Domain Sales

City .com Domain Names for Sale

Most people who frequently read my blog, know I like city .com domain names. In fact, my companies own and operate Burbank.com, Lowell.com and Newburyport.com, and I’ve discussed why I like them many times on the blog. Just about all good to great city .com domain names are developed and are virtually unattainable (unless you have significant means).

In fact, before I acquired Burbank.com, I reached out to many of the owners of undeveloped or under-developed city .com domain names and offered a lot more money than I would feel comfortable doing now given the economy, and I was still rejected.

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve seen some great city .com names for sale at very good prices. Since I have my hands full developing and maintaining my own city .com websites, I am not making any more geodomain acquisitions at the moment, so I want to share these with you if you haven’t seen them for sale. If any of the names are of interest, get in touch with Toby Clements ASAP. None of these are owned by me and I have not been compensated for this post.

Tacoma.com
$110,000 – financing not available

NewRochelle.com
$47,000 – financing available

RanchoCucamonga.com
$90,000 – financing available

Versailles.com
$35,000 – financing available

BalHarbour.com
$40,000 – financing available

Guest Post: End User Follow Up

This is a guest post from domain investor Calvin Washington, and I wanted to share it in the hopes that it helps others who are dealing with end user sales. If you are doing something unique that could help other domain investors, and you’d like to write a guest post, please email me. As long as you aren’t trying to sell something or get a back link, and it’s helpful to others, I would be happy to post it.

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I have been using this trick successfully lately when selling to end users who for whatever reason showed no interest in my particular domain. It has been working for me after getting a “No!” or “Not interested” reply. It’s really simple and I’m sure many others are doing something similar but you never know!

Thanks XXXX,

Though you expressed no interest in XXXXX.com, I appreciate your getting back with me. The highest offer we received was $XXX. I guess it’s best to let the market decide it’s value. If for any reason in the future it may be of value to you, we will be willing
to accept $XXX.

In either case, take care!

Best,
Calvin

In closing, it’s strongly recommended that your price that you’re willing to accept be higher than your highest offer received. If not, you may come across as being dishonest. Hope this helps someone. Another big point I’d like to stress is the salutation. “Best” is my way of basically saying to the end user “This is my last contact to you, take it or leave it”. I sure there are some grammatical errors or misuse of punctuation, so make the necessary corrections when needed.

6 Ways to Identify a Potential Domain Buyer

Yesterday afternoon, I posted an article stating why it is important to know who is inquiring about your domain names. Today, I would like to share five methods I use to find out what person or company is inquiring about a particular domain name, both to maximize any potential sale and to prevent any legal issues from arising. As with everything, if you are particularly concerned that a response could put your domain name in jeopardy, you should consult with an attorney who is familiar with IP law and domain names.

6 Ways to Identify a Potential Domain Name Buyer:

1) Google search of the person’s name (in quotes), email address (in quotes) and/or a Whois look up of the domain name he used to communicate with you if it isn’t a free or pay email service. Using Google, you may be able to track his contact information through social networking sites (liked LinkedIn), industry publications, Forbes C-Suite listings, SEC filings, or other public listing. If the person’s name is Edward, Jonathan, or some other commonly abbreviated name, make sure you check all variations in your search.

2) If you’ve been able to get the phone number, either because it’s listed in the email or was provided in a subsequent follow up, do a Reverse Phone Number Lookup to see what company owns the phone number. Follow that up with a quoted search of the phone number in Google if the first way didn’t yield a result.

3) USPTO search to see if anyone recently filed a trademark with the US Patent & Trademark Office. If you see a pending application or recently approved trademark, it is possible that the company is attempting to acquire the domain name. If this is the case, be extra cautious, even if you owned the domain name for many years. If this happens and your name has significant value (more than a UDRP defense would cost as a baseline), I would contact an attorney and have him negotiate on your behalf. There’s no point in risking your domain name simply because it would be a business decision to file a UDRP rather than buy the domain name.

4) If your domain name is developed, you should be able to track the IP addresses of recent visits to your site. Use the Arin Whois Database to do a reverse IP search to see where the visitor originated. It makes things even easier if the person contacted you using a contact form on your developed website, so you can know for certain where the person’s IP address originated.

5) Copy and paste some of the generic offer email in to Google to see if others have posted a similar email, which could mean that its domain inquire spam or possibly a domain name appraisal scam. Often time appraisal scammers will recycle the same or a similar email, and if you find a specific phrase that has been used by a scammer, it can send up a red flag.   Perhaps it’s obvious, but you should only use the generic sentences rather than anything specific about your particular domain name.

6) If the email address is really unique – like LuvThemStones@yahoo.com, do a search for “LuvThemStones” in Google. If someone uses a unique handle in an email address, perhaps they use the same handle in online forums. If this is the case, you can possible learn more about this person.

With all of this info, you need to keep in mind that there may be many people who have the same name – and on some occasions, you will find that two people with the same name work in the same industry as well, making it a bit complicated. However, the more information you can find out about a potential buyer, the better.

