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Testing Two Domain Sales Venues

Elliot Silver
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34

Although I prefer to sell domain names in private, I list domain names for sale on my blog and in a couple of other locations when my domain names don’t quickly sell. I have tested one paid venue for my domain sales, and I am going to test a second venue soon.

I recently tested three sponsored headlines at Domaining.com, which cost $80 for the day (each). Although none of the listings yielded a sale, they did bring additional traffic to my blog. I sold WanChai.com, although it was to a private client rather than as a result of the listing. A few people contacted me after the domain name was already sold, but I don’t know if it was a result of the Sponsored Listing exposure. I like the fact that a Sponsored Listing gets prominent placement for a day in the Domaining.com newsletter.

I am going to test another sponsored listing in another venue beginning later today or tomorrow. I am going to buy a “sticky” thread in DNForums Fixed Price sales section, which costs $200 per month. This thread stays at the top of that particular forum for 30 days, and it should give added exposure to domain buyers. I plan to list a wide variety of domain names for people of every budget to test the ROI.

As with just about everything I do, I will keep you posted on how the sale goes.

The $200,000 Sale of MonaLisa.com That Almost Never Happened

Elliot Silver
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9

Sedo just announced (via DNW) the successful brokerage sale of the domain name MonaLisa.com for $200,000. The domain name is currently registered to its Domain Transfer email, so I am fairly certain the deal is nearly completed.

If you have a look at the archives in DNForum, there’s a thread started by the “mysterious” Kuwaiti domain investor, elequa (also known as Thunayan Khalid Al-Ghanim of Future Media Architects). In the thread, Thunayan mentioned that he was bidding on the domain name at “NW,” a Dotster subsidiary, although he did not win. At that time, the domain name sold for around $15,000. Had Thunayan prevailed in the auction, the domain name would never have been resold, as his company does not sell any of its domain names.

Funny enough, someone who goes by the nickname “DomainGoon” (sarcastically) asked, “the real question is, how many years would take to make $15,000 back using that domain?” I guess the answer is 7 years, for more than 1,000% return on that $15,000 investment.

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PS: Thunayan – call me… I will be in your neck of the woods in 10 days. 🙂

Additional Hong Kong Domains for Sale

Elliot Silver
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13

Over the last month or so, I’ve sold two Hong Kong geographic domain names, WanChai.com and KwunTong.com, and I still have a few other domain names remaining. Instead of creating individual posts for each, I am going to save time by listing them for sale here.

Judging by the 2 emails and DNForum private message I received in the week after selling WanChai.com in which the writers told me they wish they bought it first, you should probably be quick if you would like to purchase one or more of the names below. If all three are of interest, I would consider an offer for the three domain names. Post “sold” in the comment section of the blog if you’re interested.

HK

YuenLong.com – Price: $6,500 US Dollars

References:

  • Go2YL.com – “Yuen Long has quite a lot to offer.” “The district is renowned for its rich cultural heritage and abundance of antiquities and monuments. Many traditional ceremonies and rituals are still observed by the people in Yuen Long, in spite of the coming of modernity of Yuen Long. Examples are Tin Hau Festival, Tai P’ing Ch’ing Ch’iao and basin meal.”
  • CNNgo.com – Why We Love Yuen Long “Dirt biking, strawberry picking and traditional basin meals are just some of the reasons why the rest of Hong Kong loses to Yuen Long“
  • Wikipedia – “It had a population of 449,070 in 2001“

Hong Kong

TaiPo.com – Price: $5,500 US Dollars

References:

  • Sam’s Exotic Photos of Tai Po – “Tai Po used to be a modest village town with historical relics and charming scenery. Now, it has been transformed into a thriving and prosperous new town. It is a marvel that the tranquility of its traditional villages have been preserved and coexist in harmony with the high-rise buildings of the bustling new town.“
  • Tai Po Football Club (Wikipedia) – “On 6 June 2009, Tai Po won 4:2 against TSW Pegasus, in front of 4,042 fans at the Hong Kong Stadium, to lift the Hong Kong FA Cup, marking the first time a district team has won the trophy.”
  • Wikipedia – “It had a population of 310,879 in 2001.“

Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong

TsuenWan.com – Price: $7,000 US Dollars

References:

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Photo credits:

EverythingEverywhere.com Domain Sale Isn’t So Bad

Elliot Silver
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9

Earlier today, I wrote about the re-branding of T-Mobile and Orange into a new company called Everything Everywhere. I mentioned that the company also acquired the domain name EverythingEverywhere.com in private, and The Register had a story in which the domain owner revealed that the domain name was sold in private (for a “nominal sum”) via Sedo just before the news was announced.

