Domain Sales

Domain Holdings: Call for Inventory

I know that people like being able to list their domain names for sale, and I received an email that might be of interest to some of you. Domain Holdings has issued a “call for inventory” as the company is looking for a domain name on behalf of a client.

If you have something that might fit the  requirements set below, you may either post a comment here or send an email to Domain Holdings with the name(s) and price(s). To submit a name, send an email to sales@domainholdings.com.

Here’s information about the company, and below that are the requirements in order for the domain name(s) to be considered:

Thick Skin Is Necessary When Selling Domain Names To End Users

During the last couple of years, I’ve sold quite a few domain names to “end user” buyers. From my perspective, an end user buyer is a person or company in the field or industry related to the domain name you are selling, and the buyer of the domain name will use the name as a part of their business.

Generally speaking, an end user buyer is more likely to pay a higher price than someone in the domain industry who wants to re-sell or monetize the domain name. An end user buyer will know exactly how much it costs to acquire a customer and know what it will take to compete in the field with a website on the domain name. They also know the value of the “goodwill” in the domain name for their company’s positioning in the field. They can therefore justify spending more for the name because they know how much it will impact their bottom line.

The problem when trying to sell to end users is that many do not realize how valuable an exact match domain name can be. Some of them have a limited online presence and others simply own a domain name that matches their business name. Many companies don’t do online advertising campaigns, and some would have no idea how to value an online lead. Yes, it’s easy to say that they could buy your name for less than it would cost for a lifetime of Adwords expenses, but converting that into sales is difficult.

With that being said, many end user contacts will give you an insultingly low offer, while others will not make an offer but will be rude to you in their replies. No matter how negative the reply is, don’t get into a “pissing contest” with the other person. They can do much more damage than it’s worth, and to have a few minutes of feeling like a champ with a witty reply, you could set yourself up for problems (like them emailing other prospects to tell them that you’re an a-hole!).

Since April, I received a $50 offer on a name that I privately sold for over $20,000, was told that I am “crazy” for asking six figures for a name I privately  sold for close to my asking price, and I was cursed at on the phone for asking for $50,000 for another name that I sold a short time later. I also received countless sarcastic “good luck” type of emails that I simply replied “thanks” in response to when others may have offered the witty, “thanks, but I don’t need good luck,” which of course, can lead to a testy exchange.

In many cases, I could have gone back to these people and gloated when I closed these sales, but that does me no good either. With the crappy economy, people will likely be jealous of your success and you could become a target of their ire.

No matter what type of negative reply you receive from an  uninterested  end user buyer, do not engage in an email exchange with them that turns nasty. Once you confirm they aren’t interested in your name, move on (unless they  genuinely  have questions about domain names).

You have a lot more to lose than they have, especially if they choose to be particularly prickly towards you.

Keep Your Whois Info Updated!

I just received an email from a domain broker who appears to be trying to work out a deal on behalf of a client to acquire a domain name. Unfortunately for this broker, I do not own the domain name that was emailed to me.

I looked into why I received the email, and I assumed that the owner’s email address is similar to mine and the broker made an error.  I was incorrect. Strangely enough, the Whois contact is an email address @ a domain name that I own, which I picked up earlier this year or last year at NameJet. The owner likely isn’t receiving notifications for his domain name, and he isn’t receiving offers like this either.

Someone else might try to take possession of the domain name that is linked to the account. That is of course illegal and not something I would do. However, it seems like it would be easy to do should the name I own have been bought by someone else.

People are often critical of using free email services like Gmail and Hotmail. I think it beats managing your own email in many cases, and this is one example of why.

Perhaps the broker will pick up the phone and call the registrant to let him know about the offer and that the email address isn’t connected. Maybe she’ll be able to close two deals!

Bad Times to Close a Deal

If you’ve been in the domain industry long enough, you’ve probably had someone back out of a deal. Whether it’s a buyer rescinding an offer or a seller deciding not to sell you a domain name, it’s frustrating when a deal you’ve consummated doesn’t come to fruition.

Based on some personal experience, I want to share some advice regarding closing deals, specifically when you shouldn’t close a deal.

One of the worst (if not the worst) time to close a deal is on a Friday afternoon or evening. After a long week, some people aren’t thinking clearly and the decisions they make during that time are ones they come to regret. Since payment can’t be made until the following Monday, they have over 48 hours to contemplate backing out. With this extra time, there’s added risk they will re-evaluate the deal over the weekend and back out.

Another bad time, although it’s less  controllable, is after business hours. When someone sleeps on a potential deal, they may reconsider the deal and cancel the transaction in the morning.

If I am thinking about an offer or mulling over a purchase, I always try to make the decision in the middle of the day and usually in the middle of the week, too. The buyer can initiate a wire transfer that day, and if I am buying, I can set up a wire before the close of business. If Escrow.com acknowledges my payment (or the buyer’s payment) before the end of the day, the deal can be done ASAP.

When closing transactions, I almost always use a sales agreement an attorney crafted for me. If the buyer or seller has agreed to a deal and it’s in writing, I have the option to litigate if the counter party backs of the deal. If I can help it though, I try to get my deals completed as soon as possible.

LeadRefs and Estibot Suggestion

Yesterday morning, I wrote about purging domain investor contact emails  from sales lists since they rarely end successfully, and they tend to annoy the people who receive them. I want to share a suggestion for LeadRefs, Estibot, and any other services that suggest email contacts for domain sales.

In addition to including domain names and contact email addresses on results pages, these lead generation providers should also include DNS information as well. I think this will help people find domain investors and scrub them from their lists to avoid annoying them and/or being accused of spamming.

Many domain investors own portfolios of domain names, making it easier to scrub the list when you see multiple domain names owned by a single entity, especially when the entity is familiar (Name Administration or Most Wanted Domains as examples).

However, there are many domain investors whose portfolios are not as prolific, and whose email addresses are more difficult to spot. If you can see a domain name is parked at Sedo, TrafficZ, DomainApps, Internet Traffic, Voodoo, Bodis…etc., it’s a good bet that the owner is a domain investor and likely should be avoided when trying to sell domain names to end users.

Knowing where a domain name resolves can help domain sellers remove domain investors from their email lists.

Learn Domain Investor Whois Information

Most people who send end user domain sales emails use Whois information to contact potential buyers. People use services like LeadRefs and Estibot to “harvest” email addresses of potential buyers, and while both of these services are valuable, without purging some of the email addresses, you run the risk of annoyance.

Although most people have sold obscure domain names for high prices when people have inquired, it’s rare that you’ll be able to sell an obscure domain name to a domain investor unless there are extenuating circumstances. Unless a domain investor has a great interest in a particular topic, it’s unlikely that he’ll be interested in a very specific domain name (like ReconstructiveOrthopaedics.com for example).

I’ve personally found that most domain investors these days are generally only buying great domain names on the aftermarket. From this experience, I generally shy away from sending emails to other domain investors on names that are for niche verticals and would only excite people who are in that line of business.

One thing you should do if you are selling domain names using Whois email contacts is to learn the Whois information of domain investors (like Mike Berkens and Frank Schilling), privacy services (like Go Daddy’s Domains By Proxy), hosting companies (like BlueHost), and large domain investment companies (like Huge Domains and Buy Domains).

I don’t usually mind receiving emails offering very good domain names for sale, but there are some people who constantly send me crap, and I don’t even read their emails anymore.  If someone marks you down as a spammer, they will likely ignore all of your emails.

With tough economic times and domain investors rarely buying average names on the aftermarket, I would become familiar with their Whois information and purge their email addresses from your sales lists.

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