Why You Might Want to Make Your Sedo Listings Buy It Now

Elliot Silver
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I don’t love having buy it now prices on my domain names, but I want to share a reason why you might consider changing your current listings to buy it now. Keep in mind this applies to domain names that have received offers via Sedo  in the past.

Back in 2010, I bid on a domain name that was listed on Sedo. I didn’t even receive a reply from the owner with a counter offer. The bid thread expired without any further dealings.

Yesterday evening out of the blue, I received the following email from Sedo:

Thank you for your interest in the domain name [redacted].

We would like to inform you of some great news. The owner of the name you are interested in has set a Buy Now price for the name. That means that you have the ability to purchase this domain with no negotiation necessary!

This is the opportunity that you may have been looking for; no pressure, no haggling, and no wondering if your offer will be accepted. Simply agree to the price and the domain is yours.

The domain name was listed for sale at a reasonable price, and I bought it. Had I not received the email, I likely wouldn’t have known about the price change, and I probably would have been surprised if it had sold for that price and was reported on DN Journal.

If you have domain names that received offers on Sedo in the past, it might be a good idea to make them “Buy It Now” listings – even if it’s only for a short period of time. Sedo will automatically ping the companies and people who made offers on the name in the past, and perhaps you’ll close a deal.

Advice to Find an End User Buyer

Elliot Silver
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3

I want to share some advice on finding some great domain names that you can sell (or broker to) an end user buyer . This particular buyer can either be someone you’ve sold a domain name to in the past, or a company that you knows buys domain names based on sales reports or your own personal research.

Be mindful that you really need to know what constitutes a good domain name, must have a good sense of domain valuation, and must be good with communication to be sure that you close a deal and aren’t left with a domain name that isn’t worth what you paid for it.

There are several steps to this, and obviously each is important:

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Video: Advice from Bill Mushkin of Name.com

Elliot Silver
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10

I want to share a neat motivational  video from Name.com CEO and Founder Bill Mushkin. Although I think this particular video was made for his staff at Name.com, I think there is some words of wisdom that we can all use in our businesses.

I think watching this video is a good way to start a Friday morning.

Thanks for sharing.

Michelle Jenneke Has Twitter Account But Not Her Domain Name

Elliot Silver
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13

Michelle Jenneke is a hurdler from Kenthurst, New South Wales, Australia. As you can see in the video embedded above for your enjoyment reference, Ms. Jenneke has become internationally famous in the last two weeks as a result of her warmup routine at the Junior World Championships for track and field in Barcelona.

Ms. Jenneke seems to have a Twitter account, but unfortunately, it appears that she did not register MichelleJenneke.com. According to Whois records, MichelleJenneke.com was registered on July 19 (the day after the infamous video was posted on You Tube), and the registrant appears to be using some sort of privacy service. There is a website on the domain name, but it seems limited in scope right now.

Of course Ms. Jenneke doesn’t need MichelleJenneke.com for a personal/professional website, but it can certainly help and make it easier for people to find her and connect.

Hopefully  Olympic break out athletes will have the foresight to buy their .com domain names!

Thanks to Alan Dunn for the tip!

3 Reasons to Use Third Party Escrow Service When Selling With Brokers

Elliot Silver
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15

Domain brokers are an important part of the domain industry, and there are many fantastic brokers whose dealmaking skills bring revenue to domain owners. When using a broker or brokerage service though, I recommend using a third party escrow service such as Escrow.com,  Afternic’s escrow service, or Sedo’s escrow  to be an intermediary, and I’ll share a few reasons why this might be a wise idea.

Keep brokers honest

I’ve heard stories about brokers allegedly taking money off the top when closing deals on behalf of domain sellers. For instance, if I told a broker I want $50,000 for ElliotsBlog.com and a broker tells me he has a $40,000 offer, if he’s in the middle of the deal, he might actually have sold it for $50k and pocketed the remainder. If you work with a third party, the sales price will be transparent.

Ensure swift payment

After I transfer a name to a buyer or to a broker, I expect to be paid ASAP. There would be no reason for the broker to keep the buyer’s funds any longer than it takes to set up a wire transfer online (or get to the bank to do it in person) once the domain name is transferred to the buyer. With a third party escrow service, once the domain name is in the buyer’s possession, your funds are released.

Licensed, insured, and bonded

Generally speaking, US-based escrow services are licensed by state regulators, insured, and bonded. You don’t have to worry about them running off with your money and your domain name. When dealing with an unprofessional broker, you may give up the domain name and not receive the funds and you don’t have much leverage, especially if they aren’t based in the same jurisdiction as you (and litigation is probably very expensive).

I don’t see why a domain broker would have an issue using a third party escrow service to facilitate a domain sale. If they are concerned about their commission payment, you can ask them to have the buyer pay that directly and take it out of your payment.

Using an escrow service makes for a cleaner transaction and can ensure fairness for all parties.

Relationships Are Critical in Any Business

Elliot Silver
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5

Much like in any other business setting, maintaining relationships with service providers in the domain industry is critical. Whether you schedule one on one meetings at a domain conference (or many) or you exchange periodic emails with account managers, I think it’s important to stay in touch with your service providers.

There are many issues that can affect a person’s registrar account or parking account. The need for unlocked domain names, EPP codes that aren’t sent or don’t work, bulk transfers out or in, passwords that don’t work, credit card payments that aren’t made, change of address or payment address, and countless other issues. Most of these can be resolved with the help of customer support, but sometimes extra help is need to cut through red tape or resolve issues more quickly. Having a relationship with the company can expedite things.

I am friendly with a number of account managers with whom I do business, and this has helped innumerable times. Instead of waiting for an answer or for support, I email or call my account manager to have things resolved quickly. There’s nothing like closing a huge deal to find something out of my control is holding things up.

There are a number of ways to establish a relationship with your service providers, and I’ve highlighted some below. Feel free to add some of your ideas about connecting:

  • Attend a domain/SEO/leads conference that the company is also attending and schedule a meeting.
  • Email your assigned account manager and introduce yourself.
  • Connect on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter
  • Call the company and ask to speak with an account manager
  • Attend company-sponsored events and meet ups

No matter whether you have a large account or a small account, or whether you have an assigned account manager or not, you should establish a personal relationship with companies with whom you do business. You may not have an outstanding issue today, but when you do have a problem, you’ll have someone to call.

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