Smart Marketing from Owner of SmartAss.com

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The owner of SmartAss.com reached out to me via email within the past few weeks looking to sell the domain name. I think SmartAss.com would make a unique and cheeky brand name, but the price was well above what I would pay to purchase it as an investment.

Evergreen.com co-founder Adam Strong shared a photo of a letter he received in the mail from the owner of SmartAss.com, which was apparently sent to some domain brokers and brokerages:

Number of Outbound Emails Necessary to Close a Deal

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I haven’t done much outbound lead generation this year. This is partly due to the pandemic but also because I don’t think it is the best way to maximize the value of my sales. I also think it can be a bit risky to do outbound on my highest value domain names.

I don’t know Yogi Solanki personally, but I follow him on Twitter after seeing him report quite a few domain name sales over the prior few months. From what I can tell, Yogi seems to be a very hard worker who has done well with his outbound sales efforts. His wheelhouse seems to be domain names that sell in the $200 – $500 range, but that is just my unverified observation of his sales reports.

This afternoon, Yogi shared some information about the number of emails it typically takes for him to close a deal:

Why I Don’t Give Price in Outbound Emails

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I read a post on NamePros offering some insight about outbound domain name sales. I agree with what Ostrados shared about keeping the sales pitch email short and sweet. If the domain name is good and/or of interest, the prospect will reply. If the domain name is not good or not targeted to the right buyer, it doesn’t matter how awesome the pitch is.

One thing I can add to the discussion in general is that I do not put the asking price in outbound emails. My emails are essentially lead generation emails, and when a person responds affirmatively and expresses interest in my domain name, I let them know the price. This is generally the starting point in a negotiation for me.

SEC Filing: BoatsForSale.com Just Sold for $396,769

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I was reviewing some SEC filings this afternoon, and I came across an 8-K filing today from a company called OneWater Marine Inc., a publicly traded company with a ~$450 million market cap that trades on the NASDAQ market under the ONEW ticker symbol. The filing was made to announce that the company acquired the BoatsForSale.com domain name for a reported $396,769:

Favorite Search on NameBio

I use NameBio on a regular basis for blog research as well as general domain investment research. The domain name sales data dating back many years has considerable value to me because it is helpful when writing blog posts and when buying or selling domain names. When NameBio announced its membership program, I immediately took advantage of the saved search functionality.

Payfone Acquires Prove.com and Rebrands

Over a year ago, I tried to buy Prove.com, but the six figure price tag of the domain name was beyond what I could spend for it as an investment. Using the DomainTools Whois History tool, I can see that Prove.com sold sometime between April and July of this year. I just learned that a New York company called Payfone recently acquired Prove.com, and the company announced a rebrand to Prove earlier this week: