Some Domain Names are Not Sellable

Elliot Silver
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I receive quite a few emails from people asking me to buy their domain names or for some help selling their domain names. If I am not interested in buying the name(s), I will generally politely decline and may point them in the direction of marketplaces like Sedo or Afternic. Unfortunately, some domain names are simply not sellable.

You probably wouldn’t believe the quality of the vast majority of domain names that are sent to me. Many don’t make any sense to me, have hyphens in strange locations, use obscure words in non .com extensions, randomly replace letters with numbers, or they have other features that make them pretty worthless from my perspective. I feel badly when I see these emails, especially when someone sends an email with a huge list of names that are of the same quality.

Buying domain names that aren’t worth anything can be

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Sometimes It’s Just a Regular Person Inquiring

Elliot Silver
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A good friend of mine dabbles in domain names. I say “dabbles” because he probably owns 10 domain names as investments and all of them were hand registered. My friend occasionally asks me about domain names for various ideas he has, and he  usually sends an email to inquire about domain names he likes.

My friend  faces a bit of trouble when inquiring about domain names. He is in the finance / banking / investment /venture industry. My bet is that domain owners who receive his inquiries do a Google search, see his background, and incorrectly assume that their domain name is the target of something major. Under this assumption, they give him ridiculous prices for their domain names.

Although my friend inquires about

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We Are All Different

Elliot Silver
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One thing everyone who reads domain blogs, forums, and other informational domain industry websites should keep in mind is that we all are in different financial situations, come from different backgrounds, have different expectations, and have different financial interests. Yes, this is obvious, but it’s important to keep in mind when reading advice or suggestions anywhere.

I regularly see people soliciting advice regarding a particular situation. This is often related to an inquiry or offer on a particular domain name. The advice that is shared is usually diverse, but some would certainly lead to bad outcomes. While it may be good to get outside opinions, I don’t think it’s necessarily helpful when it comes from people who are likely in vastly different financial situations and have different backgrounds. The right move may be to accept an offer, but listening to advice that recommends spurning the offer can kill a deal that may be critical to the domain owner.

In addition to this type of situational advice, everyone has their own

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Get Through the Email Clutter

Elliot Silver
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Spam is a fact of life. Everyone gets a ton of spam. I would imagine domain owners likely get targeted for very specific spam emails related to domain names, SEO, web development…etc. This means that domain buyers and domain sellers need to do something to get through the clutter.

One thing to keep in mind when emailing to buy or sell a domain name is that the recipients are not always particularly tech savvy. Many likely are concerned about security threats like phishing, and when they get domain name related emails, they are concerned that the sender could have malicious intentions. I would probably feel the same way due to the types of emails I see.

I don’t like to write long winded emails. I feel like the

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5 Deal Closing Incentives

Elliot Silver
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When negotiating a domain name purchase, I regularly encounter a bit of turbulence. Usually it happens when I make some sort of best and final offer and/or the domain name owner makes a best and final offer and we are left far enough apart that there is a material difference in our positions.

I thought about several ways I have been able  to close deals that I want to share with you. Sometimes, none of these will work, especially when there is a considerable gap between valuations and offers.  In addition, I have found that even smaller concessions can be helpful, especially when it comes to someone who seems to refuse to budge on a number out of principle.

Here are 5 deal closing incentives that I have used to varying degrees of success:

Add a few extra $ – When your offer is fairly close to the seller’s price, it may make sense to offer a bit more money. If the deal is good, a few percentage points won’t likely hurt. I won’t spend more than my comfort level, but I can generally find a bit more money if it means closing a deal.

Promise immediate payment – Although this is always a given for me, I let the seller know that I will pay right away. This may get them to think that other people might not pay right away or would need to line up financing (especially if the domain owner isn’t too familiar with domain name sales). Knowing that they will have a nice wire transfer into their bank account within a day or two can be a powerful incentive to closing a deal.

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$5,000 Domain Name Offers

Elliot Silver
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I recently received a few $5,000 offers for domain names I own. Based on several factors including the  email addresses, the information in the emails, and a couple of other things, I believe these are mass emails sent to many domain owners. My opinion is that the sender goes through all of the affirmative responses and decides which to pursue and which to ignore.

I assume some people are very happy to get a $5,000 offer for a domain name only to be let down when they don’t receive a response. I also assume some people get annoyed by these $5,000 offers because their domain names are worth much more than $5,000. Others find them annoying because nobody responds when they wish to begin a discussion, as a $5,000 opening offer is usually enough to at least open a dialog.

One takeaway from this is that

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