How Long it Takes to Sell a Domain Name

On a bike ride yesterday, I was chatting briefly about domain names with a friend. I acquired a nice domain name a few months earlier while on a ski trip with this friend and our families, and I received an offer to buy that name right before our ride. My friend asked me how long it takes me to sell a domain name.

This is a question I have been asked many times, and it is impossible to answer. Sometimes it can take days to sell a domain name and sometimes a domain name never sells. The hold time for a domain name acquisition can vary tremendously for a plethora of reasons.

My domain name might not sell because I was wrong about its utility. Maybe I overpriced the domain name by so much nobody is even willing to make an offer. Perhaps I bought such a niche domain name that there would only be a few buyers who don’t know the domain name is for sale. The value could also be so high that very few people can afford it. Whatever the reason, a domain name may sell quickly or take a very long time to sell.

I went through my domain portfolio list this morning to see the years I acquired my domain names. I shared the info below to give you an idea of how long I may hold domain names. I have been buying more names over the last few years, hence the heavy weight of recent acquisitions.

  • 2006 – 3
  • 2007 – 11
  • 2008 – 11
  • 2009 – 8
  • 2010 – 12
  • 2011 – 18
  • 2012 – 9
  • 2013 – 21
  • 2014 – 23
  • 2015 – 33
  • 2016 – 68
  • 2017 – 132
  • 2018 – > 200
  • 2019 – > 200
  • 2020 – > 300
  • 2021 – > 300
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

3 COMMENTS

  1. my biggest domain sales: hand regs in early aughts, prior to keywords becoming buzzwords (meta, nft, cloud .com domains in 2005, .ai domains in 2014, esports, and expired bet, casino, sportsbet domains in auctions)

    one word .com domains i’ve purchased – lots of offers, none close to asking price

    i know the value of domains – but so much of success is luck.

    after 2011, 95 percent of my domain sales went to endusers – mostly large companies -negotiations from one day to 8 months

    this biz takes mucho time – why top brokers earn thhe commissions they receive

  2. How do you approach a potential buyer when all you have is his email address?
    How do overcome the problem with your first email going to spam?
    Thanks in advance for you advice.

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