Have an Industry Association “Broker” Your Domain Name on Your Behalf

I am about to try something fairly unique (at least for me) with one of my domain names, and I wanted to share this idea with you.

I had reached out to a number of companies regarding a domain name I own in an attempt to sell it. I also reached out to an organization comprised of members that offer the type of service described in this exact match .com domain name. The organization offered me $2,500 for the domain name, which I didn’t accept. I also turned down an offer in the $10,000 ballpark from another company.

I reached back out to this organization and made them an offer. I asked if they would send an email blast out to their membership offering the domain name for sale. If the name sells, they will get a 10% commission for the sale. If it doesn’t sell, I won’t have to pay for anything.

From my perspective, it’s win/win/win for everyone involved if a sale is consummated.  I will make a sale, the organization will make a nice profit for sending an email, and a member of the organization will be able to acquire a great domain name. I may not have been able to connect with the decision makers on my own, but the organization has the contact information and the attention of industry executives.

I believe the key considerations are the quality of the domain name and the price. This won’t work for a secondary domain name or if your price is significantly higher than its value. This is something I’d likely pay for if they charged me, but under these conditions, there is very little risk for me.

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

10 COMMENTS

  1. That’s a creative strategy. It seems almost obvious now, but I doubt I would have ever thought of it. I’m surprised the brokering organization didn’t ask for more than 10%. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the the initial $10k offer rise when they receive the email.

  2. Outstanding idea Ellliot.

    The exposure and reach within the walls of the association is priceless.

    My thought would be to do a small build on the site to give some indication of what might be possible.

    Verrry interesting. Would love to be privy to the communications and results.

  3. I do the exact same thing. I just sold a few domains using
    this strategy. One was a Cloud domain, one an Attorney domain, and the other was a Cosmetic Surgery domain. The names cost me less than $1000 total and I sold them all for just under $22k.

  4. I have done this a few times, once resulted in a bidding war, and this is always a great idea. The key is knowing who in the association can authorize this.

    What I have found is that most large associations are not willing to send out a separate email blast but they all have unsold ad inventory in their e-newsletters.

    So the best way is to ask if they can mention it in the newsletter, and that you will pay a commission if it sells.

  5. Great idea, Elliot. Soon after reading your post I crafted a brief note and emailed a large organization. My dot com is not an exact match but it’s pretty close. I’m curious to see how it plays out.

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