Yesterday, I ran a $100 contest asking people to guess which domain name of mine has received the most purchase inquiries in the last month. I gave a list of domain names, some that are developed but most that are parked.

There were two people who correctly guessed BoracayHotels.com, Jen and Mike. Both of these people will split the $100 prize, and I’ll be in touch to get Paypal payment information.

Although BoracayHotels.com has received the most inquiries, it hasn’t been sold yet. I had a deal in place to sell the name to a domain investor for a little under $10,000 last year, but the buyer failed to pay.

I’ve turned down a number of solid offers on the name in the $5-8k range, but I haven’t sold it yet. Most of the recent offers have either been very low or no offer was made after letting the potential buyers know what I’ve turned down in the past.

In any case, it was interesting to see the psychology behind some of the guesses. Names like SHS.com, Burbank.com, and others are developed, and that has led to fewer inquiries. Also, some people guessed long shots to avoid sharing the prize.

I appreciate your taking the time to participate. I am sure I’ll have another contest to give away some money soon.

There are many places where you can purchase domain names in the aftermarket. I wanted to share an updated list of aftermarket websites with you. Some of these websites sell privately-owned domain names and others sell company-owned domain names.

I did not include auction sites such as NameJet or Snapnames or forums like DNForum. I also didn’t include eBay since it’s fairly challenging to search for specific types of domain names.

If I missed any aftermarket websites, I hope you will add them in the comment section.

• Sedo
• Afternic
• Buy Domains
• Domain Market
• Domain Name Sales
• VW Names
• Aftermarket.com
• Most Wanted Domains

I hardly ever report purchase sales prices when I complete a transaction on a domain name. I know that many others prefer to keep their business dealings private, too.

It’s often cited that Ron Jackson’s weekly domain sales report is just the tip of the iceberg when you consider the number of sales that aren’t reported due to non-disclosure agreement (NDA). This “secrecy” is what some conspiracy theorists refer to when they state that unreported sales numbers are pretty much BS and perhaps non-existent.

I want to give you an idea of just how prevalent NDAs and private sales are, and it’s certainly something you can try out if you’d like to see for yourself.

Last week, I went through some old inquiry emails I made to acquire domain names in private. I sent about 15 follow ups to emails I had sent in the last 18 months. A few people replied, and two of those people told me their domain names were sold (I had offered $7k for one who came back with a $50k asking price, and I offered $33k for another who said she paid more for it).

Of those two people who sold their names, I asked what the sales price was. The person who had priced her name at $50k told me the price was private but it was for much more than she had offered it to me. The second person told me it was sold for an undisclosed amount that she couldn’t share.

Neither of these people are domain investors (both women coincidentally), and they have no reason to report the sale price. These types of transactions happen every day, and most are deals between people and/or companies that aren’t domain investors and don’t have any reason to report sales or even know who they would tell if they wanted to report the sale. They probably don’t even know why they would want the sale reported anyway since it’s most likely a somewhat straightforward business transaction.

If you want to see how prevalent private domain sales are, I recommend checking out the Whois History tool after you learn about a company’s rebranding or product launch on a newly acquired domain name and ask the former owner how much the sale was for. My bet is you’ll find almost all of them are private and unreported. I’ve tried to get sale prices for articles, and you’ll almost always find that sales prices are private.