Sell a Domain Name via PR Firm

Elliot Silver
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When you are looking to sell a domain name to a large company, it can be difficult to get in touch with the right decision maker. In fact, it can even be difficult to determine who the decision maker actually is!

An article in the Boston Globe might shed some light on how to sell a domain name to a large company, and I want to share the insight I gleaned from the article in the hopes that it helps you.

If you aren’t aware, Market Basket is a major grocery store chain in the northeast. The company was founded by the Demoulas brothers, and the chain grew into one of the largest grocery stores in the region. Because the store had Demoulas in its name for quite some time, the Demoulas brand is still well known in this area. Unfortunately, there was considerable family discord reported, and the company that is known as Market Basket was in the news quite a bit last year as a result of ownership issues. Long story short, Arthur T. Demoulas now has control of the company.

The Boston Globe published an article about the Demoulas.com domain name and how it was owned by someone that is not related to the Demoulas family or the grocery chain. To me, the most relevant and helpful part of the article is this:

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Domain Sales Q&A With Jeff Gabriel

Elliot Silver
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The two most common  requests I receive are for brokerage services and for domain sales help. For the first type of request, I typically suggest that people have a look at a list of domain brokers I compiled. For the second, I usually say “sorry, I can’t help you” or refer them to an article I wrote on my blog about the specific topic.

If you are attending NamesCon in a couple of weeks and you have questions about selling domain names, there is a session that you won’t want to miss. Jeff Gabriel, Vice President of Sales at Domain Name Sales, will be speaking on a panel called “Eliminating Roadblocks to selling YOUR domains.” The format of this panel is a question and answer session where attendees can ask Jeff questions about selling domain names, and he will share his advice with people in the audience.

Here’s the description of the panel session:

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PR: Bingo.com Sale Reported

Elliot Silver
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In a deal that was announced via press release just before the end of  2014, the Bingo.com domain name and accompanying online  community  were sold by a company called Bingo.com, Ltd.    to a company called Unibet Group plc. “for total consideration of $8,000,000.“    Bingo.com, Ltd. is a OTC traded company with a ticker symbol  BNGOF.

The press release stated that “[t]he Company is receiving cash consideration of $2,000,000 and redemption of the 15,000,000 common shares of the Company, which are held by Unibet, at a price of $0.40 per share.”

The press release shared some information about the current state of the business and some of the rationale  for the sale:

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NewYear.com For Sale at DNS

Elliot Silver
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In December of 2012, NYE.com sold at NameJet for $175,000. Prior to the sale, I discussed the domain name in a contest post and speculated that it would be great for a new years eve website, perhaps to sell party tickets or restaurant reservations. As you can see, NYE.com has since been developed into a new years eve focused website.

I was checking out a variety of new years eve related domain names and websites, and I came across one that was a bit surprising to me. If you visit NewYear.com, you are taken directly to a DomainNameSales.com inquiry page. Despite the fact that it’s the busiest time of the year for this domain name and related searches, NewYear.com is foregoing domain parking and sending visitors straight to a page to let them know it may be for sale.

NewYear.com is a domain name owned

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Glad I Haven’t Sold a Domain for Bitcoin

Elliot Silver
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At the beginning of the year, I shared three reasons why I wouldn’t be inclined to sell a domain name for Bitcoin. At the time of the article, a single Bitcoin was worth about $590 at Coinbase. Today, the value of a Bitcoin is approximately $317 on Coinbase.

The title of an article on BloombergView.com last week, “2014’s Worst Currency Was…Bitcoin,” says enough about why it could have been bad to sell a domain name for Bitcoin in the last year: “The digital currency peaked at a value of $1,130 just over a year ago. Its plunge of more than 56 percent in 2014 makes it the world’s worst performing currency this year, according to Bloomberg, which tracks 175 foreign-exchange values,” wrote Mark Gilbert, author of  the Bloomberg View article.

In my article about why I wouldn’t sell a domain for Bitcoin, I shared three reasons for my hesitation:

  • Large swings in valuation
  • Lack of  a paper trail and trackability
  • I don’t understand it

If I had sold a domain name for Bitcoin back in February, the value of the sale would be far less today. For the ease of illustrating the plunge, had I sold a domain name for around $6,000 in February, that sale would be worth less than $3,500 today. Had I sold it when Bitcoin was worth over $1,000, that loss would be even greater today. Perhaps I would have cashed out the Bitcoin at the time of the sale, but had I felt strongly about the value of Bitcoin, I may not have exchanged it and would have a paper loss right now.

Hindsight is 20/20, so it’s easy for me to say this today. I am also sure there  people who bought and sold domain names before the huge rise in valuation who made even more money as a result of selling a domain name for Bitcoin. Looking at it today after initially thinking about earlier this year, I have to say that I am glad I have not sold a domain name for Bitcoin. That’s not to say that things won’t change in the future though.

Have you sold a domain name for Bitcoin before? If you did, how did you make out with the transaction? Did you exchange the Bitcoin right away or did you hang on to them? As always, your thoughts are invited.

New Leadership May Mean New Opportunity

Elliot Silver
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There have been quite a few times where I’ve been negotiating with a prospective buyer, and I can tell the company wants to buy a particular domain name but we were unable to come to terms on the price. When this happens, I let them know they can contact me in the future if their offer changes, but until then, I will keep the domain name and possibly find another company to buy it.

As time passes, new leadership may enter the company. Perhaps a new Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) or Chief Executive Officer (CEO) takes a position at the company. The change in leadership, especially if it involved the counterparty in a negotiation, may bear fruit for your negotiation. This new executive may have a stronger interest in the domain name, and the company may be more willing to buy it at a price that is closer to the initial asking price.

This may not

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