Quick Tip to Buy Domains in Private

Elliot Silver
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22

This morning, I was looking through some drops on Snapnames for the next couple of days. I was researching one of the names I thought was worth bidding on, and I saw that it was an expired domain name rather than a private seller’s auction. After some further research (including a Whois History search), I saw that it was owned by a company whose name I’ve seen on a number of previous Whois searches, and the company owns thousands of domain names.

When companies begin dropping domain names from their portfolio, it usually means one of a couple of things. The first (and usually most likely) is that they didn’t think the name was valuable. For some reason, they decided that this particular domain name isn’t worth $8/year to renew. There are plenty of names I have dropped because I didn’t sell them and I didn’t want to throw good money after bad.

The second potential cause is that the company is facing financial troubles, and they need to lower their overhead. Not renewing domain names is a way to reduce overhead, although it’s probably not the smartest way to do so, as this would bring no revenue to the company. However, if a company is dropping thousands of domain names, it might not be worth searching through huge lists to find one or two worth keeping.

Since the name has at least 2 bidders now, I don’t think the first scenario is likely. With that said, I am going to reach out to the company in private and see if I can buy some of their domain names. If they are facing a cash crunch, perhaps we can work out a deal for other names I’ve looked at in the past. They could get the much needed liquidity, and I could get some strong names at good prices.

Don’t Buy Brandable Domains Just Because a Company is Buying Similar Names

Elliot Silver
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8

I wanted to share an email I received without identifying the person who sent it or the names mentioned in the email. The reason I’d like to share it is because I know more people think like this, and I would like to offer my advice.

Elliot,

I just registered the following super-domain names: SuperXYZKeyword.com, SuperXYZKeyword.com, SuperXYZKeyword.com, SuperXYZKeyword.com, SuperXYZKeyword.com.   Do you think Supermedia/Idearc would want to buy these domain names from me? I think they are valuable.

I’ve said it many times, but I want to reiterate it. Just because one company is buying a particular type of domain names, does not mean similar domain names have any added value – especially when they are “brandable” domain names. It’s more than likely that the company went out to acquire the names they were interested in buying, and they opted to not buy others.

I personally do not believe “Super” keyword domain names have any value aside from the value added by SuperMedia when they choose to develop them. Likewise, similar brandable names bought by other companies might not have value if the company doesn’t want to buy them.

Before you go out and register names like these, you should ask yourself why the particular company didn’t think of these domain names before, when they were buying their other names. It’s likely they just weren’t interested and/or had a specific plan in mind for specific domain names.

If you do feel the “need” to take a chance and buy them, don’t buy more than just a couple. Before you know it, you will own dozens or hundreds of names with similar backgrounds, and it’s likely that you won’t sell them.

What Domains Have You Bought Recently?

Elliot Silver
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186

It’s always fun to share new acquisitions and new registrations. Below are some newly acquired domain names I have made in the last couple of weeks, both in the aftermarket and newly registered names. Feel free to share yours in the comment section.

  • MovieCollectibles.com
  • Grandmom.com
  • ActingCoach.com
  • StrayAnimals.com
  • BoroughPark.com (sold)
  • GolfBooks.com (sold)
  • RittenhouseSquare.com (sold)
  • BulldogBlog.com (sold)
  • CatFuneral.com (newly registered)
  • DogFuneral.com (newly registered)
  • LugeSleds.com (newly registered)
  • WashingtonDogWalker.com (newly registered)
  • TableTennisSets.com (newly registered)

Tip to Buy Domains in Private: Offer an Alternative Domain Name

Elliot Silver
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2

I want to share a quick domain acquisition tip with you that I have used in the past when I bought a domain name from an end user company who was using the domain name for its website. Although I didn’t think it was likely that they would sell the name, I made an interesting suggestion to them, which helped close the deal.

My advice is that you give them suggestions for new domain names (or cheap domain names), that they can use for their website if they sell their domain name. Depending on their situation, they may be willing to take the cash and re-brand. This is more likely to happen with a company that keeps a minimal web presence, but it probably also depends on the amount of money you are willing to offer them.

Because the deal I made is private and the domain name has already been re-sold by me, I can’t use the exact names in my situation, but I will use two examples to illustrate what you might be able to do. Let’s say you are hypothetically trying to buy ChristmasTree.com from a company called “The Christmas Tree.” In your email to The Christmas Tree, you offered them $50,000 for their domain name, but they said it’s not for sale since they use it for their website.

If TheChristmasTree.com is available to register (or listed for sale), your next move might be to suggest that domain name to them as a good alternative for their website. This might be appealing, especially for a company that doesn’t heavily rely on their website, as they can get some liquidity at the expense of a URL change.

This won’t work every time, and the success rate may be pretty low. I did it once, and the offer was enticing enough to the company. It should also be noted that they didn’t use the domain name for email, so that big complication was avoided. It’s just another tool to have in your arsenal when buying domain names in private.

iCharge Should Buy iCharge.com

Elliot Silver
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18

TechCrunch ran an article today about a European company called iCharge which accepts credit card payments through an attachable smartphone accessory. The article compared it to Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s company, Square, which I previously wrote about.

I am not going to analyze the company’s product or services since that isn’t my forte and I haven’t tried it out, but I would suggest they buy an important domain name for this international company. At the moment, iCharge uses iCharge.net for its Internet presence. This might not be a problem with for some companies, but inevitably, people will type in iCharge.com, which happens to be for sale via Sedo for $10,000 EUR (not an affiliate link).

When publishers such as TechCrunch refer to the company as iCharge, people will generally assume the will be found on the .com. This is especially true for multi-national companies that operate in many different markets. As a company that will rely on trust since it’s dealing with payment processing, iCharge should not give another company the opportunity to swoop in and buy iCharge.com. If that happens, they will have no control over that generic domain name.

In my opinion, the price for iCharge.com is fair, especially considering the .net company is positioning itself to become a big player in the field. Now would be the best time to buy the domain name, before the company increases its value.

Buy Domains: With No Money Down

Elliot Silver
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9

One of the best things about buying domain names from NameMedia’s Buy Domains is that I can use my American Express card to make the purchase instead of having to pay with a wire transfer or ACH. Even better is that they don’t charge anything extra for using my AmEx. This is great for two reasons.

I get American Express Rewards points for my purchases. These points can be used for gift cards, hotel nights, upgrades, and many other great products and services. Since most of the acquisitions aren’t cheap, the points can add up quickly.

The biggest reason though, is that I can buy domain names that I plan to re-sell with what amounts to no money down, and I can re-sell them before I even pay off my credit card at the end of the month. Its like a no interest loan, which can’t be beat. Of course, this depends on where in my billing cycle I buy the names and whether or not I am able to make a quick flip, but generally speaking, it can give me at least a couple of weeks before having to actually physically pay.

Buy Domains is a company that I’ve been doing business with for a few years, and I am happy to work with them. Using my American Express card is one of the reasons for it.

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