20% of DomainFest Auctions Have Bids

Elliot Silver
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7

With a couple of days to go until the DomainFest live auction, a little under 20% of the auctions already have bids. The live auction, also found online via Snapnames, will take place on Thursday,  February  2nd at noon EST. I have highlighted the domain names I like in the auction and welcome your feedback.

Domain Name Reserve Current Price Bids

  • stripmall.com $201 – $500 $425 5
  • civilunion.com $1,001 – $2,500 $1,650 3
  •  avengers.com $501 – $1,000 $691 3
  • qe.com $25,001 – $50,000 $65,000 2
  •  californiarolls.com $201 – $500 $325 2
  •  rentaltrucks.com $5,001 – $10,000 $5,251 1
  • guitarclasses.com $5,001 – $10,000 $5,200 1
  •  margo.com $2,501 – $5,000 $2,500 1
  •  liberalartscolleges.com $1,001 – $2,500 $1,234 1
  •  weddingcards.net $501 – $1,000 $590 1
  •  antiqueguide.com $501 – $1,000 $500 1
  •  plasmatv.com $25,001 – $50,000 – 0
  •  12.com $750,001 – $1MM – 0
  •  1800business.com $10,001 – $25,000 – 0
  •  activitycenter.com $1,001 – $2,500 – 0
  •  autosupply.net $201 – $500 – 0
  •  banquethall.com $10,001 – $25,000 – 0
  •  bargain.com $750,001 – $1MM – 0
  •  cardswiper.com $1,001 – $2,500 – 0
  •  catfood.com $50,001 – $100,000 – 0
  •  cheyenne.com $100,001 – $250,000 – 0
  •  cloudmusicstorage.com $501 – $1,000 – 0
  •  democracy.com $100,001 – $250,000 – 0
  • drill.com $25,001 – $50,000 – 0
  •  eco.org $100,001 – $250,000 – 0
  •  emails.com $500,001 – $750,000 – 0
  • empire.com $100,001 – $250,000 – 0
  •  eo.com $100,001 – $250,000 – 0
  •  eve.com $500,001 – $750,000 – 0
  •  feuds.com $5,001 – $10,000 – 0
  •  guavas.com $501 – $1,000 – 0
  •  homeowner.com $250,001 – $500,000 – 0
  •  host.com $1MM – $5MM – 0
  •  hotcoupons.net $201 – $500 – 0
  •  icard.com $5,001 – $10,000 – 0
  •  internetradio.com $100,001 – $250,000 – 0
  •  jackpot.com $750,001 – $1MM – 0
  •  juice.com $750,001 – $1MM – 0
  •  liverdonor.com $201 – $500 – 0
  •  loveline.com $10,001 – $25,000 – 0
  •  nurseries.com $25,001 – $50,000 – 0
  •  planners.com $50,001 – $100,000 – 0
  •  platinum.com $750,001 – $1MM – 0
  •  prescriptionrefill.net $201 – $500 – 0
  •  promo.com $1MM – $5MM – 0
  • qr.com $250,001 – $500,000 – 0
  •  reconnect.com $50,001 – $100,000 – 0
  • security.com $1MM – $5MM – 0
  •  servers.com $250,001 – $500,000 – 0
  •  sox.com $50,001 – $100,000 – 0
  • sportstherapist.com $1,001 – $2,500 – 0
  •  surveillancecamera.com $10,001 – $25,000 – 0
  •  trinkets.com $10,001 – $25,000 – 0
  •  unplugged.com $100,001 – $250,000 – 0
  •  videodownloads.com $10,001 – $25,000 – 0
  •  vintagemirrors.com $501 – $1,000 – 0
  •  work.com $1MM – $5MM – 0
  •  workscited.com $10,001 – $25,000 – 0
  •  xeam.com $501 – $1,000 – 0
  •  xegg.com $1,001 – $2,500 – 0

As always, this is going to be an exciting auction to watch, as there are several domain names I could see selling for 6 figures. For instance, Empire.com would seem like the perfect name for insurance giant Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield.

What are your favorite domain names in the live auction?

How I Used LeadRefs.com

Elliot Silver
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18

I wrote a post yesterday recommending LeadRefs.com as a source to find potential domain buyers. I want to share some additional insight and information to help you potentially close a deal.

First off, it may or may not be okay for you to send multiple email messages trying to sell domain names to people you don’t know. I am not a lawyer, and I am not going to interpret any laws that may or may not exist in your locality. I am personally opposed to sending bulk, untargeted, and unpersonalized spam emails.

That said, I think the best possible domain acquisition prospects are people and/or companies who already own descriptive domain names. They either realized  certain types of keyword domain names have value back in the day or they recently bought them, which may even be better. They likely don’t need a big sales pitch or any sales pitch at all to sell them a good domain name that will fit within their business strategy.

More important than the leads are the domain names and prices. You can have the best sales letter, but if you’re trying to sell a crappy, hyphenated .info domain names for $5,000, it’s not going to work. I almost exclusively use exact keyword .com domain names when I am trying to find a buyer. I don’t try to do lead generation for brandable domain names or call to action names.

