The Reasonable Offer is the Worst Kind

Elliot Silver
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12

Just about everyone likes to receive offers for their domain names, and I think there are basically three types of offers: lowball, reasonable, and great. You can probably re-name these categories however you wish, but these are pretty much the only types of offers. From my perspective, the worst kind of offer is the reasonable offer.

We’ve all received lowball offers before. Perhaps someone offered $500 for a three letter .com domain name or something along those lines. They are a bit annoying especially if the person prefaced the offer with several questions or needed to speak on the phone before making the offer. These offers are frustrating, but it’s very easy to say “no,” cast aside the inquiry, and move on from the prospect.

Great offers are the

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New gTLDs: Any Purchase Inquiries Yet?

Elliot Silver
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89

I know the new gTLD domain names haven’t been available for that long, but I am curious if you’ve had any end user buyer inquiries for any of them yet. Although end user inquiries would obviously be more desirable than inquiries from other domain investors, I think any inquiry would be a good sign.

I still only own four new gTLD domain names, although I will probably only purchase a few more in the short term. I plan on only hand registering the domain names I do purchase as opposed to paying a premium for them via the registry or through the aftermarket.

Since buying these domain names, I received

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Blockchain Now Managing Bitcoin.com

Elliot Silver
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14

This morning, the Wall Street Journal and Coin Desk reported that a deal was struck involving the exact match Bitcoin.com domain name. Blockchain, one of the leading Bitcoin wallet services, announced the deal this morning. Bitcoin.com had previously been developed, and it had a video explaining what Bitcoins are and how they are used.

Terms of the Bitcoin.com deal were not disclosed in the company’s blog post sharing the news, but Blockchain announced that “Blockchain.info has struck a five year deal to exclusively manage the domain name  Bitcoin.com.”

The domain name has been registered under privacy protection since 2010, so I can’t see a Whois change indicating a change of ownership. Based on the reports from the Wall St. Journal and Coin Desk, I can’t tell for sure if this was actually a sale, lease, or some other type of deal. The Wall St. Journal article seems to indicate a sale, but the wording in the other reports doesn’t indicate a sale to me. Either way, it doesn’t really matter all that much from my perspective.

Whatever the situation is, I think it is wise for Blockchain.info to make a deal to manage Bitcoin.com. This exact match domain name is easy to remember and I think it adds more credibility to the brand. It may also get them more organic traffic from Google, since Bitcoin.com seems to rank pretty well in searches for “bitcoin.”

It appears that exceptional Bitcoin related domain names are pretty popular right now.  Earlier this year,  BitcoinWallet.com was sold for a reported $250,000, and I also shared the story behind the plural  Bitcoins.com domain name. I am not a buyer of Bitcoin domain names, but it seems like companies are spending money to control the best bitcoin domain names.

Let Prospects Know About a Price Drop

Elliot Silver
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12

I was evaluating a domain name today, and I searched my email archive because it seemed familiar. The first email that mentioned it was from the owner who was asking if I’d broker his domain name and he provided his asking price because I was interested in buying it. I directed him to a domain broker since I don’t broker names, and two emails later in my archive (about a year in between emails), I saw the name listed as sold for about a quarter of the asking price. It’s too bad he didn’t tell me about the price drop!

If you are contemplating reducing the price of a domain name, it’s important to reach back to anyone who expressed an interest in the domain name, even if you think it’s a longshot. People’s circumstances change, as does the market, and someone who may not have wanted to make a lowball offer may see your new price and be interested in working out a deal at a later date.

One thing that I really like about

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Testing “For Sale” Messages

Elliot Silver
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8

I’ve seen a variety of “for sale” messages on the top of parked landing pages that use DomainNameSales.com, Voodoo, Sedo, and other parking platforms. Some people use the standard message provided by the platform, while others use different versions they create on their own.

I prefer to use whatever is standard because I assume the messages have been tested by the platform. On DNS, I know that Frank Schilling’s company has hundreds of thousands of parked domain names, and it is my assumption that the message being displayed has worked for Frank’s domain names, and I am comfortable using what seems to induce inquiries.

I have landed on other pages where domain owners are using

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Agreed Launches “Escrow Now” Button

Elliot Silver
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2

This afternoon, Agreed announced the availability of a “Escrow Now” button which allows domain investors to place buy now buttons on their domain name landing pages, giving a prospective buyer the ability to agree to purchase a domain name and open an escrow transaction immediately. Instead of encouraging a buyer to negotiate, a seller can put a buy now button with a call to action to facilitate an immediate deal.

The advantage of using a tool like this is that a domain owner doesn’t need to pay a broker commission on a deal that was initiated by the buyer visiting the seller’s domain name. The disadvantage is that a buyer will need to set the button up across many domain names instead of listing them on one marketplace. Since many of my inquiries are from buyers who visit the domain name to see if anything is there, I think this is a great tool and will be worth the time to set up.

Check out the video I embedded below to learn more about Agreed’s Escrow Now button to see if it’s something you can use to help you sell domain names more easily.

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