What Was the Best Cyber Monday Domain Industry Deal?

Elliot Silver
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5

I didn’t buy anything  extraordinary  for my business as a result of seeing special Cyber Monday deals, but I did see just about every domain registrar, hosting company, and other assorted domain name industry companies promoting special offers.

Did you buy anything as a result of a Cyber Monday deal? What did you think was the best deal in the domain industry this year? What type of deal would you like to have seen that nobody seemed to offer?

Feel free to vote in the poll below and leave a comment if you saw a great deal or wish there were better deals. Maybe someone in a marketing department will take notice and put it on their to do list for next year.


Media Options Brokering SSL.com

Elliot Silver
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5

I read a Google Plus post from Media Options today announcing that the company is the exclusive broker for SSL.com. The domain name is owned by Houston-based  SSL  Corp, and I don’t recall seeing it on the market in the past.

I reached out to Andrew Rosener, CEO of Media Options, and he provided me with some additional details about the domain name and its earnings:

  • Price is $1.5 million
  • Revenue is not disclosed, but figures available to interested buyers
  • The company  signs and issues its own certificates
  • They are a “Sub-CA”

The SSL market is very competitive, and having an exact match domain name like this can be an advantage. Essentially, it’s already a proven business, although I don’t know the marketing costs that were required to drive the revenue. I wasn’t told why the company is interested in selling this domain name.

One thing a new owner will want to work on is its Google search rankings. I searched for a number of popular keywords (SSL, SSLs, SSL certificate, and SSL certificates), and it doesn’t appear that the SSL.com website is currently ranking very well for those keywords. I suppose that indicates there is one major opportunity for driving revenue.

Should you be interested in acquiring this domain name, be in touch with Media Options.

List of Companies That Own Keyword Domain Names

Elliot Silver
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12

In my opinion, much like sharing DN Journal’s sales chart to prospective buyers, sharing a list of companies that use or own keyword .com domain names is a good way to encourage prospects to purchase their own keyword domain names. If a company learns that larger companies are utilizing keyword domain names, they might want to acquire their own keyword domain names.

Dominic Mueller complied a list of large companies that own keyword domain names, and I believe a few others have done so as well. I was just sent a link to Domain Guardians’ website, where they have compiled an even larger list of “premium domain names owned by companies.” Their report contains nearly 400 keyword domain names owned by large companies and brands.

I listed a few others they didn’t note below:

  • Pacific Coast Feather Company – Featherbeds.com
  • Pacific Coast Feather Company – DownComforters.com
  • Dreyers – FrozenYogurt.com
  • Vail Resorts – SkiRentals.com
  • Vail Resorts – Snow.com
  • Landor – Branding.com
  • US Navy – Navy.com
  • IAC – Green.com
  • Orange – Orange.com

If you are approaching end user buyers with exact match keyword domain names, you might want to send them a link to Domain Guardians’ list to show them how other companies are using exact match domain names for their own businesses.

One tip if you do this. Make sure you actually have keyword domain names that you can compare apples to apples. Even if it’s a smaller niche industry, it’s likely important for the companies you will be pitching.

Report: Feng.com Sells for $250k

Elliot Silver
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6

I just received a press release announcing the brokered sale of Feng.com for $250,000. Once confirmed, it would rank as one of the ten highest domain sales of 2012, tying the sale of Platinum.com, which also sold for $250,000.

The deal for this domain name was brokered by FindYourDomain.com. Although the domain name was most recently registered with privacy at Tucows, it appears to have been owned by Tucows not too long ago.

The company previously partnered with NameJet last year to offer a group of great keyword domain names. The press release announcing the sale of Feng.com also mentioned that FYD will be working on another exclusive auction with NameJet that includes additional Chinese keyword.com domain names.

Congratulations on this deal to all parties.

Full press release with more details:

Read More

Seek Out Sellers to Find Buyers

Elliot Silver
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8

We’ve all seen domain sales before that are similar to domain names we own. We (you and me) think that the buyer would possibly want to purchase one of our similar domain names if we could only get in touch with them to let them know the availability and price.

The problem that I’ve encountered though is that many sales are done in private and the Whois information goes to privacy. This makes it difficult to find out who bought the name, especially if the buyer was a large company with many levels of red tape.

One of the best things you can do to find out the buyer’s contact information is to reach out to the seller to ask for the buyer’s contact information.  Since the Whois has changed, you can most likely find out the seller’s contact information using DomainTools’  historical Whois lookup tool.

You’ll most likely want the person’s name, email address, and phone number. You might even offer a commission to that person as an incentive to give you the buyer’s information. I would also let the seller know why you want it by mentioning your domain name.

Some sellers are reluctant to give out any information because they may have other names to sell that buyer and also because many people don’t like giving out the contact information of someone they know, especially if they don’t know you. However, if you let them know why you want it, perhaps they will be willing to share to help you close a deal, or maybe they would even be willing to contact the buyer on your behalf.

Registrars Should Have Account Change Confirmations

Elliot Silver
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3

When you’re in the midst of a high value deal and the buyer requests an account change / push, it’s critical to know that the domain name is pushed to the correct account. If they typo their account number, or I typo that number, there’s a risk that the name will be pushed to someone else, and many registrars state that pushes cannot be reversed.

When I push a domain name to an account at eNom, they request the login ID of the account to which I am pushing the domain name. There’s a confirmation page asking me to confirm the account number, but there’s nothing to tell me whether the account is the correct account. If the buyer typo’d the name, there’s a chance it will go to the wrong account.

One of the nicest things about Moniker is that they have an account change confirmation page that includes the name of the account owner where a domain name is being pushed. When I push the name, they request the buyer’s account number and a security authorization code. Once keyed in, it takes me to a confirmation page with the account owner’s name, reassuring me that it’s going to the right place.

Go Daddy doesn’t offer this confirmation page, but they do take an extra step to help avoid errors. To push a name to another account, they require the account number as well as the email address on file for that account. If the email and account number don’t match, the push won’t go through.

Network Solutions requires that the domain registrant clicks an approval link via email when an account change is requested, and that’s pretty easy to do and seems secure.

I am not too familiar with how other registrars operate, although I am sure others offer protection and others don’t. I hope eNom and other domain registrars consider adding a confirmation page that is more than just double checking the number I had just hand keyed. I think there is room for error, and that’s never good when it comes to high value domain pushes.

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