I try to keep my email simple and to the point these days. I might write something like this:

“I am the owner of xxxx.com, and I thought your company might be interested in purchasing it. The price of xxxx.com is $x,xxx, and payment can be made using Escrow.com or an escrow service of your choice. I am offering this domain name to several companies, and the first to agree to the price will have the opportunity to purchase xxxx.com.”

I think prospecting for buyers is a very good way to sell domain names. Companies that already own solid descriptive domain names that are similar to yours make great prospects.

Update: Cheesecake.com Sold

Elliot Silver
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16

Several months ago, I learned that Cheesecake.com had been listed for sale in September, and Brooke Hernandez of Domain Advisors was representing the seller of the domain name and website. According to Toby Clements, brother of one of the owners, Cheesecake.com was recently sold.

From today’s TobyClements.com  domain sales newsletter:

“On a completely different note, I want to give a shout out to my brother, David Clements and his business partner on Cheesecake.com, Harvey Kaplan.

They just sold Cheesecake.com for an undisclosed amount. They bought the domain from us in Milan, Italy back in 2010 and David has put in a lot of time and effort to develop it out. I don’t know what the number was, but I know that he has a big smile on his face, therefore it must be a nice one.“

The current owner of Cheesecake.com appears to be GourmetGiftBaskets.com, a company based in Manchester, New Hampshire specializing in gift baskets. Clearly, the company understands the value of descriptive domain names, and will likely become a leader in the cheesecake business.

I reached out to GourmetGiftBaskets.com for comments about Cheesecake.com and its plans for the website, and I will update this if the company is willing to offer any details about its acquisition.

*** UPDATE ***

I received an email from Ryan Abood, President & CEO of GourmetGiftBaskets.com, and he provided some additional information about the plans for the domain name and website:

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LeadRefs.com Works

Elliot Silver
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32

A few days ago, I received an Instant Message from an acquaintance who told me about a new (free) service his company, First Beat Media, recently launched – LeadRefs.com. The site aims to help domain investors find buyers for domain names.

Essentially, the service does Whois searches for similar domain names and provides contact information for those domain owners. I assume the company uses a proprietary algorithm to determine which domain names are similar enough to the domain name for sale that it might be worthwhile contacting the owner.

I didn’t reply immediately to the IM because I was in the middle of a couple things, but I visited LeadRefs.com after dinner. I did searches for several domain names I hadn’t been able to sell during the last year, and I sent several emails to potential buyers.

One domain name was a real estate domain name I bought in the aftermarket last year. I sent 5 emails to prospective buyers for this domain name, including one at 8:36. Two minutes later, I had an offer for the domain name, just under my asking price, and I agreed to do the deal. Within an hour, the deal was finalized using Escrow.com.

I don’t recall closing a deal so quickly in the past. Additionally, I received replies from other potential buyers asking for prices. The domain name I sold was priced, and I used a fairly simple email to sell the domain name.

With great domain names, you don’t really need much effort to sell it if you have a targeted audience. This tool helped me close a deal, and I am absolutely going to use it again.

Use the Hello Bar to Sell a Website

Elliot Silver
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20

I believe it’s more difficult to sell a domain name with any type of development as compared to a parked domain name. Many people who are unfamiliar with the Whois database will type in a domain name to see if someone is using it. If they see a developed website (even a mini site), it’s likely they will move on to other domain names, unless they absolutely need a specific domain name.

When you visit many domain names parked with Internet Traffic (and other parking providers), you can see a bright bar at the top of the landing page announcing that the domain name may be for sale. From what I understand, this helps drive a significant amount of offers for domain owners. Although many offers are unqualified, it still opens a dialog.

The Hello Bar is a neat toolbar that you can easily add to the top of your website or blog, and it can be used to let visitors know the website is for sale. You can choose any color or font combination and add a link to a destination url of your choice. Many people traditionally use it to direct visitors to certain articles or make special announcements, and I think it’s a great tool to sell a website.

It’s very easy to install the Hello Bar, whether you use WordPress, Typepad, Tumblr, or basically any content management system. For WordPress, you can download a free plugin, and then enter the code from the Hello Bar website into the correct field on the plugin editor page. It shouldn’t take more than a few minutes to install and add. You can then add a page on your site to let people know how to get in touch with you or how to buy the domain name and website.

I want to share an example of how I set up the Hello Bar on one of my websites this morning, and it only took a few minutes. Visit BabyRegistries.com and you can see how the Hello Bar looks. Once I added my messaging to the Hello Bar, I set up a very quick and free form at Woofoo.com. It took less than 30 minutes to set up on my first try.

I can’t tell you if it will work for certain, but it’s a great way to let people know your domain name with website is for sale.

Tucows Joins Afternic DLS

Elliot Silver
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1

I read a press release this afternoon, and it should come as good news for Tucows domain registrants who are looking to sell their domain names.

The company has been added to Afternic’s Domain Listing Service (DLS) Premium Promotion network, meaning that it is easier to list domain names for sale across the full DLS reseller network. With DLS, customers can  seamlessly  list, sell, and transfer domain names with far fewer hassles and delays that accompany many domain transactions. Customers can select names they want to sell, price them accordingly, and potential buyers will see the names at various POS opportunities at DLS partners.

There are over 11 million domain names registered with Tucows and its affiliates, so this should also be a boost to Afternic as well.

Press Release below:

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