Domain Name Loans via Lend.me

Back in 2003 I started my own domain name lending site at GetFunding.com (I no longer own that domain, but you can see this screenshot of how my site looked). Now there are a bunch of sites like that, such at DomainCapital.com, Intelend.com, and DigiPawn.com, but at the time I was one of the first. I figured since I was buying domain names anyhow, it couldn’t hurt to try to make loans on domains that I would consider “buyable” and then if the borrower defaulted, I would get the domain, if not, I would get a good return on my money. More importantly though, I was trying to create a new online business out of it which hopefully would have some value.

I did not do any advertising for the site, but due to people finding me in the search engines (it was a lot easier to get noticed for free back then), I got some offers from potential borrowers. They were all domains I considered totally worthless though. Not once did anybody offer me a good domain to make a loan on. So, after a year, I gave up and shut down the site.

Recently though, Francois Carrillo, owner of the popular Domaining.com website, started a new domain loan service at Lend.me, but did it in a novel way. Instead of giving out loans himself, his site acts as a bulletin board to match domain borrowers and lenders. It allows people with money to invest to view a list of domain owners looking for loans. It lists the domain name and the loan amount the owner is looking for. An important feature of this service is that it puts the domain name in escrow, so that way the lender is guaranteed to be able to take possession of the domain if the borrower does not pay.

In the short time since it has launched, Lend.me has already closed 3 domain loans, so it seems to be on a path to success.

11 COMMENTS

  1. Thanks to repost Eric’s article in your site

    Few things that come to mind:

    For information it’s now FREE to submit a loan request.
    You only have to pay a $45 fee AFTER receive the first offer.

    We recently had a case so I can confirm we already have lenders willing to lend up to one million dollars if there is you come with the good collateral…

    Regarding domains collateral:
    Keep in mind lenders are NOT investors and they want to immediately resell the collateral if the loan fails, this means they will loan for WHOLESALE price. As a reminder, wholesale price use to be 5% of end-user price. So if you don’t think that you can get $10K for these few domains you suggest if posted at NameJet for example, don’t ask for this amount. Also try to just put few domains as collateral as it’s more difficult to resell one or two names than a collection.

  2. It is a guest posting. Elliot gets more visitors to his blog than I do to mine, so I thought it would be good exposure for me to write some articles on his blog. I don’t get paid, and don’t have any advertiser/affiliate type relationships with sites or companies I write about (such as lend.me). Just giving my personal opinions and experiences, that is all.

  3. Eric, I don’t know you, but you seems a valuable guy in this industry and I remember having read other good post on your blog, but, there is a BUT, your blog needs a RESTYLING: adaptive template, gray is PROHIBITED; a little bit more greater everything: fonts, buttons ,everything. AND COLOR, COLOR, COLOR!. ETC.

    AND like you even some other valuable bloggers would avoid to devalue their valuable posts offering them on websites not looking at the same level (Domainpicks ? Dotweekly?…).

    You can’t stay in DISSONANCE: you teach to all the power of domains and AT THE SAME TIME how that power can be destroyed.

    Be 100% PROFESSIONAL PLEASE, the industry needs this from you. Thanks.

  4. Mistery Shopper – I agree. My blog ( http://www.impulsecorp.com ) needs a redesign. I originally used a very simple default type WordPress template, and after a year or two paid a web designer to do a new design, but that was 3 years ago and a lot has changed since then, so it could use improvements. I will work on that.

    • These are good news, thank you for your efforts Eric.

      Red and impulse are for sure in assonance…

      I hope everyone will remember that you can’t sell nothing if you are in dissonance: if you want to sell domains you have to use strong domains for your businesses, whatever they are: lean or huge websites, blogs, etc. (Elliot here represents a perfect good example of how to improve the respectability of this industry, not only his credibility, rebranding and refreshing a website).

      Thank you all for your efforts.

    • What you need to remember is that I am not really selling anything. Nobody who buys domains from me cares what my website looks like, they just want a specific domain. Other than domains, I don’t sell anything or have clients, so I don’t need to impress anybody. But, I do of course want my site to look as good as possible, because as you are saying it is a reflection of me. What I am selling on my site is myself.

      So, in that spirit, I changed my blog theme to use a modern, responsive WordPress theme (Iconic One). I am not a programmer or WordPresss develop or graphic artist, so it still needs improvement, but it is a start at least. I will work with my programmer on making it look nicer.

    • I only know a small amount about each company, but here’s my take on it:
      Lend.me is a peer-to-peer listing service where domain owners post requests for loans they want on their domains. Lend.me does not actually lend any money themselves.
      Lendvo.com gives business loans based on your entire online business (website, domain, sales, etc.), not just your domain.
      Intelend.com or Domain Capital give loans on domains.

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