Put an Expiration Time on Offers

Elliot Silver
-
5

If you are similar to me, you probably spend quite a bit of time trying to buy domain names. When you make an offer on a marketplace like Sedo, there is a set time before the offer expires and is no longer valid. If you are making offers directly to the domain owner, you should probably do the same.

I personally find that most offers I make are responded to within a few days. Domain owners, with the exception of some domain investors, tend to respond quickly to offers because they either know the offer isn’t good or the offer is at least worth exploring further. In these cases, the offer is either accepted or rejected (even a counter offer can be construed as a rejection). When someone doesn’t reply to my offer, I generally consider it a rejection and move on with other inquiries.

The issue I potentially face is that

Read More

Final Should “Get Final.com”

Elliot Silver
-
4

This morning, I read about  a credit card startup called Final. According to its Crunchbase profile, “Rather than a single, static number, Final card generates multiple numbers which the consumer can restrict, and manages them automatically.” The concept seems like a fantastic idea, and I would certainly be interested in using their service when given the opportunity.

One thing that I found interesting is that the company is currently using GetFinal.com for its website instead of the brand’s exact match Final.com domain name. Obviously, Final.com is an exceptional domain name, and given that

Read More

Monitor Your Own Domain Names

Elliot Silver
-
0

With domain theft becoming a major issue these days, it is imperative that we are vigilant with respect to the status of our domain names. Obviously the easiest way is to monitor account alerts from our domain registrars, but if someone is able to access our accounts, I presume they could change the notifications or circumvent the process without us knowing that something was altered. If that happens, domain names could be transferred out or pushed to other accounts without us knowing about it.

One potential solution is to monitor your domain names via third party monitoring service like DomainTools or DomainIQ. Any time a change is detected, the third party service will send an email notification with the change that was made. If you know of other domain monitor services, be sure to let share it in the comment section.

I think the best way to  monitor my domain names  is to set up an alert for either the registrant name (business or personal name) and the email address used for domain name registrations. When the service detects a change for one of those fields, they will send an email  noting  the change. Once the monitor is created, you should receive an email every time something changes on one of your domain names, such as a transfer or change of ownership.

There are four  things to keep in mind with domain monitoring:

Read More

4 Reasons You Shouldn’t Consolidate Domain Names

Elliot Silver
-
8

In April of this year, I wrote an article with 5 reasons to consolidate your domain names at one domain registrar. I still believe it is wise to consolidate domain name holdings at one, two, or possibly three domain registrars, but there are some reasons why you should think twice about consolidating your holdings.

Recently, I ran into a bit of an issue after transferring one of my domain names, and I thought it would be wise to share several reasons for you to not consolidate your domain names at one domain registrar. Luckily for me, my issue was resolved after a bit of back and forth, but it could have cost me a sale.

Here are 4  reasons to not consolidate your domain holdings:

Read More

Domain Brokers: Make Me an Offer

Elliot Silver
-
16

I received an email from a domain broker I do not know (and have never even heard of before) asking me if a domain name I own is for sale, and if so, what the price is. The broker indicated she was inquiring on behalf of a client who wanted to buy my domain name. My message to her was make an offer and she said she would need to get back to me.

I would imagine a  domain broker working on behalf of a legitimate buyer knows what the buyer’s budget is. Additionally, an experienced broker should know the approximate value of a particular domain name. That information combined should be enough to at least provide a reasonable opening offer. If the budget isn’t commensurate with the domain name’s value, it seems unbelievable that a professional domain broker would take on the project, especially given the fact that the domain name they inquired about is owned by someone that is knowledgeable about the domain space.

If a domain broker isn’t

Read More

What Companies Own Other Domain Names?

Elliot Silver
-
1

When I am evaluating a domain name to buy, I spend some time looking at other domain names that are in the same field. I look at longer versions of the domain name, alternative versions of the domain name, and the best keyword domain names in the space. The two things I look for are ownership and usage.

It is important for me to see that companies in that particular vertical own keyword domain names. This shows me that the companies who operate in the space either understand and appreciate keyword domain names or they don’t. If I see all similar / related domain names are owned by domain portfolio owners, it shows me that that there could be a lack of interest in the names, or certainly a lack of interest in spending money to acquire these domain names.

Usage of similar or

Read More
1...666768...213Page 67 of 213