There are plenty of reasons to hire a domain broker on outbound domain sales. Domain brokers know how to contact buyers who might be interested in certain types of domain names, most have extensive lists of domain buyers, and all professional domain brokers should be skilled at negotiating.
For many domain investors, inbound domain sales are something we like to manage on our own. Negotiating can be exciting, especially in the case of a $50k offer turning into a $1.35 million sale, which is what happened with Rick Schwartz and his eBet.com domain name. I have found that most people who are domain investors enjoy the art of negotiating as much as anything else in this business.
Personally, I don’t really like to give my sales leads away to domain brokers when my landing page or other effort have generated the lead. I don’t like the idea of paying 10-15% commission for negotiation a domain sale when I am perfectly capable of doing it myself. All that said, there is a great reason why I should use a domain broker for certain sales leads, and it has to do with my post about being patient with end user buyers.
There’s nothing better in the domain space than closing a sale on a domain name to an end user for your optimal selling price. However, that feeling of euphoria can quickly evaporate when you realize the difficulty in actually closing the deal. There are corporate lawyers who get involved, marketing people having to talk to the tech team, the corporate controller or CFO having to sign off on deals…etc. There are many points when a seemingly completed deal may be in jeopardy.
A domain broker can help navigate through those tricky waters. The skilled broker will keep you posted about certain things and may help creatively bridge some gaps that come up. The pro domain broker has dealt with many types of scenarios, and that person can help ensure a smoother deal. There have been times when was ready to throw in the towel after receiving certain requests, and I think having a domain broker in between the buyer and my company could have reduced the stress level.
Paying 10-15% commission on a deal I could strike on my own may seem absurd. However, having someone help guide the buyer and seller through the often difficult process of closing and transacting may be worth a cut of the profits, especially on a frustrating, but profitable deal.
Just to clarify. I did not hire a broker. The broker came to me with a qualified offer.
I understand and wasn’t implying that. Just using a fresh (and real) example of what would constitute an exciting negotiation.
All of the points above are correct.
However, if you let a broker do a shotgun announcement/newsletter, you might get into trouble when a TM owner uses the domain offer as “bad faith”.
I’m sure Elliot might check USPTO before sending out an ‘offer to sell’ to a select few potential endusers.
And, I know professional brokers like Dave Evanson (Sedo) check USPTO when he is personally marketing a premium domain.
Many times a third party (broker or IP lawyer) can negotiate without personal emotions which is good and bad.
However, all of my top sales were done by myself.
How many geodomains have been sold by brokers? I’ve seen most of them sold by their owners.
I’d be real interested in hearing about how a broker goes about marketing properties that require local knowledge of a specific market rather than through general outreach to domain investors or companies in search of a brand, which seems to be the core competency of the broker community.
Also, who does the best appraisals these days.
Hey,
I am CEO – TeamUp Media Inc. located in Canada.
Searching for the best entrepreneurs & Firms related to Domain Brokering, Sales, can approach end- users ect..
If interested in Flipping our stock, and its an ongoing procedure. We currently have 350 in Stock and by January 2014 we’ll keep a constant 1000+ names in inventory every month.
Thanks Guys,
Sincerely,
Firas A.
F.president@outlook.com / F.president@teamupmedia.com