Be Cautious When Using Domain Search Tool

Elliot Silver
-
26

In March, I wrote an article about how the Domain Search Tool can help you find a buyer for a domain name, and Andrew Allemann recently posted a great video illustrating how to use the tool. In short, this DomainTools tool can help you find other domain names that use your keyword string in them, and it is an exceptional tool to help you find someone to buy a domain name.

I want to give you a bit of a warning if you are using this tool though, based on something that happened to a friend of mine a week ago. It’s not the fault of the tool, but it’s more of a business risk.

Read More

Sizing Up a Buyer

Elliot Silver
-
19

Since moving to our home, my wife and I have undertaken various home improvement projects. I am far from a “do it yourself” type of person, so we’ve had a number of contractors come to our house to give estimates for the different projects.

Here’s how the process has gone. The contractor will look at the area that needs work, and we’ll bring the discussion about the job and pricing to the kitchen table. More often than not, there will be some small talk before getting to business, and invariably, the contractor will ask what I do for a living, followed by more probing questions about my business.

Generally speaking, I try to downplay my business as much as possible for obvious reasons. The first time it happened, I had a painter who thought I owned a big Internet company (my “you’ve never heard of my company” line fell on deaf ears). His price was almost 3x the price of the painter we selected who ended up doing a fantastic job.

I can’t criticize contractors for trying to size me up to see how much I can afford and quote a price accordingly. I do the same thing when a buyer inquires about a domain name, although my methods seem far less intrusive, and most buyers wouldn’t even know I am seeking out this information. Sometimes I feel a bit guilty about doing it, especially because there are many people with great jobs who are looking for a particular domain name to go out on their own, but it’s a part of doing business.

If you want to get the most for your domain names, you need to do your research on the buyer, just like most other businesses.

Media Options Flips White.com

Elliot Silver
-
18

Media OptionsI just learned that Media Options successfully flipped White.com, a domain name the company privately acquired in December of 2012. The company acquired the domain name for $195,000, and “sold it for a substantial 6 figure amount,” according to Media Options CEO, Andrew Rosener. White.com had not been offered for sale in the company’s daily domain newsletter.

Although the Whois registrant information is private, the website appears to belong to Polish artist Tomasz Gudzowaty. Prior to hearing about this sale, I had not heard of Gudzowaty, but he appears to be

Read More

Domain Name Sales: Always Test

Elliot Silver
-
7

One of the most important aspects to a direct marketing campaign is to always test everything. Whether you’re testing your offer, your message, your listing, or your creative, you should always be testing everything to see what provides a lift and what is hurting your campaign. I think we should do the same with domain name sales.

This week, I started to hand off warm leads on inbound inquiries generated from my Internet Traffic and Domain Name Sales landing page. I pride myself in being able to find out who is inquiring about my domain names while extracting the highest price possible. There is a pretty large list of domain brokers who are available to close deals on the DNS platform, so I am going to give the DNS brokers a try.

Sometimes I feel like I am a bit too close to the inventory to objectively price my domain names. Yes, it would be nice to get $75,000 for a particular domain name, but maybe it’s really only worth $40,000. A broker can advise as well as negotiate on my behalf in order to close the deal.

I hate chatting on the phone, unless it’s a discussion I want to have. Using a broker opens this channel of communication when I probably wouldn’t have taken the time to do it myself. I know it’s an effective way to discuss and close a deal, so it’s great to have this negotiation tool.

A little over a month ago, I had a $20,000 deal on DNS, and the buyer didn’t end up paying for it. I would assume the DNS broker has access to back end information about buyers and they might be able to see if a buyer has the potential to back out of a deal. If that person had agreed to 5 other deals and never paid, they might be able to save all of us time and cut off the negotiation. In this business, there aren’t many worse feelings than closing a large deal and having the buyer back or not pay.

The nice thing about DNS is that I can monitor the progress of negotiations to see where things stand. I can also assist the broker if I see something of interest – perhaps additional information about a new service or that the buyer has funding.

I haven’t yet closed a deal with the assistance of a domain broker on DNS, but I will be sure to provide an update with results when I have more insight. If you’ve worked with DNS brokers or another broker on DNS, I welcome you to share your personal experience.

Can CrunchBase Help You Find a Buyer for Your Domain Name?

Elliot Silver
-
0

I’ll start this post off with a caveat. I have a couple of CrunchBase listings for my companies, and I hate it when I receive the exact same email from people who are using CrunchBase to send out emails that are not even remotely of interest to me.

That being said, I could see how CrunchBase could help domain investors find buyers of premium, relevant domain names. One reason for this is that the listings share information about the company. You can also see how much funding was raised, who invested, and when the company was created. There is a considerable amount of insight you can glean from CB listings.

Here’s how you might be able to find someone that would want your exceptional domain name:

Read More

Domain Name Sales Launches Re-Designed Website

Elliot Silver
-
27

Domain Name Sales has rolled out a totally re-designed website this evening, and because of its considerable end user reach, it will likely have an impact on all of us.

After spending about an hour checking things out, my first reaction is “wow” this is pretty cool.  I want to share some of the things I’ve noticed about the new website, and I welcome you to share things I missed. I think you’re going to be impressed with the changes.

Read More
1...173174175...254Page 174 of 254