How I Would Choose a Domain Broker

Elliot Silver
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7

Domain brokers can be very helpful. Some of the best  domain name brokers sell millions of dollars worth of domain names each year. Brokers can be an essential part of the process of selling domain names, and there are quite a few domain brokers I respect and would use.

It is very easy to become a domain broker. There are no qualifications required, there are no certifications needed, and literally anyone can call themselves a domain broker without any industry background or experience (do a Google or LinkedIn search to see how many there are!). As far as I know, there are no requirements for people to identify themselves as professional domain name brokers. It is because of this that due diligence is required before choosing a domain broker.

I am fortunate to know quite a few exceptional domain brokers, but I thought I would share some thoughts on how I would go about choosing a domain broker if I did not have these contacts.

For the purpose of this article, I am going to assume that a domain broker made the first contact with me to ask about selling one of my domain names or I did a Google/forum/blog search to find the names of domain brokers. Essentially, the assumption is I know the name of a broker but know nothing about that broker.

The first thing I would do would when contacting a broker

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When in Doubt, Call Former Owner

Elliot Silver
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1

Performing due diligence is a critical step in buying a domain name. I never want to purchase a domain name that turns out to be stolen from a registrant, so it is important to me to do as much as I can to ensure a registrant is the rightful owner of a domain name.

I use a variety of tools to verify proper ownership, and the main tool I use is DomainTools’ Whois History Tool. If there is ever a question in my mind about the ownership of a domain name I am interested in buying, I will try to contact a former owner to verify that the domain name was sold to the current owner.

Importantly, it is critical to ensure the correct owner is called. If the entity that owned the domain name sold it to someone else and the domain name was stolen from that person, the phone verification of a previous domain owner doesn’t help. This is why I need to make sure I call the right person to not get a false sense of security.

When I make a phone call to a former domain registrant,

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Domain Industry Recruiters Need to be Discreet

Elliot Silver
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10

The domain name business is small, and the business of domain investing is even smaller. It seems that most people involved in the domain space  know each other or know of each other. This can pose challenges for people who work  in the business and need to be discreet. One such example is job recruiters / head hunters.

Enough time has passed that I am comfortable sharing this story. A while back, a recruiter reached out to me about a job opening at a domain industry company. I am pretty sure she found my information on LinkedIn, although I am not sure why she felt I was qualified for the position. The strangest aspect of her recruiting email was that the position was currently  filled by someone I know. This person apparently didn’t know the company had engaged a recruiter to find a replacement.

Generally speaking, recruiters need to be discreet because most people aren’t comfortable discussing other job opportunities over their work email or while in their offices. The onus is typically on the job applicant to be discreet when communicating with a recruiter, although a good recruiter should also be discreet.

When it comes to hiring within the domain industry,

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Not Always Great to Buy a Domain Name for Someone

Elliot Silver
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1

The most difficult part of a domain deal is often the domain name transfer. This process can be especially frustrating when dealing with a buyer who is not all that experienced with domain name transfers and doesn’t know how to facilitate one. This can be even more frustrating when the value of the deal is lower than usual.

The other day, I posted a poll asking people if they have ever given a domain name as a gift to someone. The majority of people who participated in the poll were like me and have bought a domain name for someone else as a gift. Sometimes, buying a domain name for someone else isn’t such a great idea.

Nearly all of the time I have bought a domain name for someone, they have not taken possession of the domain name from me. Either they don’t have the need for the domain name (yet), or they simply don’t know enough about how to actually get the domain name. If I were to guess, most of these people have never even owned a domain name before and they wouldn’t know how to open a registrar account and initiate an account change or a transfer.

For the most part,

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Forum / Blog Complaints Should Be the Last Resort

Elliot Silver
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5

We go through quite a bit of propane each month during the Fall and Winter months. Our 500 gallon propane tank needs to be filled monthly and sometimes twice monthly if the weather is extraordinarily cold. Yesterday, the  propane tank was filled and I noticed the price was 35% higher than last year’s price for the same time period. I looked at the Massachusetts Propane Price Survey and saw that the year over year average price was only 6% higher this year.

Because the propane company owns our tank and we are contracted with them to fill us at their market rates, there was little I could do. I called the company and someone there offered to lower the price by a few cents a gallon. This was nice, but it wasn’t really satisfactory to me, especially since they could continue to increase our rate with the only option being to reduce our usage (no, thanks).

Instead of taking to Yelp, NextDoor.com, or some other local website where people chat or give reviews to talk about my dissatisfaction, I did something else: I emailed a couple of company executives and the local office manager. I explained the situation and told them why I felt that I was being overcharged. I was polite but firm. I need them to deliver my propane in a timely fashion, and if I ever run out of propane during a storm, I need them to be willing to deliver my propane in an emergency situation. I can’t risk burning a bridge with a company I am going to continue doing business with for the foreseeable future.

This morning, I received a call from the manager who lowered the price considerably for this month’s and last month’s deliveries, and he assured me they would keep an eye on my account. He understood my position and we quickly remedied the situation. The price is a bit higher than I would like it to be, and it is probably a bit lower than they would like it. However, an email to the right people followed by a phone call was all it took to fix this situation.

Too often I see people posting

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Just Send Your Top 5

Elliot Silver
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1

People regularly email about their domain names. Most people seem to want to sell me their domain names. The polite people ask me if they can send me their domain names to review if any fit my purchasing needs. The not as polite people simply email me a big list of names without a prior introduction or any type of business relationship.

When people ask about sending me a list of their domain names, I typically ask them to send me a few of their best domain names. Sometimes I’ll say send your 10 best and other times it’s a top 3 list. The point is to get them to cull the list instead of thinking that I will do it for them.

Realistically, the “best” domain names in a portfolio would be a small percentage of that portfolio. If someone asked me to share my top 5 names, I would quickly say

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