Advice

A number of years ago, I tried to buy a one word .com domain name from its original registrant. I did some diligence on the owner, and I learned he founded a well-known brand that was acquired by the second largest company in its field. He became a philanthropist, and money did not seem to be much of a factor for him.

While I increased my offer to buy the domain name over the years, we didn’t reach a deal. In fact, I don’t think he ever even provided a counteroffer to me. After several attempts over 5 years, I stopped inquiring about that domain name.

One thing I had noticed over the course of several email exchanges was his email address. The domain name he used for email was also exceptional, although he did not have a website. I believe it was the name of his new business or holding company that wasn’t consumer facing.

Whether you manage your own leads on an inquiry form or you utilize a service like Afternic or Efty, chances are good that you’ve received a message from someone who is confused. The visitor doesn’t understand that they’re visiting a domain name that is for sale, but they’ve filled out the inquiry form like a genuine prospective buyer would.

People often mistype domain names in error. They may be intent on visiting a website and typed in the wrong domain name. They may have clicked a link to or visited a website that no longer exists. They’re not looking to buy the domain name, but they filled out the form because they are looking for something that doesn’t exist.

I’ve been doing a bit of outbound marketing on some of my lower value inventory-quality domain names. I have been using DomainLeads.com as well as Google searches for lead generation and reaching out to prospective buyers to move some of this inventory.

One thing I’ve been trying to do is to remove BIN pricing from my landing pages before doing outbound. I haven’t been removing BIN prices from platforms like Sedo or Afternic, because I am more likely to forget to re-add it, but it would probably be wise if I did that, too.

According to Coin Telegraph, there has reportedly been a security incident involving domain names at Squarespace. “Multiple decentralized finance (DeFi) apps were targeted in a domain registry attack on July 11, according to an X post from blockchain security platform Blockaid,” the article reported. As you may recall, Squarespace acquired the domain names registered at the Google’s domain registrar after Google exited the domain registrar business.