Domain Broker vs Domain Investor

I think I make it pretty clear on my business contact page that I am not a domain broker: “Top Notch Domains, LLC is not a domain broker and does not offer private domain consulting services.” I have enough domain names to sell in my own portfolio that it does not make sense for me to spend time selling domain names owned by other people.

Despite the messaging that I am not a broker, people still ask me about brokering their domain names because there is confusion about the difference between a domain broker and a domain investor. I want to share how I typically respond to people that don’t seem to understand the difference. This also goes for people who ask me about my business.

The first thing I do is try to frame it in a way that makes it more understandable by comparing it to real estate. I explain that being a domain broker is akin to being a real estate agent. A domain broker typically works on behalf of a third party to sell a domain name much like a real estate agent represents a home owner. A domain name investor, on the other hand, represents his or her own interests buying and selling domain names with his or her own capital. They do not work on behalf of a third party.

There are a number of people who are domain name brokers and domain name investors. They not only buy domain names on their own behalf, but they also represent the owners of domain names in order to sell third party domain names. There is quite a bit of overlap with both of these professions so people can pretty easily do both if they want.