Over the last several weeks, I have been adding more domain names to my account at Atom.com. I have just shy of 250 domain names listed for sale along with some that are pending review. With another lease to own sale started last night, I currently have 4 LTO deals in progress at Atom. Two are .com, one is .AI, and one is .xyz.
Over the years, I’ve witnessed and heard about many disagreements between domain brokers and clients. There have been accusations of double dealing, poor representation, frontrunning, and everything in between. Many of these issues could have been resolved or clarified with a signed brokerage agreement.
Domain name sellers and buyers who are going to work with a broker should execute a domain brokerage agreement that outlines expectations and requirements. I imagine every professional and legitimate domain broker will have a standard agreement that can be used and modified based on the situation. The buyer or seller should have an attorney review the agreement to ensure their interests are covered.
Timing is critical with domain name sales. I may have a domain name for 10 years, let it expire, see it picked up by another investor, and it sells within a week. It’s that idea that keeps me renewing domain names I might otherwise consider dropping. A domain name may not be in demand until that one buyer wants it. This business can feel so random sometimes.
One thing I’ve heard and probably experienced is that some domain name buyers pay close attention to domain name pricing. They will track a domain name over the years and hope to buy it at a better price. That sometimes doesn’t come, but they’ll periodically check on a domain name. If they see the price drop to a comfortable level, they may purchase it right away.
I regularly see people discuss the possibility of domain registrar front running. In fact, I’ve written about this topic before. By and large, I can’t imagine any reputable domain registrars doing this today for many reasons.
Front-running accusations often stem from someone searching for a domain name at a registrar, seeing that it’s available, choosing not to register it, and later finding it has been registered when they check again. Whois privacy complicates this because the actual registrant may not be shown. In fact, with some Whois privacy services, it can look like the domain name is owned by the registrar itself. In addition, default registrar landing pages can also muddy the waters.
My general preference is to register my domain names without Whois privacy enabled. The downside to that is my business phone number is exposed, and it leads to many spam phone calls. This happens frequently after winning domain names at auction and companies send emails trying to sell web development and related services.
One thing I’ve done in an effort to reduce the volume of spam phone calls is use Google Voice for Whois. I don’t forward the phone to my mobile number, so the calls go straight to voicemail. I check Google Voice on occasion to ensure I didn’t receive any phone calls or texts that need to be returned.
Lease to Own deals have become much more normal in the domain space. LTO deals give buyers the opportunity to use a domain name at a lower upfront cost, and it gives domain name sellers a source of consistent monthly income. There is some risk with LTO deals for a domain investor. I was asked about this today on X.
If a lessee engages in deceptive or illegal practices with the domain name – anything from phishing schemes, email spam, selling counterfeit or illegal products/services, or hosts other illegal activities on the domain name, there can be problems for the domain name and domain name registrant.
