Storage Locker Auction: $500k Worth of Spanish Gold

Elliot Silver
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3

I read an article this morning in the New York Post detailing someone’s big find in a storage locker auction: half a million dollars worth of Spanish gold. The auctioneers (Dan and Laura Dotson) are the same people who are star on the A&E tv show, Storage Wars, although the find was apparently not caught on tape.

According to the auctioneer, the previous owner of the Spanish gold was a lady who paid a few hundred dollars a month to lease her storage unit. When she passed away, her credit card payments stopped being made, and the abandoned locker was auctioned, sight unseen.

As much as I enjoy watching Storage Wars, my mind wandered a bit when I read the article. I instantly thought about the domain names I own that are automatically renewed annually and paid for via credit card. If/when something happens to me, my credit card will be cancelled or expire, and it will be up to someone else to renew my company domain names. Should they fail to do so, the domain names will expire and likely be auctioned.

There are a couple of lessons in this I suppose. First, I like to have my best domain names renewed for a number of years in advance. At least this would buy time for whomever is responsible for my domain names when I’m gone. Second, you should have a continuity plan for your business should something happen to you. This is especially important if you have advertisers on your websites.

Domain Guardians (I wrote about them when the company started) is one company that can advise you on how to protect your domain assets when you’re gone. You can also speak with an attorney if you prefer to deal with it privately. It’s not a fun issue to discuss, but if you happen to have valuable domain names, it’s a topic that needs to be addressed before something happens.

Update: Estibot’s Lead Generation Tool

Elliot Silver
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4

Earlier today, I posted an article about using Estibot’s Lead Generation Tool to sell a domain name, and that article has been taken down. I am sorry if you are looking for that article and it’s no longer available to read.

After a couple of well-reasoned comments from readers, and after thinking about it a bit further, I decided to pull the article. Although I was trying to show how useful the Estibot tool was to me, I think much of the success had to do with my sales email, negotiating experience, and most importantly,  the domain name.

Don’t get me wrong, the Estibot sales lead generation tool was helpful in finding a buyer, but I think my post made it sound almost too easy. I don’t think it’s right to give people the impression that it’s easy because the account at Estibot isn’t cheap, and I don’t think people will have much luck if their domain names aren’t great and prices aren’t fair. For instance, it’s not likely going to benefit people who want to sell a brandable domain name.

The Estibot tool worked well for me, but after further thought, I don’t want to give the idea that it’s a simple process. I hope you aren’t disappointed, but I would rather take the post down than have people use my example and get in trouble for spamming or have people become disappointed that they couldn’t replicate my success.

Have a great weekend and be safe.

Creatively Bridging the Gap in a Negotiation

Elliot Silver
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25

For about three months, I had been negotiating with a company to sell a domain name. I had initially sent the CEO an email offering the domain name for sale, and after a number of subsequent emails, we were somewhat close to a deal, but still far enough apart to prevent us from consummating a deal.

Because I had dug my heels in at a certain number, I was reluctant to come off this number. It would have been okay had I closed a deal at that number, but I really was not inclined to lower my asking price. The buyer was not interested in raising his offer, so we were basically stuck. I also figured if I went back and said I would take his offer, he could tell me things have changed and the offer is no longer valid, weakening my negotiating position.

Over the last 6 weeks, we had emailed each other a couple of times to see if either of us was willing to come off of our price, but neither of us were willing to do so. It would have appeared that we wouldn’t be able to make a deal happen since neither of us was willing to move.

Last weekend, I thought of a proposal that would bridge the gap and make a deal palatable for both parties. The buyer would pay his final offer price to me to buy the domain name, and his company would donate the difference between what I was asking and the sales price to a non profit organization.

In this situation, I got an acceptable price for the domain name and was able to help one of my favorite non profit organizations. The buyer is getting an exact match domain name for his business at the price he wants, and he can make a charitable donation to a worthy cause. It’s a win/win/win.

Sometimes when you are negotiating and both parties can’t seem to find a middle ground for a deal, you need to think outside of the box to make something happen. I am happy to sell this domain name, and I am proud that this deal will help a great organization.

