Domain Sales

Group Domain Name Appraisals

I don’t like appraisals. I think they’re pretty much worthless, and I wouldn’t pay someone to do an appraisal for me because it’s just not possible for a third party to accurately value a domain name.

I believe domain name is worth what someone will pay for it at a given time. That goes for your names and my names. A domain name that I think has no value may have tremendous value to someone with the capital to buy it while a can’t lose domain name can languish in an owner’s portfolio for years.

That being said, I am welcoming you to submit one domain name for a group appraisal. Visitors to my blog are welcome to appraise domain names if they would like to participate.

Hit “reply” and type what you think the name is worth. If you have the time and desire, please offer some insight into why you think it’s worth what you said it’s worth. You could also simply click the “like” or “dislike” buttons to agree with an appraisal.

Whether the actual appraisals are on target or not, I do think it’s good to get a range of opinions.

I’ll kick things off asking for your appraisal of ChelseaRealEstate.com (it will be the first comment so people can reply).

Advice to Find an End User Buyer

I want to share some advice on finding some great domain names that you can sell (or broker to) an end user buyer . This particular buyer can either be someone you’ve sold a domain name to in the past, or a company that you knows buys domain names based on sales reports or your own personal research.

Be mindful that you really need to know what constitutes a good domain name, must have a good sense of domain valuation, and must be good with communication to be sure that you close a deal and aren’t left with a domain name that isn’t worth what you paid for it.

There are several steps to this, and obviously each is important:

What Domain Names Are You Selling?

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Some people took issue with some of the names that were posted for sale on my blog by several domain brokers yesterday. There are a number of reasons why domain names are listed for sale at their asking prices, and there are reasons why brokers choose to list specific names for sale on this venue.

That aside, I thought this was a good idea from Adam in the comment section:  “In fact it’d be interesting to see (althogh I know Elliot would delete them) posted names for sale here from commenters and see how the pricing and names stacked up.”

I am interested to see what domain names you are selling and at what prices. Feel free to post your best domain names that you would like to sell at the best prices, and we can see how they stack up against the names the brokers listed yesterday. Maybe someone will see one of the names and buy it if the price is right.

I am always buying great domain names at good prices. Let’s see what you have for sale and at what prices. Keep in mind that when more than a couple urls are posted, the comment tends to get blocked by Akismet, so it might take a bit of time for your comment to be posted.

The one caveat is that if you list your names without prices, they will be deleted as soon as I can get to the delete button.

Startups.com For Sale

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Startups.com is for sale.

As recently as April, Startups.com was a daily deals type of site similar in scope to Groupon. TechCrunch published an article in May reporting that the site shut down, and that the company decided not to list it for sale at the time.

According to the current landing page on Startups.com, the domain name is now for sale, but it will probably cost a buyer a significant sum of money to close a deal. Another TechCrunch article from 2008 pegged the purchase of Startups.com at around half a million dollars, although the CEO was vague when asked the actual price.

I think this keyword domain name would make a great site – kind of like KillerStartups.com, which owns the domain name. My guess is that the company is happy with the current branding, and they don’t want to risk any SEO damage by switching urls to Startups.com. In addition, there is significant value in the Startups.com domain name, so why not try and find a buyer.

The company hopes to make a sale decision by October 1. I am not sure if they are using the services of a domain broker, but they should probably consider it if they are serious about selling the domain name.

Sedo Brokers Bra.com for $165k

 

Sedo Broker Dave Evanson just reported that he closed a deal on Bra.com, and the sale price was $165,000. The domain name appears to have been owned by Dotzup, and it looks like it’s already been transferred to a Canadian buyer according to the current Whois information.

Dotzup is a company that owns a large portfolio of domain names. The company has Bra.com listed as one of its “premier properties” along with other names like  Quotes.com, StockBrokers.com, Anorexia.com and Silver.com.

The Bra.com landing page is the same as it was prior to the sale, so it’s not known what the plans are for the domain name as of yet. Warnaco Inc, the company the owns Calvin Klein, is the owner of the plural Bras.com.

Congratulations to all parties on this deal.

 

DomainTools and Domain Name Sales Should Hook Up

When I am in acquisition mode, I almost always use DomainTools to do my Whois searches to find contact information for domain owners. One advatage of using DomainTools is that I can see if a particular domain name is listed for sale on an aftermarket platform like Sedo, Afternic, or Aftermarket.com.

Here’s what it looks like when a domain name is listed for sale:

This graphic tells me two things. First and most importantly, the domain name is listed for sale by the owner, so I know that I can buy it for the right price. Second, it tells me I can inquire about the domain name using one of the platforms instead of negotiating directly with the owner. This allows me to stay anonymous throughout the negotiations. It’s very helpful to see a domain name listed for sale via DomainTools.

With Frank Schilling’s Internet Traffic parking platform, domain owners can choose to display a bright orange banner announcing that the domain name may be for sale via DomainNameSales.com. It’s not necessarily for sale, but if you see the banner, it’s a good indication that the domain owner is willing to sell for the right price.

If you haven’t seen the banner for some reason, here is an example:

As of right now, it doesn’t seem that names listed on Domain Name Sales are listed on DomainTools, and I think that should change. This would likely increase sales volume, as it is another way to let people know a domain name is for sale without having to visit the landing page.

One issue would be that some people parking on Internet Traffic that utilize the sales banner are only passively interested in selling their domain names, and the likely wouldn’t want their names listed. I am sure this can be easily addressed, perhaps with a check box offering the listing on DomainTools and perhaps other venues.

I think if Domain Name Sales and DomainTools hook up, it will benefit domain owners who would like to sell their domain names.

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