping it daily or weekly, fine but don’t be surprised when you get low offers or no sales.
I spend a couple hours a week looking for end users that could benefit from owning my domain(s). I have had some success over the last year doing this. One thing I have noticed is that it is easier for me to sell a decent domain to a small business in the mid $xxx range than it is for me to sell to a huge company for $xx,xxx (unless of course you own a category killer .com). If you are holding out for huge sales on all of your hand registered domains you will be holding on to them for a while. Keep your portfolio liquid and put a little effort into selling your domains. Need help? email me
I would have to agree with you on this mike. What i was refering to was this exact method you have described. Another thing i was trying to point out was the trying to sell crappy names to end-users.
As you said about the $xxx sales, well thats pretty much straight on. If you are trying to sell a domain to a company for over $5k then you are likely to get more people in that company involved. This can diminish or longate the process. In other words, less likely chance of selling that domain unless the company is extremely interested.
Hi,
Any recommendations on where to sell domains?
@claude – Start a blog and sell direct.
Interesting post Ross.
I do agree many names people own do suck!
There are still hundreds of excellent domains available to pick up for RegFee…
See my site RegFeeNames.com – it is dedicated to keyword available domains but there are also several other good sites out there..
Regards,
Robbie
Founder
RegFeeNames.com
If you don’t mind me linking to my site, I have a process posted there for selling your domains to end users. It’s SellingToEndUsers.com.
I sold a domain today and one last week to end users.
Shucks, I thought you were going to have suggestions though on how to sell crappy names? Like most, we have several… great post
Rob,
Any chance you can give us some detail as to what is selling and for how much in this market?
I am not asking for exactly what domain name or exactly how much, but, how about giving us something like the domains were in the housewares category and sold for between 5000 and 8000?
Thanks,
Claude
True, for the greater part, but false about quality opinion.
Appraisals are opinions, subjective to individual or company ideas.
Not everybody thinks the same way about quality requirements.
We should not generalize opinions towards standards.
All domains are different, all sellers and buyers are differently motivated.
Third party opinions are only relevant if taken into consideration.
Every appraiser has in-house systems.
Most online domainer meeting places are reseller-oriented.
End users just pay to have whatever it takes.
And, who decides about what domain is crappy or not?
AsSeenOnTV.com and many other “long” names sold well:
cj.com + CommissionJunction.com …
cs.com + CompuServe.com …
cnbc.com …
msncnbc.com …
tdnam.com + TheDomainNameAftermarket.com …
tucows.com (right: Two Cows) …
tj6.com + TheJollySix.com …
Are these crappy?
Many other long, very short, or just meaningless (in English) SLD’s are used for successful webs.
Many unpronounceable domains with whatever .tld or .cc are successfully used for traffic redirection.
Crappy nln.org – lnn.net etc?
They make things roll.
Keywords – Important?
Search engines usually check web content – Not domain name.
Market? Market Value? Fair Market Value?
Only the rules of supply and demand count.
Wikipedia says something about this.
Value?
It just takes to motivate a buyer why that’s the price.
Discussion usually arises because of some third party comment.
No offense, I see correct things here.
But each individual has personal business strategies.
They sometimes work, and sometimes don’t.
Kind regards,
Johnny.
AsSeenOnTV.com = EXTREMELY COMMON phrase. Would help anyones portfolio
cj.com + CommissionJunction.com = A huge company and its a Keyword+Brandable.com, Still has a keyword.
cs.com + CompuServe.com = Big Company
cnbc.com = TV Station
msncnbc.com = TV Station
tdnam.com + TheDomainNameAftermarket.com = Domains at GoDaddy, and did you realize that they actually quit using this name.
tucows.com (right: Two Cows) = Huge company
tj6.com + TheJollySix.com = Never heard of it
I think you missed the entire point of this post. As you can see the names that you named were huge companies and it really does not matter what name they choose they can pay for ads ect. The point of this post was to help the domainer out there that can not sell their domains. The main reason for this IS because of the quality of domains they are trying to sell are low quality. By this i mean domains like EndUserDns.com, FiveComs.com, or MaybeWild.com. Which were all pulled straight off a forum. If you truely do own quality domains like FlightInstructor.com, foothills.com, or GiantPanda.com then they have liquidity because those types of domains can sell with in mins if the price is right.
