You’ve probably heard that huge companies like Microsoft and Google buy domain names using intermediaries at companies like Mark Monitor and Corporation Service Company. They do this to get a better price and to stay stealthy with their acquisitions. Although most domain investors don’t have the budget to make ultra expensive domain acquisitions, I do think it can be beneficial to use a buyer’s broker to acquire a domain name, and several companies offer this type of service at reasonable costs.
Here are five reasons a domain investor might wish to hire a buyer’s broker:
1) Stay Stealthy – If a domain owner knows you are a domain investor, you might not even get the courtesy of a reply to open a discussion.
2) Depersonalize Negotiations – Many things can be said during the course of a serious negotiation, and it can be frustrating. With a buyer’s broker, you don’t have to take things personally.
3) Eliminate Negotiations – If you tell your buyer’s broker a price, it’s that company’s job to negotiate to get you that price. If you don’t like negotiations, let a broker handle them for you and you won’t have to worry about negotiating.
4) Seamlessly Close Deals – Many companies will handle just about all aspects of the transaction. You don’t have to worry about transfer or payment issues. It can be frustrating to deal with people who don’t have much knowledge about how to sell or transfer a domain name.
5) Get a Second Opinion – A buyer’s broker likely knows the market value and can let you know whether your offer is reasonable and/or has a good chance of being accepted. Recently, I’ve been using a buyer’s brokers to try and negotiate great prices on domain name acquisitions. If I can improve my buy rate just a bit, it’s worth the added cost. It certainly saves time and effort telling someone the names you want and the prices you’ll pay to get them.
Have you used a buyer’s broker service before, and if so, what are your experiences?
I hope this doesn’t come across as self serving since this is what I do, but another reason to use a domain buyer broker is because in some cases the buyer broker will know the owner of the domain and that can certainly work in the favor of a client.
The owner of the domain if they have half a brain would know anyone keen enough hire a seasoned veteran domain buyer has some serious money to spend, or really wants the name, and will keep their pricing very high. That is what I would do… I am sure 9 out of 10 others would clue in as well.
Similar to what Rob said but a bit different is that a buyer’s broker may be able to get in touch with the domain owner when the potential buyer can’t, perhaps due to Whois privacy or some other reason.
@Ron
Agreed. Most clients using a buyer broker are interested in a higher value domain anyway.
I don’t even get involved if the max budget is like $2500 or less. I suggest that they contact the owner with a strong offer and deal with the owner directly.
I have had by far more positive experiences with domain owners than negative experiences with regards to pricing so as long as the first offer is respectful of the domain’s value.
Anyone know a good broker that deals with state insurance names?
I don’t have the time anymore
D Frank
A good buyer broker will vastly increase the odds that the buyer will get the desired domain name, and at a better price than buyer could get on their own. I typically save my clients 2-3 times my fee, so the ROI is a no-brainer.
Broker Buyers have to be very upbeat, as if nobody used them, they would make no money in this business. Many people come from sales backgrounds in other industries which can be applied to domains, can use the same extensive tools as broker buyers, so what magic can you do than I should pay you 10-15%…Sorry it has to be said, Brokers are not miracle workers, most people think they can sell any magical name, doesn’t work like that, roll up your sleeves, do some due diligence, no need to pay middle men, if you are smart, and a good talker, and straight forward, and have the cash, nothing a broker can do better.
Never had a broker make a successful deal on my behalf..
My recent situation:
I emailed the domain owner and made a $50k offer…got NO response…so I called the owner…his response was that he does NOT sell to domainers…
So I hired a buyer broker…and told the broker my max bid is $50k and he said he will charge me 15% of total sales price…i said, no problem…
After only 2 days, this broker closed the deal for $35k…and i’m in the process of closing this deal.
I still do NOT understand why the domain owner refused to deal with me directly with an offer of $50k…
Why don’t people sell directly to domainers for more money???
After I get this deal done, I’m going to contact the owner and ask why didn’t he sell it to me for $50k instead of selling thru broker for only $35k
A lot of buyers turn out to be fake, they are just trying to get you to use their domain appraisal service or proxy service or something. It’s a pain dealing with buyers directly. Most semi-anonymous offers turn out to be bogus.
How about a seller’s broker? Too many dead beat buyers out there breaching contracts at Sedo, Afternic, Go Daddy and even privately. They make offers on domains, click “buy now” or in other words AGREE to a LEGAL CONTRACT and then never show up for the sale.
Time someone starts protecting the sellers.
As a domain buyer broker, I can tell you that there are just so many reasons why some people choose to use a domain buyer broker. The most common reasons that I come across are 1) negotiation anxiety, some people just hate to do it that much. 2) Stealth: the need to keep price down because of who they are or what they do. 3) Can’t reach the owner of the domain. 4) Personality conflicts resulted in hurt feelings and an no-sell status. 4) Price is too high on a domain to afford but they desperately want it and want to use a professional negotiator to get the price down. 5)Want to make sure they are getting a fair price or have no idea what to offer . 6) Time is money and they are too busy. This is VERY common with CEO types.
@ Ernest
Do you work for yourself? How long have you been a domain buyer broker?
Hi Elliot, yes I’ve been working for myself since 2004. I’ve been domaining in general for about ten years and brokering domains for a little over half of that. I got my start as Director of Issuer Services for a smallcap software development company called Knobias that lead to a lot of meetings with smallcap companies. My then hobby of domaining just lead natural to brokering within that group from there until I finally left Knobias to start my own business, SuperNiche.com. Over the years Google has grown to trust me and my website has been ranked highly in Google for the last two years which has lead to a lot of opportunities with companies looking for a buyer broker.
I need a domain broker,can you help?