Due Diligence: Contacting a Previous Owner

Elliot Silver
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9

One of the easiest ways a prospective domain name buyer can confirm ownership of the domain name is by calling the most recent former owner of that particular domain name. The prospect can then ask if the former owner sold the domain name to the current owner, ensuring that the provenance is clear. There are pros and cons to doing this, and I am curious to know what you think of this due diligence step.

The previous owner’s contact information can be obtained using a tool like DomainTools whois history tool or possibly even Archive.org if the domain name had been a developed website. Once the phone number or email address information is known, a quick contact can confirm whether the current owner rightfully acquired the domain name.

Assuming the answer is yes, it will clear up any question about ownership. Additionally, perhaps the prospect can glean other information about the sale (public auction, venue, and maybe even the price). If the answer is no or if it is unclear, it

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List of Domain Sales Newsletters

Elliot Silver
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7

Many of the top domain name brokers and domain brokerages have weekly or monthly domain sales newsletters. Typically, these newsletters have lists of domain names that are available for sale exclusively through the broker or brokerage. Some of the also include market commentary, which I think is particularly interesting given a domain broker’s position in the resale market.

Some of the best domain purchase opportunities can be found in these newsletters because many aren’t shared publicly, and the prices don’t necessarily reflect actual market value. For example, I saw a broker list a domain name for sale a couple of months ago with a $12,000 purchase price and it recently sold on a public venue almost double. This indicates that there may be better deals available in private than if there was a public auction.

I thought it would be a good idea to compile a list of the current domain broker and brokerage email newsletters. There may be others that I don’t know about or accidentally omitted, so feel free to post a comment if you know of another newsletter. I would prefer to only list third party brokers as opposed to individuals who sell their own domain names because that’s a different type of newsletter.

I recommend using a third party escrow service (I personally use Escrow.com) or a trusted attorney that has an escrow account when dealing with a broker, even if the company is willing to provide escrow services. It’s also important to do your standard due diligence to make sure the listing is legit. I trust most of the professional domain brokers, but I trust my own due diligence above all.

Domain name sale broker newsletters (in alphabetical order):

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Unique Offer to Entice a Wholesaler to Sell a Domain Name

Elliot Silver
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6

I can think of several exact match .com domain names I would like to buy from wholesale or manufacturing companies that are not using the domain names. From what I can tell, these domain names were bought many years ago by the various companies, and they have never done anything with them. In all of these cases, my offers have been rejected over the years.

Last night, I thought of an interesting proposal that might entice these companies to sell their domain name, and I thought I would share the idea with you in case you are interested in buying domain names owned by major wholesalers. Instead of simply making a cash offer for the domain name, you can promise the company you will either:

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Optimize Your Parked Pages Before Cyber Monday

Elliot Silver
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7

Cyber Monday is one of the busiest online shopping days of the entire year, and Cyber Monday is coming up in a couple of days on December 1st. With so much shopping done online, I presume many of us will see an uptick in traffic to our parked page, and hopefully an increase in PPC earnings as well.

Before Cyber Monday, domain investors should spend some time ensuring that our landing pages are optimized to maximize the PPC revenue generated and that the domain names are actually in the correct accounts.

Today and tomorrow, I am going to have a

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HARO Publicity Can Help Your Website

Elliot Silver
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5

If you operate a website and have become an expert in a particular field, you should consider signing up for the HARO email newsletters. HARO, which stands for “Help A Reporter Out,” is a daily newsletter that lists interview and comment requests from reporters and publications that cover just about every industry and field.

HARO helps reporters connect with experts in their field to help them with articles they are writing. Obviously, if a reporter uses an expert as a source, it can help establish the source as an authority in the field, and it can potentially drive traffic to the source’s website and business.

Here’s a brief synopsis of how the process works using domain investing expertise as an example:

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Explain “Replacement Cost” in a Negotiation

Elliot Silver
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12

Getting to the right price in a domain name sale negotiation is often difficult. The buyer doesn’t want to pay more than a certain amount to buy the domain name, and the seller is often asking more than the buyer is willing to spend for it. Convincing someone why a domain name is worth the asking price can be a challenge, but a domain seller might want to mention the replacement cost as rationale for the price.

To me, the replacement cost for a domain name is the amount of money I would need to spend in order to buy an equal or better domain name if I would sell one of my assets. If I sell a domain name for $10k and it costs me $15k to buy an equivalent domain name, I am losing out because I am lowering the value of my portfolio while not generating enough income  to improve it. For someone like me, it doesn’t make sense to sell one of my domain names for less than the replacement cost of an equal or better domain name.

I think the majority of  domain buyers

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