Don’t get me wrong, my primary motivation was to sell the domain name, but making this offer helped resolve the stalemate in negotiations and we’re both happy with the result.

Registrar Domain Name Price Increase Notices Being Sent

Elliot Silver
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12

I’ve started to receive emails from domain registrars announcing an increase in the price of .com and .net domain names, “based on the  VeriSign  and  Neustar  announcements” of price increases in 2012.

The price you pay for .com and .net domain names depends on the domain registrar you use, but I imagine the increases will generally be across the board. You’ll probably receive an email announcing a pricing change sometime in the next few weeks.

You may consider paying for additional years of registration for domain names you plan to keep for a while, and you may wish to renew soon to expire domain names before the increase takes effect. If you don’t receive a notice of a price increase, you should reach out to the support department at your preferred registrar to ask, or ask an account representative.

Quick TRAFFIC Thoughts

Elliot Silver
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I spent much of the day catching up on some things that I overlooked during the past few days, and the rest of my day was spent traveling back to New York City… I hate flying in the rain, and it was raining in FLL and at JFK.

AI am not ready (nor awake enough) to post a recap of the Traffic conference tonight, but I want to post something quickly in response to a few articles I caught just now via  Domaining.com.

The quick summary is that I had a great time at the conference and thought it was very well organized and well attended. I didn’t think the auction was very good, which I will discuss more tomorrow, but I think the auction was just a tiny part of the entire conference. I find it peculiar that people are so focused on the results and use it almost as an indictment of Traffic.

I met with a number of people and companies who are in the process of creating very large and exciting projects in the domain space. There were several deals announced during the event, which will help domain investors sell domain names. I met with a few companies that are building products and services that will help domain investors.

The mood was far more jovial than just a couple of years ago, despite the current economic uncertainty. I didn’t go to bed before 2:00am, and I found myself with dozens of attendees hanging out and talking shop each night.

I found it very disappointing to read comments in articles that seem to imply that Traffic wasn’t a good conference. This is especially concerning and frustrating because I am quite sure those commenters were not even in attendance. It’s like reading a Yelp review about a pizza place you’ve never tried and agreeing that the pizza is bad. It makes no sense.

Anyway, I just want to follow up to Mike’s post because I agree with just about everything he posted. I will post a full rundown of my conference takeaways tomorrow, but I had a very good time at the conference. I probably spent more time meeting with people than I did at any other event in the past, and I believe it’s going to lead to increased business for my company.

Quickly Transfer a Name from Go Daddy

Elliot Silver
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28

I have an account at GoDaddy, specifically because of the company’s high level of customer service. The one thing that irritates the heck out of me is when I buy a Godaddy-registered domain name in the aftermarket, have it pushed to my account, and then have it locked for 60 days. This is one of my biggest pet peeves in the domain business.

As a result of this policy, I will almost never have a simple domain push done when buying a name from someone who uses GoDaddy, unless I plan to develop it. When I am buying to re-sell it, which is more often than not, I will transfer the domain name out instead of doing an account push. I sacrifice simplicity, speed, and ease, to not have to deal with the transfer lock.

For those of you who are like me, I want to share a method to have your transfers out of Godaddy completed more expeditiously. This will take a 5 day transfer from Go Daddy to Moniker, Enom, Register.com, Network Solutions, or other domain registrar, and make it a 2 day process.

Here are the steps to quickly transfer a domain name out of Godaddy:

  • Domain owner needs to unlock the domain name.
  • Domain owner should then request authorization code and forward it to buyer.
  • Buyer should initiate a transfer at his or her registrar.
  • Domain owner should forward any security email that is received after the previous step to the buyer, and the buyer should proceed as directed.
  • Wait until the following business day.
  • Domain owner should log in to the domain control panel, under Domain Manager, there’s a tab  that says “Domains.” In this drop down menu, there’s a link for pending  transfers. Assuming the domain name is listed in there, he should check off the box and  then click the “authorize” button on the upper right section.
  • The domain name should be transferred the following business day.

I just did it yesterday and the transfer was completed this morning.

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