Follow What Domain Names are Selling

Elliot Silver
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8

One of the most important aspects of being a domain investor is knowing what a domain name is worth. I think this is actually the most important thing, because without the ability to value a domain name, it would be impossible to make investment decisions without knowing the value of a domain name.

To learn about domain values and understand what domain names are worth, I use a variety of tools and observe many different things to fill my head with intelligence I can use to make purchase and sale decisions. Here are many of the ways I follow the market to see what is selling:

Read the DNJournal weekly domain sales report and keep an eye on the year to date report. This is a great way to see what is publicly selling since many brokers and some brokerages report their higher end deals. I also like share links to these two reports when a prospective buyer asks me to justify an asking price or I feel the need to educate someone about domain name sales.

Use the search functionality at NameBio. The team at NameBio archives domain name sales that are publicly reported, and it also has archives other public sales that it is able to track. Visitors can use NameBio’s search functionality to get more specific and follow along with certain types of domain name sales. For instance, someone who

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Almost Everyone is Dealing with Something

Elliot Silver
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8

Last Friday, I spent the day playing blackjack at Mohegan Sun. I don’t generally visit a casino during the week, but I made an exception because of who I was going to spend time with during the day.

I met one of my closest friends and his family at Mohegan Sun. We were lucky enough to get a table to ourselves, and we had a great time catching up and playing blackjack for a few hours. The visit was somewhat bittersweet though. My friend’s dad has been battling pancreatic cancer since March. I have known my friend’s dad for many years, and I rode the Pan-Mass Challenge this year in his honor. He is a fighter, and he is battling courageously.

On my ride back home, I thought about something I want to share with you. Although it is my friend’s dad who is battling cancer,

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Keep Enough Cash for Taxes

Elliot Silver
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3

I generally don’t preface an article with a disclaimer, but I think it is important to note at the outset that I am not an accountant nor should any of this be construed as accounting or tax advice!

Let’s say I buy a domain name at auction for $1,000 and re-sell that domain name a month later for $10,000. I might be inclined to go out and acquire an even better name for $10,000 or purchase two $5,000 domain names. I might even be inclined to buy a domain name for $5,000 and upgrade my office with the remaining $5,000. By doing this, there will be no money remaining to pay taxes.

When I sell a domain name, my first inclination is to reinvest the funds in another domain name or several domain names. I always like to keep great domain names in my portfolio, and reinvesting helps to ensure that my portfolio continues to improve. Even with this inclination, I need to be cognizant of the taxes that will be owed as a result of a sale. With a fluctuating business like domain investing, this can be a big challenge and can become a massive issue for a person or a business.

Many small business owners in the US pay

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Get a Third Party Opinion

Elliot Silver
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1

Here’s a relatively simple tip to see if a domain name is good: ask a third party that is not involved in the domain name business.

Several years ago before I was married, my wife and I spent quite a bit of time at her grandmother’s apartment. Her grandmother is very smart and as a former business / marketing professor, she understands domain names and their utility. She and I used to chat about domain names, including names I bought, names I was thinking about buying, and names she thought I should go after. When I mentioned a domain name that she didn’t like, it made me think twice about buying it.

It can be tough to ask colleagues in the domain space for their opinion about potential purchases. For one, everyone is competing on inventory. Sharing information about a domain name can offer more intel than a person would like to give up. In addition, domain investors might look at a domain name in a different way than someone who is out of the business. This is an attribute, but it can also be a detriment.

I have a number of friends

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Step Away from a Negotiation

Elliot Silver
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5

Negotiating a deal to its conclusion is an aspect of this business I enjoy. Negotiations can be exciting, frustrating, annoying, thought provoking, and emotional. Sometimes a negotiation reaches a point that it would be more productive to step away and hand the reigns to someone else.

It doesn’t happen often, but there have been times that a stalemate has been reached. It sort of comes to a point where the counterparty and I have dug our heels in so deeply that progress has stopped and we aren’t really getting anywhere. Taking some time to let things cool down is one approach, but it also gives the counterparty an opportunity to seek out a different domain name or find a different buyer. When this happens on a domain sale negotiation, it makes sense for me to hand the negotiation off to a trusted domain broker.

I don’t love involving a domain broker when it isn’t necessary. I value the effort and expertise of a domain broker, but I would prefer not to have to pay a commission and involve a third party in a private negotiation unless it is absolutely necessary. Sometimes it becomes necessary.

A domain broker may

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Have an Escrow Backup Plan

Elliot Silver
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1

We are fortunate because there are a few very good options when it comes to domain name escrow services. Escrow.com and Payonner Escrow are both licensed escrow services that cater to domain investors and others who have domain name transactions.

In the last year or so, I have had several transactions where the counterparty could not use an escrow service for a variety of reasons. On one occasion, I was doing a deal with a financial services institution, and they told me they would be unable to use a third-party company to do escrow. It doesn’t happen often, but domain name investors should have a backup plan to avoid having a deal fall through because of the escrow aspect.

Many attorneys and law firms, even those that do not focus on domain name law, will offer escrow services for domain name deals. In the transaction with the financial institution, we used their outside counsel’s escrow account. It was a bit concerning to use their attorney’s escrow service, but the counterparty to the deal and the law firm were both large enough that I was not concerned about losing out on the funds and/or domain name. In the end, the deal went through without a hitch.

When buying and selling domain names, I prefer to use

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