Tracking Visitor Stats

Elliot Silver
-
9

One of the benefits to using my own domain for sale landing pages is that I can control and access the visitor logs and stats. Tracking visitors to landing page by IP address is an invaluable tool for me.

I’ll give you one example of why this data can be helpful. I am currently in a negotiation with a prospective buyer to sell a domain name. The person made an offer, and I shared the purchase price. I was told his partners think the price is too high and then radio silence. Ordinarily, I might think the deal is dead and either let it die or try to make a price concession. With my tracking stats, I can see that the prospect has visited the landing page several times. Even though there is radio silence, I know he is still interested.

I am not sure if any parking

Read More

Fidelity Acquired FDAS.com

Elliot Silver
-
3

According to an article published on CNBC, Fidelity Investments is establishing a new company called Fidelity Digital Asset Services:

“Financial services giant Fidelity is taking a huge step into cryptocurrency.

The 72-year-old firm announced the launch of a separate company, Fidelity Digital Asset Services, on Monday that will handle cryptocurrency custody and trade execution for institutional investors.”

Fidelity also announced the news in a press release published earlier this afternoon.

It looks like the company acquired the FDAS.com acronym domain name.

A current Whois record shows the registrant of FDAS.com is FMR LLC, which appears to be associated with Fidelity Investments. In fact,

Read More

“What Do You Think About GoDaddy’s Appraisals?”

Elliot Silver
-
10

I was chatting with a prospective buyer about domain names and domain name valuations. This topic is a bit murky, especially when my rationale for pricing is based on select comps, my knowledge of domain names, and “my gut feel.” Although I am not willing to move on my valuation, I can commiserate with the prospect a bit because of the lack of clarity involving domain name valuations.

On a phone call yesterday, he asked me, “what do you think about GoDaddy’s appraisals?” I immediately knew why he was asking – my domain name is priced substantially higher than the GoDaddy automated appraisal. In fact, someone else had submitted an offer to me within the last year and the message field simply had a link to the GoDaddy appraisal for the name (sidenote: don’t do that). I briefly explained the automated nature of their appraisals, but I thought it would be more effective to illustrate the discrepancy of valuation vs. pricing by GoDaddy itself.

I explained how GoDaddy has acquired some domain portfolios over the past few years, and the company operates a portfolio company called NameFind. I then shared a domain name owned by GoDaddy / NameFind. For the sake of keeping the name I shared private for a couple of reasons, I will use a different but similar example. Cliche.com, for example, is priced at $49,999

Read More

I Am Going to Miss Google Plus

Elliot Silver
-
5

Yesterday, Google announced that it will be shutting down its Google Plus social platform. After reading reactions to the news on Twitter and elsewhere, it doesn’t seem like this closure is going to cause much sadness. Part of the issue Google had with Google+ is that not many people seemed to use the platform on a regular basis.

This might seem a bit strange considering I hardly use my Google Plus account to share or learn, but I am going to miss Google Plus.

Whenever I receive an inbound offer or inquiry from someone with a Gmail account, I immediately do a Google Plus search for that email address. Although getting information has been a bit hit or miss, it has been helpful on occasion. I will share a few examples of when Google Plus has helped:

Read More

Pitch.com Acquired “to take on Powerpoint”

Elliot Silver
-
3

In a tweet in late September, Andrew Rosener mentioned that the Pitch.com domain name had apparently been sold over the Summer:

Sedo broker Dave Evanson responded to Andrew’s tweet to confirm that the domain name was sold for an undisclosed price:

I reached out to Dave this morning, and he

Read More

Make Sure the Offer is Firm

Elliot Silver
-
8

As a domain investor, there are few things that are more annoying / frustrating / angering than agreeing to a deal with a buyer and having the deal fall through to no fault of your own. Deals fall through all the time and for many different reasons.

When I am negotiating with a prospective buyer, I regularly learn that the domain name we are discussing is one of the domain names they are considering. Oftentimes, when faced with an inquiry or offer form that requires an offer to be submitted, a prospective will enter a tentative offer. This may be the amount they would be willing to pay if they choose this domain name. They may not have finalized their domain name choice and they may be negotiating to buy several domain names when they just need one.

On one hand, I understand what they are doing. They like a few names and need to buy just one. Because many domain owners won’t negotiate with someone who isn’t a serious buyer, they need to negotiate as if they are actually buying a domain name before a decision is made. As a domain investor,

Read More
1...103104105...254Page 104 of 254