Owen Frager had an article about the sale, laying the blame squarely on Sedo doorstep, “Sedo Throws Domainers Under the Bus,” and I don’t agree with this at all. Sedo doesn’t and shouldn’t personally interact with all buyers and sellers. In fact, I can’t remember one completed purchase or sale that I’ve been involved with that had a Sedo account representative involved during the negotiation process.

With hundreds of domain sales a month, it wouldn’t make sense for Sedo to monitor all domain negotiations. I could understand the anger if they misrepresented who the buyer was, but if an agent acted on behalf of the buyer, Sedo would have no reason to know if it was a huge conglomerate or a mom and pop shop. Likewise, if the buyer and seller negotiated using Sedo’s automated system, there would be no reason for a Sedo representative to be involved.

As badly as the former domain owner must feel about possibly leaving money on the table, I think he needs to take a step back and realize that he got the price he wanted. Someone else may have wanted more and possibly gotten it, but it is what it is.   The former owner probably bought it for registration fee, and if he sold it for a few hundred dollars, it’s more than he had before.

This reminds me of the ChatRoulette.com sale where people commented about the “poor guy” who sold the name to Adam Strong for under $1,500 only to see it sell for $151,000. At least in this case, there will be no further sale of the domain name, so the money left on the table is all imaginary and doesn’t exist.

Congrats to the former owner for thinking of and buying a great domain name. There are plenty of people in the advertising and marketing business who would love to know their idea for a big brand was used.

For the future, domain owners may want to consider checking other extensions to see what companies own those and may give an indication of who would want the .com.   Interestingly, EverythingEverywhere.net was owned by Buy Domains as late as March 23, 2010 before Melbourne IT bought it.

Offer a Payment Plan to Close Domain Deal

Elliot Silver
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5

I don’t necessarily like it when a buyer stretches out payments for a domain name, but offering it can be a smart move. I recently sold a domain name, and during negotiations, the buyer indicated that funds were a bit tight at the moment, but he wanted to buy the domain name. To keep the negotiation opened and to ensure that I was able to get my asking price, I offered him a payment plan, and we were able to come to an agreement.

Here’s what I recommend if you offer a payment plan or are asked to offer one:

  • Consider using an escrow service that Moniker offers or Escrow.com offers (need to contact them directly) to ensure both parties live up to their end of agreement with an impartial company acting as an intermediary.
  • Domain owner should keep possession of the domain name (or see above) until final payment is made. Owner can change DNS if necessary and asked.
  • Make sure everything is in writing so buyer and seller have the same expectations. I recommend having a domain attorney write the agreement, especially if it involves a considerable sum of money.
  • Be clear on what happens if buyer stops paying. In my opinion, the domain owner should keep all previous payments and the domain name.

Tip for Buying Good Names to Resell

Elliot Silver
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9

Once in a while, I will have a domain buyer who has a specific type of interest. Generally, this comes from a domain sale I made to an end user, and obviously the end user wouldn’t be interested in random other domain names, no matter how great they are.

If you present this buyer with other good names of similar quality to the name he bought, there’s a chance he might buy others. The problem always becomes finding good domain names that are of the same quality. Here’s a tip I can share with you to give you an idea of what I do.

I search for other websites in that industry/vertical, and I find the websites with the best navigation. I then find the keywords that are used for products and services on those websites, noting those that are used most.   Once I have a list (or while still searching through the list), I do both GAKT searches as well as standard Google searches to see the frequency of searches and the number of companies advertising those different terms I’ve found.

Once I have a list of domain names that I think would be valuable, I come up with a sales price in my mind. This may be the hardest part, but I place a hypothetical bottom price I think each domain name could yield to this buyer or to others. I then begin the process of contacting the owners and/or seeing if the domain names are already for sale, and I make offers based on what I think I can get for the domain name.

There are two things you need to be cautious about:

1) The buyer won’t want additional domain names even if they’re of similar quality. You’ll still be able to pitch the name(s) to others, but end user sales aren’t always easy, and it might be tough to flip specific names to domain investors.

2) You obviously need to be realistic with your price, and lowballing to get a name at your necessary level of profit margin generally isn’t a good idea, unless it’s not owned by an end user. Keep in mind that if the name is owned by an end user already and you do make a lowball that’s accepted, it should tell you something about the domain name!

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