I also read your site,
1. Domain extension (TLD) is always important.
It is if you wanna make a sale
2. A domain name (SLD) must pertain to the web content.
I agree with you
3. Search engine result position is always important.
If you want to sell your domain or contract traffic it is very very important. Otherwise you will have to work extremely hard to achieve it.
4. There are ways to determine the actual value of a domain.
I agree with you on this. Everyone values a domain differently.
5. Appraisers handle subjective scientific formulas to find current Fair Market Value.
I agree with you but they do add a very important metrics in finding a value to a domain name.
6. Fair Market Value.
If a domain sell for a certain price, that is its fair market value. Which may change over time.
7. The shorter, the better.
I agree
8. Backlinks are always important.
They are very important if you want to gain traffic to your domain. They can help you get SERPs as well. If a domain already has backlinks then that’s just work you do not have to do.
9. Traffic is always important.
Traffic is very important if you want to sell a domain quick. I have had companies specifically ask me if the domain got any traffic before. I have told them no before and they closed to deal. Vise vera as well.
I am sorry but the stuff you have deemed not important will help you sell a domain quickly and for a good price. And yes companies do look for these factors when finding a domain name to pick up.
To answer your question, “Who decides if a name is crappy or not?” the person buying it does. If you buy domains with keywords and ideas for that name, more than likely you will sell that name faster than if the name was Hooglif.com.
I also think you missed this “*Disclaimer: Any domain can be worth thousands or millions. Just trying to help out your chances of finding and making those thousands or millions.”
Have a good day!
Developing your NOSE for a good name is SO important. Do it by NOT reg’ing names and then having people tell you they suck, but by studying previous sales, active auction sites and forums sales threads…
I always go back to this one, Frank Schilling’s last post: http://www.sevenmile.com/2008-03/everybody-sells/
Aim for meaning, resonance, gravity, traffic, …
At GoDrops.com you can get live feedback about the quality of names as they drop -live- during the daily drop and some advice from more experienced domainers.
This is a very good point. By studying what is selling ect. it can help you register or pick up some good names based on physical data. This is why past sales data is so important in finding new names and valuating current names already in your portfolio.
A side observation. I recently tried to buy what godaddy calls a premium domain. Someone owned it and was selling it through godaddy. I thought it was a little high and offered about 40% off list — it was still a very nice offer for a domain (considering the stock market is crashing) that I knew would have to earn its value through development. I did not feel I was low balling at all. I own names that are similar and have a good feel for the traffic they generate.
The rep at godaddy said they best he could reduce was 5%.
I asked the godaddy rep to pass along my offer, nonetheless, to the seller to see what he/she thought of it, but he said he could not do that. End of discussion. End of potential sale.
In many, perhaps most, cases domain values are arbitrary; they reflect the view of the seller, and not the view of a market. I once had someone make an offer on a domain I owned for a decent amount. I didn’t place a lot of value on this domain and in all honestly it was a windfall offer. I didn’t counter or play games, and just sold it because I knew he obviously wanted it for development.
But I think third party sellers/brokers, in this case godaddy, have an obligation to pass along an offer to the seller — even if godaddy believes the offer is short of the name’s potential value. So, bottom line advice, if I was selling through a third party, I would make darn sure that the broker was advising me of all offers, no matter how off the asking price. If the seller thinks the offer is too low they can counter or ignore. It’s a nice, ah, free market solution.
Had the seller countered with 30% off asking I might have taken it. The domain is still for sale.
After ICANN passed the new TLD extensions rule, there have started to be some new TLD extensions, such as .ASIA and .ME. I wonder if the continued expansion of TLDs will devalue existing .com/net/org domain names.