Down Market Could be Good for Domain Buyers

Elliot Silver
-
3

A down market could be a good opportunity for domain buyers

If we see a prolonged bear stock market, it could be good for people looking to buy high quality domain names at better prices. People who have owned domain names for a long period of time might be more inclined to sell as the stock market goes down.

I have been doing quite a bit of outreach in an attempt to buy excellent keyword .com domain names. My efforts haven’t been fruitless, but it seems to be getting more difficult to buy great domain names at reasonable prices. Names that would have likely sold for $5-15,000 now seem to be priced at $25,000+.

For the most part, I have been

Read More

Due Diligence: Subtle Email Address Changes

Elliot Silver
-
3

There are many different facets to doing due diligence when buying a domain name. I use DomainTools’ Whois history tool to verify as much information as possible before buying a domain name. I will often call the phone number listed on the Whois record, and I may even call previous phone number listings as well. I don’t think too much due diligence is possible.

One area that may tip people off to a potential issue is a subtle email address change. When I see a very subtle change in the listed email address, it sets off alarm bells in my head. For example, if a Whois email address for 10 years was FirstNameLastName@yahoo.com and it recently changed to FirstNameLastName@hotmail.com, it makes me wonder if the change was legitimate. This change could be used for social engineering or to make others think the domain name has not changed hands.

I have seen and heard of domain name

Read More

Using an Option to Buy a Domain Name

Elliot Silver
-
5

Last week, I wrote an article about a startup called Final that is using the GetFinal.com domain name for its website rather than the high value Final.com domain name. One of the commenters remarked that the company is a very new startup and likely doesn’t have the funding to buy the domain name right now. In a situation where a startup doesn’t have the funding to buy an expensive domain name, they might want to inquire about buying an option to buy a domain name.

Essentially, buying an option from a domain owner would entail paying a certain price now to lock in a price for a future purchase. For instance, using my own domain name as an example, for $25,000, I could sell someone an option to buy DomainInvesting.com at a strike price of $2,000,000 within the next 3 years. This means the prospective buyer pays me $25,000 today to lock in a $2,000,000 price at some point during the next 3 years. If they decide against buying the domain name, I keep the $25,000 and can sell the domain name to anyone else once the option expires.

There are advantages to

Read More

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

Best One Word .Com for $20,000 or Less

Elliot Silver
-
0

Just about every day, I hand send emails inquiring about good domain names. I say “hand send” because I individually address domain name owners and generally make an opening offer that I feel is reasonable and/or not insulting.

I think sending individual emails with a reasonable offer is a key factor in getting a response from a domain owner, especially when my emails are competing with people who automate this process and send out thousands of emails (ie dear sir, would xxx.com be available for sale for $5,000?) I am sure some people have felt an offer I made was a lowball offer, but I do my best to make a reasonable offer.

That said, sometimes it is more efficient to post an “offers wanted” type of article where I specify a specific type of domain name I would be interested in buying. In lieu of last week’s brokerage listing, I am posting an offers wanted post today. Please follow the instructions below.

I am looking to buy domain names that meet ALL of the following requirements:

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...454647...98Page 46 of 98