3 Reasons to Identify a Potential Buyer

When someone emails you an offer for a domain name, its important to do whatever it takes to find out who the potential buyer is. Not only is it important to allow you to maximize a potential sale, but its also important to head off any potential legal issues that could come as a result of even good faith negotiations. The OpenDental.com UDRP decision shoes how negotiations can lead to a UDRP loss even when the domain name was initially registered prior to the Complainant’s use of the term.

Reasons why it’s important to identify a potential buyer:

1) Achieve a better price: Most people register domain names because they see the potential business that could be built on the domain name, although many people are buying domain names because they believe they make great investments, rather than because they hope to build a business based on their vision. Like just about every type of asset and other goods, most people will sell if the right offer comes around. This is why people engage in negotiations whether they intend to sell a particular domain name or not.

A buyer wants the best possible price and generally will not share the maximum price it can and will pay for the domain name in order to get a good price. Some corporate buyers have big budgets, but they won’t disclose who they are, since the seller would probably be less inclined to give a good deal. If the domain owner can determine who the potential buyer is and what his budget might be, he could achieve a higher sales price. Likewise, the domain owner could also realize he is wasting time with a fruitless negotiation, if the buyer is in fact a poor college student.

2) Legal leverage: Some people make offers on domain names in order to bait the domain owner into negotiations in an effort to gather evidence of a bad faith negotiation. Although a domain name would appear to be generic in nature, many companies will argue that they use the term for a brand or slogan, and therefore it’s not generic. With UDRP cases sometimes a toss-up, it makes business sense to pay $1,500 to file a UDRP rather than pay $50,000 for a domain name. If you know that this potential buyer may have a claim to your name (or has a litigious/UDRP-happy past), you can avoid negotiations.

3) Time/money wasting: With domain appraisal scams still in existence, a domain owner needs to know whether he is dealing with a serious offer or someone who is running a scam. Time and money can be saved by not replying to a domain appraisal scam email, and they are fairly simple to identify.

Ever since I added privacy to my best domain names, I haven’t received many unsolicited offers to buy them. Since a few of them are stand alone businesses, I figure if someone intends to make a strong enough offer for one, he will know they are fully developed and have advertising contact forms in plain sight. That said, I have a number of clients and friends with sizable domain portfolios, and I have been helping some do due diligence on potential buyers for a few years. This has paid off in many cases, and I think it’s important for you to investigate all potential buyers before you reply to a domain inquiry email.

Tomorrow afternoon, I will post 5 methods I use to determine who a potential buyer is.

5 Newsletters for Domain Investors

There are a number of great newsletters to which I think every domain investor should subscribe, and I listed 10 of the most important ones below. Not all of the newsletters contain sales listings, but all of them contain important domain-related information. Whether you are new to the domain investment industry or a seasoned veteran, the newsletters below are the best of the best.

10 Favorite Domain Investment Newsletters (in no particular order)

DNJournal Newsletter – Domain industry updates, including notifications about the weekly domain sales report and special reports on DN Journal.

Domain Name Wire Newsletter – Domain industry news updates and special reports on Domain Name Wire.

 

WIPO Domain Name Decisions – Recent UDRP decisions made by the World Intellectual Property Organizations, with links to each decision.

National Arbitration Forum Monthly Newsletter – Monthly email with NAF updates and recent decision summaries. You must email them to subscribe.

Domaining.com Daily Email – Links to the ten most popular articles written by domain bloggers and news providers.

Do you receive another domain newsletter that you think provides great information? Please feel free to drop a link   and let us know domain investors should subscribe.

Use Caution When Responding to Domain Inquiries

Every day, people receive inquires on their domain names. People ask if specific domain names are for sale and some make offers while others ask the domain owner at what price he would sell the domain name. Now more than ever, it’s important to carefully consider how you respond to domain inquiries. Andrew reported on the OpenDental.com UDRP today, and the panel had one startling opinion:

“Complainant offered to buy the disputed domain name from Respondent for $500-$5000.   Respondent’s engagement with Complainant in these offers and counter-offers is evidence of bad faith registration and use.”

So there you have it. If someone inquires about your domain name and you engage in offers and counter offers, you could put the domain name at risk. In my opinion, this is a crock!

Everything I own is for sale at the right price. If someone came to my apartment and asked to buy it, of course I would tell him that I’d sell it for the right price. If he offered me double the book value because he really wanted it, I would sell it ASAP and rent another apartment while my wife finishes graduate school. I am not looking to sell it and don’t want to sell it, but if he was making offers that made it worthwhile, I would consider it, despite the inconvenience it would cause.

Likewise, I would sell my domain names and websites for the right price. I don’t wish to sell any of my geodomain names right now, but I am trying to build a business to make money. If that involves selling my business and domain name for a considerable profit, sure I would consider selling it. I don’t see how negotiating the sale of a domain name or a business implies bad faith ownership of it.

I really think that the OpenDental.com decision is poor, and the language in its findings sets a very bad example that domain owners need to consider. Fortunately, one decision doesn’t necessarily mean others will follow, but it sure should be noted for the next time you receive an offer to sell a domain name.

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